"Spring" Cleaning

Today I got umption in my gumption to clean the house on this holiday. Inspired by the arrival of guests in a few days, I decided to get a lot of the chores done around here that were piling up. The day was brilliantly interuppted by calls from quite a few family members, which was a lovely distraction.

Now I am going to list all of my accomplishments, not to brag, but more so to encourage myself with the daunting list of everything else left to do!

- Got wood at Home Depot to cover the hold in our sewing table, spray painted it black, so now it looks nice
- Spray painted a bulletin board from church to see if that looked nice. It does! Just have to figure out how to get paint in the crack.
- took down the tree and all Christmas decorations
- cleaned off balcony, including throwing out old plants, cleaning out our poor dying vermicomposter (sorry guys, can't have you and your odd flies in the house this year), and sweeping it all up.
- cleaned and organized the craft area
- Did a lot of dishes
- vacuumed the house
- began - and nigh completed - going through our memorabilia in the office to make it look less like one big ginormous pile.
- made a grocery list.
- miraculously cooked dinner
- got some good storage boxes from office depot
- got our Colorku board all set up in a safe place.
- put our vacuum cleaner together after having to clean it out thoroughly
- Oh! Laundry! We did some of that too.


Sounds pretty good! Here's what's left:
- Discovered 3 boxes of *stuff* left over from graduate school and who knows what, including office supplies and piles of paper.
- Jon needs to finish a huge pile of memorabilia (consequence of having an organized wife - the bachelor boxes of stuff no longer cut it!)
- Sara needs to clean off all the stuff on her desk that she found during this process and needs to find a home for.
- Figure out a way to improve the bulletin boards
- Grocery shop - having food would be very very nice.

Now if you have read my to-do list thus far, impressive! It was nice to have a day away from the computer and feeling relieved about some of the necessary accomplishments around here. Now here's to the next holiday, when we can finish a lot of it up!

Saturday!

So today was the first Saturday at home that we have had in 5 weeks! The past 5 weeks have been spent at a wonderful marriage seminar, some wonderful quality time with family, and some more wonderful travels! However, after all that wonderfulness, we were due for some mundaneness at home. In air conditioning. After we did our errands.

Jon remarkably went to play soccer in this heat! He is dedicated. I experienced my first "Zumba" class. Quite fun, quite energetic, quite popular, and thus quite crowded. I'll have to keep trying it, along with the spinning classes which I'm currently enjoying quite a few of! (Okay, well I've been to two....)

Thereafter we ate lunch, and promptly began our chores. This was going to the library to get our library cards! The shock and shame of being a librarian, but not having a library card, was beginning to wear on me. Plus I want to read more, without spending more money! What a great way to get some more reading in, without serious consequences on the wallet. Thereafter was a quick trip to Best Buy, and then rambled on to Trader Joe's for some food (what else?). I have a new grocery list system that I'll have to share in a later blog, and this was the trial run, and it went well. We also found wine for 2.50 a bottle. Say what?! A good way to wind down for the night.

Came home, made some spaghetti squash - not too bad! - and finished Parks and Recreation, a sitcom we've been following. Wish we had discovered it in about 5 more years, when we could just sit down and watch the whole series! Alas.

Unfortunately the bright-sunniness of today is overshadowed by pestering head-ache. However, it's getting better! and Jon is oh so patient - love that man!

Tuesday?

For whatever reason, it is a Tuesday that feels like a Wednesday. We both had a flood of productiveness this evening, which in light of tv-less Tuesday, is a good thing. The kitchen and bathroom are brilliantly clean, and the living room, well, isn't as messy. The laundry still isn't put away, however that can always wait for tomorrow. or the day after. or the day after that.

I am indeed in some mourning for television. We both agree not relying on tv to decompress in the evening is a good goal to have, and with our limited time in the evening we now have more opportunity to talk and get things done. However, old habits die hard and I'm hoping in 21-days (the time it takes for habits to form and un-form) I won't miss it at all. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep my complaining to a minimum....

Lazy Friday

Today I had Friday off - good thing too, as it gave me a chance to rest my neck and spirit. It seems like whenever I start getting too busy or stressed, my body does something to force me to slow down - like getting sick or, in this case, a tremendously sore neck. My neck is feeling better, however the medication it takes to get the muscle to relax has me sleeping a lot. Which is quite pleasant, and I know kitchen floors can get mopped later!

In other news - the netbook is working out fine, although I miss the easy and sensibility of the Mac. Oh well.

The vermicomposter is still chugging along, and has found a nice new home outside. I still haven't harvested any compost off of it, and am waiting until its full to do so. Hopefully this will be less gross that it sounds, although I doubt it.

This weekend we're headed to Annapolis for a girls movie night weekend! We're both excited - Jon will be watching some guys flicks with the guys, and I'm looking forward to more relaxing! Yay rest.