Sustainable Progress

Despite the rantings of last night which I meant to take down this morning and just plain forgot, I had a rather productive day.  Eric called around 9; I had actually fallen asleep and been asleep for about an hour at that point, and although I was drop-dead tired and not really wanting to be disturbed, I wanted to talk to him desperately and I'm glad he called.

I got up shortly after that, took my medication, and got the day started.  Although I promised Anne that I was going to visit her today, I knew that it wasn't going to happen.  I just had too much of a build-up of things to do at home to leave, and so I surveyed m domain and made a plan.

Feed the dogs.  Lucy is quite willing to accommodate.

Sunny decided that he was not hungry.

I needed to address the dining room table.  Sadly, a project I never got to.

Not only did I have to do this basket of laundry, but another the same size, and an equal amount of laundry that I did yesterday that needed to be put away.  I amazingly got all of it done!

I addressed the pile I left on this chair last night upon getting home from Slimmons.  I had a fainting spell after class there and still wasn't feeling well when I arrived here, and so I put nothing away.

I need to do something with the earring tree that Mariko graciously sent me to display my earrings on.  I don't know where I am going to put it yet, so it's  still sitting on the coffee table.  But Anne's hamper - the purple thing behind it - is now better located and out of the way.

I needed to take this box of trash out, and quickly...

it has been sitting on my patio for days, rain was predicted today, and based upon the sky, it wasn't going to be long in coming.

But before taking the trash out, I needed to clean the patio...

Get to the back of the condo which meant taking the puppy gate down and letting Lucy finish up the breakfast Sunny did not eat...

And emptying out my studio garbage on the floor and picking through it because...

I had dropped an open container of push pins into it a few days ago and did not want to waste them.  I collected them in this different container that they will not spill out of and put them away.  Fortunately, the trash in my studio is very clean stuff... wire trimmings, cord trimmings, and deformed beads.  Nothing to be grossed out over.

Out to the dumpsters I went.  We do not have recycling here and that used to upset me, but it does not anymore.  I do not know whether the people are homeless or just very industrious, but early every single morning, there are a squad of them out going through the dumpsters of all the apartments and condos in my neighborhood - and there are a LOT of them - collecting the recyclables to turn in for cash.  I actually respect these people a lot.  They are doing good work and hard work, so I greet them with a smile when I see them.  They used to be surprised at that, but are now used to it and happy to see me and my dogs.

On the way back from the garbage, I checked out the laundry room.  BONANZA!  Only two machines were in use and the rest of them were mine!  I got all of my laundry in.  Meanwhile, Eric came over - I did not get pictures of him - and he worked on my web site and got my Contact Form on my Contact Page up and operational.  I even had a few people test it tonight and it works perfectly.  Now we need to figure out what information I want to collect on it and modify it to require the same out of the people who write.

Getting the laundry in meant also stripping my bed and getting the sheets and duvet cover washed.  They were the last I had and were also dirty.  Note Lucy's toys all over the bed.  She regularly distributes them in bed at night, then leaves me to sleep with them while she slumbers in the living room on the pink antique sofa.

Note that Lucy does not approve of me disturbing her toys or her bed.  I think she's more concerned about the toys than the sheets, though.

I was actually smart today and put the quarter pouch on the mini-desk where it belonged between loads.  For once, I did not have to search the condo looking for it when it came time to dry.

Eric brought me paper goods almost a week ago now.  It was time to finally address them and put them away in the hall closet where they belong.

But here you can see why I've been avoiding this task.  It's actually not anywhere near as bad as it looks in this picture and will be able to be picked up quite quickly once I get to it, but I did not have the strength or fortitude to deal with it today.

So I moved my pitiful-poor supply of TP to the side (not enough to last me even a week with active Crohns in play) and got everything into the closet.

And here is my cleared out hallway.  Note the tiny bakers rack on the left.  Remember back when I was trying to figure out what to do with Cosmos's ashes?  Well, I realized that the bakers rack fit perfectly where he used to eat, and he is on the second shelf in the brown box.  I don't think about him every time I pass or even every day, but it's comforting to know that he is in his most favorite place in the whole world.  Where his food used to be.

I had thrown the cheap rug runners into the laundry too, and so I was forced to deal with the dirt that I had swept under them the other day.  I did not, however, move Sunny's bed, so the dirt under that remains.

I moved Anne's hamper and a suitcase full of her clothes to a less obstructive spot, behind my laundry cart which was just waiting to be filled with clean textiles.

I pulled them in, put everything away, and happily remade my bed.  Eric was gone by now, as you can see by his absence at the computer.

Here is another view.  Note the fabric bag on the floor behind the bed.  That is full of pictures from Anne's apartment which I scanned this evening and put into it's own blog so that Eric, Barbara (Eric's cousin), and I can identify the people in them via the internet and over the phone.  Then, this weekend, I will put copies into a notebook to take to the Convalescent Home where the OT people will use it to try and get Anne to identify the people she is seeing.  A waste of time because I know that she knows who's in the pictures and she will ahve a hard time telling them because of the stupid overdoses of sedatives that they are giving her to keep her quiet, but whatever.  

Note that Lucy wastes no time in scattering her toys around the condo as fast as I pick them up.

My towels put away.  I realize that this is no picture submission for Better Homes and Gardens, but they are actually quite organized if not pretty.  Solid bath sheets in the top cube.  Hand woven towels for the guest bathroom in the 2nd.  Small hand towels in the third.  And in the lowest, printed beach towels that I use at exercise class.

Washcloths on the top of the cube stack, and my underwear put in the appropriate baskets on the shelves next to it.

Even my shoes are all in the basket to contain them.  Again, not a pretty picture, but I know where they are and they are easy to go through and pull out whatever I want to wear.

 After all of this was accomplished, I had a long talk with Barbara about Anne's status, talked to the nursing home and interviewed her new caretaker, and then talked to Anne on the caretaker's phone trying to get her to cooperate, talked to Eric several times on the phone about a variety of things and issues, made dinner for myself (Salmon Salad), first responded to my e-mail and then talked to Beth on the phone, and finally talked to Eric for the last time today.

I did not get the kitchen or the bathrooms cleaned up.  That will need to wait until tomorrow after exercise class and my visit with Anne.  Then, once that is done, I need to make spaghetti sauce as Eric, Gabby, and Miles are coming for dinner.  If I get a better night's sleep tonight, I may try to chop vegetables and make the sauce in the crock pot in the morning.  That would be the smarter thing to do.  But it depends on whether I spend the night pacing again or if I actually sleep.  

I also, before going to bed, need to pull together everything I want to take to Slimmons in the morning.  Sue's Jewelry.  Richard's Box.  I borrowed all of it back to photograph, and need to return them to their proper owners.  I need to get my towel and water into my gym bag, and lay out my exercise clothes.  

Then I will let the dogs outside for the last time today - I think it's finally raining now so it may be a task to get them to go - and get into bed.

I hope that it's a good night.