Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Where did the time go?

Cleaning (yuck!)

Back in November, I wrote about my tendency to procrastinate and listed all the things on my desk. I took this photo that same day:


I was embarrassed to show you the "before" picture until I could follow it up with an "after" one, which I couldn't do until now. Here, thank goodness, is how it looks today:


The front rooms of my house got a thorough cleaning while I was off work during the holidays. They've pretty much stayed clean and needed only dusting and vacuuming this weekend. The kitchen and bathroom, of course, get dirty on a daily basis, so they were due to be cleaned again over the weekend. All of that I could have managed if I'd put my mind to it, but the den where my office is? Just looking at the mess in there overwhelmed me.

My office area is at one end of the den. At the other end is a table that used to be a perfect place to do crafts or work jigsaw puzzles. For the past two years that table has been piled high with the tools of an ongoing redecorating project: paint cans, brushes, rollers, drop cloths, etc., all of which had become covered with a layer of dust. Add several stacks of books and a heaping pile of cardboard boxes (for transporting items to Goodwill), and I couldn't even imagine where to begin.

This past weekend, motivated by an impending first-time visit by a new online friend, push finally came to shove. Even working at the fastest pace I could manage, I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to finish. Fortunately, on the second day, my daughter pitched in. She can be something of a Discard Nazi, and, thankfully, she worked her tail off as she talked me into tossing out a trunkload of stuff I just might need someday.

My house is more orderly right now than it's been in the past two years. In fact, it's so clean that I had no fun at all yesterday, because I couldn't bear to do anything that might mess it up.

Company (yea!)

Our Sunday visitor was even more delightful in person than she is online. She comments here as FrontHallGlass, and she came bearing homemade macaroni and cheese in one hand and a precious eight-week-old puppy in the other. We had a delightful evening full of good conversation, good food, and one fairly pathetic game of Trivial Pursuit. I look forward to doing it all again.

Convalescing (yikes!)

That would be Butch, who, ironically, managed to injure his right front leg while he was home and I was at the veterinarian's office. He was fine when I left home to go get a new supply of heartworm meds for him and Kadi, but by the time I got back he was limping. Nothing appeared to be broken, and there were no visible wounds, so we think he probably hurt himself jumping off the futon.

I waited out the weekend, hoping he'd improve, before I finally broke down yesterday and took him to the vet. They kept him for a couple of hours, checked him out, and came to the same conclusion I did: he probably didn't need to go to the vet. Still, they gave him some anti-inflammatory meds. So far, the drugs have done a lot more for my guilt complex than they've done for Butch's limp.

Catching up (yippee!)

I've buzzed quickly by a few of my favorite blogs in the last few days, and I hope to catch up with everybody soon. Right this minute, though, I have a major

Conflict (yup!)

The new season of American Idol starts tonight. See y'all later!

12 comments:

  1. Poor Butch. Yup, like us they do get tired and swollen joints. I just laughed at Cappy yesterday because when I told him to come on the love seat and rest his tired bones he leapt like a pup and dove right in. Well! See if I try to go the extra mile to comfort you again.

    You're not going to believe this but we have the same exact desk AND the same TV VCR combo sitting on our desk. That is too weird! The first picture looks more like how my desk currently looks. I would resolve to keep this desk in order but why set myself up for failure huh? This desk is cleaned once a year and that is simply because I'm ashamed of how bad it gets. Seeing the wood desk top blows my mind.

    Austin
    (today's word verification is: kallnuk. Are you trying to make commenting difficult Velvet? Even if I get it right it'll say I didn't and make me do another one.)

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  2. I've been doing the FLYlady again, since you mentioned it a few posts back. My kitchen sink looks really good! I am starting to get rid of a few paper "hotspots." Paperwork is my nemesis. I don't have the kids home anymore to blame a messy house on! LOL Bravo to you for cleaning up and keeping it clean!

    Glad you had a nice visit with FHG. Being a NYer, we tend to be paranoid about meeting "online" people. I belong to a decorative painting group and another member (who I had not yet met in person) and I decided to meet in the city to go to a museum exhibit together. My husband was convinced I was going to be killed by an ax murderer. But Beth was the sweetest, most grandmotherly person you would ever want to meet. I have since seen her many more times at the museum and at painting conventions. I have lived to tell the tale.

    Hope Butch feels better soon!

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  3. Velvet, Hope Butch is better soon! Sending him lots of good wishes!

    Holly

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  4. Austin, it must have felt weird to see YOUR desk and TV in MY photo. We must have similar tastes (or budgets). And I'm sorry about the word verification thing, but before I enabled that feature, I got spam that directed me to a couple of really creepy websites.

    Sunflower, I had way too many "hotspots," and I'm gonna work really hard on that.

    Regarding the "ax murderer," my daughter had already met this particular online friend, so I was quite comfortable about having her to my home. The only thing that worried me was disgusting her with my cluttered den.

    FHG Rebekah, Sunflower made me start wondering...you've never murdered anybody with an ax, have you? At least not anybody I know?

    Holly, he's still limping, but I see a definite improvement. Maybe it's the meds...or maybe it's the good wishes.

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  5. I'm so impressed with your clean up efforts, the office area looks great! I just can't seem to catch up. I keep the library spotless and thats where I go when the rest of the house has overwhelmed me.

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  6. wow! will you come and do my desk? And the mess of a room upstairs? I'm gonna take photos of that room, maybe it'll motivate me to finally, finally get in there and toss some stuff!

    Poor Butchie, give him a get-well-soon kiss for me. Next time, take both dogs to the vet's when you go!

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  7. Hi Velvet,

    You've done all your Spring cleaning!!!

    Well, since Spring comes early to the deep south, maybe Spring usually arrives in January.

    Fun, isn't it, to have a visual of those you've only visited over cyberspace?

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  8. Velvet, glad you got to meet your online buddy, that's cool. And you got a bonus - clean office! Also glad to hear Butch is feeling better. It's scary when something's wrong with the furry guys - because they can't tell you what it is!

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  9. Okay, desk envy here. I'm trying to get my stuff sorted to start working on taxes and the stacks seem endless. Best wishes and hugs and skritches to Butch for a quick recovery...Carmon

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  10. I've been attacking my house, room by room, closet by closet. I love to get organized and clean at the new year. Two more closets and the whole of the kitchen to go. Wait, and then my CDs must be put back in their cases and the cases alphabetized. Again. I get way too into this.

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  11. This cleanliness will not last.

    Sorry, I'm projecting.

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  12. Rebekah, whew! What a relief.

    Kat, at least you have one spotless room to go to. Until this cleaning marathon, I was relegated to one end of the sofa.

    Janet, I'd be glad to come just to meet you, but if it's cleaning you need, I'll send my daughter instead. She cracks a mean feather duster. Do take the "before" pictures; it's fun to see the difference.

    Annie, don't tell anybody, but I didn't do the windows. And I may not do them when Spring actually arrives.

    Jackie, it was fun to meet her. She's worth cleaning up for (but now that I know how down-to-earth she is, I figure she can handle a few little tufts of dog hair next time).

    Carmon, if I remember correctly, you posted a photo of your nice clean desk last year. You were MY motivation, only it took me a long, long time to get the job done.

    Alison, I love the concept of cleaning and organizing much more than the actual doing of it. I love the concept of it so much that I have a whole stack of books about getting organized--now--and cleaning made easy. I read each new one, put it in the group with the others, and dust them all fairly regularly.

    Grumblemurray, I thought you were psychic until I read the part about projecting.;-) Let's just say I'm gonna try REALLY HARD this time. I think our problem is that there are just so many more interesting things to do.

    Thanks, everybody, for the good wishes for Butch. He's doing much better.

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