Round One--House Cleanup in the books

BIL was here over the weekend, along with Sparky. We did a LOT of things!

• The office is emptier and a little more organized; I need to clear out files yet, but the surfaces have been emptied and lots of stuff went in the trash and elsewhere. 
• The basement...well, the main room looks worse, but the workroom/shop area...! I can actually walk into it without feeling like I'll trip and kill myself getting to the lights. BIL went through a lot of stuff from his side of the family. Much of it got tossed. There are at least two full contractor bags of trash that I'll need to get to the curb over the course of several weeks; ditto with all the magazines and other recycling. 
• We got the Honda started and moved out of the garage. The giant heap of cardboard boxes is collapsed into one box for recycling. 
• The insurance paperwork is sorted and generally made sense of. 
• BIL found Beast's Social Security card (which I need for part of the Medicaid form) in a box of Random Things From Some Drawer. 
• Sparky found Beast's cross necklace, which he now has with him.

And yesterday after BIL and Sparky left, I finally cancelled SiriusXM ($200/month), downgraded DirecTV and ordered a new remote (saving $150/month), and downgraded our Sprint account to three lines and no more monthly charges for Beast's and my phone (saving $100/month). I spent, quite literally, over two hours on phone calls to Sprint to delete BIL's number from our account and was so frustrated by the end I was just repeating "ALL I want to do is delete the line. That's all" and sobbing. They kept telling me only the account holder could cancel lines, and as I'm not the account holder it can't be done. So then let's change the name on the account--nope, gotta have proof that I'm allowed to do that. So where do I fax/email the paperwork proving I'm allowed? A transfer to another department and some ridiculous procedure that involves SNAIL-MAIL, but I really need to talk to someone else about cancelling the line...transfer back to where I started but to a new person to whom I have to give my name, the name of the account, the PIN and the password. I definitely know the PIN now! Which is great, since I'm the one who created it and changed all the online account info last month after another (shorter) marathon to find out how to do that, with the threat that if I couldn't get into the account, they wouldn't get paid because I couldn't access the bill. Oh, and I left out two trips to the nearest store--the staff of which was great, by the way!--and an online chat with customer service. All this between 2 and 6 yesterday afternoon. DirecTV = 20 minutes on the phone tops. SiriusXM = no more than a 10-minute call. Sprint = a four-hour ordeal that was only resolved when I started sobbing and calling Beast "a vegetable" who can't talk on the phone for fuck's sake! I only swore once, by the way. I just have to say that when I get really upset, it becomes entirely impossible for me to understand accented English. The guy who finally just canceled the damn thing...when he told me that, I sobbed out something like, "You're the nicest guy I've spoken to today" and then hung up without further ado. So I hope he a) deleted the right line, and b) actually DID something because I have no confirmation # to prove anything with.

[Time out to check the online bill. Guess what. The extra line is still on the bill. Also, I'm "past due" with my payment, but only $.26 is due. My next payment will be minus the $15 and whatever other charges for that extra line. I hate HATE Spring customer service.]

In short, all the wind is out of my sails. The house, superficially, looks worse: more piles in places I can see in rooms I use, and I still have all this goddamned paperwork to fill out which requires still more phone calls and planning and TIME and Finding Things (like 5 years' worth of tax returns and pay stubs and bank statements) and Making Copies of Found Things (same as above)... The weather is abysmal: rainy and dank and gray. The mailbox "temporary" fix has tipped over into the street, so I'm going to have to go to the P.O. and ask them to hold my mail for pickup till I can get someone to power out a new post-hole for a new post and mailbox setup (which means waiting for the ground to thaw). And the stupid Honda is still here, albeit out of the garage finally. The last person I want to see today is Beast, and all I want to do is crawl back in bed and alternately sleep and cry and feel sorry for myself.

Saturday=Work Day

[If you follow my meme blog, this will all look familiar to you: I posted it there first today.]

We have family coming to stay with us a couple of nights this week, so the push is on to get the house tidied up. Since one of those people is under 5, it means some major renegotiation of space so everyone has a comfortable place to sleep. One of the things I've put off (for several years) is getting the upstairs storage area cleaned out of all the old clothes. I scheduled a pickup from Purple Heart for this Tuesday, so this morning I sealed the Already Packed Boxes and loaded the Rest of the Stuff into garbage bags--their preferred containers apparently nowadays. They all need to be brought downstairs and left on the front porch, but after a little extra reorganization that storage space looks the best it has in several years. Plus, I found my parents' slides from when I marched in the Tournament of Roses parade; Beast is going to convert them so I can post them on our high school reunion and high school band Facebook pages.

Then I came downstairs with my lingerie and hand-wash-only clothing and started that load.

Next up: moving shit around in the pantry. That room has become an absolute nightmare: literally no place to stand but in the space the door opens. Since it's actually meant to be a laundry room, that means there is a LOT of junk piled higgledy-piggledy on the floor. But no more! The cases of pop are now lined up out of the way, the giant Bag of Plastic Bags is on the back steps to go for recycling when I hit the grocery store tonight, the ancient golf clubs that kept falling down are now back in a corner where they are less likely to get knocked down, the step stool, distilled water, First Floor Laundry Basket, and cleaning supplies are pushed back and stacked so there's room to maneuver, and all the paper bags are together inside the biggest. I also threw out some liquor bottles that were empty, tossed some very old food gifts, rearranged our drinking water containers, 409'd the liquor shelf to get rid of the sticky spots, and swept guinea pig fluff out of the corners (the downside of having them living near the pantry is that their stuff goes in there: yuck. Also, I took the bag of scarves, gloves and assorted other paraphernalia from my mother-in-law's front closet--she died 4 years ago--and added it to the pile for Purple Heart.

Once that was done, I moved the laundry around the next cycle and came back upstairs where I emptied the dishwasher, reloaded it with what can be cleaned in there setting aside a couple of things that didn't get completely degunked in the last load, and ran water to wash pots and pans. Beast spent 10 minutes levering out the Spiced Tea that had solidified in a mason jar in the pantry over the past 4-5 years since my sister gave it to me, and I washed up all the stuff on the counter.

All accomplished between 10:30 and 12:30 when my knees suddenly went weak and I started to feel sick--oh, yeah, maybe I should eat something besides bread today! Somewhere in the midst of all of this I had a Very Necessary Conversation with Katherine, my niece, who is hosting another contingent of family starting tonight. She's wanted to get all their activities absolutely nailed to the wall before they arrive--that's what my family tends to do--and has been freaking out about this all spring, culminating this week. She seems fine now. I dunno, relaxation is not her thing at all. That was actually the worst part of the morning, to be honest.

The stuff in the dryer hadn't completely dried when I checked, so that's still hanging fire.

What's left?

1. Guinea pig cage cleaning. Maybe tomorrow. Then I don't have to do it again till next Sunday after Wayne and Elizabeth (and Justin) leave.
2. Grocery shopping for us this week. Tonight. When Sparky can go with me; it's good to have him from a pragmatic point of view--he helps load while I scan at the self-check--and also it's good quality time to talk about stuff without him feeling like I'm grilling him. Which, of course, I am!
3. Clean out the fridge. It's really not nice in there: lots of dried lettuce and so forth in the cooler bins, spilled baking soda, agéd food, and assorted stains. I really should also be checking the age of some of the food in the pantry, but I can do that later in the week.
4. Find the sippy cups and lids. Technically, I know exactly where the lids are, but I can't remember where I put the cups.

Sparky is off doing his thing all day (7-7) at his "summer job" which is nothing we really want him involved in but are letting him try it out until he figures out why these things are called Pyramid Schemes (he's into it only $100 so far, which is a cheap lesson).

Beast is paying bills in the office. I may go in there and do some more work on my Goodreads shelves pretty soon. All in all I feel pretty good about today!

Nothing to say?

Hmmm, what I should be doing right now is writing up a recommendation for college for someone. It's not going to be hard to recommend her--she is one very amazing person--but sounding coherent and intelligent while doing the recommending could be challenging. I'm not feeling either coherent or intelligent.

So instead I'm blogging. Yeah, I know how that sounds.

This full-time work hours thing has been kicking my butt all the way to the moon and back. I can't figure out why adding 8 hours to work (and subtracting 8 hours from non-work) makes such a big difference, but part of it is that everyone at work is crabby, edgy, and fed up with the boss. Everyone. Except, perhaps, the shelvers, but I suspect some of the lack of morale filters to them too. Since I don't really have a serious problem with the boss--just petty annoyances that I try to address if they aren't just MY pettiness on show--I also have gotten a little tired of listening to other people whining. As usual, it says more about the person doing the whining than it does about the boss most of the time.

Maniac has been maniacal since before Christmas. Even she is having issues with Boss Lady, after 2+ years of trying to tamp down the negativity of others. And it's major costuming season for her as well, so she's really wound up about things and frankly making me nuts.

Then there's good ol' CT, who has been on a total rampage for the past (at least) 3 weeks. Finally, I think, last Thursday I snapped hard enough at her that she has started her usual rounds of "[Cat.] doesn't like me, so I'll go get palsy with someone else to show that I have other friends--that'll teach [Cat.]!!" (I always know when Miss W has barked at her; CT becomes my very best friend and confidante for the rest of the day, or week.) Maniac has been telling me for months that CT doesn't speak to her except hello/goodbye stuff; well, Thursday, CT was whispering and gossiping at her.

It's midwinter--such as our winter this year seems to be, which isn't all that wintry, not that I'm complaining--and so everyone's kinda blerghy about that. Everyone, including the patrons. We had a spate of police-calling, formal un-invitations, and general mayhem a couple of weeks ago, and while that has settled down, people are still crabby and edgy. Just like the staff.

In other news...this weekend, we finally got the house cleaned of much of the dust that has been gathering for lo these past several months. There are still random Christmas decorations out that we missed in the January cleanup. And there are pockets of Crazy-Messy, but at least the floors are clean throughout. Maybe my allergies will settle down now.

Maybe pigs will fly.

[T.O.: Sparky just popped in online on Skype so I went and IM'd him since I didn't talk to him Saturday. That brightened up my mood a bit.]

To be honest, I'm not that cranky right now. Just tired and drained and trying to sort out priorities. Maybe I'll clean my desk at work, do some filing and stuff, this week. I did take care of that at home yesterday, which was a huge load off my shoulders. I even started working on the FAFSA for Sparky's financial aid next year. Am at an impasse with that till we get our income tax figured, and I don't know when that will be. Soon. I hope.

So. I guess I've hit the end of my need to type. I really should go get ready to work.

Aha, but that is another part of my general sense of The Weird: my work schedule.  Here's the short version:

• Mondays: 11-7 (no lunch break, my choice--I eat at my desk), including at least one hour in the kids' room
• Tuesdays: 12-9 (dinner break at 5), including an hour each in the kids' room and adult reference
• Wednesdays: 8-4 (no lunch break again), including at least an hour at adult reference
• Thursdays: 9-6 (lunch break at 12 or 1), including at least an hour at adult reference
• *Fridays: 9-5 (no lunch break), off all desks all day usually!
• *Saturdays: 9-1 (but I usually stay till 5), including 3 hours at assorted reference desks (kids' and adult) 
• Every 4th or 5th Sunday 1-4, all hours on the adult reference desk

* Alternate weeks, so if I work Friday I don't work Saturday, and vice versa

Those public desk hours are scheduled for every week, but then there is always someone sick or on vacation so things get changed. I don't handle schedule shifts well. Never have. So frustrating.

OK, now I really have to go get ready for work! Perhaps I'll have more exciting things to talk about next time.

No nerves

OK, so I have the new Blogger post template and it's extremely odd. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but right now it's just ... white on white.

But the main reason I decided to break radio -- er, blog -- silence is that I realized today that I've finally reached the point where I don't lie awake for a week before an 'event' and worry and plan and obsess and freak out about it endlessly. Tomorrow is Sparky's graduation party and despite the fact that we don't know if we'll have 30 or 100 people show up, I'm pretty much ok with where we are. I realized a few days ago that anyone who isn't on Facebook isn't going to come because I didn't do any invites outside of the Event posting there. I suck. And I'm ok with that.

And that's the weird part: I'm ok with things. We may need more food, entailing an emergency run to the store midday. We may not have enough chairs, or tables. People will just have to pitch in and get comfortable and hang out. I hope they are ok with that. I am. And tomorrow, I'll have to be aware of people who aren't quite sure of themselves. And, guess what: I'm ok with that too.

In other news, it's hotter than blazes, and we haven't had rain for a couple of weeks, so I'm really excited about the fact that the grass is CRUNCHY, like when I grew up!


[Side note: our creepy neighbor was arrested yesterday at his house. That's all we know, aside from refusing to leave his house until a warrant was issued, which took a couple of hours. I'm sure it'll be in the paper.]

{{gasp!}} An actual post!

Yes, it's true, I'm feeling moved to blog for realz. Mostly because I've actually been working my ass off (I wish) for a few days, trying to get ready to leave on our trip on Tuesday.

In line with this push is a renewed, or even new, effort to keep up on things around here: bills/receipts (entering them into Quicken), planning and making actual meals, generally not sitting around on my ass (see above). Sparky and I switched jobs a week or so ago so he is no longer in charge of dishes but has taken responsibility for running Roomba around the house as needed. I expect the novelty of that will wear off fairly quickly, but it is nice that I'm not nagging him about the dishes on the counter--I just take care of it myself. So there.

He is hours, maybe a day, away from finally committing to Pio U for college. We need to send in a deposit and he'll be set. It's nice that Beast and I will know our way around both the campus and the city in which the college is, but it is exTREMEly odd to think that Sparky will be hanging out in some of the same places we did nearly 30 years ago. Thirty years!? O.M.G.

In other news, I established for myself last Monday that kidney stones are pretty fucking painful. I'm still having some minor pain, but nothing -- NOTHING! -- like what I woke up with on Monday!

So I did a whole long blather about our trip at this point, but I'm going to cut that and make a new post of it.

Because I'm not creative

• My Fb status today--for part of the day--was that I'm glad my whole family is home sleeping in their own beds. Jean had to spent the first night back in England in the hospital because of all her health issues the last couple of weeks in Colorado. We've had too many family members in hospitals over the last months. Enough.
• I hope the rest of our fall/winter is really boring.
• The previous statement proves that I truly am 46, not 16.
• I'm a horrible procrastinator.
• I did, however, manage to wash tonight's dinner dishes ... tonight
• And yes, you read that right: I made dinner tonight.
• From scratch.
• I think I have Black-T-Shirt-Disease. I can't seem to keep a plain black T in my wardrobe in decent condition for more than a couple of months. This time, Sparky threw it in the dryer when he was helping with laundry last week. ...another trip to Old Navy is in my future.
• Overall, though, Sparky's fabulous. I wouldn't trade him.
• Mostly.
• I should mention that he auditioned for that state music educators' band under duress (and failed) as well as the men's a capella group at school (and failed), but seems unfazed by both results.
• He did make the county honor band.
• And he has to go to the school board meeting tomorrow night to represent the district music program as they are awarded...something or other...
• And he's getting a 3.2ish average at midterm in spite of all the time football and family stuff ate this fall.
• I've lost almost 14 lbs. in the past two months. This is not a scary-bad thing.
• Work is killing me.
• Work is killing Beast MUCH worse.
• The economy has to get sorted soon. Really. No, really.
• My house is a really huge nightmare in terms of cleanliness, and there is simply not one flat surface that doesn't have stuff piled on it. It's horrifying. Anyone wanna come clean for me? ...sigh
• Tomorrow is haircut day. YAY.
• My family split up Mom's assets last Sunday without fighting about anything. Somehow, this did NOT make the Denver news.
• It definitely should have.
• I'm having a wine party at my house in about two weeks. Let me know if you want to come.
• I promise that I'll clean the house up before then.
• Besides, I have to clean before Thanksgiving.
• Not to mention the fact that I need to order our turkey from the local butcher.
• But first, it would be nice to know how many people I'm feeding.
• At least 8. Maybe 11. Possibly more. If you need a place to light for the holiday and truly bizarre-but-fun family behavior doesn't freak you out, come on over.
• I bought my own flowers for my birthday. Beast came home from his business trip the next day with a lovely red rose. We have flowers everywhere. Amongst the mess, it's kinda fun.
• Winter is officially here: my skin is terminally dry. Being in Colorado didn't help a lot with that.
• But I'm grateful for the perfect weather for the past 10 days of my life. Could not have asked for anything approaching this, so yay God.

OK, and I think that's enough stream-of-consciousness for now. Welcome to the inside of my head. See what I have to deal with?!
~lol~

Production

Today has been all about "doing what needs doing" and it does feel good to be able to check some things off the mental list:

• Volunteer at school
• Swiffer and Roomba our bedroom--first time in weeks. It needs it badly
• Make some decent lunchy food for myself for the next week plus. I actually have 12 pieces of tilapia cooked, cooled, individually wrapped and stowed in the fridge and freezer. And I made enough brown rice to keep me going.
• Clean out the fridge where leaking Greek chicken baggie 'bled'. It didn't drip, but that one shelf was pretty gross
• Throw out 3 containers of elderly liquid (champers, milk, lemonade), leftover spaghetti sauce from sometime in the past, and several containers of pudding, yogurt, etc., that are months past their Use By date
• Run the dishwasher
• Do one load of hand-wash dishes and stack up for the next round of that. I never seem to do this in the right order--I wash dishes while I'm busy making more dirty

Next up is to go back up to our room and put all the stuff back on the floor post-Roomba. Then I need to change clothes and get ready to head to Sparky's JV game. At least it doesn't look like rain today, and the sun is out (kinda), so it will be warmer and nicer than Friday night's game.

We'll come home after the game, eat dinner, watch the Packers, and I'll catch up my reading blog, which is woefully behind the times.

Productivity is good.

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So