Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Well, as threatened promised, I cleaned my closets for most of the weekend. Not the most thrilling thing to do, but it feels much, much better having gotten rid of so much junk. Still have to inventory the computer junk I found, but that can happen another day.

I also managed to strike something off my uberlist – item 48, “Fix the sagging problem on my large bookcase.” It finally hit me early this morning, after months of trying to figure out how I’d wedge something underneath to even out the bottom (it’s on legs and the middle was sagging rather badly), that I could just take the legs off and set the whole thing on the floor. D’oh! So today it got unloaded, the legs came off and it’s now resting nicely on the floor. It’ll take a while for the bottom to completely un-bow, but it’s looking better than it did. And I can get the bottom doors open without having to wrench them open, a big plus.

Upped the gauge on my earrings as well this weekend, from 18s to 14s. Yes, a two gauge jump, but it works. I wanted something a tad less “delicate” looking, and I’m pleased with the results. Popped the one in without a hitch but the left ear didn’t want to work, so I had to go back down and have it professionally inserted. Yay for piercers’ tools, specifically wedges. In it is, and in it’s staying for a long while. I never take the things out, anyway, so it’s no problem.

Ran this evening. Was pleasantly cool, but not so cool I wanted a long sleeve T. I think I may have to consider dumping the constant use of sudafed, regardless of my allergies. I just can’t get my heart rate down low enough when I’m on the stuff, and it’s annoying to be running at 170-odd beats a minute. So, an experiment – I’ll stop and see what happens. I can always carry it with just in case, but I’d like to see a tad more progress made on my running and it’s not happening with the sudafed in my system. Wish me luck.

Started culling my belongings this evening. A small bit, just going through books that I want to get rid of, but it’s a start. Since reading Affluenza I’ve been feeling the burden of having so much stuff around the house. I don’t use so much of it, so why am I keeping it all? Ugh. So, started the process of getting rid of some of it this evening. I’ll likely donate the books to the library for their use or sale, but if anyone wants any of them, let me know. Lots of my sci-fi paperbacks are gonna go bye-bye shortly.

Next step is the stuffed animal collection – I’ve wanted to cut that down for a while and donate the bulk of it to a charity that could have kids actually using these things rather than having them take up closet space that could use better used. If anyone has a charity suggestion for ’em, here in the DC area, let me know.

I’m also thinking that it makes sense to go through my casette tape collection, write down the albums I’d like to duplicate, and get rid of those, too. I don’t have a tape player and I’m not inclined to go get one, so those can go away as well. It’s a big box. Anyone with a desire to take some Taiwanese pop music off my hands? 😉

I also need to get myself on eBay or Craig’s List and get rid of some more valuable things (vacuum cleaners, antique mixer, Tungsten|C, etc.). Inertia demands that I simply continue to store these things, but why keep them around, especially if I can make a buck or two off of them.

Doesn’t help that I’m a natural hoarder, from a family of natural hoarders. I don’t know how much parents cleaned out their house when they moved. Well, not true, I ended up with several things to “hold” for them when they moved, but there was So Much Stuff in that house that it just boggles the mind when I think about trying to clean it all out. I don’t want to get to that point. Or, rather, I want to draw back from that point, because I certainly have a ton of stuff here that isn’t needed. I’d hate to think what anyone having to clean the place out for me would think of all the crap I’ve kept over the years.

Part of the book culling is being able to get rid of two older, cheap wooden bookshelves that are in the bedroom and therefore are a potential egg laying spot for the bed bugs. Once the books are removed and thoroughly shaken out, the shelves will go down and go into the trash, thrown far enough in that they can’t be salvaged and possibly transmit any bugs. Plus that’ll help unclutter the bedroom a lot. And if I have less space to store books, perhaps I won’t buy as many (yeah, right – they’ll just stack up like they do beside my reading chair now).

Yup, it all comes back to the bugs.

So far, so good from the latest round of treatments; no bites since Wednesday. Well, none since Saturday/Sunday, actually, but none in the bedroom since I’ve been sleeping in there again since Wednesday. I have my fingers crossed, but I’m definitely not holding my breath at this point.

Work’s been busy as all hell, but so far it’s mainly been manageable. I went over my to-do list with da boss today and she seemed okay with my ordering of the priorities, so I’m plugging away at the list now. Should get through a good part of it soon, I hope, which leaves me time to get to some of my more long-term projects. Provided the usual emergencies don’t keep popping up as they always do.

No real plans for the weekend. Earrings I ordered waaaaaaay back a month or two ago came in, so I’ll be stretching my ears up a gauge or two on Sunday when my piercer’s back in the shop. Shouldn’t be too noticeable, it’s going from an 18ga to a 14ga, which isn’t that extreme. But I’d decided I wanted something a tad less delicate than I have in now.

Run planned for the morning (in the rain!), and perhaps a swim on Sunday. Been ages since I’ve been in the pool, but it should be dead Sunday morning, which is always a good thing – no lane sharing needed. The exercise habit’s slowly getting back to normal, which is a very, very good thing. I always feel better when I’m in the exercise groove, and heaven knows my mood’s needed a lift of late.

Better run this morning than Monday. Heart rate stayed more in line with the norm (though that’s too high, thank you sudafed, by which I mean thank you cats for causing such allergies that I need to take sudafed all the time now), and it felt better than Monday’s inaugural run.

Crazy days at work, with crazy questions left and right. Mostly staying above water now, but will be very happy to see the fiscal year close and the new one begin, even if Congress hasn’t gotten off their collective asses and given us a real budget yet. Off tomorrow for a dental appointment, one that was originally scheduled for last week but which had to be put off because I had to be at a meeting Thursday morning that was absolute BS and at which I really was not needed.

Saw K tonight, watched the OC and he was a good sport about me making fun of the characters (“C’mon, Marissa, eat a fucking sandwich!”). Gave him a massage afterward, which was fun for both of us. Was relaxing all around.

Richard arrived home from NYC this evening as well and he liked the new living room arrangement that Mike and I foisted off on the room over the weekend. We moved a couch around to the outside wall to open up the inner space, and cocked everything at a slight angle. It helps. And I also let Richard know this evening that despite my earlier considerations I did not want to get a new couch – I see little point in spending almost $900 on a new couch when we can spend much, much less to simply replace the mattress on the one futon frame that’s still in excellent shape (it just has a mattress that sucks gorilla butt).

Which I think was inspired by my current choice of reading, Affluenza (2nd edition). Definitely making me reconsider some of my choices, and some of my habits. Hopefully for the better.

Sitting around the apartment in a kilt with the AC going, even though it’s in the 60s outside, makes for one cold Moose.

Tonight was a chill-out night. Richard’s in NYC, Mike’s at work, K’s at a concert, the Imp’s at home, so was just me and the TiVo. Cleared out several shows, and just generally decided to do nothing. Was going to play with a template tonight, but wasn’t in the mood to have to hunt down the alterations I needed to make to make it look right. So just some chill-out time with the Teen Titans and the Justice League.

Chatted with a woman I work with who’s signed up for February’s AIDS Marathon training program. She did 5 miles this past weekend and was incredibly excited for having done it. It was really neat to see someone so excited about beginning an exercise program, especially at a time when I’m restarting mine, ever so slowly. I’m trying not to dive in too quickly, which is my usual wont, so I’m just running a couple times this week, with stretching on the “off” days. I know my system’s deconditioned a lot since the start of the bed bug mess back in August, so I’m just trying to get out and do some gentle runs to get back into the swing of things, and gradually add in the other two sports and weights as I feel ready to. No set plan yet, just trying to get back up to a comfortable level, then go from there, hence starting with my favorite event.

Work is in the usual end-of-the-fiscal-year madness season, but I’m doing better with it this year than I have previously. I’ve gotten a better handle on the legal issues involved, which makes these things much more fun to deal with, as well as making it easier to be a relatively calm voice in the middle of the storm. Which is a role that I much prefer to play over the scrambling attorney, trying to play catch-up and/or stay one ahead of the game. Is good to get some experience under ye olde belt.

Anyway, past time to crash here. Gotta try and get up to run tomorrow.