I’m still vacationing at home this week, doing both more and less than I had hoped. I’m taking a wee break from posting (obvs) but I thought I’d share this wee bit of wisdom I learned this week:
When it’s taking 2+ hours to dry a load of clothes, and there’s no lint on the lint-trap, that doesn’t necessarily mean your dryer is crappy (granted, it might be, but that’s not my point). As it turns out, you may have half an inch of compacted lint blocking the outside dryer vent. Clearing that out will not only improve your dryer’s performance, but it’s less of a fire-harzard, too! Win-win!
(It’s moment’s like that when I want a certificate that says, “You are now a grown-up. Congratulations.”)
These are the types of things I’m doing on my vacation. Along with making a wee doll-quilt, that just happens to be cat-sized. And attending Louisville’s “Let Them Tweet Cake” meetup, at which 1) I did not spill anything on myself and 2) I met some pretty cool folks. We’ve lived in Louisville for about a year and a half now, and I have met zero people outside of work, so just walking into the room filled with strangers was a huge accomplishment. Plus, I finally got to meet a couple of bloggers I’ve been reading since before we moved here (when I wanted to learn more about Louisville), plus I learned about some new blogs to check out.
Along with that, it’s been a pretty laid back, relaxing kind of week. I’ve done some shopping, I’ve done some crafty organizing, and I’ve been fairly successful in not thinking about work (it helps that it’s our slow time). I suspect that the final three days of this vacation will include much of the same. Perfect.
There’s still time to enter the Coffee-mate giveaway on my review site for a chance to win a $100 gift card – but hurry, because the giveaway ends on May 31st. You can also enter to win a $500 gift card on the BlogHer site, too!
It took all weekend and most of the week, but the apartment is CLEAN! CLEAN! When I leave work tonight, I’ll have the next ten days off, and I’ll be able to enjoy them in a clean house. I am so excited, I can barely stand it.
Oh, wow, my forehead is big. This is why I wear partial bangs, and avoid headbands in public.
Tonight is the last pat of the cleaning extravaganza, which isn’t cleaning but organizing my craft space. I’m going to do as much crafting as I can on my week off, both for the shop as well as an attempt to teach myself to quilt. This is the fun part of cleaning, though. I love getting things set up and in the right place, ready to go when I need them.
Other than that, things are pretty status quo. I watched the Lost finale last Sunday, which I wrote about here. (I know it’s been a few days, but I’m trying to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.) I’m planning to try a few new recipes on my week off, too.
Wow, I hadn’t realized it until I wrote all of this out, but it appears I’m gearing up for a week of domesticity. I’m cool with that. Even though the cats might get freaked out.
What’s Susan doing in the kitchen? She never hangs out in there. I better keep an eye on her, in case she needs help.
A random list of items I’m going to assume that, as long as they are not clearly marked with a name, are available for public consumption:
- Leftovers from the client meeting, including sodas, sandwiches, cookies and potato chips
- Leftover birthday cake from that afternoon’s (or yesterday’s) celebration
- Parmesan cheese
- Salad dressing
- Frozen meals belonging to the temp used to work here six months ago
A random list of items I’m going to assume you should not touch, under any circumstances:
- Anything clearly marked with someone’s name (who still works here)
- Anything in a paper bag, grocery bag, lunch bag or what looks like a lunch bag
- Restaurant leftovers from a meal you did not order or pay for, even if a name is not on them
- The bottle of hot sauce marked “No, Seriously, I’ll Stab You.” (I love that.)
- Whole fruit that did not come from your pantry, which cannot be marked with a name without ruining the food and/or poisoning the eventual eater.
I leave it up to the group mind: Am I off base here? Did I forget anything?
We’ve had a string of gray days, and along with interrupted sleep at night, it’s really starting to get to me. I’m having a harder time focusing than usual. I’ve been, shall we say, more prickly than normal. I guess we all go through these types of days, and I just need some sunshine to get myself out of it.
(I’m also going to say this quick-like, so as not to make a big deal out of it: Mr. M’s new job didn’t exactly work out. Bah. It’s fine, we’ll be OK, but it’s frustrating. Moving on.)
To help get myself out of my funk, I’m thinking of ways to reorganize the house. Our current place is bigger than our last one, but we’re seeing that when we moved in, we could have arranged things better – a bookcase here, a desk there, just some minor moving things around to improve the flow.
Ha! Flow. I sound so designery, don’t I?
I just killed it with “designery,” didn’t I. Oh well.
I want to do this now because I have a vacation of sorts coming up in a couple of weeks that I’ll be spending at home, so I’m trying to get the reorganization done BEFORE the vacation. I refuse to spend the entirety of my days off cleaning and reorganizing. What’s the sense of taking time off work to work?
That being said, I will be taking that week to do the final “push” to get the Etsy shop ready. I’m also thinking of fun things to do besides the shop work – maybe a day trip. Cincinnati is close (Trader Joes! Ikea!). And there’s plenty to do in town – I’d like to go back to Churchill Downs, maybe. Neither of these would require tons of cash or time, which is vital.
Just thinking about reorganizing and cleaning to make time for some fun is already lifting my spirits a bit. It’ll be even better when I actually do it. Now I have something to look forward to this weekend!
And I hear it’s going to be sunny this weekend, too. Nice.
