False Alarm

The last few days have been a haven for me. I feel rested and calm; a calm which will certainly evaporate on Monday morning when I have to report back to work. I’m actually going in tomorrow to get as much work done as I possibly can – like backing up the server, and posting all the calendars for this semester.

TooToo’s crying was a false alarm. She was crying about her rubber fish, which she tossed into the bathtub to get attention. I wish I had figured this out before I drove to three stores on New Year’s Day at 11:00 PM, trying to find buffered aspirin. Her foot still looks bad, but I’m going to continue feeding her antibiotic pills, and applying antibiotic ointment to the wound. I honestly expect it to start looking better by Sunday morning, or we will visit the Vet on Monday.

Charlotte and I did an amazing lot on the house today, even with Baby Russell underfoot. We worked for a little over three hours, and managed to fill eight boxes with dishes. That’s about ¼ of the kitchen. It’s amazing that someone who cooks as little as R. has so many dishes!! I can understand the stemware, but why does she need so damn many plates?

The three of us met Mom, Robin, and Ryan for lunch at On The Border, which was very nice. Afterwards they all went back to Mom’s, leaving me alone. I went shopping for my own dishes, and bought two cheap plate sets at the dollar store, along with some cheap plastic glasses.

I spent the afternoon and early evening finishing the Robin Hobb novel. Charlotte has first dibs on it – Becca can just wait. After I finished the book I started cleaning the cabinets. (Charlotte and I cleaned them out, now it’s time to clean them.) I’m hoping to finish three tonight (the three over the sink) then work on the others as I empty them. Now there is room for me in R. ’s kitchen, which was the goal all along.

I’m going to sleep soon, as this will be the last day I sleep in for quite a while.

Not Quite Yet . . .

New Year’s Eve. I can hear people setting off fireworks, and it’s only 9:00 PM.

I’ve spent a pleasant day so far. I slept in and brunched at Pizza Hut since it was all I could afford. Later I went to the Parent House to see if my credit cards had arrived in the mail, and to pick up a checkbook just in case I could find a place to use it. (I’ve lost my wallet, and only have a temporary driver’s license and no credit cards, which explains why I’m a pauper with several thousand in the bank!)

The Parent’s Internet seduced me. I went on a pretend shopping spree. There are some wonderful bargains out there this week! The Gaiam store has a $5 sale on VHS tapes. There were several I wanted, but I just couldn’t buy them! Hopefully one of my cards will come in this week, and then I can have a little spree.

Dad came home early, and invited me to eat at Red Lobster with Mother. Afterwards I came home and cleaned R. ’s breakfast room. I move out the furniture I don’t want, and brushed the walls with my broom. They really need to be scrubbed, but I just wasn’t feeling that energetic. I still think the best course of action is to wait until R. moves her things out, and then have Merry Maids come clean the entire house from top to bottom. They can dust, scrub the walls, shampoo the carpets, mop the floors, clean the windows, and make everything look perfect. Then, after they are finished, I can start creating new messes.

Anyway, the room is fairly clean. Not perfect by any means, but now I can move in a real table and chair so I have somewhere to eat besides the bathtub.

I’ve worked a little on school calendars today, enough to know that the ColdFusion class is going to eat into my time more than I thought. I already have to re-write several lessons, but I can’t manage that until campus opens and I have a server to play with.

Internet access would also help. I really need to call AT&T and schedule something then clean up the backyard so the technician can actually string up a cable. Maybe I can get Dad to string for the technician. That would make life easier.

Yesterday R. showed me where the fuse box for the house is. Tomorrow I’m going to turn off all the power, and map out where the different rooms are. Then I can turn off the power to the workroom, and see if the outlet boxes are grounded. The outlets themselves aren’t, but there is a chance the boxes are. If they are then I can fix the ground problem myself, which would be incredibly useful. Right now I have an extension cord running down the hallway to the grounded plug in the bathroom. I’ve tripped over it twice.

I also want to go buy some sandpaper, a paintbrush, a drop cloth, and some turquoise paint. The Lane console really wants me to paint it.

The room I’m in now, the workroom, will be my luxury room until the rest of the house is finished. This one room is going to get a thorough cleaning, and plenty of attention. The current plan is to finish cleaning and sealing the tile floors, paint the walls, and then bring more things from home to furnish it. I need at least one space that feels permanent.

Of course the entire house feels better now that I’ve cleaned out the kitchen. All R.’s out-of-date food is gone, and I’m slowly getting the cupboards cleaned so I can place my things in them. Newspaper, I need to buy newspaper! I want to wrap all R.’s dishes up, and bring in my own. It seems a little childish, but I’d like to have dishes that I know the dogs haven’t licked. And silverware that doesn’t have bite marks.

(Later) Just had a horrible thought a few minutes ago about the outlets. What if the four that I think are grounded aren’t actually grounded?? What if it’s just cosmetic? Oh, great.

(Later) I pulled my tester out of the desk drawer and scramble for the bathroom outlet, where the computer is plugged in. Damn it! It is not grounded. The one in the kitchen I could reach easily is, though, which makes me think the other kitchen outlet might be, too.

Currently reading Robin Hobb’s Golden Fool, and so far it’s as wonderful as the first Assassin trilogy. Just a wonderful book, filled with well-written angst. I’m enjoying every page.