(no subject)

[stormdog]

On Sunday, I not only swept the driveway, organized our garbage cans (and connected then with their lids), picked up various yard debris, and otherwise made our yard look nicer, but Andrea and I worked inside too. Together, she and I bagged up the pile of clothes that, in their unfortunate location in front of the washing machine, have spent the better part of a couple years in a musty basement getting intermittently wet due to the washer's drain hose slipping, or the condensate from the furnace getting onto the floor instead of into the floor drain. We didn't really sort through for salvageables; we just ousted it all, along with the large pile of dryer lint and about half a dozen empty bottles of detergent. I'm planning to buy a smallish dust bin to put next to the big white machines to avoid this problem in the future. The basement isn't great looking yet by any means, but there's a very noticeable difference in the laundry area and it's enough to cheer me up when I have reason to go down there.

The front porch has been unburdened of two Aveo loads worth of clothes, cassette tapes, and various other randomness from the basement that are now finding new homes at the Goodwill store. Our collective ratio of items that followed us home from there to items that have gone back is still well over one to one, I'm sure, but we're making progress.

The living room is a bit of a mess since I have two more freecycled bookshelves sitting in it that need to go upstairs to the library. I have to make room in the library first though, and nail the backings to them, since they seem to be coming off. I also have a DVD rack that I bought at the Salvation Army in McHenry last night on my outing with posicat and samiitiger. Our little rack has been over-full for some months, so I've been watching for one. Now I just have to figure out where to put it.

I've been out and about more than usual these past two days. On Monday evening I paid saagaadaa a visit and had a nice time playing computer mahjong, looking at pictures from California, and talking. Yesterday, I went over to Posi's place after work where I met up with he and Samii. The three of us went out for Chinese buffet in the yet-to-be-named Aveo and followed up with the aforementioned trip to Salvation Army (where there were three identical and high-end looking dual-VHS duplication decks; too bad I don't need one) and a stop at Advance. Or maybe it was Autozone. I get them mixed up.

Salvation army had some really pretty vintage furniture. What most caught my eye was a vanity with a great big round mirror on the top. So neat! The ones with the built in seat are even neater though. There was a cupboard and matching sideboard (I think that's the term) that looked they came from a fifties farmhouse. Not my taste, but unusual and eye-catching.

My wrist has been bugging me more than usual lately, so I think I'll leave it at that. I really need to get Dragon installed on the laptop once I get the new laptop set up. I wish it would transcribe my speech as fast as I can type; I get annoyed when I have to go slowly with it. Oh well. Tonight is dinner with my parents. Andrea is making what she described to me as a chicken gulyas (with her fabulous home made dumplings!) so I'm looking forward to food and company. Yay!