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December 29, 2006
Friday Shuffle - The Things Other Than Electronics Edition
That's right. I'm going all Amish today.
Well, not really. I just haven't been drawn to do much computer-related in the past few days. For one thing, we've been on a cleaning/deChristmasing bender that's included reorganizing my pantry.
Our house is wee, and most of it is filled with child acoutrements and great big stinking piles of dogs. I have a desk slightly smaller than an aircraft carrier parked in my dining room. I do love my desk. It's a vintage Steelcase, gun-metal gray, and I scored it for a mere $5 at a rummage sale about a week before I got pregnant with Clara Jane. It was a good month for acquisitions.
Despite my love for my large, large desk, it's not quite big enough to conduct my parenting, writing, blogging, jelly-making, jelly-selling, knitting, quilting, music-collecting, cooking and weekly meltdowns. I've tried, but I found it difficult to be productive with the huge piles of everything I own falling on my head every ten minutes. So earlier this year I staged a hostile takeover of the small pantry that houses non-toxic cleaning supplies, extra food, and whatever crap we can't find a real home for. I called it Nightmaretown.
That worked for about two months before I realized that the storage system I'd devised didn't work, since everything was stored about six inches above my head. Once again I have found myself with piles of crap in Nightmaretown and piles of crap on my sleek piece of desk real estate. So here we go again, reorging Nightmaretown into a stampede of wheeled 5-drawer plastic carts.
I don't understand how I've managed to completely fill one of those carts, one drawer of another, and I still can barely get into my pantry without crushing boxes of little cheese-flavored bunny crackers under my feet. It's progress, I suppose. Invisible progress.
I did encounter the new sewing machine I purchased a month ago during the clean-out, and I finally gave it a whirl. Good thing, too, since my granny sent me home with two big boxes of fabric scraps. And by "scraps" I mean some of these pieces of fabric are just this side of threads. But then there are other - gorgeous, perfect pieces of vintage cuteness. There are also a few pieces that aren't really pieces at all anymore, for they have turned to dust. I've been coughing since I sorted the fabric boxes this morning. Is that a bad sign? They didn't make clothes out of asbestos back then, did they?
Anyway, I spent most of my day sewing together quilt squares I cut well over a year ago. So many that I'm 1/4 of the way finished with a twin-size donation quilt.
Playing with all this fabric has been a lovely change of pace. It's much softer than the keyboard. I've also been doing some writing the old fashioned way, with a notebook and paper. I got an idea of a piece of fiction last week and I can't shake it. I haven't written fiction in years, but I'm enjoying this. It's about music, and you know there's going to be some shuffling...
1. I'll Take the Rain - REM
2. Don't Worry About the Government - Talking Heads
3. Helter Skelter - U2
4. Shiny Happy People - REM
5. It's Over - Roy Orbison
6. Once - Pearl Jam
7. Suzy Q - Uncle Tupelo (who have a lovely shrine at my new favorite restaurant. I refrained from stealing any part of it while we were dining last night.)
8. Knockin' at Your Door - Jimmy Reed
9. Hey Mama - Kanye West
10. I'll Run Your Hurt Away - Ruby Johnson
Posted by Robin at December 29, 2006 03:50 PM
Comments
The boys in the band know how to get down, eh?
Fiction is roaming around in my brain, too, if only I had the guts to try it.
We called our small pantry/laundry area our "West Virginia Room." Very mean, I know.
Posted by: Mrs. Chicken at December 29, 2006 08:32 PM
Too bad you don't have cats; because,then you could add "cat bed" to the list of desk purposes. They are squatters who will not leave.
Happy New Year!
Kathie
Posted by: Kathie at December 30, 2006 07:38 AM
Kudos, Mrs. Chicken, on recognizing the song. Don't fear the fiction. It's fun.
Kathie, I do have a cat. She's just not as blog-worthy as the dogs. She's pretty mellow in her advancing years and spends most of her time snuggling with Clara Jane. She's not above staking claims on desk real estate, though. I'm constantly having to clean cat fur out of my printer, because she loves to sit on it. Not good, considering she's a 16-pound behemouth.
Posted by: Robin at December 30, 2006 09:39 AM
Ah...the End Of Year Cleaning....There must be something in the air. I too have reorganized my fabric stash, and am turning an eye to my closets. The Husband has been on a home improvement bender. This morning, cement was involved!
Off to sew!
Posted by: allison at December 30, 2006 11:29 AM
You're inspiring me to get my spare room shaped up so that it's more than a place for me to hide shit that I don't want to put away properly.
And I have got to get my yarn stash organized. I even have skeins of sock yarn separated from their mates - nothing like having the ability to knit only one sock. And since I have sworn off buying any sock yarn until my stash is reduced by 75% I really need to know what I've got on hand.
Posted by: Dixie at December 30, 2006 02:22 PM
I had a computer problem a few months ago. I was embarrassed when the computer guy showed me the amount of cat hair he pulled out of the fan area.
Posted by: Kathie at December 30, 2006 10:10 PM
