Today's Check-In (Sunday): Shopping Vacuums & Sheets
Yesterday's rest was so beneficial, and today I woke thinking I was going to take on the world... until I rolled over and realized it was 1330 already. No wonder I felt good, I'd slept all day. And it's been less than 10 hours since then, I barely got half done, and I'm exhausted. Figures. Plus my throat keeps hurting and I'm not sure why. It could be the lingering effects of the bronchial cold I caught from AgtOrange. It could be from allergies and a post-nasal drip. Or I could have picked up a bug from Tallcat, who apparently was lucky enough to get mono AND strep A at the same time. Oh, and I have another friend who had Strep B, but neither of us can remember if we hung out before she knew she had it or not. So it looks like Tuesday is a wash, because if I am smart at all I will go early to the walk-in clinic and get a few tests done.
Spent most of the day online shopping. What else is new? First it was for a new vacuum cleaner. Then it was for sheets. Somewhat it was for a cleaning person to help me around the house. So these are all necessary purchases that have to be made before any new redecorations take place.
Comprehensive List of Tasks
Medication = yes
Sober / No Compulsions = fail, while all the shopping was for necessary stuff (We need new sheets for the new bed; one set is not enough. We need a new vacuum with HEPA filtration.) the time spent on Facebook playing games was just a tad excessive.
TOTAL SCORE = 8 /1311 = 73% not too bad considering I feel like crap now.
Today's Revelations
There's a snob for everything. I never considered how complex shopping for a vacuum would be. We had the same olive green, clunky monstrosity growing up. My first vacuum purchase was an upright cyclonic. I can't remember the brand but they went out of business years later. I loved that thing, but of course it went with the ex. After that I just rented a room, so only used a series of vacuums borrowed from the household and never paid much attention. When I moved into AgtOrange's place, we just picked up a little Swiffer vac and it did alright.
There are, in fact, vacuum cleaner snobs. People who compare models, own several vacuums in various styles and sections of their homes. These are not professional reviewers or salesmen. And once I started looking into the styles, complexities, brands, motors, filtration units... my head just started to spin. Originally, I'd wanted one of the UV-light vacuums (good for killing bedbugs and dust mites) but they all seem to be pieces of crap as vacuums, and UV-light apparently doesn't penetrate well into cloth, meaning for anything other than floors or the lowest carpets it's just another gimmick to sell you a vacuum. There is still a handheld 'bed vacuum' that looks pretty good and is for periodic use on mattress and furniture. But since I already have covers on my mattress, and Steri-Fab works great on upholstery and doesn't leave a residue, I can't really see the use. Best to get a cheap UV-wand if I get anything at all.
However, I do need HEPA filtration. For my asthma, it's a requirement. With the stick vacs it didn't matter as much, because their low suction power didn't kick up that much dust. But for a real vacuum, blowing tiny dust particles back into the air is a recipe for trouble. Anyway, I settled on a Miele canister. I'm not fond of bags, but they are best when you use HEPA (you don't get that puff of dust when you empty it), and I'm not fond of canisters, but this thing is so tiny I'm hoping I can live with it. If function is your only qualifier, the SEBO K series is a better vacuum (according to the snobs) but the darn things are so ugly I could never buy one.
Sheets are bloody expensive. I'm so used to getting stuff from discount stores like KMart that sometimes AgtOrange's luxurious tastes in home items (nothing else, mind you, he loves Dunkin Donuts coffee) makes my eyes pop. I'd wanted to buy sheets made for asthmatics, but they're $450 (not including comforters etc, just the sheet set) and who knows if they are soft or not. Then I was torn between what item I needed first, because it was too much to get a full bed set AND a really nice vacuum.
Two heads are always better than one. No matter what my conundrum (with the notable exception of 'what do I want to eat'), I can always count on my significant other to help me find a solution. When confronted with the 'vacuum or sheets' problem, I sounded it out at him and finally we decided to get a cheaper set of good sheets and comforter from Target (still not that cheap, but not ridiculous either) and the vacuum. Depending on what model I get, the vacuum will be either $500 or $850. The sheets we bought (two sheet sets, with a comforter/pillow set) cost $340 and should serve us well for months. Later, we can try out the special sheets, and if they suck we still have solidly decent sheets to fall back on. And someday we will invest in the luxury sheets, which easily run $1K for a complete set of king-sized bedclothes. My goodness!
I can control my shopping if I break down the buying stuff with the work. The two main, expensive pieces I need for the living room redecoration is the couch and the big bookcase. I won't get the bookcase until I've put the hummingbird stencil on the wall and hung the large paper lanterns and their brackets. I won't get the sofa until I've bought and installed the new carpet tiles. Both of these are entirely sensible ideas, but they have the added bonus of checking my compulsion to buy stuff. Instead of feeling deprived because I can't yet get something (due to monetary constraints), I've been telling myself I can have these items once I take care of the previous things I've bought. And since I haven't gotten around to that yet, obviously I don't yet need another project to tackle.
Every time I buy something, it is generally related to some future project I want to do. I keep buying and buying, but never completing the projects, and then all the half-finished stuff fills me with anxiety when I look at it or think about it. This way is much better. I can't start a new project unless I either take care of the last project, or get rid of it completely.
Like this 'tea party' project I thought up the other day. Yes, it would be VERY beneficial for me to have a set time that friends visited me. It would be so good for me to have visitors on a regular basis. But I need to get some basic home decorating things accomplished first before I start having tea parties and jello shot parties and any other kind of gatherings. Sure, I can have visitors, but not at that level. Not yet. I haven't managed a week on my new life schedule and already I'm talking about rearranging it for a weekly gathering? I don't think so.
So at this time, no parties, although visitors are great and I do have a teapot that makes enough for two (or three) people now. That's lovely. I will do the lanterns, stencil, and floor tiles first as I am able. That's a week's work if you are healthy, and at least a month if you are not. Then we can get the double-papasan chair so there is additional seating that is a little higher up than this sofa we have now. It's fairly cheap. Afterward, I can start the 'expensive book case' project, and work on that for awhile before getting the nice couch I want.
And after THAT I can start thinking about larger gatherings, which should be sometime around spring of next year.
Spent most of the day online shopping. What else is new? First it was for a new vacuum cleaner. Then it was for sheets. Somewhat it was for a cleaning person to help me around the house. So these are all necessary purchases that have to be made before any new redecorations take place.
Comprehensive List of Tasks
- strength exercises = yes, I did complete these
- chores = I started laundry, and AgtOrange has promised to finish it. Yay for helpers!
- grooming = Yes, I did the extended grooming as planned. (basic, plus teeth whitening, plus nails, shaving, etc.)
- meal (smoothie) = yup, half scoop of protein powder isn't so bad, but it still kind of tastes like something someone else threw up. Not to mention, at 19g if I really want to protein/amino acid load, I should have a full scoop... perhaps two full scoops (in two smoothies a day). Not sure I could keep that up. Maybe if I felt REALLY good.
- nap / rest = I'm counting this as a success, not because I took a nap, but because I slept all day instead.
- Spanish = fail. I started lesson 17 for the upteenth time, but I'm just so tired I can't focus. Heck, I've been working on this blog post in sections.
- meal (1 prep/1 eat) = I ate a healthy meal, but did not prep anything. 1/2 pts
- coping (SMART) = showed up for both online meetings, both meeting were cancelled (null pts)
Medication = yes
Sober / No Compulsions = fail, while all the shopping was for necessary stuff (We need new sheets for the new bed; one set is not enough. We need a new vacuum with HEPA filtration.) the time spent on Facebook playing games was just a tad excessive.
TOTAL SCORE = 8 /1311 = 73% not too bad considering I feel like crap now.
Today's Revelations
There's a snob for everything. I never considered how complex shopping for a vacuum would be. We had the same olive green, clunky monstrosity growing up. My first vacuum purchase was an upright cyclonic. I can't remember the brand but they went out of business years later. I loved that thing, but of course it went with the ex. After that I just rented a room, so only used a series of vacuums borrowed from the household and never paid much attention. When I moved into AgtOrange's place, we just picked up a little Swiffer vac and it did alright.
There are, in fact, vacuum cleaner snobs. People who compare models, own several vacuums in various styles and sections of their homes. These are not professional reviewers or salesmen. And once I started looking into the styles, complexities, brands, motors, filtration units... my head just started to spin. Originally, I'd wanted one of the UV-light vacuums (good for killing bedbugs and dust mites) but they all seem to be pieces of crap as vacuums, and UV-light apparently doesn't penetrate well into cloth, meaning for anything other than floors or the lowest carpets it's just another gimmick to sell you a vacuum. There is still a handheld 'bed vacuum' that looks pretty good and is for periodic use on mattress and furniture. But since I already have covers on my mattress, and Steri-Fab works great on upholstery and doesn't leave a residue, I can't really see the use. Best to get a cheap UV-wand if I get anything at all.
However, I do need HEPA filtration. For my asthma, it's a requirement. With the stick vacs it didn't matter as much, because their low suction power didn't kick up that much dust. But for a real vacuum, blowing tiny dust particles back into the air is a recipe for trouble. Anyway, I settled on a Miele canister. I'm not fond of bags, but they are best when you use HEPA (you don't get that puff of dust when you empty it), and I'm not fond of canisters, but this thing is so tiny I'm hoping I can live with it. If function is your only qualifier, the SEBO K series is a better vacuum (according to the snobs) but the darn things are so ugly I could never buy one.
Sheets are bloody expensive. I'm so used to getting stuff from discount stores like KMart that sometimes AgtOrange's luxurious tastes in home items (nothing else, mind you, he loves Dunkin Donuts coffee) makes my eyes pop. I'd wanted to buy sheets made for asthmatics, but they're $450 (not including comforters etc, just the sheet set) and who knows if they are soft or not. Then I was torn between what item I needed first, because it was too much to get a full bed set AND a really nice vacuum.
Two heads are always better than one. No matter what my conundrum (with the notable exception of 'what do I want to eat'), I can always count on my significant other to help me find a solution. When confronted with the 'vacuum or sheets' problem, I sounded it out at him and finally we decided to get a cheaper set of good sheets and comforter from Target (still not that cheap, but not ridiculous either) and the vacuum. Depending on what model I get, the vacuum will be either $500 or $850. The sheets we bought (two sheet sets, with a comforter/pillow set) cost $340 and should serve us well for months. Later, we can try out the special sheets, and if they suck we still have solidly decent sheets to fall back on. And someday we will invest in the luxury sheets, which easily run $1K for a complete set of king-sized bedclothes. My goodness!
I can control my shopping if I break down the buying stuff with the work. The two main, expensive pieces I need for the living room redecoration is the couch and the big bookcase. I won't get the bookcase until I've put the hummingbird stencil on the wall and hung the large paper lanterns and their brackets. I won't get the sofa until I've bought and installed the new carpet tiles. Both of these are entirely sensible ideas, but they have the added bonus of checking my compulsion to buy stuff. Instead of feeling deprived because I can't yet get something (due to monetary constraints), I've been telling myself I can have these items once I take care of the previous things I've bought. And since I haven't gotten around to that yet, obviously I don't yet need another project to tackle.
Every time I buy something, it is generally related to some future project I want to do. I keep buying and buying, but never completing the projects, and then all the half-finished stuff fills me with anxiety when I look at it or think about it. This way is much better. I can't start a new project unless I either take care of the last project, or get rid of it completely.
Like this 'tea party' project I thought up the other day. Yes, it would be VERY beneficial for me to have a set time that friends visited me. It would be so good for me to have visitors on a regular basis. But I need to get some basic home decorating things accomplished first before I start having tea parties and jello shot parties and any other kind of gatherings. Sure, I can have visitors, but not at that level. Not yet. I haven't managed a week on my new life schedule and already I'm talking about rearranging it for a weekly gathering? I don't think so.
So at this time, no parties, although visitors are great and I do have a teapot that makes enough for two (or three) people now. That's lovely. I will do the lanterns, stencil, and floor tiles first as I am able. That's a week's work if you are healthy, and at least a month if you are not. Then we can get the double-papasan chair so there is additional seating that is a little higher up than this sofa we have now. It's fairly cheap. Afterward, I can start the 'expensive book case' project, and work on that for awhile before getting the nice couch I want.
And after THAT I can start thinking about larger gatherings, which should be sometime around spring of next year.