I live again!
I haven't posted for a while, and this morning I finally caught up with my flist after 1 week of LJ-less vacation and then a week of getting caught up on life here in Milwaukee. *whew*
New Year == New Start in a big way this year. By coincidence, all of the conditions at work that had been causing me undue stress and had been interfering with other activities lifted at the end of 2007 and now things are back to normal work-wise. I feel different as a result. mrsmetallian has noticed that I seem different, too. (In a good way.)
I spent New Year's day doing a ton of useful and long-neglected tasks around the house. This is going to sound stupid, but I have been inspired by an amazing pair of slippers (now selling for 1/2 price!) that mrsmetallian got me for Christmas. They have made such a big difference in my quality of life around the house (i.e., my feet aren't cold all the time, so I'm less cold all the time, so I feel better therefore and more apt to get off my ass and do stuff) that I started thinking, "What other small changes might improve our quality of life around the house?"
(Staying with my parents for a week was also an inspiration. They have a tendency to complain about minor-to-severe inconveniences around the house for years, or even decades, instead of actually doing something about them.)
To that end, I finally installed the fax machine/copier/scanner we received as a gift last May, started reorganizing and cleaning our home office, ordered an under-the-desk footrest (something I've long desired) from Amazon.com, ripped out the remains of a wire-frame closet organizer (which was just in the way) from our closet and replaced it with a small set of plastic drawers, and cleaned the bedroom semi-thoroughly. Much better! When I get on a roll, I really get on a roll.
Also - some time ago my mom gave us some money under the condition that we spend it on bedroom furniture. So yesterday we went out to research bedroom furniture. The good news is - the set we like best is on sale and very attractively-priced. (In fact, it was one of the cheapest sets we found that wasn't also poorly-made.) The bad news is - it's on sale because they're discontinuing it after tomorrow. I have a real knack for falling in love with discontinued products. Therefore, we have to decide whether or not we want it (and which pieces we want) today. Argh. Our bedroom is small and a bit funny-shaped so that makes things difficult. In any case, getting a chest of drawers to replace the POS I've had for 7 years but can't really use because the bottoms of the drawers fall out will help keep my clothes off of the floor.
(Actually...what we really want is a "storage bed" with a "bookcase headboard." However, the few we found IRL were ugly and I'm not willing to buy furniture online unless I've inspected it IRL first.)
I think my next projects will include: finding a better way for us to handle our active-rotation coats (which are currently draped over the kitchen chairs and are a nuisance) and finding a better way to sort and manage incoming mail (which tends to end up in piles all over the kitchen and dining room tables).
New Year == New Start in a big way this year. By coincidence, all of the conditions at work that had been causing me undue stress and had been interfering with other activities lifted at the end of 2007 and now things are back to normal work-wise. I feel different as a result. mrsmetallian has noticed that I seem different, too. (In a good way.)
I spent New Year's day doing a ton of useful and long-neglected tasks around the house. This is going to sound stupid, but I have been inspired by an amazing pair of slippers (now selling for 1/2 price!) that mrsmetallian got me for Christmas. They have made such a big difference in my quality of life around the house (i.e., my feet aren't cold all the time, so I'm less cold all the time, so I feel better therefore and more apt to get off my ass and do stuff) that I started thinking, "What other small changes might improve our quality of life around the house?"
(Staying with my parents for a week was also an inspiration. They have a tendency to complain about minor-to-severe inconveniences around the house for years, or even decades, instead of actually doing something about them.)
To that end, I finally installed the fax machine/copier/scanner we received as a gift last May, started reorganizing and cleaning our home office, ordered an under-the-desk footrest (something I've long desired) from Amazon.com, ripped out the remains of a wire-frame closet organizer (which was just in the way) from our closet and replaced it with a small set of plastic drawers, and cleaned the bedroom semi-thoroughly. Much better! When I get on a roll, I really get on a roll.
Also - some time ago my mom gave us some money under the condition that we spend it on bedroom furniture. So yesterday we went out to research bedroom furniture. The good news is - the set we like best is on sale and very attractively-priced. (In fact, it was one of the cheapest sets we found that wasn't also poorly-made.) The bad news is - it's on sale because they're discontinuing it after tomorrow. I have a real knack for falling in love with discontinued products. Therefore, we have to decide whether or not we want it (and which pieces we want) today. Argh. Our bedroom is small and a bit funny-shaped so that makes things difficult. In any case, getting a chest of drawers to replace the POS I've had for 7 years but can't really use because the bottoms of the drawers fall out will help keep my clothes off of the floor.
(Actually...what we really want is a "storage bed" with a "bookcase headboard." However, the few we found IRL were ugly and I'm not willing to buy furniture online unless I've inspected it IRL first.)
I think my next projects will include: finding a better way for us to handle our active-rotation coats (which are currently draped over the kitchen chairs and are a nuisance) and finding a better way to sort and manage incoming mail (which tends to end up in piles all over the kitchen and dining room tables).