A Little Control (blogtoberfest day 26)

Okay, don't freak out, but:

Eeeeek! True Horror!

 I know, right? AAAURGH! What is that?! Yeah, it's my pantry. Or it was, as of last week. I swear to you, it was once organized. But while I had intended to acquire some type of bins or baskets to keep it that way, that just didn't happen. Surprise! The worst part was our kitchen linens. If you can keep a bunch of napkins, towels, and dustcloths neatly stacked and organized on a shelf in your pantry, even with other family members putting away the laundry much of the time, well, don't tell me about it. But if you're like me, that is so far from planet Earth it can only be glimpsed in sci-fi movies. We're talking outer space. Fiction.

Neater than usual, sadly.

I have been feeling sort of lost and discouraged lately. While I love Blogging Your Way, I can't help but feel a little insecure about how scattered my blog is--I have only the slimmest, vaguest idea of what I'd like to concentrate on ultimately. I'm hoping that writing a lot (hello, Blogtoberfest) will help me discover my strengths writing- and topic-wise, and re-discover my voice. But this week I have felt down and uncertain and just not in the blogging mood. So I took a little break. Rumor has it that growth and change are uncomfortable, so I'm going to take this unease as a good sign. *deep breath* Yes. Good. For sure. I think.

With this attempt at reinvention and self-discovery I have felt an overwhelming need to get our apartment in order. Partly so I can feel free to take pictures as the mood or opportunity strikes, and partly because (don't tell my mom I admitted this) I just feel better, freer, healthier, and more creative when our home is in order. Not that our place is a mess on the surface, but after living here for 2+ years, we've accumulated quite a bit of stuff in the nooks and crannies and closets but (NOTHING is as bad as our pantry, except maybe our spare room closet, but we'll deal with that later). It's time to do a good top-to-bottom cleaning.

So with that in mind my sweet husband pulled everything out of the pantry for me, and I tossed the old gross stuff, bought a bunch of 96 cent bins from Target to keep stuff together, traded my cookbook and linen storage (with the help of some baskets for the Expedit), and figured out how to make the pantry work.

Ta-daaaaaaaa!

Hooray! Check out all that empty space! When I re-stock some of the baking ingredients and other items that were expired I'm sure that will disappear, so I'm going to buy more 96 cent bins in preparation. But right now this is one tiny oasis in the house. It feels good. Next up: the office. The kitchen. The entry. The hall closet. The bathroom. Sigh. I'm tired just thinking about it. But I'll get it done.

But for the moment I am going to bask in this clean, organized, hidden nook in my apartment. And I'll try to finish out Blogtoberfest with a strength. Well, finish. With writing.

Bins and Books. Magic.

Sunday Snippets (blogtoberfest day 23)

Well, I missed a day. Saturday didn't happen, but I'm okay with it. It was a lovely day. As for the to-do list... Well, it could have been worse. Here's how it shook out:

1. Organize the 7 Levels of Hell Pantry. Identify any organizational items needed to keep it in good shape. 

2. Shop for eggs, veggies, at the Mercato.

3. Book Swap! Book swap is fun! It's good for getting rid of books and getting new books to read without spending money! Fun!

4. Clean the Kitchen

5. Vacuum. 

6. Clean out office/creative area in preparation for Get Your Paint On, which is starting Monday!

7. Grocery list

8. Grocery shopping

9. Paint the coffee table

10. Brew some beer

So I guess I've got quite a bit to do this week. At least I got my number one priority done. Cheers!

Weekend To-Do List (Blogtoberfest day 21)

A simple box of chicken broth. Looks pretty boring, huh? One would hardly consider it intimidating. Or threatening? No. And alone, of course, it isn't. But if you could see the mountain of wretchedness and chaos supporting this simple box, you would be sore afraid. 

I know I am.

Cleaning out and organizing The Pantry of Death is just one of the items on my to-do list this weekend, but it's going at the top of the list with a star. There's a lot going on, and that's one thing that I simply cannot let slide one more week. 

If I'm going to be BETTER I need to get the apartment into proper condition for creating and experimenting and feeling good. It's time to clean and organize, top to bottom. Starting with The Evil Dead Pantry.

The complete list for this weekend:

1.**** Organize the 7 Levels of Hell Pantry. Identify any organizational items needed to keep it in good shape. 

2. Shop for eggs, veggies, at the Mercato.

3. Book Swap! Book swap is fun! It's good for getting rid of books and getting new books to read without spending money! Fun!

4. Clean the Kitchen

5. Vacuum. 

6. Clean out office/creative area in preparation for Get Your Paint On, which is starting Monday!

7. Grocery list

8. Grocery shopping

9. Paint the coffee table

10. Brew some beer

And that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Some people are super power houses of getting stuff done, but I, on the other hand, will be lucky to get half of this done this weekend. But I'll try!

Matt is pulling everything out of the pantry right now, in anticipation. That's his part--getting everything out so I can start fresh. He's teaching a Red Cross class tomorrow morning, so he's taking care of business right now. What a dreamboat! 

Be the Match (blogtoberfest day 20)

Ever since I started posting everywhere about how easy it is to register for the Nation Marrow Donor Program people have been asking if I personally know someone who needs a bone marrow donation right now. Fortunately, I do not.

Of course I have seen T.V. shows and read blogs featuring people with blood disorders or leukemia, I've cried with them, earnestly hoped for a match to be found. And yet it never occurred to me to join the registry.

my hair is wet, not greasy!

Am I evil? Crazy? Selfish? Maybe a little of the latter, but I honestly always assumed that I needed to go far out of my way and endure some kind of painful procedure to register as a donor. Something I would be willing to seek out if I knew someone in need, or if it were offered to me in an immediate setting, but not a process I could easily or conveniently stumble across. 

Turns out I was dead wrong. And once I realized how easy it is--they send the kit to you, and it is easier than brushing your teeth--something flipped inside me. An urgency. A "my-God-how-are-we-not-all-registered-this-could-save-and-change-lives" thing. 

So Matt and I took our cell samples and mailed them in the other morning. And Matt took pictures. Maybe I should have brushed my hair? Bah! We're informal here. 

upper right

They send you four swabs, but that's just for redundancy. The instructions say to throw out any that you might drop, etc. They don't need all four. Which is good, because I'm pretty sure I did the upper right twice, and missed at least one part on the left. Possibly? Maybe? But 2 upper right swabs is probably better than one dropped/thrown away swab, don't you think? Anyway, you have to swallow first, then swab one inner-cheek quadrant: swallow - upper right, swallow - lower right, swallow - upper left, swallow - lower left. One swab per quadrant. Approximately. Heh. 

lower right

You swab vigorously for 10 seconds, with the pressure you'd use to brush your teeth. So easy. Then just fill up the provided card with swabs (could there be a grosser word? "Swab" *shudder* Ew. I doubt it.), and mail them in.

See? Not so gross. You can barely tell the difference between the empty and full cards

So there it is. We sealed the envelopes and sent them out. Now hopefully one of us (both of us?) will be a match. Or if not, at least we've done our best. 

Also: know what's cool? Sending items through the mail marked Human Specimen. Creepy! Awesome! Just in time for Halloween.

Ewww! Cool.

So this arrived...

Sorry the picture's a little dark, but that's the cheek-swabbing kit from Be the Match that I wrote about not too long ago, to join the Registry for the National Marrow Donor Program. We've already mailed them back, but I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.