Archive for closet
>On a cloudy day…
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>Don’t bite my head off…
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>On a Sunday afternoon…
>It rained yesterday in the evening and during the night. It was very pleasant to lie in bed and hear the rain come down on the patio through the opened window. That’s how I fell asleep. To that sound.
Today it is an overcast day and cool, but I still have the windows open at the top, because inside it isn’t cold. I’m wearing my boots and leggings and an extra top. I have a scarf around my neck for warmth. The draft that is moving through the apartment is not unpleasant and only mildly cool. I’m dressed warm enough for it not to bother me.
When I took Tyke for a walk at noontime, we got rained on, but it was a real springtime rain and very mild and light. It was like wet sunshine pouring down. Nevertheless, we were a bit soaked when we got home and I had to dry us off with towels. Tyke enjoys that and thinks it’s the same thing as cuddling. My hair got sticky because of the hairspray. I’ll have to wash it again. It was standing up in all directions anyway from sleeping on it.
I’m becoming a champion at sleeping at night. There’s no problem anymore in sleeping through the night and waking up at a normal hour in the morning. I usually get about 8 hours of sleep. I think that’s the requisite amount. I can do that without taking a nap during the day, but I’ll take one of those too if I have to, though I prefer to do without and be really tired at night and long for bedtime.
I must admit that sometimes it’s the cups of coffee that keep me going through the day. If I feel at all like I’m faltering and not hanging in there well enough, I make myself a cup and do much better again. It only takes one cup and I’m alright. I don’t have to make a second one. That’s what so nice about the Senseo machine. That I can just make one cup and drink it hot and fresh.
The Senseo machine is doing a lot better after a good cleaning with a bottle of cleansing vinegar. It’s stopped leaking and is working normally again. I probably hadn’t cleaned it on time and had waited to long to run the vinegar through. Time goes by so quickly and it is like with my haircuts. If I don’t write them down in my agenda, I forget to make an appointment for my next one and walk around with unruly hair, not giving a thought to why that is. Being absent minded is one of my lesser attributes.
Tyke is doing better every day. he’s not so worn out when we come home from our walks, so I don’t think he really feels sick, although his eye still doesn’t look so good. He’s gnawing on a rawhide bone right now, preferring a new one to the left over bits of the old ones. I end up throwing those away in the trash. They’re not very interesting to him. I need to go to the pet store and buy him one of those huge bones and see what he does with one of those. It will be just out of curiosity to see his reaction to it.
I put away all the clothes I wore this week in my organized closet. I had worn about four different outfits and had left them all lying around, although neatly folded. Today I finally made myself clean them up. When you live by yourself, you only have yourself to blame for the mess that’s there. Whatever dish is dirty, is your dish. Whatever laundry needs to be done, is your laundry. Okay, some of the mess can be blamed on the animals, but most of it is yours.
I have to wash the dishes today, because tomorrow the domestic help is coming again and I do have to clean up the kitchen. That includes the counter and the sink and the Senseo machine. I also have to scrub the toilet and take down the dry laundry and see if there is a load ready to go into the machine. I have to change my bed, that’s right. That will be one load of laundry. The fun never ends.
There are always enough jobs to do that the domestic help doesn’t do. Things I need to do to make it easier for her. I didn’t realize I had a bottle of bleach and I’m going to tackle the toilet with it, being careful not to get any on my clothes. That would be a shame, now that I’m so nicely dressed in my Sunday best. Actually, I’m wearing a dress that I had quite forgotten about and that fits me very well and hides all my faults. Who can ask for more?
Okay, I’m going to tackle those jobs now. It’s a long enough post. After that I’m going to read my new book. “A Home At The End Of The World” by Michael Cunningham. It’s intriguing, though very confronting and it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable at times. I think that must be the function of the book. I think he is harsh on young teenagers and their motivations. I don’t think they’re quite that sophisticated. Or young children for that matter. He interprets them through his grown up eyes and hindsight knowledge. It’s written well, though. I intent to stick with it.
Ciao,
Nora
>The closet!
>I got up early this morning and was full of excitement, because I had promised myself that I would clean out my closet and because I had worked out the method I was going to use, I was looking forward to it. I didn’t want to rush into it and had a cup of coffee first and answered my emails. It was still early and there was no need to act as if I was short of time. I had lots of time.
So when Tyke started to get impatient with me and let me know it was time to go out, I got dressed and took him for a 20 minute walk. Not too long, but long enough for him to do his business and sniff at all the blades of grass and the other various bits of vegetation. Once I got that out of the way, I took a break on the sofa with a glass of milk and a cigarette and mulled over my strategy. I was going to move some of my clothes to the shelves in my bedroom and needed to reorganize some things there first. I wanted to put some clothes there that I didn’t wear very often and would easily fit on the deep shelves of the tall bookcase. So, I had to move some books first.
Luckily, my bedroom is organized and I could move things around pretty easily and I had room. That part of the job was done in no time and I had two empty shelves to put clothes on. Then I got all the mixed up stacks of clothes out of my closet and sorted them out and found four long sleeved stretch T-shirts that I had quite forgotten about. I also found some cute tank tops that I didn’t realize I owned and a skirt and a pair of jeans that I didn’t know about. They’re all in the right size too.
I refolded everything and made new stacks. Then I went to the clothes that were on hangers. It was a chore to get the first item out. Things were jam packed, but the first dress I pulled out could go into the trash bag and the hanger could go into what would become a pile of hangers. I was ruthless. If I hadn’t worn it in a year, it went into the trash nag. If it didn’t fit, I wasn’t going to fool myself and think it would fit me next year. It went into the trash bag.
Some things I had quite forgotten about and it was like I was shopping and discovering new clothes. A cute, colorful dress. A nice yellow long sleeved top. A green cardigan. A black top, printed with gold leaves and tied with ribbons. A light weight Hawaiian blouse.
When it comes down to it, I think I removed almost half of the clothes that were hanging there and put them in the trash bag. Some of them I had forgotten about too, but I’m not going to wear them anymore. Now I can easily move around the clothes that are left on the rod and all the extra hangers are gone too. I carefully stacked them in the bottom of my closet. There must have been thirty of them. The stacks of clothes are neatly divided over all the shelves and I know what I have now, so getting dressed is going to be a lot simpler. All I have left to do is look inside a large shopping bag in which I put some clothes a long time ago, because they didn’t fit, and see if there’s anything in there that might be of interest to me now.
So, wasn’t that a fun job? All you need is a plan and to discuss it on your blog and then you will do it. You will be committed.
I’ve got to go look at that shopping bag now. My curiosity knows no bounds.
Ciao,
Nora
>Sunday News…
>Today is part of a long weekend, Tomorrow is a holiday too. I’m quite pleased about it, because I feel like I’m on a mini vacation and I can just do whatever I please. Well, within reason. I mean, I do have some responsibilities, like the animals and some chores that need to get done regardless of whether or not it is a holiday or a Sunday.
There is always a job that has been put off for a long time and that finally needs taken care of and today was the day to do it. I tackled the floor in the spare bedroom, which has been turned into a storage room where the Exfactor and I keep everything that we don’t have room for and there are stacks of boxes there against all walls and numerous other items. It is also where the back door is and in the back door is the cat flap where the cats enter and exit the apartment. It is also where I let out Tyke if he has to do an emergency piddle, so needless to say, the floor was quite dirty and littered with sand and cat and dog hair and twigs and leaves and other debris.
It hadn’t been cleaned in a long time and I kept promising, no threatening myself, that I would clean it and I finally got around to it this morning. I swept it first, as well as I could with everything that was in the way, and then mopped it. I got it fairly clean, good enough for the animals anyway, and we’ll see how long it lasts in this condition. If I stay on top of it, it should never get out of hand again. This was the result of a depression. Now that I’m out of it, I should be able to manage better.
I also hung up another load of laundry to dry and I have another load of sheets and odd ends to go into the machine. I told you, I never run out of laundry. It seems to be my favorite chore to do.
There is one more job that I am putting off and that I’m going to have to get around to doing and that is cleaning out my closet. I’m not looking forward to it at all. The first thing I ought to do is take out everything I don’t wear anymore and put it in a bag. I must be very organized when I go to work at it. I think sorting through the clothes that I do and do not wear is the first job. I will get a big trash bag and fill it up with obsolete clothes.
Next, I have to sort out the stacks of different tops and sweaters. They are hopelessly mixed up right now and I don’t know in which stack to find what anymore, it’s all guess work now. I’m only sure of what’s clean and folded in the laundry basket.
I have to sort through everything that’s on hangers and that’s the tricky part. The clothes are packed in so tight, that it’s hard to get to an individual piece and very often the pressure of all the clothes together is the only thing that keeps an item on the hanger. Very often when I make space, things end up on the bottom of the closet. I have to decide which of these things can be folded and put on a shelf instead.
You mustn’t think that I’ve got an enormous amount of clothes. I just have an old fashioned closet. It’s not like the kind of closet Americans have. The kind that is built in with sliding doors and lots of floor space. This is a closet from the 20’s that I repainted and used to have to share with the Exfactor. I don’t know how we did that. I had much less clothes then. That is true. One thing I did when I became single is expand my wardrobe. Long live me! That’s one thing a woman ought to have, a choice of clothes when she gets dressed in the morning. Although it is true, that as you wear your clothes, you do end up wearing certain items a lot and other things hardly at all. And some of them never. Those are the obsolete ones.
Who knows what I’ll find in my closet? There are probably clothes I’ve forgotten about. It’s very likely that I have more things to wear than I am aware of. Writing all of this down has gotten me curious and I think I will tackle this job tomorrow. It will be a good way to spend some spare time.
I took a nap this afternoon and woke up in a minor mood. I thought something was wrong, but couldn’t place my finger on it. I had a slight feeling of discomfort and thought I was coming down with a dip. I made myself a glass of lemonade, because I thought I might need the sugar, but that wasn’t it. I sat and pondered about it for a while and then had the brilliant idea to try a cup of coffee. That did the trick. Very soon I was my own cheerful self and I could think straight again. I just needed to have my brain stimulated and a bit of a kick in my rear end. I still take tranquilizers in the afternoon, but I think maybe it is time to stop them. I can’t do that on my own. I need to discuss that with my psychiatrist. I think the tranquilizers slow me down and make me fuzzy brained. I feel better when I don´t take them. After all, they subdue your mood and that can´t be right under the circumstances. I don´t need subduing.
Now I´m having lemonade and it tastes great. I´m not going to bed yet, because I can sleep as late as I want in the morning. Just kidding! If I sleep from midnight until 8 am, I will be happy. A little later would be okay too, but 8 hours of sleep would be nice. I´ve started reading Under the Tuscan Sun and I must have read it before at a crucial time in my life, because all sorts of memories are drifting to the surface. It´s a subconscious thing and I don´t know how happy I am about it. If it becomes a problem, I´ll have to stop reading it. Not all my memories are good ones and the past is better left alone. It´s better to stay in the present and not torture yourself with old pain that can´t be resolved.
Okay, that´s enough of that. I made it a long enough post for today. I could sit here for a long time and write a novelette, but I don´t think that´s what you came for.
Ciao,
Nora
>Today…
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I got up on time to answer my emails and have some coffee and smoke some cigarettes and blog a little. Before I do anything today, I have to go to the tobacconist to get my supply of tobacco and filter tubes. I can walk Tyke at the same time and then do a few chores around here. I have to get the apartment ready for the domestic help. There can’t be any kind of a chaos for her to start with, not even a little one. So I must organize the kitchen and clean up some things that are lying around in the various rooms.
>What do you do?
>Stumbling and fumbling…
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I had a pan of noodles on the stove and fell sleep sitting in the corner of the sofa. Some time later I woke up to the smoke alarm. At first I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, but I did smell something funny. It took me a minute to figure out that it was the pan of noodles, now burned to a crisp. I opened the kitchen window and the back door and reset the smoke alarm and slowly the fumes left the apartment. It’s a shame about those noodles and I won’t be able to save that pan, but at least the apartment didn’t burn down. We call that ‘lucky while being unlucky.’ I should have nuked the noodles. They wouldn’t have burned. Oh well…
Now I’m sitting here half awake, unable to go back to sleep because of the excitement of it all and slightly hungry. I need to figure out what I’m going to eat instead. There’s not that much choice, because I’m not going food shopping until tomorrow afternoon. I’m having a glass of fruit juice for the energy and I can have a bowl of tomato soup later, but I feel like eating short bread cookies. Fat chance! Visions of sugar plums…
Good, the fruit juice is working and now I’m having another glass of it. I’m practically becoming a human being again. I was just beginning to wonder if the gas station would be open so I could buy some chocolate and cookies, but I think I’ll live now. A disaster has been averted.
I’m having a cup of coffee with the last bit of milk that I have left. From now on it is artificial creamer. That’s not something I look forward to, but at least I’ve not run out of coffee. That would have been really bad. I bought three bags of pads the last time I went shopping, just in case, and I think I will do that again today. Oh, I have to remember to buy vinegar to clean the Senseo machine. It’s high time, because it’s not giving me a full cup of coffee. There’s hard water deposit in it. Pledge and vinegar, that’s what I need to get.
I have an appointment with my SPN today and I had sent her an email explaining to her my intention to quit taking my medications. I know she read the email, because she told me so when she called me yesterday to change the time of the appointment. She didn’t say anything about it other than that we would discuss it today, but I do have a feeling of apprehension as though I’m going to have some heavy explaining to do and convincing. But I know I’m also a tough cookie and that once I make up my mind about something, it is hard to change it and I will maintain my right to do what I think is best. I do hope that I’m not going to run into all sorts of resistance, but I’m ready to deal with it. I hope for co-operation.
Well, here I am worrying ahead of time about attitudes that I don’t know a thing about. I’m anticipating all sorts of problems that I may not even run into. So I better put my mind at rest and think about something totally different, like, what am I going to wear today? I was thinking about wearing jeans, but I do have to find a nice top to go with them. I so very rarely wear jeans, but I saw them laying there yesterday and thought I might try them on today (with a belt, of course). It means having a good look in my closet for once. I haven’t done that in a while. Lord only knows what I’ll find. It will be a regular expedition.
Okay, on that happy note I’ll leave you. I wish you all a good morning and a happy day!
Ciao,
Nora
>What I should be doing!
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I should be rushing around getting ready and walking the dog before I go to the post office, but I’ve pushed my pause button and am going to sit here just a while longer and enjoy the not so quite start of the day. Why? Because I can and because the dog is lying here beside me snoring and he has already been out for a piddle and my coffee tastes especially good. Besides that, my mood is extremely good right now and I want to keep it that way for a little while longer and not disturb it with aggravating activity yet. I know the post office isn’t open yet, though by the time I’m dressed and walk the dog it would be, but I have time yet and all will get done in the end.
At least my packages and Christmas cards are all ready to go and all I have to do is pick them up and put them in my shopping bag. It may be a bit tough to ride my bike, because there’s still snow outside and it is still freezing. I was standing by the back door when the dog did his piddle and shivered. Of course, he took forever, because he had to investigate everywhere and found one spot in particular very interesting and I wonder if there is a hedgehog there that took shelter. It was too cold and snowy to go out in my slippers to have a look. Every once in a while there is a hedge hog out back that wants to look for spots to hide under and the dog is always very curious when he runs into one.
I started my morning with a big glass of fruit juice, but realized very quickly that it doesn’t work the way a cup of coffee does and after half an hour, I very quickly walked to the Senseo machine and brewed myself a strong one, which I drank quickly and which restored me to my senses soon after. Yes, I do need my caffeine or I’m a sad camper who does not function well. I’m a typical Mickey Spillane writer who lives on caffeine and nicotine. I should have lived decades ago when it was still glamorous and I could have been a babe and have had interesting cocktails to drink in a rundown office on the backstairs, with a loaded gun in the desk drawer. Such is my fantasy this morning.
I’ve very quickly read as many blog posts as possible in the little time I allowed myself to do so, because I was up rather late this morning by my standards and that means that I had a good night’s sleep. I slept for at least 8 hours and feel quite spunky now. I don’t know what’s come over me, but for some reason I’m managing to sleep like a regular human being. I do get up in the middle of the night once, but have enough sense to go back to bed and I hardly remember falling asleep again. I’m very fond of my duvet and roll myself into it as if it were a sleeping bag with only the top of my head showing. I think I would like a heavier duvet in the wintertime, but I’m not cold. I think I would just enjoy the weight of it. I must look into that the next time I’m at Ikea. I need a new duvet anyway. This one is getting kind of threadbare.
I put a whole load of laundry through the machine last night and I would love to dry it outside, but the weather forecast predicts 2C and rain, so I think I can’t take the chance, which is really a shame, because there nothing like having your clothes dry outside. They smell so good when you bring them back in and put them away in your closet. The next best thing is when all your clothes smell of your favorite perfume. I’ve also tried those lavender sachets, but I find them next to useless, as I never have any of my clothes smell like lavender and I think it’s all just a rip off. I have thought of putting dryer sheets in the closet and hoping that their scent would make my clothes smell good, but I don’t know if they would stain them. Of course. all my clothes also smell of smoke and that is an odor that is hard to get rid off, unless you constantly wash your clothes, even when they aren’t dirty. That’s the kind of wear end tear I don’t need, though.
I just checked my bank account and my money isn’t there yet. Luckily, I have cash to pay with at the post office. I do have my guardian angel, I tell you. I am concerned about my money not being there and I will have to make a phone call today and find out where it is.
The dog is becoming restless and is giving me the evil eye. It says, “Come on woman, I need to go out,” so I guess I better do that now.
It’s still plenty cold out and of course I didn’t wear my gloves, so the hand that wasn’t in my pocket is very cold. It’s -4C and the snow is till just as thick as it was yesterday and nice and crunchy. I don’t see how I’m going to ride my bike in it, but I’ll worry about that when the time comes. It looks very slippery on the streets where all the cars have driven. I’ll have to walk in some spots.
Now that I’ve been out, the spell has been broken and I feel that the day has officially started. That means I can’t sit here much longer, although I can prolong the inevitable a little bit. I haven’t opened the blinds yet to let the daylight in, although I will do that soon and watch the sun shine on the snow. I hope the weather forecasters got it wrong and that it doesn’t rain today and that I can hang up my laundry to dry. I will tempt fate and hang it out anyway and see what happens.
I haven’t got anything planned for Christmas and I think I will just pretend it is a day like any other day, but just a little bit more jubilant. I don’t have a tree up, nor any other decorations, except for the sparkly branches in the bedroom and the Christmas cards that are hanging on the living room door. I do enjoy getting and sending cards. That’s one tradition I will honor. I’m not going to roast a goose or a turkey and I won’t be drinking eggnog. I think I have some Bailey’s Irish Cream left that I may imbibe in. I do always think of that as a Holiday drink. It’s the smoothest stuff I know.
Well, I’m off to hang up the laundry, so I all expect you to keep your fingers crossed for me for dry weather. Just think, all I want is nice smelling clothes. Oh yes, and money in my bank account.
I hope you all have a terrific day and that you have all your Christmas shopping done, because I would hate to think of you having to do your shopping now.
Ciao,
Nora