The Edge

And cleaning ... SUX!!!

If I ever had any doubts, this settles it. I am NOT a domestic goddess. >.O

I cleaned half of the house on Wednesday (First floor + Second floor). Including about 2 hours spent in the kiddo's playroom, reorganizing the cabinets and such so that I could get more crap into them. And, thus, once again see the floor.

On today's agenda:

Bathrooms (4: 1 on the first floor, 1 on the second floor, and 2 1 on the third floor). Two of these are "half baths" ... but, seriously, there's not much difference in them. They all have toilets. And toilets are icky. 'Nuff said.
HPH's cage, which is seriously, seriously overdue for a cleaning.
Third Floor ... Kiddo's room, Hallway, and (hopefully) Master Bedroom.
Laundry and more laundry
Clean the Catbox
Vacuum

So far, I've managed to conquer HPH's cage, which always takes about an hour to hour and a half to do. And I've cleaned the bathroom on the first floor, including scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees and tossing out a bunch of stuff that was stored there but expired. Also the bathroom on the second floor, and kiddo's bathroom on the third floor. Three down, one to go. (Joy >.O) Tackled the catbox, too ... although I really need to drag it outside and give it a good cleaning. This will do for now, though. And hubby agreed to handle the vacuuming. Yay for escaping that task, which I hate. Off to stick more laundry into the washer/dryer.

The thing that I hate most about cleaning? About ten minutes after I'm done ... everything is messed up again. *pouts*

Wow ... it is still snowing. A LOT!

Hubby and I (well, mostly hubby, since I'm a total wimp ... but I did help as much as I could!) tunneled out of the house today to shovel off the driveway. Hubby is out there now, moving one of our outside cars so that he can brush the snow off of it before parking it in the driveway again. Sadly, the sidewalk and driveway were already covered with snow again before we even finished shoveling the first time. And I don't mean a light dusting of snow, either. It was at least a good inch or inch and a half. The snow on our deck is so high. Unbelieveable. I really think there is more there than when we had that big snowstorm back in December. It is almost as high as our patio table! I think we are going to try shoveling some of that off in a little while. But poor hubby -- he needs a break! (And a nice cup of hot chocolate, I think.)

Our power is flickering. Not so horribly bad, but it still has me worried that we will lose our electricity. Which would be bad, as our stove is electric, and, of course, the microwave and toaster oven are also electric. We wouldn't have any way to prepare food, which makes it pretty impossible to remain "snowed in". But, of course, the roads around our house and our parking lot (we live in a town house) haven't been plowed. We hire someone to keep our parking area plowed, which is part of our HOA dues, and that guy came twice last night to plow the whole thing. Of course, now it looks like he never even came -- just because the snow is falling so fast out there.

I hadn't eaten any breakfast this morning. Hubby and kiddo got up earlier than me, so they had already eaten and everything by the time they were ready to head out into the snow. I just got up and immediately went outside with them. Needless to say, I was starving. When I saw the power flicker, I came inside and got a bowl of cereal. Not the nice, warm meal I would have liked to have, but it's better than nothing. I was planning on making chili this afternoon, so I hope the power holds out for that, at least. I'm also not sure if we would have heat if the power went out. Our furnace is gas, but I think the thing that turns it on is electric. >.O

I got the rest of the stuff into the Master Closet last night. So, that's one task pretty much done. We still need to haul off the old closet stuff: the shelves and shoe racks that we took out of there, and the boxes from the new Elfa stuff that we had installed. Of course, the weather hasn't been cooperating with that plan, so I still have tons of stuff piled up all around my house. Frustrating, but I'll just have to live with it for a bit longer. Both of the closets we had done look great, though -- so that helps a lot with giving me a better attitude. *nervous laugh*

I also finished my fan cel yesterday. Maybe I'll manage to scan and post it sometime in the near future. I have some artwork that I need to scan, too. Lotsa Saiyuki stuff, and some Saiunkoku, too. I'm just not sure when I'll be done with the computer switch-over so that I can have all the software, files, and images I need on the new computer.

And, so far, that's life today -- here in the snowy wilds. Hee!

New closets are new. And shiny. And oh-so-nice. The only drawback is that I now have to put everything back into the closets -- and I always have a hard time deciding where to put stuff. Especially when faced with so many different shelves and drawers and stuff. It's a good problem to have, though. We got a lot of stuff back into the master closet, mainly because we had all our folding clothes stacked on our bed. We had to put them away so we had a place to sleep last night. Of course, we put all that stuff back into the closet last night (minus quite a few of my old dresses and such that I wasn't going to keep), and I thought: "Wow! This really makes the closet seem SO MUCH BIGGER." Then, I turned around and saw the boxes stacked behind our loveseat -- all containing clothes that have to go back into that closet. And I kind of wanted to cry. Maybe it'll be OK, though. We have all the hanging clothes in there and still have a LOT of room left. I'm hoping.

I had planned on finishing up the closets today, but I wasn't feeling all that great. So I ended up just being lazy. I have no idea why, but I'm just pooped. I'm sitting here right now, yawning at my computer screen. Sooo ready to go to bed and just be done with the day. >.O

I made quite a lot of progress on my latest fan cel attempt. I'm still kind of unsure about how it's going to turn out, but -- like with the closets -- I'm hoping for the best.

Wow. I just realized I'm a horribly boring person. No wonder I'm stuck in the unable-to-write doldrums. Bah.

So, hubby and I decided that this year was going to be the year that we take the whole "Spring Cleaning" thing seriously. Or, well, more seriously than we have in the past, anyhow. We always manage to do a little bit of cleaning out and stuff ... but I don't think either of us ever feel like we have accomplished that much when all is said and done.

With that in mind ...

We managed to get two closets basically cleaned out this weekend. The office closet and the closet in the kiddo's room. The office closet was so packed with crappola, it was unreal. Basically, when I moved to Virginia from Texas we had to try and consolidate two whole households because we had been living apart for almost two years at that point. Plus, I had all this stuff that had previously lived in my workplace. I didn't have anywhere to put that stuff once I moved, because I wasn't working. I ended up getting pregnant right after I moved, so I decided I would stay home and raise our daughter. So, all that stuff was just kind of stuffed into the office closet when we moved into our house. I was HUGELY pregnant at the time, so we couldn't really clean out during that move, and that whole move was just really rushed, too because we were at the end of our apartment lease and had to get out. (They had already rented our apartment out!) Needless to say, there was a LOT of work to be done. It took about a day and a half, but we got rid of a bunch of stuff. And a bunch of old clothes, stuff that doesn't fit any more, and stuff we just don't like any more. We still need to clean out the closet in the master bedroom, but I'm hoping it won't take quite as long. The kiddo's closet was pretty much just clothing, which took only about half a day. The master closet is pretty much just clothing, too, so I'm hoping it'll go fairly quickly.

So all this cleaning is in preparation for ...

New closets!! *woot!*

We decided to take advantage of the Elfa Sale at the Container Store to have them design two closets for us (master bedroom and office). They will come in and install the closets on Jan. 31, and I have high hopes that the new arrangement will help us be more organized and really maximize the storage space in both closets, as neither one is super big. I love my house, but I really, really, really HATE the closets, overall. Hopefully, this will change that somewhat.

I am considering moving my office, too. Right now, it is in the "extra" bedroom on our third floor. It's a small room, and it's pretty much crammed full of stuff. Even with the clutter, though, it's a pretty good arrangement. I have my desk with two monitors, my "tower" CPU, my scanner, and some extra stuff like manga and stuff at the corner. Then, a wall of bookshelves that are totally loaded with my novels and stuff. (I read a lot, so I have a LOT of books! >.O) Hubby has a "tower" CPU, too. And we have a color laser printer also on a separate bookshelf with the two CPUs. I have my iPod hookup and a flat screen TV on the shelves behind my desk, and I play the TV a lot. Not really watching it, but I use it for background noise when I'm doing things on the computer and stuff. Bad part is that the room is FULL. I mean, I really can't put anything else in here. I'm out of storage space on the book shelves, although I think the new closet arrangement will free up a lot of that space. And I'm out of space for my sketch books. I keep my cel books in my special box on the second floor ... but the sketches live in binders here in the office. And I'm out of room for my DVD binders, too. I've cleaned this room out several times, but, somehow, all that clutter keeps creeping back in. Part of it is that I have pack rat tendencies. But part of it is that I have to share the office with hubby ... and he is WAY more of a packrat than I am!

Plus, we don't really have a good place for visitors to stay. Right now, we are using what would normally be the "formal dining room" as the guest room and a playroom for the kiddo. Which is fine, except our house has an open layout on the second floor -- so our overnight guests really don't have any privacy. I'm not crazy about that.

So ... I think I'm going to migrate my office downstairs and put it in what is currently the "formal living room". Right now, we have a sofa and two chairs in that space, but we really don't use it at all. And it's a pretty big space to be sitting around empty and unused, especially considering we are in a townhouse, which means we really need to use every bit of space. A huge positive is that it will be a LOT more work space for me. I will be able to corner together my current desk and one identical to it and still have room left over. We already have our internet set up so that it's in a protected wireless network in the house, so that shouldn't be a problem. And I have enough room to migrate the shelving downstairs for the printer and stuff. Then I would probably leave the two chairs in that area and put the sofa over in the kiddo's "playroom" area. I would love having that extra table space, because, right now, my desk is hard to manage.

Another positive is that the new office space has easy access to the kitchen. So I could easily work while I'm cooking -- especially if I'm doing something like making a stew or soup or something like that. And it's closer to where I keep my cels, which would make scanning new things and then putting them away even easier. And it would be near where kiddo likes to play.

If we do the office move, we will then purchase a bed for the extra room. So it will end up being the guest room. The shelving and storage will stay in here, though, so we will still use this space for that. And then, when guests are staying overnight, they will have a place where they can have a little bit of privacy.

A huge negative, though, is that this is an open area. I worry about the desks looking too cluttered and junky when people come into the house. They won't see the office space from the entry way, but they will see it as soon as they come up to the second floor, which is where our kitchen is -- and, thus, where everyone congregates. And I would have to give up having the TV. That's kind of a negative, but probably not a huge one. I mean, I like having it, but, like I said, I mostly listen to it, anyhow. And I would probably be better off with music, honestly. Music is just better for writing -- at least, for me. I'm just kind of a TV person. If there is a TV in the room, I'm going to turn it on. It's a huge weakness of mine. >.O

And, overall, it's a really big change. I have a feeling I will love it once I get everything moved and arranged. But you know how it is with any sort of huge change: It's SCARY!!! So, I've been going back and forth on it. I think, though, that it's probably the right thing to do ... and the way that we will be able to use the space the best. Still ... ACK! O_O

You know how, in Princess Bride, the whole thing was not "to the death" but "to the pain"? Like when Wesley and Prince Bad-Guy-Whose-Name-I-Can-Never-Remember (even though I've seen the movie umpteen times >.O) fight, and Princie tells Wesley they will fight "to the death", but Wesley says no, he wants to fight "to the pain".

Yeah well, my saga 'o' shredding has turned out to be something like that.

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OK, so get ready for a real hodge-podge of a post here.

*listens as everyone on the F-list runs screaming away from her LJ*

Yeah, I know. Hodge-podge type posts are kinda scary. For all of us. I think that's one reason why I haven't posted an entry in so long. I just had a lot going on -- and a lot to say (mostly about nothing all that interesting, sadly -- LOLz) -- and couldn't summon up the energy to sit down and do it. But it's late. I feel like crap. And so ... here I am. Whee!

First things first, I guess:

New Cels!!

I added these to my main site a couple of days ago, but only today got around to putting them on RS. I halfway debated waiting, since I'm waiting on a Darkstalkers cel I recently purchased. I'm really excited about it, so the thought of waiting until it came to make the update "official" was appealing. At the same time, I'm so excited about it that I could probably justify (in my own mind, anyhow) giving it its own moment in the "spotlight". So, kind of a small update in the cel gallery today: two Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust cels, a really pretty Suzuka cel, and my most recent finished fancel. (linky-loos behind the cut!)

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The production cels are courtesy of a dear cel collecting bud, who sold them to me. *sends HUGGLES & GLOMS* =D And the fancel went to live with one of my bestest friends as a belated birthday gift. I hope she doesn't mind me posting it in here; I waited until I knew the package had gotten to her. =P

Aaaaaand ... The Other Stuff

My parents are visiting right now. They got here last Sunday, so tomorrow will be a week since their arrival. So far, it's going OK. A little stressful, but nothing major. Which is good. Of course, this could be because I've pretty much been giving in to everything they want me to do. And I've been tackling some household projects that I've had on the back burner for the whole summer. In general, as long as I'm doing household-related things, there is no battle of wills or personality clash. Next week will be the litmus test, though, because I need to finish up the house project I'm working on and get back to producing some writing. This never sets well, so ... Let's say I'm hopeful, but I'm not counting on anything at this point. I think that about covers it.

As for the household projects, there are a few things going on simultaneously.

Storage Closet:

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Storage Chest:

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Office of DOOM:

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Laundry Room Redux:

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The downside of all this cleaning, though, is that I'm now sick as a dog. I am so allergic to dust, and I now have a choking, hacking cough. Not to mention I'm all stopped up and can't breathe. Plus the runny nose and runny, itchy eyes. Body aches. The whole thing. It totally sucks, but I keep telling myself: "Hey, I'm already sick. I might as well go ahead and finish this up." It makes sense, and I guess there is a certain logic to it. But, I was up all night last night coughing. I fell asleep around 4 AM, then my cat woke me up this morning around 10 AM. Usually, 6 hours of sleep is fine for me. But right now, I feel so crummy and under the weather that I could have used a lot more. Here's hoping tonight will be a better night, all around.