On My Day Off...

in honor of Dr. King, my friend Wanda and I accomplished a lot! She got here at around 10:30, and we started with my linen closet. (I think Wanda could do some work as a professional organizer, but right now, I'm glad she just works for me and three or four other families!) We emptied everything, decided what needed to be discarded, and then rearranged what was going back in a more efficient way. The closet is small, and not very deep front to back, but we were able to store my extra pillows, and move some things into the closet that had been taking up room in my bathroom...and we have half a shelf left over.

From there, we moved into my craft room. I had worked in there on my own yesterday, so today we finished emptying the closet (Wanda has probably watched those organization shows on television), and moved those shelves into my laundry room. We emptied the laundry basket Wanda was using to store cleaning supplies, and moved everything into the shelves. It's now easier to access the upper shelves in that room, and the room actually seems larger. We went back to the craft room and moved all my plastic drawer units into the closet, which made the rest of the craft room seem larger, too. When we moved into the house, I had a vision of putting a small chair and ottoman into that room, but I think that's really not feasible. It is the smallest bedroom in a 1960s ranch house, so it is SMALL, and since I'm alone in the house, I have my choice of places for reading, drawing, and thinking.

We went to eat lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. We usually just get carry-out plates when I'm off from school when Wanda's cleaning my house, but today we decided to eat AT the restaurant. It's in the middle of downtown, located in the Cultural Arts Center, and next door to the art museum. They do a huge lunch business; for $5.95 we got a meat (from a selection of four or five), and all the vegetables of the day (Lima beans, fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy, creamed corn), and the dessert of the day (sweet potato pie). The dessert serving is always small, which is a perfect, not-so-guilty way to finish off a substantial meal!

From there, we went to Lowe's, looking for an air-conditioner cover. My bedroom does not have vents from the central unit (it is a garage that was closed in to make a huge master bedroom), so there's a small window unit mounted in the wall. It is NOT sealed well, and we've had temperatures in the low teens during the past week. That means there's cold air coming in from the outside just over my head. Bad news at Lowe's--they have sold out of the air-conditioner covers, but the helpful salesperson told us to go to the building supply department and buy the thickest plastic we could find plus a roll of duct tape, and make our own cover. It's not pretty, but the unit is WELL sealed on the outside. As I sit here and look at the unit from the inside, I think I'm going to replace it this spring with one that fits better into the opening and is probably more energy efficient. At the least, I'm going to get covers for both the inside and the outside, even if I have to order them on the Internet.

We went to Wal-Mart and bought a rack for my shoe collection. I had done REALLY well at not indulging my shoe passion, but Belk's had a really good sale last weekend, and then there was that trip to T.J.Maxx with my sister...Anyway, we got a rack that holds eighteen pairs of shoes and fits in the corner of one of my closets. Now to QUIT buying shoes...