Taking Over

At long last I have time to try and make sense of the jumble that is my new apartment. No more trips, no more rushing to meetings, no more flying off to work in odd outfits. I rise at a leisurely 8am and start in the kitchen. Really, I had gone in to find something for breakfast, but nothing was where I would have put it, had I unpacked.

What began as a minor adjustment to where the spices are housed (not near the heat of the stove! Over by the sink where the baking ingredients should also be) turned into a three hour sorting and switching project. Oh, well. As long as I am at it, let's weed just a bit more - left over remnants of china sets now long broken, old baking trays too stained to clean up, a bent pan I never use because it doesn't heat evenly and stuff burns.

What on earth was I thinking! Oh, right. I didn't pack, so I didn't weed previously. No time like the present. My energy was holding up well, so once I finished the kitchen and unpacked the remaining five or six boxes there, I moved into the living room. The seven or eight boxes there seemed to unpack themselves easily. Drew was still sawing wood in his bedroom (aka snoring), so I kept poking at things, stacking the empty boxes near the door.

Finally, I tackled the front hall closet. What a jumbled mess! I took everything out, rearranged, organized, straightened, and put it all back. Except I needed someone tall to put away the cooler on the top shelf. Time to drag Drew into the fray. Frowzy headed and half asleep, he crawled out of bed at the crack of noon, not complaining. With disgusting ease, he slid the hefty cooler in place, then sat unmoved by my repeated requests to take the empty boxes to the dumpster.

I was on a roll. I headed for my bedroom next and tore through all the boxes on the floor. Feeling rather accomplished, I looked at the nine boxes on the filing cabinet, and I knew the gig was up. They would just have to wait for another day. Not bad though. I finally felt as if I knew where things were and that nothing had gotten lost in the chaos.

3pm. Where had the day gone? I sat in my comfy chair, satisfied and pleased with how airy and filled with sunlight the place was. Of course, the curtains begged to be hung, but I told them they would have to be patient. One thing at a time. Its a good feeling to be in control of stuff, even if it won't last.