Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Having food at home is a good thing. Cooked yesterday (just some frozen pasta & sauce) for the first time, and made a good salad this evening. Starting to feel like home, finally, with some food in the fridge & cabinet (and my belly).

Work’s been odd this week, with absolutely no one in the office on Monday when I got in, which is really, really bizarre as I’m usually the very last person to get there in the morning. Easter Monday, go fig. And otherwise it’s just been a strange mix of busy and not-busy. And of course the last place I want to be is at work, preferring to be at home getting things together. Whee.

Calf is still okay, so I’m hopeful it’ll be okay when I run tomorrow or Friday (haven’t decided if I want to run or bike tomorrow). Swam this evening, pretty good swim, and not too busy in the pool, which was a pleasant change from the mornings. I still want to check out the two closer pools, but if an evening swim would be less crowded, that might be a better option (since I do like the YWCA facility overall).

Woke up at 5 this morning and knew I wasn’t going back to bed, so I putzed for a bit, then got the gym to swim at 7. It was very quiet there, and I was able to get into a lane, shared at first with one other gentleman, then alone for the last half. This was about an hour before I normally get in there, but it was just as un-crowded at 8 when I was getting out as it was at 7 when I got in.

The resolutioners seem to have resolutioned out, finally. Thank heavens.

I think I freaked out my office by getting in at 8:30. Not early for most people, I know, but since I normally get in at 9:30-9:45, it was a tad strange for the rest of the folks here. I’ll use the extra time today to take less time off tomorrow when I go to fill out paperwork with my agent for the offer on the apartment.

(OMG, NPR is talking about the case of Marshall v. Marshall, aka the “Anna Nicole Smith” case, and I have to say, I knew she was a train wreck, but the description by Nina Totenberg is just Too Fraking Funny)

Will be slightly crazy here at work, even without the home buying stuff (my mortgage broker called when I was in the gym this morning). Whee.

Ah, early January. That time when every Tom, Dick and Sally comes out to the gym with hopes of shaping up for the new year. That time when these ‘resolutioners’ take up space in the pool, cardio and weight rooms, trying (and failing miserably) not to look clueless about how to use the equipment, all the while making the space and the process more confusing than it ever needs to be.

I think I’ve finally mellowed in my approach to them. I used to not-quite-snarl at them, and inside I’m still disdainful, but mainly I ignore them now, or politely ask them to move (and just as politely answer questions if asked), and just general try to stay out of their way until this burst of energy dissipates and they go back into their soda, sweets and (pseudo) Atkins/South Beach/faddish-diet induced comas.

Richard and I may be considering moving sooner rather than later. In the shower this morning I discovered a what appears to be another bed bug bite on my ankle.

Needless to say, I am not pleased.

The acid test is, of course, if I have more bites tomorrow morning, which always makes for a wonderful night’s sleep (not), waiting to see if I get bitten. In the mean time, I’m making phone calls about housing down in SW today.

In other news™, I had a wonderful swim this morning, 41 minutes, a couple 300s & 200s thrown in there, at a nice, aerobic pace. I’m getting better and judging how fast I need to be going to keep myself from overdoing it, which is good. Plus there’s the added bonus of smelling like chlorine all day. Was a good workout. Hopefully the treadmill run will go as well this evening.

Started culling my belongings this evening. A small bit, just going through books that I want to get rid of, but it’s a start. Since reading Affluenza I’ve been feeling the burden of having so much stuff around the house. I don’t use so much of it, so why am I keeping it all? Ugh. So, started the process of getting rid of some of it this evening. I’ll likely donate the books to the library for their use or sale, but if anyone wants any of them, let me know. Lots of my sci-fi paperbacks are gonna go bye-bye shortly.

Next step is the stuffed animal collection – I’ve wanted to cut that down for a while and donate the bulk of it to a charity that could have kids actually using these things rather than having them take up closet space that could use better used. If anyone has a charity suggestion for ’em, here in the DC area, let me know.

I’m also thinking that it makes sense to go through my casette tape collection, write down the albums I’d like to duplicate, and get rid of those, too. I don’t have a tape player and I’m not inclined to go get one, so those can go away as well. It’s a big box. Anyone with a desire to take some Taiwanese pop music off my hands? 😉

I also need to get myself on eBay or Craig’s List and get rid of some more valuable things (vacuum cleaners, antique mixer, Tungsten|C, etc.). Inertia demands that I simply continue to store these things, but why keep them around, especially if I can make a buck or two off of them.

Doesn’t help that I’m a natural hoarder, from a family of natural hoarders. I don’t know how much parents cleaned out their house when they moved. Well, not true, I ended up with several things to “hold” for them when they moved, but there was So Much Stuff in that house that it just boggles the mind when I think about trying to clean it all out. I don’t want to get to that point. Or, rather, I want to draw back from that point, because I certainly have a ton of stuff here that isn’t needed. I’d hate to think what anyone having to clean the place out for me would think of all the crap I’ve kept over the years.

Part of the book culling is being able to get rid of two older, cheap wooden bookshelves that are in the bedroom and therefore are a potential egg laying spot for the bed bugs. Once the books are removed and thoroughly shaken out, the shelves will go down and go into the trash, thrown far enough in that they can’t be salvaged and possibly transmit any bugs. Plus that’ll help unclutter the bedroom a lot. And if I have less space to store books, perhaps I won’t buy as many (yeah, right – they’ll just stack up like they do beside my reading chair now).

Yup, it all comes back to the bugs.

So far, so good from the latest round of treatments; no bites since Wednesday. Well, none since Saturday/Sunday, actually, but none in the bedroom since I’ve been sleeping in there again since Wednesday. I have my fingers crossed, but I’m definitely not holding my breath at this point.

Work’s been busy as all hell, but so far it’s mainly been manageable. I went over my to-do list with da boss today and she seemed okay with my ordering of the priorities, so I’m plugging away at the list now. Should get through a good part of it soon, I hope, which leaves me time to get to some of my more long-term projects. Provided the usual emergencies don’t keep popping up as they always do.

No real plans for the weekend. Earrings I ordered waaaaaaay back a month or two ago came in, so I’ll be stretching my ears up a gauge or two on Sunday when my piercer’s back in the shop. Shouldn’t be too noticeable, it’s going from an 18ga to a 14ga, which isn’t that extreme. But I’d decided I wanted something a tad less delicate than I have in now.

Run planned for the morning (in the rain!), and perhaps a swim on Sunday. Been ages since I’ve been in the pool, but it should be dead Sunday morning, which is always a good thing – no lane sharing needed. The exercise habit’s slowly getting back to normal, which is a very, very good thing. I always feel better when I’m in the exercise groove, and heaven knows my mood’s needed a lift of late.