Small joys and random good things

[JD]

Thank you, all. I expect this new career will lead to a life of fame and fortune and tens of dollars.

[Sandy]

Thank you, all. I expect this new career will lead to a life of fame and fortune and tens of dollars.

I made hundreds of dollars which all promptly went back into gear and no fame or fortune, so if you get the fame and fortune, you're way ahead.

[Jennifer]

If JD does get the fame and fortune, then let me be the first to say: I liked him before it was cool, and also the band was waaaaay better before they sold out.

[Eric the .5b]

Excellent, JD!

[Highway]

Good on you, and hope you thought it was fun.

[Ellie]

I'm going to have 24 hours alone in the house this coming weekend.

I am SO EXCITED.

Clean all the things!!!!!!

It didn't work out with my dad's schedule for David and the kids to come any sooner than this morning, so 24 hours has unfortunately been cut to 9. But I can still get a lot done.

Except they just left and I'm sitting here paralyzed with indecision about what to do first ...

[lunchstealer]

I'm going to have 24 hours alone in the house this coming weekend.

I am SO EXCITED.

Clean all the things!!!!!!

It didn't work out with my dad's schedule for David and the kids to come any sooner than this morning, so 24 hours has unfortunately been cut to 9. But I can still get a lot done.

Except they just left and I'm sitting here paralyzed with indecision about what to do first ...

It me.

[Warren]

Start cleaning what's in front of you

[Ellie]

At the halfway point. I've hauled a ton of trash up from the basement that I had been procrastinating on dealing with for months. Unfortunately that means now I'm exhausted but all the living areas look practically the same.

Time to kick it into high gear!

[Jennifer]

At the halfway point. I've hauled a ton of trash up from the basement that I had been procrastinating on dealing with for months. Unfortunately that means now I'm exhausted but all the living areas look practically the same.

Time to kick it into high gear!

Kickass! And congrats for the progress you've made thus far!

Massve cleanout/organizations of this type are the one housekeeping sort of task I genuinely enjoy (provided I'm doing it at my own pace and on my own terms). Part of it, I think, is because it's one of the few "improvement"-type tasks where visible progress happens almost immediately: removing even one bag of trash from the basement (or wherever) results in your basement being at least slightly less trashy. Or, organizing that one corner of the room (even if the rest of the room remains untouched) makes that one corner look better, if nothing else. It's not one of those "struggle or sacrifice now, and then maybe, hopefully, you'll get a payoff down the road."

[Ellie]

Got a mini cleaning window as the kids are all asleep (finally), David is working late, and I have tomorrow off so I can give up some sleep. Assuming none of my troublesome younglings decide to wake up (about a fifty-fifty chance), my goal is to get the living room and kitchen over the last hump into a "maintainable" clean state. I will post pics, promise.

[Warren]

Got a mini cleaning window as the kids are all asleep (finally), David is working late, and I have tomorrow off so I can give up some sleep. Assuming none of my troublesome younglings decide to wake up (about a fifty-fifty chance), my goal is to get the living room and kitchen over the last hump into a "maintainable" clean state. I will post pics, promise.

Welllllllll?

[Ellie]

Kitchen including new organizational solutions, living room including optimistic "if you build it they will come" potty training corner. I'm not sure what we're going to do in the area with the brown couch (which is at the back of the living room behind David's armchair). I'm afraid to get rid of it in case I immediately change my mind about the layout yet again and wish I had it back. But for right now that's wasted space. I don't have anything else in mind for what to put there.

Also, bonus shot of the maddening baby gates that had to be installed twice because the kids were able to wiggle under them the first time. I had already chucked the helpful lining-up-your-holes (hur hur) template so the second time around they ended up wonky.

Overall, we're not there yet, but we're actually getting close to something maintainable. Then the trick, obviously, is to actually maintain it.

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[Jennifer]

Looking good, Ellie! I especially like the spice-file thing.

[Warren]

Ziplock bags are not the most convenient for opening and closing, But they only take up as much space as they need.

Well Done Ellie!!

EDIT
Wait. Where's the coffee pot?

[Jennifer]

Those white bin/drawer things in some of the cabinets -- it looks like they're not set directly on the cabinet shelves, but are mounted on some sort of roller/groove thing. Was that already in the cabinetry, or was it something you installed?

[Kwix]

Apropos:

[Ellie]

Those white bin/drawer things in some of the cabinets -- it looks like they're not set directly on the cabinet shelves, but are mounted on some sort of roller/groove thing. Was that already in the cabinetry, or was it something you installed?

I'm so sorry, somehow I thought I'd already answered your question but I never wrote the post! I installed them (elfa Mesh Easy Gliders from The Container Store) because our cabinets are so deep -- maybe not deeper than average, but they SEEM deep -- that we were only getting any use out of the front half, because anything further back required too much shuffling and taking-out-and-then-putting-back. They were extremely easy to install and are quite sturdy.

[Kwix]

Those white bin/drawer things in some of the cabinets -- it looks like they're not set directly on the cabinet shelves, but are mounted on some sort of roller/groove thing. Was that already in the cabinetry, or was it something you installed?

I'm so sorry, somehow I thought I'd already answered your question but I never wrote the post! I installed them (elfa Mesh Easy Gliders from The Container Store) because our cabinets are so deep -- maybe not deeper than average, but they SEEM deep -- that we were only getting any use out of the front half, because anything further back required too much shuffling and taking-out-and-then-putting-back. They were extremely easy to install and are quite sturdy.

Thanks as I was curious about this as well.

[Warren]

Those white bin/drawer things in some of the cabinets -- it looks like they're not set directly on the cabinet shelves, but are mounted on some sort of roller/groove thing. Was that already in the cabinetry, or was it something you installed?

I'm so sorry, somehow I thought I'd already answered your question but I never wrote the post! I installed them (elfa Mesh Easy Gliders from The Container Store) because our cabinets are so deep -- maybe not deeper than average, but they SEEM deep -- that we were only getting any use out of the front half, because anything further back required too much shuffling and taking-out-and-then-putting-back. They were extremely easy to install and are quite sturdy.

Did you order them online from the container store?

[Jennifer]

Those white bin/drawer things in some of the cabinets -- it looks like they're not set directly on the cabinet shelves, but are mounted on some sort of roller/groove thing. Was that already in the cabinetry, or was it something you installed?

I'm so sorry, somehow I thought I'd already answered your question but I never wrote the post! I installed them (elfa Mesh Easy Gliders from The Container Store) because our cabinets are so deep -- maybe not deeper than average, but they SEEM deep -- that we were only getting any use out of the front half, because anything further back required too much shuffling and taking-out-and-then-putting-back. They were extremely easy to install and are quite sturdy.

I had to do something similar -- only using bins set directly on the cabinet (since we are only renting this place, it's not worth it to buy anything as "permanent" as your setup). I'm sure they'd be a lot more convenient if I actually had a roller setup like yours.

IMO, very few kitchen cabinets are of an inherently useful size, but instead are "too deep" for precisely the reason you stated here. Obviously, some deep cabinets are needed, for big pots and pans and the like, but most kitchen items are considerably smaller.

[Ellie]

Those white bin/drawer things in some of the cabinets -- it looks like they're not set directly on the cabinet shelves, but are mounted on some sort of roller/groove thing. Was that already in the cabinetry, or was it something you installed?

I'm so sorry, somehow I thought I'd already answered your question but I never wrote the post! I installed them (elfa Mesh Easy Gliders from The Container Store) because our cabinets are so deep -- maybe not deeper than average, but they SEEM deep -- that we were only getting any use out of the front half, because anything further back required too much shuffling and taking-out-and-then-putting-back. They were extremely easy to install and are quite sturdy.

Did you order them online from the container store?

I did, during a big elfa sale, which was pretty nifty.

[Aresen]

One of the nicest things about spring is that I can now hang my laundry outside to dry.

It smells so much nicer than using the dryer.

[Jennifer]

One of the nicest things about spring is that I can now hang my laundry outside to dry.

It smells so much nicer than using the dryer.

I tried that once, and had to wash everything again because they all turned yellow from pollen.

[JD]

This is a story with a happy ending, and one of the central characters is actually my wife's sister.

tl;dr version: 25 years ago or so, she was walking through a field and found a Purple Heart. It had a name on it, but she was never able to find the owner or any relatives. A while back, she started looking again, and was able to find the recipient's family and return the medal to them.