Today is my first real day off in what feels like forever. I have been trying to get some cleaning done, but it is snowy outside and everything is slow and muted.

I started rearranging the furniture in my bedroom in preparation for the planned closet-swap. Basically, I am going to transfer my clothing from the closet in what used to be my bedroom (and is now my office) into the closet in what is now my bedroom (formerly my little sister's room). The closet in my old room is the smallest one in the whole house, and I have always hated it. It is inconvenient and cramped, and occasionallly needs to be entered to access the attic, and I have just had it.

It's not like my little sister is going to move home and suddenly demand her closet back.

Man, I am totally craving some latkes. Not because we usually have them, but because so many people are talking about them.

Back into the fray!

So, I haven't been around much lately, have I? I wish I could claim it was because I got organized and didn't need to write stuff down anymore, but that ain't the case.

I started school, and I started a part-time job (which is currently consuming 25+ hours a week, on top of my school), and I had a dance recital, and everything just got right out of hand.

But I started a new term last Monday, and during my class on Spreadsheets, I started making some new To-Do Lists. Things like ... putting my clothing away, from the laundry I did two weeks ago and just draped on the chair. Or picking up all the makeup I had spread around the room during my mad-tote-packing spree before the recital. Or even putting the CD binder back on the shelf under the desk, instead of leaving it on the floor in front of the shelf under the desk.

I'm working slowly. I don't want to get myself into one of those states where I start with a big bang and just fizzle out. I figure, maybe if I start fizzling, I might end it all with a bang...or I'll just keep fizzling my way to the finish.

I don't know if there will be pictures...but you never can tell with me.

It's just not working for me anymore, the numbering days thing. So I won't do it anymore.

Today is about cleaning up after the last couple of hectic days, getting ready for school and work over the next couple of days. The rice cooker works so much better than the stovetop. The rice was almost perfect - if I could get my hands on some nice koshihikari, I'd be in heaven.

I have to get to a florists this afternoon before going to see M.

After months of complaining because I had no job and no money, now I'm on my way out the door to my first shift at a new job, and I'm practically peeing my pants in anxiety. How does that work, exactly?

We shall see what we shall see.

I got the job at Lindor, and I start this Friday night! It's a minimum-wage mall-job, but it will help me pay for gas for school, get me some office-y clothes for when I work in an office, and will provide me with a Canadian reference. When I go in on Friday, they will have a schedule for me, so that I know what I'm working.

There will be a street-wide yard sale at Cam's on Saturday morning, and I am assembling stuff to try to sell. Anything that doesn't get sold will get taken immediately to the Goodwill drop-box. It was all supposed to go there anyway, so any money I make off it will be considered a big bonus - if I earn enough to buy a coffee on my first day of school, so much the better.

Oooh, I forgot the laundry in the washer yesterday! Must dash!

[EDIT - 3:11] Well, they just called, and they want me from 1-9 on Friday and Saturday! Hurray for money, but now I am starting to freak out about actually going to work again - I haven't done retail in almost nine years, I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it.

So, D&S, my rellies from NZ, are going to arrive in my house some time this afternoon. They're staying for the weekend, which means M is going to be going a bit psycho. M&D are meeting them in Kitchener, then they're all going to St Jacob's Market, to visit D's cousin Anne, and then to a Mennonite restaurant.

I, on the other hand, am going to crack down on the things about my room that are still bugging me, perhaps make another batch of cinnamon rolls (since they turned out so nicely before), and start planning nice bento lunches I can make in September.

Why? Because I am going back to school!

I enrolled in the Executive Administration program at Westervelt. It's a nine-month course that looks like it's going to be lots of fun and very helpful toward finding a job in the future. It was a completely spontaneous decision - last week, D and I talked about stuff that made me cry, Cam mentioned Westervelt, I looked it up on the internet, and by mid-week I had had a tour of the place and registered. Whirlwind.

I am waiting to hear back from Lindor, a clothing store in the mall across from the college, to find out if I got the part-time sales job. Because my classes end at 4:00 every day, working the evening shift a few nights a week sound just ideal. Earn a little money, get discounts on clothing for when I'm finally in an office setting, get myself back into the workforce. I really hope I get the job.

So, yeah. That was my week ^_^ How've you been?

I've been a miserable little monkey for the past few weeks, I must say. I'm hoping that I've taken the first neccessary steps to getting out of that rut.

Buuuut, right on the heels of that decision, comes panic. Wednesday is the day of our energy audit, which means the auditor will need to get up into the attic to examine it. And the only route to the attic is through my closet.

Now is the time for massive cleaning!

I have a build-up of fluid behind my ear, which is why it has been so painful recently. I went to Emergency this morning, and felt like everyone was judging me because I wasn't bleeding or vomitting or whatever. But I couldn't sleep on it, and I am just exhausted, and it hurt. Now I have eardrops, and all is good.

The rellies have gone off to Stratford for the day (wet and cold though it is), so I might call Cam and see what she's up to.

My aunt Pen and her husband are coming to our place for the weekend. Naturally, M is in a tizzy, cleaning bathrooms and mopping the kitchen floor. Until I am called upon to dust or vaccuum or whatever else I should be helping with, I am going to tackle my room again. Because, let's face it, it's still a bit of a disaster. (You knew it would be.)

In uncluttering news, though, I have decided to give my pink toy dragon to Cam's younger son Nate, who turns nine today. I spent way too much money on it, many years ago, and part of me is loathe to part with it, but the rest of me knows that I don't do anything with it, and since I have two dragons, it is time to give one away.

I feel pretty good about it, having made that decision.

Well, my 31st has arrived, and I am not clutterfree ^_^

I am, however, so much closer to that goal than I was when I started this on July 1st. I am feling a lot more clear about the directions I need to go, both in my housekeeping and in my life, and that's not a bad thing.

For the moment, though, I am going to do some laundry and try to tame the box of stuff by the desk...