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...

This has nothing to do with cleaning, really, but I needed to share it.

I am applying for a secretarial job at City Hall on Tuesday morning! (I'd go Monday, but it's a public holiday ^_^)

It's a permanent position, with some benefits (not sure what they are, exactly, the ad didn't say), and it would mean that I would be out of the house for 40 hours a week! City Hall is about a 10 minute walk from my parents' house, so I wouldn't need to worry about getting a car, and even if I paid my parents a respectable amount of rent to keep living here, I would still be able to save a bunch of money to put toward my goal of going back to university to study midwifery! Exclamation points!

Now, I probably have to drive Cam's son Nate to the dentist in London first thing Tuesday morning, but if I make sure to wear nice, professional-y clothing, I could drop my resume and application off before noon. Maybe I should spring for a haircut this weekend...

Oh, man, I really want this job!

Well, I would probably be able to go a little bit longer, but M reminded me that we are going to town to have breakfast with the youngest sib. That means, gettin' up early and showering so I look like more of a human bean instead of a cranky bear.

( Who cares, I know you're only here for the photos )

I found my earplugs and eye-mask, so I am going to see if I can ignore the cats tonight and get a good night's sleep.

I've been at Cam's for the past two days, looking after her boys while she was at work. They're at a great age, where they really don't require constant attention, just an older person around to make sure they don't set themselves on fire or anything. Monday, we went out to the quarries to swim, and I got a bit of a burn on my back where the sunscreen missed ^_^

Unfortunately, I have been delinquent in my uncluttering. There are only four days until my birthday, the 31 of clutterfreeby31, and I am not quite clutterfree. (Okay, I admit it was a pretty ridiculous attempt, but it made me happy.) I'm going to do what I can today, though, and see where it gets me. It's not like I have anything else going on at the moment.

[EDIT - 11:16] I took some pictures of the room, just in case you've forgotten what it's like now.

( Here there be monsters )

Okay, that's enough procrastinating for one morning.

I registered at another temp agency in town, and with any luck I'll hear from them about work fairly soon. So I have no excuse for not working on the room today.

The killer is, this room is so much better than it was 24 days ago, but I don't really feel like I am ever going to finish it. I get bogged down in the small stuff now, because I took care of most of the big stuff already. Frustrating!

Today started off badly, and I can't seem to make it work any better. It's pouring rain out, my father took the van in for work at the shop, and ... well, actually, those are the two contributing factors to how bad the day is going.

See, I need to go to El's house to feed her cats, but I can't get there without a vehicle (she lives on the other side of town). After I fed Chico and Ling, I intended to stop by two of the temp agencies in town to register with them. Then I was going to stop by Kelly Services to find out why I haven't heard anything from them in a month and a half. I could do all of this stuff if I walked over to Cam's place and borrowed the car from the babysitter, but because it is raining, walking over there is really not a good option.

First, a shower to get me prepped.

[EDIT - 12:34] Ugh, so aggravating. I came downstairs at just before 12, and as I was dialling Cam's house, M was all "you are not walking over there, it is thundering and lightning out there, you are not going over there now", as if I weren't nearly 31 and perfectly capable of deciding what I want to do or not. And it turns out that Cam's babysitter needs the car until 3ish, so I couldn't borrow it now anyway.

Honestly, El's cats need feeding - I was not the one who volunteered me to be the cat-feeder for the week, but it is my job and I will do it. Now, those poor cats aren't going to get fed until supper time, all because someone forgot about them and sent the car off to the shop.

Looks like I got dressed for nothing.

I don't seem to be able to get any work done during the day, lately. But right now, it's raining fairly heavily outside my window, the cats are yowling in the other room, and I am getting a bit done.

I blame a lot of today's headache on my previously unacknowledged allergy to my beloved fuzzy men. In Japan, they were only ever in my bedroom at night, and only when I was with them. They did the majority of their shedding in the kitchen and living room, and it was not as much of an aggravation to my allergies as it is now, when they are confined to my bedroom 24/7. I brushed Paku out a bit yesterday, and it was just too much - I woke with swollen-sore eyes, painful sinuses, and a throbbing head.

This means I am going to have to crack down on cleaning in the bedroom - namely vaccuuming (which is a huge pain because it involves crating the cats). Now that I write it down, it doesn't seem like that much of a pain, being just one thing, but it totally will be, I know it.

Okay, back to work. I'm going to see how much I can get done by 9, then a quick break for some Bones.

[EDIT - 10:07] Okay, so I didn't really go back to work. I puttered and did some laundry, and then I job-searched on that government site I have been checking out. I really, really need to find a job, and soon. I'm tired of not having any money, and I'm tired of having to act like cleaning my room is all I really want out of life.

I spent the weekend at my friend E's family cottage up near Peterborough with E (who is getting ready for a six-month tour in Afghanistan as a civilian aide) and KH (who I knew in uni, but not well, but who is a great bud of E's). It was a totally charming spot - quiet, private, and right on the water.

I conquered my fear of being seen in a bikini, gave some thought to my future plans, and just generally enjoyed myself.

Of course, when I came home, I realized how much time has slipped away, and how much work is still to be done.

So, it's time for tunes and massive cleaning. Here I go, babies.

Seriously, WTF is with my hair? I mean, really, now. I know I could use a trim, but falling out like this is not the best way to get me to the hairdresser's.

Today, I tackle the three boxes of Stuff next to my desk. And perhaps some laundry and vaccuuming.

[EDIT - 1:09] This has nothing to do with cleaning whatsoever, but I just got a message on Facebook from the guy I spent both years of college crushing on, and who has rendered me incapable of falling in love with any other guy... Ten years later, countless Google searches under my belt, he sends a message to me. I am dying here.

22 days until the deadline on this self-imposed mission, and I am not making much progress. It's too hot, I don't want to be in this room, why did I ever decide I was going to do this?

But M has just brought me a fortifying mug of coffee and a cinnamon crisp, I have my KumaKuma apron on, and it's time to press forward.

[EDIT - 6:06] In between phone calls from E and messages from Mads, I managed to clear all the cool weather shirts from my dresser and box them up to go into L's closet at my earliest convenience. I am thinking of piecing that wall-hanging I planned from scraps of my last quilt this week, so I can take it up to E's cottage on the weekend. Louging on the beach with a lap quilt project sounds nice.

Don't anticipate that I am going to get much done today. Though the weather is not great, I am supposed to be dancing in the festival in Ingersoll today. I am crampy, sinusy, and all around not in a pleasant mood at present, what with the drizzle and humidity, but the show must go on.

Perhaps I will do things when I get home.