Pesach Prep - Part 2

Had to skip out of work early today because my anxiety had gone sky-high. I was practically twitching and on my way to knocking my head against the wall to stop thinking. Not a good sign.

Left work just after 2 PM, picked up John Dear and we went to the library (I had an audiobook to pick up). I picked up a bunch of books and that definitely helped to calm me down.

Here's where I am so far with work for Pesach:

-Figure out where we're going for seders
-Discuss with Mom and SIL what we should bring Mom: Carrot-zucchini kugel; SIL: flowers
-Make meal plan and grocery list for all of Pesach
-Arrange with BFF to take chametz
-Clean out fridge
-Clean out silverware drawer
-Kasher silverware
-Find Pesach box (with Pesach dishes, pots and pans) in big living room mess (but might be in JD's office mess) Was in JD's office mess
-Clean living room after spare furniture is given away this weekend
-Clean dining room table and cover
-Clean kitchen table and cover
-Buy tablecloths Found tablecloths; didn't need to buy. Yay!
-Tape cabinets shut
-Figure out what I've got left in house to use as meal plan for week before Pesach to use chametz (BFF gets what's left)
-Check if I need Pesach cooking utensils (might be in Pesach box) I need 'em
-Pull unopened sugar and tea packages for use during Pesach
-Wash all dirty dishes and empty dishwasher before taping up cabinets!! (Lesson from experience)
-Figure out whether I need to cover kitchen counters or if I can just clean them
-No food in outer rooms after this Friday - make sure to remind JD about this on Monday morning
-Check if I need foil pans for kugels Found a bunch in Pesach box
-Clean oven and stove
-After turning kitchen, clean new crockpot for use during Pesach

Clean Sweep

That's what I'd like to do in each of the rooms in my house. A clean sweep.

On most of the home organization shows, the first thing they do is take everything out of the room, then sort and selectively put back items. That's what I want to do. Just take everything out and then I feel like I'd be able to get rid of the clutter in our house.

I was going to start doing this today, but my cold has sapped me of the energy to devote to cleaning. I think you really need a good 2-3 hours to do a whole room and I'm just not up to that.

I may try to do a few things here and there though. Put away clean items in the dishwasher. Put in a new load into the dishwasher. Change the sheets on the bed. Put away clean clothes. All with plenty of breaks in between.

We put a dinner into the Crock Pot, so that should be ready tonight. John Dear bought a roast beef and I added that to a can of stir-fry veggies and a bag of frozen diced peppers. I topped the whole thing with a can of french onion soup. This time, we remembered to actually plug in the Crock Pot, so hopefully dinner will be ready at 6 or 7. (With my cold, I can't smell anything, so I'm not sure if this dinner will turn out well or not).

I'm trying to push as much fluids as I can. Right now, I'm sick of soup, so I'm excited for the meal tonight.

Late Night -- An Olio

Nothing much going on but a little insomnia. Today was a pretty good day. Went to WW early this morning - down 1.8 lbs for the week! I'm getting back on that train. John Dear should be in their ads, he's down 17 lbs total!

A note about the WW meeting: a woman got her lifetime key this morning (meaning that she reached her goal weight and successfully kept within 2 lbs of that goal for at least 6 weeks.) How much weight did she lose to reach her goal? 21. Twenty freaking one pounds! That wasn't her 10% -- no, that was her goal weight! Her goal loss is less than the amount that I have to lose to reach my 10%. I strenuously object, stamp my feet and use that time-honored and prestigious legal argument, "NO FAIR!"

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John Dear went to a movie with his dad this afternoon, so I got the house to myself for a couple of hours. It was heaven! I read an entire book! I put away some of Clean Laundry Mountain! Right now we just have Clean Laundry Foothills to deal with.

Roger (John Dear's best friend and all-around awesome fellow) is coming home soon! Yay! He's been over in Europe all summer, no doubt charming half the continent so much that they will unabashedly follow his peace plan when he becomes Secretary of State in the 2020s. Roger has yet to see us with a clean house, so I'm feeling very motivated to clean.

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Tomorrow, JD and I are going to look at a couple homes for sale in the area. There's nothing concrete, no decisions made, but the traffic that I had to sit in this week is really pushing me to do more investigating on buying a "house-house." We're just going to look at what's out there.

Here's my thoughts on what I'd like in a house-house. 1 mile to the Metro. 1 mile to a synagogue. Convenient to my job.* Good school district. Bedrooms: 3-4; Bathrooms: 2-4. Parking (garage or otherwise).

Here's John Dear's thoughts on what he'd like in a house-house (based on prior conversations): his own game room with computer, video games, arcade consoles, TV and radio so he can play them all at the same time (gotta love the ADD qualities); a secret room that has a pool table in it; a bedroom that is only beds and no floor; pizza. Umm, methinks John Dear wants to be in an episode of Cribs.

*Yeah, it's not that I don't care about whether or not a house-house is convenient to JD's job, just that he doesn't have a job right now and he's worked in every location in the metro area in the past 10 years. We can't really plan our future based on where John Dear works. So, that factor and the price of gas and the agony of traffic here is dictating the nearness to Metro criterion.

Internal Blog Editor

Do you walk around all day editing blog posts in your head? You know you do.

Today was the start of a new day and a new me; we are all about getting back on the bandwagon with everything: hair, makeup, exercise, eating right, cleaning house, sleeping, etc. You'll be seeing posts on all of those things (hopefully) this week.

Possible Names for the Project
Operation New Day/New Me
Operation Infinite Waffle (taken)
Operation Supermodel
Operation As Cool As {Insert Cool Celebrity Name Here}
Operation Be Kind Rewind (taken)
Mission Zamboni
Operation Bill Parcells
Mission Wheatena
Operation Kozy Shack Kommando (makes me too hungry)
Operation Personal Intervention

At this point, I'm probably going with Operation Bill Parcells because it makes me smile whenever I read it. hee.

I Am a Corned-Beef Rock Star

Many thanks to the Chickie Nob (one of Mel's little darlings) for my favorite expression ever.

Remember that list I had up yesterday? All done. Last night. By me. Well, John Dear moved the wet clothes into the dryer, but otherwise it was all me.

I'm sure that you don't care about all my to-do lists, but it helps me to be accountable. So, here's the list for this evening.

1. Make dinner
2. Load and run full dishwasher
3. Go to library so BFF and JD can get books (I am not allowed as I already have 4 billion to read).
4. Pack up food for trip
5. Empty fridge of suspect items
6. Water flowers
7. Turn up thermostat
8. Throw out trash
9. Pack car
10. Drive to THE BEACH!!

Must've Been a Bureaucrat in a Former Life

Because I am all about the organization thing today. Lists upon lists upon lists. Of tasks, directions, recipes and anything else you can think of. I don't have a List of Lists yet, but I am getting there.

I usually get this way when vacation (of any length) nears. Lists and scheduling on the calendar. I am rocking that calendar.

Here's the List for After Work Today:
1. Pick up The Boy from doggie daycare.
2. Put new load of clothes in washer.
3. Make steak w/ baked potatoes for dinner. Cook extra steak for tomorrow's dinner. Cook defrosted chicken in fridge so it doesn't go bad.
4. While cooking, empty clean dishwasher.
5. Pack up extra steak for tomorrow's dinner. Pack up chicken with peppers for tomorrow's lunch.
6. Eat dinner with John Dear.
7. Clean up kitchen. Load dishwasher.
8. Work out.
9. Laundry tasks.
10. Shower.
11. Pack for vacation.
12. Walk The Boy and Evening Routine (wash face, brush teeth, blah, blah, blah).

Unfortunately and realistically, I am unlikely to accomplish everything that I've set out for myself. What I think will actually get done is colored in blue. To paraphrase, my eyes are often bigger than my ability to get things done. Oh well. Hope springs eternal.

The Line in the Sand

John Dear and I woke up early and got our butts to the local Weight Watchers meeting. John Dear wasn't too enthused by anything that went on, but he's not a real rah-rah person anyways. I really liked the meeting leader. I'll take funny over dry facts anyday. We'll both be starting the Core Plan. JD - because he has been successful on Atkins in the past and this is a similar kind of discipline. Me - because you supposedly lose weight faster on Core and I'm down with that. Once losing a significant amount I may switch to the Flex Plan (the one where you count points all the time), because I am a Bread Lovah.

BFF and I (along with practically every female in Northern Virginia) saw Sex & The City last night. I went with no expectations and I really liked the movie. It's not a cinematic achievement, but who is going for that? I'm going for the funny and the fashion. Some girls got real, real dressed up for the show, like stilettos and sequined dresses, dressed up. Hi, no. I'm at the movies.

JD, at my request, is out of the house for a couple of hours so that I can clean in peace. Instead of totally cleaning though, I'm also checking blogs and having to draft letters for work due to some situtations that need my attention ASAP.

We'll be meeting up with his parents for dinner tonight, so we've got a pretty full day.

Where I've Commented Today (so far, I'm just keeping track of the first 5 + 1):
1. Sweet Baby Dreams
2. Infertility Bites
3. Our Box of Rain
4. Life After Infertility and Loss
5. Happy Hopefuls

I Returned A Comment Here:
1. Off My Mind But From My Heart

NP (Now Playing):
"Over My Head (Cable Car)" by The Fray, How to Save a Life

If Only I Were Motivated

The following is a list of things I would accomplish if only I were motivated to do so:

1. Clean up my office, have a better filing system and keep it that way.
2. Clean up my house and keep it that way.
3. Go to a Weight Watchers meeting and stop paying them for not going to meetings.
4. Go to the garden store for annuals and redo the pots on my balconies that currently have dead plants in them.
5. Start the Aero Grow I received for my birthday.
6. Bake bread in the bread maker I received for my birthday.

Instead, I'm going to the beach. I think I made out on that deal. (grin).

Non-Specific Title Here

Sitting at home, attempting to recuperate from a busy weekend. Ran around with BFF, running errands and preparing for her movers to (FINALLY) get here from Florida. Went to the CAPS game on Saturday night, where they clinched the Southeast Division title!!!! Didn't get nearly enough sleep this weekend and I've got a wicked sore throat, so I'm putting myself to bed early.

Just wanted to let y'all know that I'm alive and despite a fight with some black liquid eyeliner (um, the eyeliner won, but I still rocked it), I'm doing OK.

THIS WEEK:

• New sofa and chairs will be delivered tomorrow! Yay! No more Skeletor couches!
• Must fit in some cleaning for Pesach in, as I don't want to leave it all for the last minute. Will leave kitchen for next week, but would like to finish off the rest of the house this week.
• My company is having their annual conference this week so I may not be posting, but I'll try to update as soon as I get a chance.
• The CAPS start their playoff run against the Philadelphia Flyers* on Friday night (I have to be at my stupid conference). Would consider polygamy to be married to all the CAPS. Or at least a select few.
• Hoping that John Dear will be able to do an SA soon. Pretty much everything is waiting on that.

CAPS, please meet me at Camera One: OK, you guys can definitely beat the Flyers because you've done it time and time again. Plus, they suck, you are the team of destiny and we are all believers. Finally, you must beat the Flyers because The Princess (my brother's wife) is from Philly and is a Flyers fan and she sent an email last night talking smack about you. I responded in a very sportswomanlike manner and replied that I hope the match up is good and may the best team win. I have to warn you, though, if you lose to the Flyers, I will seriously reconsider you as several of my husbands. In closing, I'll paraphrase from that cinematic classic, Necessary Roughness, "I don't want to put any undue pressure on you guys, but Gennaro's final words were, 'Win, or I'll die.'"

Ordinary Day

Summary: In which nothing earth shattering happens and aren't we all glad for that?

No big news here. John Dear is constantly sniffling due to a bad cold and The Boy is currently resting on his new orthopedic, made-for-senior-dogs bed. I'm tooling around online and watching a Tivo'd episode of It Takes a Thief (greatest TV show ev-ah).

I made us homemade egg mcmuffins this morning with our wedding toaster, now finally out of the box. Lunch was leftover Chinese food and dinner will be with JD's parents.

I spent a couple hours this morning in cleaning our bedroom. I worked on two areas: the closet floor and the top of our bureau. Both are now cleaned off. We have a huge box of things to bring to Goodwill, and a lot of cardboard boxes to go into recycling. The only thing left from this morning's session is to put away the bedroom keep pile and the other room keep pile.

I remain hopeful that I will be able to think in this house. (Currently, there's too much clutter to think straight).

After putting away the two to-keep piles, I will put away the clean, folded laundry we have. That may be all I get done today, and that's a ton. The clean house will eventually happen.

A Little Closer

Due to technical difficulties, namely the fact that SOMEONE (whose initials are JD) is keeping me busy cleaning, my pics of the messy and less messy 2nd bedroom are not available yet. I hope to get them uploaded soon, as well as a Ta Da! picture.

Nothing much else going on - I've been crazy busy at work, so the fact that BFF is coming up tomorrow night means much anticipated awesomeness.

Messy Desk Haiku

Oy, full of papers
Mail unopened there is
Desperation, stuck.