So… it seems I should have some sort of update. I think about all sorts of things to write about while I’m at work, and then promptly forget to write down notes to myself so I can actually write about those things when I get home. *sigh*

Today I did write down a tentative plan for the next nine months to see if I really can pay off all the credit cards by December 31st. Well, I can, but it involves lots of ebay and lots of everything else (craft-wise, that is) so that’s going to be at the top of my list starting in April when I post auctions again.

It might even involve more dolls, which is good, but we’ll see. If I really want to get them gone by the end of the year (and I do, I really, really do), then basically, I have to make the equivalent of the balance of one credit card ($3000) on ebay/etsy/craft shows/yard sales in nine months.

This will also involve buying and selling stuff from Goodwill and auctions and yard sales and other places I might find good deals, which does happen sometimes. If I can buy something for say, $20, and resell it for $100, then I’ve come $80 closer to my goal even though I spent $20 to get there.

I am also considering selling both treadle sewing machines, because I’m really not sure I’ll ever actually use them. I am much more likely to use the portable ones anyway. But we’ll see.

That means, of course, that I’ll probably worry about starting the destruction (err, remodeling) next year and not this year at all. That’s okay; there’s nothing that needs to be done ASAP anyway, really, but that doesn’t stop me from moving the rooms around when Bekah and Ethan move out, which I will still do.

I’m also going to take my Dad’s advice and recycle as much as I can from the shed. There’s a lot of junk in there, but it’s potentially recyclable stuff, and who knows? I might be able to get some money right there. Sounds good to me!

Rearranging Part 4.2

And I thought I was finished? Ha!

I had a thought yesterday while sitting in my comfy chair and writing in the living room.

My previous thought about the Green Room being the combination living room/library and the living room being the office wasn’t far off the mark, but here’s the deal:

I don’t have enough books in this house to fill up a floor-to-ceiling bookcase that’s 9 foot high and 6 foot wide.

And in all honesty? I’m probably never going to have that many books. Maybe once, before I purged, but not now. I’m very unlikely to just buy books for the sake of having books filling up my bookcases. I like to read books, not necessarily collect them.

If I’m writing Plethora to cut down on my consumption, then building a giant bookcase that needs to be filled just doesn’t jive with that at all. (Although I will admit it would look awfully cool. But that’s not necessarily the reason just to build something that will need to be filled up.)

So. After thinking about it a bit, here’s what I decided to do. (At least until I get a better idea, haha.)

The current Living Room will become the office/library. I really like that idea. I will build one small bookcase on the (if you’re standing in front of it) left side of the stained glass window for my non-fiction books and reference books. My desk will go on the right side of the stained glass window by the plug. My nonfiction books are the ones that need a place anyway. This only makes sense. (Not a single one of my existing bookcases will fit in this space without looking really stupid, and making one bookcase isn’t a huge deal at all.) This will mean that all my nonfiction books can stay together where I can access them quickly. The fiction ones can stay upstairs in my hallway, which is the fiction ‘library’ anyway.

In the living room, the papasan couch will move, as will my papasan chair. The other chair can stay to sit in front of the built-in bookcase, and the cedar chest can also stay in place. My library table can stay. The coffee table can go into the Green Room, which will become the living room. My quilts can go into the Green Room. That leaves me a nice empty corner for something else, maybe even a nice set of file cabinets, if needed. (I will need something if I move my storystuff out of the closet, but we’ll see. It’s safe in there, at least.) I could leave the rocking chair in the office/library, too. There will be no rug on the floor, except, perhaps, for under my desk to save the floor from my chair. I envision this room nice and bright and cheery, thanks to the stained glass window.

The current Green Room will become the living room. The roll-top desk bottom will go against the short wall where I thought it would go, probably with a bookcase on top of it until I find a roll-top top. The couch (and I haven’t decided yet; I may just keep the papasan couch unless I find a really nice couch at Goodwill) can go against the wall, I think, or however I decide to arrange things. My Papasan chair can go in here too, and so can the coffee table. My quilts could go against the long wall, or behind the couch, or something like that. The floor-to-ceiling cat tree can go in the corner by the bathroom door, along with the cat’s food, etc. The only rug on the floor will be the blue rug around the seating area.

Those are the only changes so far.

For the first time in a very long time, I am wearing my wrist brace today. I’m glad I found it while cleaning my office, because every time I pick something up or twist a certain way, my wrist hurts. It’s from the repetitive movement of shoveling snow, of course.

And then, earlier, because it’s warm outside (above freezing, at least; I haven’t looked at the thermometer, but I bet it’s close to 40) I rolled gigantic snowballs with Ethan and we made a snowman. Now, Bekah, Ethan, and Bekah’s boyfriend Matt are out there rolling more snow boulders and making more snowmen. (And since we don’t have a sled, using the garbage can lid to slide down the hill. Hey, whatever works!)

And I am working in the dining room. I almost have room for my other bike. (The first one’s in there already; the second one’s cluttering up the hallway. Both will eventually be in the entry room, but right now, I have no room for them and they’re not going outside.)

Boy, am I glad that I put the link to the Heart’s Desire blog right up top on this blog, because I nearly forgot to publish Part 2 this morning.

But it’s up!

Again, let me know if you see any obvious errors.

(I am sooooo stiff this morning!)

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

I decided to go shovel some snow, and while I was out there, felt okay, but now that I’m in, I can feel every muscle in my body (almost) stiffening up.

Ouch.

There’s a good 8 inches of snow out there, with drifts at least up to my knees. I didn’t even try to get between the house and the shed; the drifts are (in places) up to my hips and I didn’t think the back step needed to be cleared off that badly.

Speaking of the back step–it’s not really a step, but you step down onto the sidewalk from the kitchen door. The snow is even with the bottom of the screen door. And that’s not a drift right there, either. Yikes!

For the past two days, the last line of Transformation has been this:

Eda glanced down. In ragged, actual letters, the dog had written Yes.

And my subconscious has been struggling with Bear.

Bear’s a bearhound, a really big dog who looks like a black komondor. (No kidding–that’s a perfect picture. And here are some more.) And he’s not just a dog. He’s smart, he understands human speech, and I knew there was something special about him when he appeared on Val’s porch in So You Want to be a Vampire.

Only, I didn’t know what was so special about him.

I thought at first that he would end up under some sort of curse, but at 3am this morning when I woke up to check the snow (and use the facilities), my subconscious obligingly offered me a solution.

And you know what? It fits perfectly in with the storyline, almost as if I had been planning this all along. (You can keep believing that if you’d like; I don’t mind. *grin*) And it will work. In fact, it will work better than I ever hoped it would work, because I really like Bear and didn’t want to lose him as a non-POV character.

What fun.

At least this minor bump in the road didn’t derail me for months like the two in SYWTBAV did. Whew!

Well, we didn’t get 15 inches at my house, but it’s still snowing. As you can see, Mabel’s not very happy with me this morning:

And thank goodness the neighbors trimmed their bushes last year–they chopped off about three feet from the tops. The last time we had a big snow/ice storm, the bushes were frozen to my car.

Round #2 of the Blizzard of ‘08 has begun!

And I’m headed to bed. We’ll see how much snow is out there tomorrow morning.

It’s a blizzard! 10-15 inches of snow by tomorrow afternoon!

And–because I work for the State, we don’t close*. I had to take two hours of personal time so I could leave at 3pm to get home at 5pm. *sigh*

Driving to work was no problem at all. Driving home was a bit of a bother; the roads got better as I approached my county, which was very nice. And I do have to write a little note of thanks to the transportation people for cleaning off the hill so nicely twice in a row.

*The State never sleeps, I guess. To actually officially close early or open late, the governor has to become involved and Public Safety has to issue a Weather Emergency Memo. They did this once since I’ve worked for the State, only no one knew about it until it was too late and we were already at work (late, but still there.) Thank goodness I don’t have to go anywhere at all tomorrow!

We’re supposed to get More! White! Death! tonight and tomorrow.

I think tomorrow might be dubbed Spaghetti Sauce Saturday, since 3-7 inches of snow (overnight) and 3-7 more inches of snow (Saturday) are expected. At least right now. They changed it between last night and this morning; so far, the commute to and from work doesn’t look like it will be bad. Maybe everyone will go home early and leave me with the roads to myself!

Yikes!