For the past three weeks or so, I haven’t been doing much in the way of “real work”. I’ve done some, to be sure, but not nearly the volume of production I was doing during September through December. What I have been doing is catching up on the non-work stuff that needs doing, namely:

•  playing with Katherine and remembering with her some of the fun things we used to do as kids. Yesterday it was pom-pom making and clay. Monday, we do papier-mâché.
• tidying the bedroom. With two adults and three dogs sleeping there and having no time to clean or tidy, the autumn saw our bedroom looking….. dishevelled (I’m being extremely generous here). Hoping to steam clean the carpet today.
• cleaning the fish tanks (including the glass and the tops)
• sorting the linen closet (taking out unnecessary objects, folding, replacing, etc.)
• cleaning the shower curtain
• arranging the living room (it looks fabulous now)
• installing a closet organiser in our bedroom (mostly done – to be completed this weekend)
• tidying and cleaning the laundry area of the basement (a huge job)
• tidying the basement in general (we’re about half-way there. the rest happens tonight)
• sifting through Katherine’s room and weeding out junk, old toys and books she’s outgrown. I came out with three medium-sized boxes of books and four boxes of toys and the place is still full of both.
• walking
• making real suppers and lunches for all of us consistently
• laundry
• finishing designing valences and curtains for the upstairs windows. Now I just have to actually make them…
• emptying and sorting various cupboards and the like
• transplanting all plants that need it
• toilet-training Katherine (it took about a week, she had a grand total of three “accidents” and is now basically done. yay! $40 a month saved on diapers!)
• working my way through neglected emails and the like (one of the hazards of email technology is that, while it is so quick and easy to send off a letter when you have a chance, it is not always equally easy and quick to respond. We tend to assume that because we had time to send off a quick “how are you?”, the recipient will have equal facility and time with which to write and send the five paragraph response. After all, email is quick, right? Not always….) Sometimes a phone call is actually faster.

The result of this is that the house is in fairly good shape now and many of the tasks that I’ve been wanting to get at but unable to find a chance to tackle are now done or nearing completion.

Now I have no excuse not to pick up the tempo, work-wise. No wait, I still have to tidy the front porch closet! I can get a day or two out of that, surely, especially if I also clean under the kitchen sink…..