I don’t believe in only operating by mood — there are certain things I’d likely never be in the mood to do. But when I’m “in the mood” for cleaning/sorting/organizing, I generally flow with that if I can. I’m not inclined to pull everything out and clean/sort/organize in the springtime just because it’s spring and everyone else is doing it then (though there is nothing wrong with that). But sometimes I get an idea for reorganizing a section or see a space that needs particular attention, go for that, and one thing leads to another. So that’s what I’ve been doing this week. I started to organize a drawer in the frig, noticed some crud at the bottom, and ended up taking everything out and cleaning and straightening. My dish rack needed replacing – it was getting worn and discolored and leaving rusty stains. There was one here when we bought this house, and I stored it in the far back reaches of one of the kitchen cabinets. So I got out the one from the cabinet, cleaned it up, set it in place, transferred everything from the old one to it (mostly the stuff we use for great-grandma’s pureed food – that stuff pretty much stays there since we use it so often), and threw out the old one. Then the cabinet I got the dish rack from needed some reorganizing, then dusting (how does dust get in there when the door is only open occasionally??!! I guess it doesn’t shut tightly enough to keep it out). Then I dusted out several other cabinets, threw away a few things, set some things aside to give away, and organized the rest. I discovered an unused Lazy Susan turntable, and I had been wanting to get one for a corner cabinet that has a lot of dead space on either side of the opening. That led to going through all my spices and throwing out several old ones. One of them was so old that it still had a sticker on it from back in the days when stores used price stickers.

I don’t know how that came with us when we moved 7 years ago – I guess I didn’t look at the underside. 🙂 But I am sure it’s past its prime now.

I got a splinter for my trouble when dusting one of the cabinets. When trying to pull it out, it broke off, so it is still there – right on the tip of my index finger, so it kept getting bumped and hurting for a while. It doesn’t hurt any more. I am hoping it will work itself out at some point. It’s not too far from the surface but far enough that I don’t want to poke around it.

I keep a running to-do list on the notes section of my phone – so I can jot things down when I think of them (otherwise I can’t promise I’ll ever think of them again, or at least not when I want to). One of the items there was to gather all my vinyl records. We had gotten Jim’s mom one of those old-fashioned-looking combination record player, radio, and CD player when she was in assisted living, but she couldn’t really hear it. When she moved to a nursing home, we put the player in Jesse’s room. I had been looking for a small stand to hold my records (which have been on a shelf in Jim’s mom’s room), and found one a few months ago that would be perfect for the player to sit on. So when Jesse got a clock radio that would also charge his phone, I confiscated claimed asked for this player back. And just this week I finally got all my records in the stand.

I could probably give away the classical ones – there are probably plenty of avenues to listen to them online. But some of the others are irreplaceable, so I am glad to be set up to listen to them. Remember these guys? I think a few of their things might be on YouTube, but I’m glad to have their albums here.

Now, isn’t this the most exciting post you’ve ever read? 🙂

It is nice, though, to get some of these things done, and I’ve been in a puttering, getting things done mood more than a writing mood this week. Sometimes I feel a pressure or maybe even a burden, when writing about a certain topic, to finish it and publish it as soon as possible. Other things I’ll work on off and on til I think they’re ready. I keep a running list of ideas I’ve thought of blogging about but haven’t had time to work through yet, and looked through those this week, but haven’t felt inclined to pursue them just now. Thus the puttering instead of writing. 🙂

Today is a snow day – I think we’ve gotten 3-4 inches. At least that’s what it looks like on the patio table.

(The rubber snakes, by the way, are to keep the birds away from the patio furniture. 🙂 It works until they get too used to them – then we get different ones or rearrange them.) Snow days aren’t what they used to be when the kids were home, with sledding and snowmen and hot chocolate. Jim usually goes in to work, both because he is from Idaho and used to it, and because he’s a manager, and with clients all over the country and world, they can’t just shut down for a few inches of snow. So he’s usually gone for most of the day, and Great-Grandma’s caregiver usually either doesn’t come or leaves early. So there is not the sense of celebration that there used to be. Still, it’s pretty to watch coming down, and the landscape is nicer than barren winter January grey. But I hope it doesn’t stick around. 🙂 I am not comfortable driving in it, and with balance issues, I don’t usually go past the front porch til it’s mostly melted. Jason and Mittu hadn’t taken Timothy out in it yet because he’s acting like he might be getting a cold, but they said they’d video him if they do take him out. 🙂 Jim brought a snowball in to show his mom and acted like he was going to throw it to her. She just looked at him like, “What are you doing?” 🙂

Hope you’re having a good week, whether it’s a busy one or a quiet one – or, like mine, quiet but busy in a different way. 🙂