Happy Valentine's Day!

Wow - February is nearly half over! How did that happen? How did the year get six weeks along without another post? Quite simply - I didn't have a good computer situation at home. I was using an old laptop with a mouse and monitor because the track pad and screen were broken. Then Ree brought home her father's old computer and it died. I may have done it when I got upset when she wouldn't get off of it when I told her to and cut the power to it off in a fit of mom anger.

Now I have a new inexpensive, but nice computer. It has media readers so I will be able to put pictures up easily, barely lifting a finger. The better computer has three times the RAM than my original computer's hard drive.

Perhaps you are wondering how the unpacking is going? Slow, but still going. I will soon be posting some pictures. These days I am trying to work on the shelves that should just be holding craft and sewing supplies. It is going to look fabulous when I'm done.

Others of you may be wondering about the kitties? They are still having fun, and we have discovered that one of them has a fondness for breads and pastries - especially corn muffins - and we have to be careful not to leave any food on the table, or on the counter where she can get to it. All corn muffins go in the refrigerator now. Our "babies" are probably full-sized, but still act very kittenish, perhaps because they each have a built-in playmate.

I'll post again after the weekend's unpacking; I don't have any Valentine's Day plans, but maybe you do?

Making More Room

On last Wednesday and Thursday there was a flurry of activity around here as I readied the house so as not to be too embarrassed when kitten-sitters showed up. Ree, my mother and I were going to a large agricultural fair Friday and Saturday because Ree had five photo entries, plus she was going to help a girl who was doing a visual presentation. Since the fair was two hours away we were going to stay over two nights.

Luckily, the weekend before Ree had been to a horse show, showing model horses and photos so I used some of that time to drop the photos off at the fairgrounds. The two venues were only a half hour away from each other. I'm pretty sure these are the last two photo contests for a while. It was interesting to see that in one of the competitions a girl had entered two of the same photographs in three competitions that Ree entered, although she was in a different age group in one contest. Ree, however, entered different photos in each competition so everything was fresh each time.

Back to news of unpacking - I am happy to report that we can now see over half the floor in the dining room. Boxes are piled fairly neatly around the perimeter of the room. My bedroom is also much better with the closet stacked neatly with boxes, and boxes put under the bed. While moving things around I also made time to unpack some boxes which was good because some boxes had quite a bit of empty space.

In the kitchen I have made quite a lot of progress; most of the boxes are gone! I have placed a small Elfa drawer unit next to the stove where I have started to put the small cooking pans as well as the muffin tins that I am keeping. I will fill up one drawer with muffin tins, then I will donate the remainder to the pet organization that our kittens came from. I had to put something beside the stove or otherwise the kitties can get behind it which worries me greatly. I am only going to put things in the drawers that won't be affected by the heat of the oven. I intend to bake soon, maybe even before the end of this week.

As to the photos and kittens, in case you are wondering - four our of five photos received ribbons at the fair, and Ree did really well at the horse show with the photos and the model horses. The kittens were good for the kitten-sitters. It helped that the kittens had more room to roam as the dining room is fairly kitten safe now. Happily for me it will be easier to empty boxes because now there is room to work! I'm not yet sure how to put a caption on photos so imagine that this one is like a "Where's Waldo?" picture, but "Where's Starkit?" instead. While the photo here was taken by Ree, look for photos by me of the box of the week, a new blog feature that I will implement this week, in honor of Andy Warhol's item of the week. It seems that he was a bigger packrat than even me! Please stop laughing now.

Looking for Homes for My Stuff

There's no way to know what's going to happen when I open up a box, even if I know what's in it. Everything needs a home, whether it's on a shelf, in a drawer, in the box to go to the flea market, in the recycling bin, to a friend or relative, in the trash, or off to be donated to the thrift shop. When I open the box I need to assess what's in there, and figure out how to get it out of the box. Since this blog is about unpacking the boxes, you may be wondering how it's going, or you may not really care, and just be awaiting news of the kittens' antics.

If you care about the boxes, let me tell you that this is a tedious process. Right now I can see dozens of video tapes on a shelf of a small bookcase. The bookcase isn't really the proper home, as this particular bookcase should be holding books, but there are clothes in a large armoire. True, the armoire was originally built for clothing, but in the last apartment it housed - you guessed it - most of the video tapes we own. Also it contained DVDs, audio tapes, and a few assorted items. The clothes in there now mostly come from my elderly friend. Some of them are vintage and my hope is that they will be sold at auction, or to a vintage shop. Some of them need to go to Rose, but her wardrobe at the nursing home is packed full.

This process is like playing one of those little plastic games that are usually used as party favors - the ones where there is one tile missing and you have to slide around the little pieces to solve the puzzle. So I'm just going to try to convince myself that all this angst over where to put things is just good exercise for my brain.

The apartment is getting better for the kitties, too. I don't worry so much now that they can no longer get into the chandelier. The piles are slowly getting smaller, and in a couple of months I will have to make good on that promise to get the cats a cat tree. I don't know how I'll get it home as the large ones are very heavy, but I will have to because they like to perch high up, especially Starkit. The picture of Jettkit that I have posted was taken by Ree. We have several memory cards and I cannot locate the picture that I took to post here. Sounds familiar.

Watch for flea market news. Since I first posted this I have found out that there is a flea market Sunday. I am signed up and will pack tomorrow.

Where I Go, Kitties Try to Go!

Wherever I go, kitties try to follow. Are they trying to help unpack, longing for my company, or just trying to find places to play?I know that Starkit gets lonely because if I want to get her out of a room I just have to close the door for a couple of minutes. When I open the door she is anxious to get out! It takes Jettkit much more than a couple of minutes to decide she wants out. She was just looking into the den because she knows I have been in there as recently as a few minutes ago and she wants in. As soon as she hears me open the door she will no do doubt come bounding back into the living room to see if she can make it into the den before I shut her out. I will try to keep her out because I am working on unpacking boxes in there today. Next post will include a better picture of Jettkit where she doesn't have her eyes half-closed.

It's too bad that it will be too wet to go to a flea market tomorrow as I have found more stuff that needs to be sold! I'm still looking for somewhere to go to soon. I'm also trying to figure out when I can have a yard sale. My last landlady wouldn't allow me to have one, but I will be allowed one here. I am thinking of holding it the first weekend of October so I can have a good spread.

Some things recently unpacked:

• A pile of Ree's comic books
• A few of her wildlife information cards
• Her set of "Weird'N Wild Creatures" cards (complete, I believe)
• Walkie-Talkies in need of new batteries
• Some belts & clothing from my 93 year old friend who is in a nursing home
• Some of her cheap costume jewelry
• A kid's size 6-8 Washington DC t-shirt from about 8-10 years ago
• Floppy disks with photos
• My matchbook collection, which I would sell except they take up little room & I don't think the market is strong enough for them right now
• Cord to plus Ree's cellphone into computer which is great because she has lots of pictures to upload to computer & music she wants to put on her phone
• Charger for my cellphone that my nursing home bound friend usually calls me on because my other number is long distance for her

Some things that found homes, even if temporary:

• 2 of 3 old fishing poles - the 2 bamboo ones have gone above a door; the 3rd has a reel & no good home yet
• Elfa drawers (some drawers put in drawer units already set up in Ree's room, some units set up in den, even if they go elsewhere eventually)

What a Difference a Few Open Windows Makes

Yesterday I awoke without much hope of getting anything done; it was day three of our first heat wave of the summer. I was determined to make some progress though. My first chore, done before breakfast, was unpacking a box of books that resided under the kitchen table. Since the not-so-brilliant movers told me they weren't going to bring my biggest bookcase into the house because they claimed I didn't have room, finding places for books is getting more and more difficult. There must have been at least 4-6 boxes worth of books, along with a few other items so I really wish I had the use of those shelves now.

Today I had to go somewhere that was over a 2 hour drive, and had errands to run beforehand so I tried yesterday to make up for today. I hate leaving the kitties alone for so long so my mother came over to feed them, give them water, and probably to give them some good belly rubs. The key to yesterday was getting more windows open and getting more of a cross-breeze going. The house was much more tolerable.

Here's some of what I accomplished yesterday:

• 2 or 3 boxes of books unpacked (can't remember how many)
• many previously unmarked boxes marked with basics of their contents
• a bunch of boxes moved out of the dining room and into the rooms in which their contents belong
• boxes that need sorting marked with their priority level; for instance some big boxes without many items are now marked priority because they are a huge waste of space
• the dining room made safer for the kitties because hopefully they won't be able to climb up inside the light fixture
• found some tie-dyed items made last year that I can bring for examples
  

Here's one thing that didn't get accomplished

• the blank t-shirts, sweatshirts & tote bags for tie-dying have not been found

Major accomplishments today:

• went to frame-it-yourself shop with Ree to frame one picture and mat a series of 3 (wish I had realize how much time I could have saved in the first place)
• went to agricultural/town fair two hours away to deliver 4 pictures and a story

Pictures of Frisky Felines

It's been too hot to do much of anything; we're having our first heat wave of the summer. It's not too hot to show off the little kitties - or not so little as the case may be. They are not quite 5 months old, but already Jettkit weighs over 7 pounds, and Starkit weighs over 6! It must be that expensive Wellness dry food they eat, although they have turned up their noses at the kitten canned food, and now enjoy AvoDerm complete with avocado oil. Yes, it has avocado oil, although I don't know how they decided that it would be good for kitties. Next week they might turn their noses up at that as well; they are rather particular it seems.

Despite the heat, I do have an unpacking chore that must be done tomorrow because I am leading a group of kids and adults for a day of tie-dying next week. I have to find a bunch of plain t-shirts, sweat-shirts and tote bags. While I myself had put all the dyes, squeeze bottles, buckets, and such exactly where I knew to find them, I didn't do so with the stuff that I would like to sell to people (at cost) so that those excess items leave my house. This time I am going to keep a marker with me while I go through boxes and write a basic list of what's in the unmarked boxes on the outside. This should cut down on time spent digging into boxes looking for stuff. I seem to do that a lot, usually under the watchful eyes of the kitties.

Flea Market was NOT Helpful

On Sunday morning I left my house with high hopes. I was going to unload most of the tins, and sell some of the other wares as well. It was to be decluttering heaven. Instead, the flea market was not helpful. Not only did I not make a profit, I came home with almost everything I set out with. You may be wondering how many tins I sold - twelve! Somehow, even though I sold those twelve I have more than I started with. My mother found some tins that my father had bought on eBay years ago, so I took some of those as well. I think that out of twelve tins, seven were one that my father purchased.

On top of not having a successful day, I came home to wild kitties. They are not used to being alone so long, and they don't particularly care for it. They are not allowed the run of the house when we are gone for more than an hour or two. As you may have imagined, they came bounding out, spending the next twenty minutes or so careening on slims paths between boxes. So I fed them their canned food which slowed them down for a few moments.

A New Look & More Unpacking!

Ree suggested that I change my blog to brown to match the millions of boxes it seems we have in the house. I hope you like it!

I now have about 20 more tins to sell, including some duplicates. I have been hard at work on the Elfa shelves - they are now a mix of tins, crafts supplies, a few odds and ends, and some boxes that just happen to fit in the right place for now. Many of the craft boxes are too tall so I will be transferring things to shorter boxes as I have them available. Others, as you may imagine, lay underneath big piles of other boxes. I figured that it was better to have well-packed shelves as I can finish the organizing later. Making more floor space is one of my goals after all.

We have been doing well in the kitchen despite too many boxes; success is being measured by the fact that we actually eat most meals at the kitchen table instead of on TV tables in the living room which we mostly did at our last apartment.

The kitties are enjoying the boxes still, and we have been opening windows for them in most rooms, except the bathroom and den which they are never allowed in. The black tiger, Jettkit, has begun to fetch toys. Starkit has found a deep hiding space down amongst the boxes. She likes to dive in there. (Those are their Warrior names.)

Just Plain Hot!

Nobody has moved around much today - it's just plain hot! The kitties haven't even chased each other much today; they are hot, too.

We don't have central air conditioning, and we didn't have a chance to get the window air conditioners installed before we moved in. There are boxes in front of most of the outlets, and I have a feeling we'll be without AC the whole summer. I have tried to get windows open in most of the rooms to get a cross-breeze going; it has made it slightly more tolerable.

Despite the heat, I did some unpacking today, including the promised "Baking Essentials" box. I'm not sure what was so essential about it as much of the stuff in there wasn't even for baking! A punch bowl, another nice glass bowl, a deviled egg serving plate, ice cube bags, sandwich bags, a Pyrex casserole dish! The baking essentials were some cookie cutters, some measuring cups I've never used, and a sifter.

I also went through some tins today, earmarking a few for the flea market. All in all it was a slow day, but still somewhat productive. It seems the kitties have missed their playtime, and now that it is a little cooler, they are coming "alive". How fun.

Where Did Monday Go?

I woke up early because I had to go somewhere. I thought I would be back early enough to do a lot of unpacking. Boy, was I ever wrong! One errand turned into several, and a couple of those were at least three hours long. I came back a couple of times during the day, mostly to marvel at the kittens' energy levels.

I'm not sure what the kitties did for entertainment while they were alone, but tonight they have been wild. They have been running, wrestling, running, wresting, and sneaking into rooms they are not invited into as soon as doors are open a crack.

• Unpacked: not much! Not even the "Baking Essentials" box
• Unpacked: a bag of my younger daughter's books, a crate of tins, separated into keep and sell, some of my younger daughter's accessories & a pair of shorts I was wondering about
• Unleashed: kitten power

Where Were the Torrential Downpours?

Today I spent more time trying to declutter the photo files on my computer than anything else. I know that I was supposed to be decluttering my house by selling items at the flea market, and I did drive there with that intent. But, the weather report called for a terrible storm, and it was raining pretty badly when my mother and I arrived. We nearly stayed, and we are now paid for next week.

After giving up on the flea market, we went to Walmart, and had coffee and breakfast at Subway which I didn't even know had such things. I had a hard time not filling the shopping cart - I just got a couple of more SD memory cards for the camera, a pair of pants for my elderly friend who is in a nursing home, cereal and juice.

• Unpacked: a box of spices and other assorted stuff, including some tubes of frosting which I discarded because I don't know how many years old they were
• A bag of towels which my mother had taken to her house to wash when we were moving, and which I was curious as to their whereabouts
• Found: a box marked "Baking Essentials" which the movers never considered putting in the kitchen, and which will be the first box unpacked tomorrow
• Brought back: my big recycling bin from my mother's back yard, which I started filling with paper and boxes
• Well-behaved today: two kitties, unless they've done something I haven't yet discovered
• Never arrived: the big storm!

Not Much Unpacked Today

This morning I awoke with the intent of unpacking several boxes, some more of my kitchen, and putting aside some items to sell at the flea market. As you may have guessed, I didn't do much unpacking. I did do some investigating in the front room (den, I guess) and took a few things out of a couple of boxes. I found one of my younger daughter's model horses, so she was happy about that. I have cleared a path to her saddle rack, which is good because she has a riding lesson tomorrow and she needs to bring a saddle with her.

Here are today's items:

• an unopened bag of cat food - not for our kitties, but for some nearby feral cats we feed
• paper napkins that I have been looking for
• sandwich and storage bags, plus aluminum foil
• a sheet I needed to make a set

While I didn't bring much out of the front room, I feel like I accomplished a little. The kitties enjoyed watching me from outside the room. There are French doors so I was like a side show for them. Well, maybe they just wanted to join me, but there are too many places for them to get lost in there still.