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?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to post something quickly today since it is January 1st! Guess what my New Year's Resolution is? You got it! My big resolution is to finish unpacking!

Here are a few smaller resolutions:

1. Make more muffins
2. Find other uses for muffin tins - ideas anyone?
3. Reduce my tin collection by half
4. Organize all my craft supplies to fit on the intended shelves

And in case you were wondering, here are a few things done lately:

1. My younger daughter's winter jacket found, thankfully still fits
2. Many school supplies organized by type
3. My iron found after I borrowed my mother's
4. My 10-cup coffee maker found which my mother used when she had company
5. Lots of boxes recycled, some left where someone moving might find them
6. More room for the kitties who are enjoying racing around the apartment
7. Some items I had for other people have gone to those other people

More has been done, but I have got some stuff to do before I head to bed.

Again - Happy New Year!!!!!!

No Box of the Week Yet, But....

Today have unpacked several boxes, and when I've gotten to the middle of each one I have thought, "This box would have been a good container of the week." What would make them good candidates? Each box had an odd assortment of items as if the stuff was just thrown in there willy-nilly. It's not surprising because many of my boxes were packed in a hurry, either while I was moving, or just before some event such as company coming when I was just trying to get stuff out of the way.

Some things I've found today:

• photographs which I've put in a box of photos
• a playbill and tickets from a 2004 production of the Nutcracker, most of which I've put in the recycling bin
• a satiny sleeping cap which I think came from my friend Rose's stuff which has gone into my box of clothing for a yard sale or donation
• a manual for Sims people program from several years ago
• a box of junk and costume jewelry
• a music box which smells a little musty inside and has some costume jewelry inside
• a pair of cream color tights which I think nobody will miss when they go in the trash
• two 33 cent stamps

Some other unpacking news:

• I finally figured out how to utilize a file cabinet that the not-so-brilliant movers blocked with an air conditioner: I moved my bureau over a couple of inches and then angled the file cabinet since I can't really move it myself. I cannot move the air conditioner, but hope to have someone help me put it under the window where it will go next summer. Then I will cover the box with a tablecloth or pretty piece of fabric.
• A friend of mine has offered to help me put together a bookcase so I just have to go buy one.
• I found the cord to plus my printer in, and now just need the cord that goes to the computer and I will be able to print at my house again! I can, however, print photos from memory cards now!
• The kittens continue to enjoy the empty boxes that I hav given them.
• The kittens have become more and more attached to Ree; I seem to be nothing other than the one that feeds them, scoops their litter, and gives them treats.

The Kittens are Now Six Months Old!

The kittens are six months old, and very sweet and a little bit rascally, just as kittens are supposed to be. I will post a picture of one or both next time I post.

The unpacking continues, but too slow for me. For about a week and a half my whole life seemed to revolve around sick people. I don't mean sick as in crazy or demented, but sick as in having a really bad cold or food poisoning. I had a little cold, or just nasty allergies; it's hard to tell this time of year.

I hope to begin my "Container of the Week" series within a day or two. I was going to call it a box, but I have bags and baskets as well so this will be less limiting.

I'm going to leave this post short, and go to bed. Tomorrow I have to get up earlier than usual.

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.

More Problems Fixed

When the not-so-brilliant movers took apart my bed at the old apartment they took the bed off the risers I had, then put them aside. For some strange reason they neglected to bring them to my new place and I ended up bringing them a day or two later. Not only did the movers not put the bed on the risers, they put the bed a little over a foot away from the closet door. It's pretty hard to organize a closet when you can only open it a little over a foot, as you may imagine.

I finally put the risers under my bed today. It might not sound like a big undertaking, but I can't really do heavy lifting, and Ree was busy with a history project that I wanted her to finish. I like the bed higher so I'm glad I finished. Ree almost finished her history project.

In order to move the bed:

• I finished unpacking a box of media, and neatened a rolling cart of drawers so all of the DVDs, audio tapes, video tapes, and computer games fit almost perfectly.


• I moved boxes around in the bedroom so I had room to work.


• Swept around the bed.


• Unmade the bed.


• Stood the mattress up in front of the closet.


• Yelled for Ree to come get the kitten who was now on the box spring.


• Stood the box spring up against my bureau.


• Swept all the cat toys and small items from under the bed.


• Put the risers where I wanted the bed.


• Moved the metal frame.


• Put the box spring back.


• Put the mattress back.


• Made the bed with the "help" of a couple of kitties.

After that I was able to move one of those plastic under-bed boxes of wrapping paper out of the way in the living room and under the bed. I'm looking forward to organizing the presently under-utilized closet, and finding more boxes to put under the bed. I'm going to have Ree go through the media in the rolling cart to take out what she doesn't want anymore, and then I will do the same. Then we'll have more room for media that we do want.

Flea Markets and Photographs

Sunday I went to the flea market. I left with 89 tins and came home with about 75. I also sold a couple of my friend Rose's vintage aprons, but nothing else. It seems that flea markets aren't working out so well for me. Someone suggested eBay, but I don't think I'm organized enough. The plan now is to have a yard sale so I'm working on setting a date. I have been sewing a lot this week, but unpacking will be in full swing next week.

Ree had some more success with photo entries at another fair, taking home some pretty ribbons. She has a couple of more fairs that we have the photos printed out already, then next year she might not decide to do any at all. It's been exciting to see her work in public and get feedback; the ribbons have just been a bonus.

Not much news to report on the kitties, except the usual cuteness and high energy. This morning I had to rush to the pet supply store because I ran out of dry food. Yesterday morning it seemed as if we had enough to last through this morning, but we didn't so I just gave them canned food this morning until I returned with a fresh bag of food. I brought back a couple of new toys from the sale bin so they are very happy 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 are the Picture Frames?

Three or four years ago I had a great decorating idea - I was going to turn most of my wood picture frames gold with this gold rub that I got at a nearby craft shop. The goal was to have a more unified look since I have many different kinds of frames. Somewhere in a box there are one or two frames with pretty gold rub on them, but there are more frames without. I went in search of this box of frames yesterday and today because Ree needs some frames for a project she is doing. It would be nice to save money and space by borrowing some of the old frames that have photographs in them, as well as using some of the empty frames.

You may have guessed by now that I never found the frames. It's not that I didn't find any frames or pictures, I simply didn't find the box that I know contain suitable frames for the new photographs. My guess is that it's buried deep in the dining room, possibly near some paperwork I really would like to find.

What have I found instead? Here are just a few things:

• Kitty in a chandelier - to be honest, I didn't see this, but I did see the light swinging shortly after I heard Ree telling Starkit to get out of the dining room light fixture (I dont know if it's actually a chandelier, but I think it might be original to the house so I have to move quickly to get the nearby piles of boxes out of the way)


• A small box inside a big box with picture hangers, as well as some mini-blind brackets that I bought for the old apartment that I had wanted to leave for my former landlady so she could put the blinds up that had fallen down over the years


• Framed photos, unframed ones, and framed counted cross-stitch pieces that my sister had made for us several years back, nothing with frames that will work for this project

The "chandelier"/light fixture has survived another day!

Progress of the Shelves that Are Supposed to Hold Craft Items

Perhaps a picture really is worth a thousand words. Before this photo was taken there were many, many tins here, which was a huge waste of space. While the shelves are not yet being used for their intended purpose, they are currently being used for a holding area. Down below, on the bottom shelf as well as below it, are bags of fabric and some other items. The whole unit is about 6 feet wide.

Within the next 24 hours I will post the flea market update (the kitties do not like spending the day without human contact I think), and more of my unpacking adventures. Also, I am going to take pictures of Starkit and Jettkitt on and in boxes. I will post a couple of the best ones so you can see for yourself how adorable the little rascals are.

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.