Where I have been

One odd thing about this new blog is that I am not officially signed up with Blog365, which makes me less spastic about making sure I post every day. I know I should be anyway. But I am busy busy busy. Plus privacy issues related to the place I live plus my determination to keep my anonymity this time causes me some confusion about what to post. I am choosing not to over-analyze today.

I spent the weekend at my brother's house. I do not have authorization to post pictures of my brother Buzz, his wife Leta, and their son Liam. But here is their fireplace, which has, I am almost certain, no right to privacy.



I also finished my kitchen, but you've already seen pictures of that. You probably have not seen, however, my new knitting/yoga area. It is the landing of third floor. It used to look like this:




Now it looks like this:



Here is my yarn stash:



Yes, that is a canvas shoe holder. Yes, I am working with what I have. Yes, this place is far more livable now that it's clean. And yes, the pool table is now usable.



Today marks the end of the "Make situation livable" initiative. Tomorrow, I will describe my next initiative: the "Aelalea Reclamation Project." (Just throw in my old name there if you are still thinking of me in that way). (I still think of me in that way most of the time too).

Have a good Wednesday.

Kitchen during part 2

And because Rome wasn't built in a day (or even three) the side of the kitchen I still can't manage:



Tomorrow I expect, I hope, I pray to get curtains up around the counters (to hide all that stuff there I can't even begin to deal with) and the cover the remaining counter tops and wash all that stuff in the sink.

What do you y'all think? Better, no?

Love,

Aelalea

Kitchen during

(This is the post where you are supposed to praise me for my bravery and prowess. Or something).

I moved that inexplicable piece of furniture into the "other" room - not yet pictured because not even a camera will fit in there.

The result is something resembling "space".



Tomorrow - or later tonight depending on how much noise I am willing to risk - I will move even more crap around in Bob and Kate's wonderland of the grotesque.

I am happy. How are you?

Kitchen before

I started dealing with the upstairs kitchen today. Since this little slip of a room has not been used in many years, and since all those years ago its primary function was "dark room," I have to pick and paw through many bottles of toxic chemicals, all of which are contained in glass or plastic and are, in my opinion, more toxic than ever since they are at least twenty years old. Without further adjective, my kitchen:




And here is one of the cabinets filled with toxic agents:





And here is one of the inexplicably placed piece of what I am guessing is dining room furniture (it is filled with moth balls - open this thing and you will singe your eyeballs):



Here is one of the opposite counter top:



And the finale, the roach cemetery that is the sink:



Yes, I really do get to clean all this up. I have to work on this project as quietly as possible so as no to alert Bob and Kate that I might be throwing out something that belongs to them, even the corpses of their roaches; therefore, I have to empty out this space and box every worthless thing in it, find a way to store all the garbage, and then clean the hell out of the cabinets and counters and THEN put in a microwave, a toaster oven, and a dish drain all without them detecting my activities. None of these installations can be accomplished until Thanksgiving Day, when Bob and Kate will be out of the house (thank you Jesus) and I can get away with buying these things and bringing them home. (Note: if I buy so much as a Q-tip, they give me a hard time for wasting my money on Q-tips when they would have been happy to give me theirs. More on that issue later).

Love,

Aelalea

Organizer for hire: free to a good home.

In four hours, I turned a space that looked like this:

into a place that looked like this:




Furthermore, I threw nothing away and can show the owners of the building precisely where their belongings have been stored.

(I realize the after picture is underwhelming; but where do you put a piece of sheet glass and a double sized futon without the owners of the properly flipping their lids over it?

At least now I can sort of use the space. Perhaps tomorrow, I will be brave and post pictures of the other rooms I occupy. They have been similarly transformed.