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antepenultimate day 2013 post
December 29, 2013
I should probably start off by mentioning Christmas. Yeah, nice quiet day off. Since it was the 5th consecutive day I had spent in without a break from Spouse, I was pretty much ready to scream every time he opened his trap. But on the whole, it was at least restful. He made dinner, but it wasn�t anything elaborate. Baked ham, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots. Nothing special�we have fancier meals on any given weekend. But he isn�t trying very hard lately.
No gifts exchanged on the day�we were pretty broke and my check wasn�t due till Friday. And I told him I didn�t want anything from him, anyway. Hey--if I�m paying, I�d just as soon pick it out myself. It was my last day off, anyway, so I was appreciative of the peace.
Not that my 1.5 day work-week over Christmas was exactly taxing. Hell is, after all, other people�and there weren�t any other people. I was the only one in my office, and there wasn�t even any traffic to speak of.
Since I did get my check�what was left after the government got done, anyway�I did take care of getting Spouse his presents. Went to Sam�s on Friday, and found him a bigger TV. We measured the space in the old computer armoire, and found that it was 19�x28�. That gave us our parameters for how big it could be. And due to the easel-style base, we were able to go all the way up to a 29-inch. It�s a VIZIO Razor LED Smart HDTV. �Smart�, meaning it has apps on it like a smart phone. He can do a bunch of stuff like watch Youtube and Netflix and other crap, in addition to it being a TV.
But since the �too-small� TV we were replacing had a built-in DVD player, we went to Menard�s on Saturday, and I sniffed around until I located the very last Special-Purchase Sylvania DVD player ($23.69) they had left. And an 8-buck HDMI cable. So, all together, his reward for completely and totally letting me down in 2013 ran close to $300.00
WTF is wrong with me? (Oh well, if he's in his room, he's not bothering me.)
My room did get some much-needed attention this weekend. Since the unwanted TV/DVD combo needed a home, I decided I wanted it in my room. I don�t want a cable box or anything, but it will be nice for watching the occasional movie in bed. But there was no room for it unless I did some major clutter-shifting. The piles of stuff without a proper home have been weighing on me for a while, anyway. So while I was at Menard�s, I bought myself a bunch of storage totes. And I tackled the heap of accumulated odds and ends that had been clogging things up. Chucked a couple of garbage bags full of crap I no longer wanted, dusted, swept, sorted, all that jazz.
I also decided I wanted the quilt rack out of the bedroom. I hauled it down to the basement. I�ve had my wedding quilt on display for 28 years�time for a change! I washed it and hung it to dry, and once it has dried thoroughly, I will wrap and store it properly.
That gave me room for a stack of totes to hold various items. My beading supplies, spare blankets�and, for the time being, my sweaters! I plan on finishing cleaning out Grandma�s dresser and putting them there, but there is only so much I can get done at a time, so for now they are neat and tidy in a big grey plastic tote.
Spouse decided I needed to have plastic winterizing on my windows, so he took the curtains down and covered both windows with shrink wrap. I can no longer raise or lower my shades, but maybe I can lower the heating bill. Since the curtains were down, and I was in the mood, and I hated them anyway�I chucked them out. Come spring, when I can tear down the plastic and paint my room, I�ll put up the �new� curtains I�ve had for a bloody year already. And possibly some new shades, as well. For now, plain is fine. No one can see in, and I�m kind of digging the streamlined look. Rather soothing.
So once I got done cleaning and sorting and pitching and storing, I set up the small TV on my dresser. Once of these days, maybe I�ll watch something on it! I am much more likely to spend time in there, now that the excessive clutter isn�t triggering my anxiety.
No plans for New Year�s. As usual. Even if I could afford it, I wouldn�t want to go out in a town full of drunken idiots, and anyway�I have to work tomorrow. Who wants to get up at 4:30 AM, put in an 11-hour day, and then stay out all night? Maybe I�ll dye my hair on Wednesday. I�ve got a cut scheduled for Friday (after my dental appointment), and it is easier to dye when it is longer.
Reading: "The Second Honeymoon" (1921), by Ruby M. Ayres. It passed the "First Paragraph Test": "Jimmy brushed an imaginary speck of dust from the shoulder of his dinner jacket, and momentarily stopped his cheery whistling to stare at himself in the glass with critical eyes. Jimmy was feeling very pleased with himself in particular and the world in general. He was young, and quite passably good-looking, he had backed a couple of winners that day for a nice little sum, and he was engaged to a woman with whom he had been desperately in love for at least three months." I just started it; we'll see if it is capable of holding my interest. Not much is, these days.
Listening: Psychedelic Furs, The Replacements, Foo Fighters, Radiohead
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