The first thing I did was 'create' an entrance closet. The owners put in pegs for hanging coats and whatnot, but that gets messy fast since I have several coats, shawls, scarves, etc. It was okay for the warm months, but I needed something more aesthetically pleasing and organized for the winter. What I did was make use of a big piece of 'catchall' furniture that I had placed in the general vicinity of the entrance with the vague idea of one day doing something practical with it:
This armoire had been my pantry for five years and was outfitted with removable shelves. When I moved to this house, the owners left their pantry so I figured that I could eventually turn this armoire into a wardrobe of sorts. One trip to Réno-Dépôt and less than 9$ later, I had an entrance closet:
I already owned the fabric shelf thingamajig. The green bin is filled with all my canvas bags for shopping. My original intent was to leave the bin in the car since I never knew when I'd be going shopping, but then I realised that I hardly drive now and that I always plan my shopping. So, the bin never makes its way back to the car and I've been tripping over it in the kitchen for months. Yay for giving something a home!
Another thing I did was process a huge pile of leeks bought on mega sale. Okay, six leeks. But when you're single, six big leeks is a lot!
Here are some of the tools I use:
I start by slicing the roots off the leeks with the chef's knife. Then, I use the scissors to cut the tips off the green part. I remove a couple of outer leaves, then use the scissors again to slice the green part until I can't cut anymore. I turn back to the butcher knife and slice the rest of the green and the white into half-inch (or so) slices. I throw the whole lot into the colander and pressure wash the bits until I can't see any more dirt. Then I shake the lot and start again. When I'm done, I empty the leeks onto a grill to drain.
Once they're drained, I pat them dry with a clean towel (too lazy too take out the salad spinner!) and then bag them in freezer bags. Of course, I leave some out to make a potato/leek casserole which takes about an hour to cook, by which time the green parts of the leek have turned brown-black and crispy and oh-so-sweet. I love leeks!
While the casserole was cooking, I made some brownies but messed up somewhere since the gluten developed as I stirred the batter. So, I wound up with 15 chocolate bread buns. Still good!
Finally, after doing the usual routine of laundry, vacuuming, and floor washing, I took advantage of the fact that I'm now allowed to lift and move things again and rearranged the living room furniture. I'm not quite done yet and not entirely satisfied, but the room is awkward and I doubt I'll ever find a thoroughly satisfying layout; that is one that blends aesthetics, logic, and function. But I'm close!
Spiritually, I read, meditated, prayed, and began to create a master bibliography, using the bibliographies of the books I've read, of all the books I 'should' read at some point or another. I have so much to learn, but so far my education has been manageable as I've noticed the gods tend to parcel out the information, keeping new levels out of reach until I'm ready for them.
I also organized my songs on iTunes, which motivated me to go hunt out some pagan music when I realised that the most spiritual music on my list is country songs about Jesus!!! So, I did some research and got some names of cds I might want to try out. I think I'll go to HMV first to see if it has any of them since HMV lets you try out a cd before you buy it. If not, I'll just buy online. *makes a mental note to pick up the newest Bon Jovi cd at the same time*
Dinner tonight is spaghetti squash (for which my secret weapon is a grapefruit spoon for scooping out the innards) and some mystery tomato sauce I found at the back of the freezer when I was making room for the leeks.
A weekend like this makes going back to the weekday grind almost bearable because I'll have a clean, tidy, and organized home to return to and lots of goodies in the fridge and freezer!
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