The Project- Done!

 Here's how this began. When I returned home to a house that had been unoccupied for a month, the smell of mouse pee in my room was so strong I had trouble getting to sleep. OK, I may not clean as often as I should, but I do know how. So I emptied the room into the kitchen. You saw that mess.

When I got started cleaning, I realized that the walls were pretty dirty- not cleaning up well with washing. So... #1- Omer was still gone. #2- He had given me some money to buy myself something on my trip. However, I didn't find anything I wanted. #3- The room was already emptied. #4- Why not?

I went hunting for paint and curtain fabric. There have never been curtains in that room. However, the only place left locally to buy fabric is WalMart. They didn't have anything I wanted. Then I remembered that I had bought fabric that I really liked for curtains when I was still in Ann Arbor (grad school), but then I gave up my room there. I actually found it without too big a fight, and there was enough.

Back to the store for a shade of yellow paint that I liked to go with the fabric.

Meanwhile, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

You saw the curtain brackets the other day. The rods are just a fun little personalization. The long one is a hiking stick made from a dowel that I was given for speaking to a club long ago. The shorter one is the hiking stick that I used on the entire first NCT hike. Its name is "Chickenspit." It began life as a spit for a chicken way back in 1993, before Marie and I did our first big NCT hike. Marie, David, puppy Chips and I camped and hiked for a week at Apple River Canyon in Illinois (near where I was working that summer). David and I love playing with fires, so we roasted a chicken, and the spit became my walking stick. I retired it after that hike when it finally developed a split. But I think finding its fourth use (tree branch, spit, hiking stick, curtain rod) is a perfect role for its retirement years.

Another fix is that I'm attempting to make a home for the everpresent pile of current clothes. We'll see if I can be disciplined enough to hang them on hooks.

I repaired several other things as well. Had to wait for the curtain rings to arrive before I could finish that job, and then the sewing machine has joined the list of things that needs work. But I got it to hang in there to do this.

Now the room smells faintly of Murphy's Oil Soap (a huge improvement), and it makes me happy when I look at the walls. I have a bunch of silly memorabilia that means nothing to anyone except me. Rocks from paddling trips, beach glass, my blue bottles, a few cute plaques, and a few awards, my dad's tie rack...

Omer came home today. So, the kitchen was cleaned up before he got here, and tomorrow I will move on to spending some time on one of the many projects that I should be doing.

Oh yeah, I've caught seven mice since I got home.

See One Little Piece