Lost Time

So much for the discipline of writing on a daily—or ever remotely daily—basis. Once or twice a week makes more sense.

This last week has been kind of a blur for me. Not because things have been happening so fast, but because I've lost all motivation to focus on anything. Sure, I've got my lists made and my prioritized organization of what needs to happen first, but I'm spending a lot of time staring at the walls (and the TV). Also, I've gotten primo insomnia. Still, I get stuff done.

It's been kind of frustrating, from an environmental point of view. I had just gotten the walls of boxes pared down, I could see the housewarming happening, and then the boxes with the fans and lighting showed up, and now I've got boxes everywhere again. Not as bad, but still visually overwhelming. Come this Saturday,  I will have been in the house for a month.

There were some milestones: last Friday Steve and Pam came over with a Papa Murphy's take and bake, and I used the oven for the very first time (I think it bakes a little hot in the back). I had my first multi-pan meal last night, making spaghetti with meat sauce. There are leftovers. Yes, that will be one of my next milestones: digging rotten leftovers out from the back of the fridge to dump them.

Another milestone: I'm in sync with the trash/recycling schedule. It took my about two weeks to actually fill up my green rollie dumpsterettes (gray top for trash, green top for recyclables, brown for yard waste), so I've only set them out once. I also have them delivering the paper to the front door, so that is adding to the bulk of the recycling.

I also signed up for online bill pay at my bank and paid my first utility bill online. I'm sure the rest of them will be arriving in short order, and I'll set them up, too. I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have any routine because, really, it's just started.

Looking ahead, I have an invitation to a housewarming party from a woman who was in the healthcare focus group with me at the center last month. She also happens to be a professor in the Theater Department at UW-La Crosse, so we have that passion in common.

I've also nailed down Emily and Jim for next weekend. They're going to bring the family grandfather's clock over from the corner in Ettrick, where it has been sitting in plastic wrap for almost five years. Once the clock's here (a mutually agreed-upon relocation, since it technically belongs to Amanda), Jim and Emily and I are going to mount all the lighting fixtures and fans I've got, and then take the green recliner back to Ettrick, a gift for Steve because I don't have anyplace for it here, except the basement.

It's about time for another laundry day. When you just dump into a hole in the wall, it accumulates much faster than you'd think it would. I notice it's usually time when I'm putting the bath towels and/or the sheets down the shoot. Another cycle of the house to remember.

Most of all, I need to remember that I gave myself a year to get settled here. I'm just at a month, so I guess it's time to slow down a little bit more (not in unpacking, but lifestylewise), and enjoy the pace of the place.