Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Bloggy the Gremlin strikes again

Howard rears his ugly head
(looks almost classy in sunglasses
& a hat from the Solar Decathlon winner
(Appalachian State!
We saw it in person before it got disassembled
& shipped off to DC for the competition))
Floppy looking cute

A quick little post just to remind myself how easy this is. (Plus it's the last chance to blog in January...)

So, the closet. Much good work done today on it. Not that much more to do. & it's been fun. Even better.

The other thing I've dealt with recently is my car, which started making LOUD mufflery noises when I was pulling out of my parking space at Home Depot during one of my closet parts forays. I took it to the dealership (Harry's on the Hill--I'm telling you the name because they rocked!) & the guy said I could get a new muffler system (it wouldn't pass the NC inspection, which is due for me) for $1100+ or--& he actually recommended this--I could take it to a little muffler shop & have a piece of pipe cut out & a new one welded in. So I took it to this great little shop in Candler I went to for catalytic converter work last year (Budget Muffler, in case you need a shop) & they did in less than half an hour & charged me--get ready--$25.

Okay, so that's bloggy enough for today. The weather is just too too amazing for the end of January in the mountains. High of 60 degrees today, with 63 (my favorite temperature) expected tomorrow. I'm going to go walk in it again now. I do have more to say, so expect another post soon. I'm standing at my computer, which is on a lap desk perched on top of the printer. Me & Hemingway...

Blog alternative:
223. Think of some business that gave a great deal or great service or good advice & recommend them to someone.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Fortuitous Disaster, the creamy underbelly

Little-horned Bighorn Sheep
(not) swimming in tailings pond
Nye, Montana, at the mine

It is now almost the last of the first of the current. I tell tales of fortuitous disaster: it begins during the last of the previous.

During December, prior to Montana-ing, I got my bedroom/office/art studio spiffed & spick & spanned. The art supplies were organized on the closet shelf & on the book shelves in the little secret room created by placing my pencil post bed at a diagonal & draping a sheet (& some decorative elements) over the posts at the head of the bed. Oh, how lovely & ready for art action!

Then, at the end of week the first, year current, I returned home & began to leisurely use said supplies. During one of my recreation breaks, I was watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine downstairs, catching up with the episodes watched during my absence.

I heard a crash.

You probably know what I'm going to say. Ah, yes. I went upstairs to find I had exceeded the load-bearing capacity of my closet shelf & all my art supplies & all my clothes were galumphed together on the floor of the closet.

I went back downstairs to finish my episode. (Alas, now all the episodes are watched...)

After some research at Lowe's & Home Depot, we chose ClosetMaid, the new superhero, to take on the duty of holding all. I tried to use their online design tool, but it doesn't work with Chrome, only Explorer, so I did it the old fashioned way, with lengths of pink string & bits of masking tape to represent shelves. I measured some clothes to determine hang-length. I decided how many clothes I was going to permit.

I call it a digital closet, an upgrade from analog, for I decided to hang clothes in the little slots at the edge of the shelves, rather than let them slide together on a closet rod. The clothes are particles, not waves. In, or out. No maybes. No scrunching. I still have some evaluation to do & some clothes to eliminate, but it's a lot of fun--& the shelves for supplies! Calloo, callay. I am indeed chortling in my joy.

My firm nothing-on-the-drafting-table-but-active-art-&-a-beverage (okay, the cell phone gets to occasionally park there, but nothing else!) has worked so well I am extending it to my desk system. One shelf in the closet will be my staging area for papers. Another new rule is this: chairs are not tables. A chair should be a useful place to sit things on, not set things on. We'll see how well that one goes...

I'm still sorting & organizing, but I have come far in this first of the current. As I progress, I shall share details--& even a picture of the closet. It has already spawned an art project idea. Fortuitous disaster indeed.

Such a long saga. More to talk about, but another time.

Blog alternative:
222. (what a lovely number) Count the pants in your closet. I am pretty sure you have more shirts than pants, so that would be a lot more work. In the counting, it is possible you will find you have an embarrassment of riches that cover your ass--err, mmm, assets. You may find that you have pants you do not wear, or cannot wear, or do not want to wear. Consider de-pantsing yourself.