critical mass

My house has reached it. At least it has according to the cleaning part of my brain. You that part. The little bit in the back of your mind that you can ignore most of the time and just live with the dust and not vacuum this week? It's throwing a screaming temper tantrum right now.

The list of what done/needs to be done (in the house):
-clean off the dining room table (90% done)
-clean out my purse (done)
-dust my dresser and nightstand in the bedroom (done)
-clean/organize my desk (done)
-empty the dishwasher and reload (done)
-handwash the stuff that won't fit (done)
-wash towels (in the dryer now)
-put away clean laundry (done...except for those towels)
-dust/pick-up the living room (done)
-vacuum the family room (done)
-take the recycling stuff out to the garage
-vacuum the whole house
-clean my bathroom top-to-bottom (sink and toilet done, drain cleaner down the drain in the shower)

(with the yard):
-mow (done)
-weed whip (done)
-move more rock once Eliza brings over the wheelbarrow (wheelbarrow's here!)
-plant the daylillies
-split the hostas and replant them

(with the fibery bits):
-finish the first shopping bag (finished!!)
-work on the Rivendell sock
-work on the Turquoise Monkey sock (did a few rounds before Mom left on Monday morning)
-pull out the stuff to make another Tulip sweater
-spin on the llama roving so I can get something pretty on the wheel (spun after Mom went to bed....the end is in sight!)


Now I know all of this won't be done in the next 48 hours, but a lot of it will. I think part of why I'm wanting to get all of this done is that I'm going on two different trips during the month of June. My brain knows that if I don't leave the house at an okay level, then it'll just turn into a dump between all my trips. And I know that by the time June is over, I won't want to do anything about it.

Back to the list.

making the to-do list

I have to find some way to keep myself awake at work!

Weekend to-do list:
-Clean the house, including:
-Dishes
-Laundry
-Vacuum
-Pick-up the living room, dining room, bedrooms
-Do taxes and mail them.
-Do at least one part of secret project.
-Pack for going home on Tuesday.
-Finish spinning first 4 oz of Big Yellow Taxi.
-Finish Sorbet Tulip baby sweater.

I think that's about enough to be getting along with. Anything else I get done will just be a bonus. Like sleep....sleep would be a bonus this weekend.

Now where are my stretchy pants?

After church stuff was done tonight, I made a Target run and then went to Applebee's for dinner. After a bruschetta burger with fries, sizzling apple pie, and two glasses of strawberry lemonade, I'm stuffed. Definetely need to find some pants with an elastic waist before I do anything on my list for tonight.

The list!

- Laundry. No, seriously. I feel like I do nothing but laundry lately, but I've really got to or I'm going to work naked tomorrow. I've probably got at least four loads to do.
- Dishes. Standard mountain of dirty ones in the sink after working the weekend.
- Serendipity sock. Do the heel already!
- Leaf Lace shawl. One pattern repeat.

I think that's enough to be getting on with. Now to find the stretchy pants.

ETA: That laundry detergent I bought? Completely says on the front label that it's meant for front-loading washers. Yeah. Don't have one of those. I have no other detergent in the house so I'm going to use it anyways. Seems to be working okay. At least the washer hasn't exploded....yet.

a night of rest

....and getting rid of the housework looming over my head.

Work is slowing down a little...thank goodness. I just think that a lot of my stressing out over work has been from lack of sleep. I was able to get some good rest on Monday and again yesterday. I'll be in to work tonight, then it's three glorious days off.

I dashed off a quick crochet bath pouf tonight, just to give my hands something to do. I also finished the laundry (so I had a uniform to wear tonight), vacuumed the house, and washed the dishes. Now I just need to find time this weekend to pick up all the general clutter around the house and do a little dusting. Yes....I said the D word. I despise dusting, but when the dust bunnies begin to morph into dust buffalo, then it's time to break out the dust rags and pledge.

And since I finished Mom's socks, I don't know what my next pair will be. I'm kind of waiting for the first kit of the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club to arrive. If it's something that I really like, I want to be able to cast-on right away. I can hear you all now, telling me that I can have more than one pair of socks on the needles at a time. I tried that once and it didn't really work. I hit a point where I got sick of both of them and just didn't knit on either one for about 3 months. So one sock project at a time. That's fine with me. I need to get going on stuff for the finish-a-long anyways.

Tonight I also finished re-writes on the second pattern for my secret project. This weekend I'm setting a goal of writing up three more to get out to the test knitters. More if possible.

A couple days ago I signed up for the Mystic Lights shawl KAL. It won't be starting for a while, but it's knit in fingering weight yarn. So now I need to decide what to make it out of. I'm leaning toward STR in the Oregon Red Clover Honey colorway. I'm thinking that it'll be a warm enough yellow that I won't look jaundiced if I try to wear it. I'll have to look at E's skein of it when I'm out there on Friday.

I guess that's it for now. I need to go try to get warm. My feet are freezing!!! (Even with wool socks and felted slippers.)

diving in

I've got to finish up the final load of laundry, then I'm really going to do it.

Do what you ask?

Go through my sock yarn stash that has gotten completely out of control. There will be pictures.

E, Minnie, Tara, Deawn.....if I'm not at SnB tonight....send help!!!

relaxing

The tension of this previous week is slowly working its way out of my back and shoulders. I can feel the stress melting away.

And my absolutely least favorite team was kicked off Amazing Race tonight. Yay! I honestly don't know which of the three teams left I'll cheer for. I'd be happy with any of them winning.

I've started designing some sock patterns and put out a call for testknitters on The Daily Chum. Talk about overwhelming! I've had over 40 people respond so far. Plenty to do all the knitting. Now I just need to write the last 13 patterns. *gulp*

The first monkey sock is about 8 rows away from being finished. I think I'm going to eat some nachos and then buckle down on that so I have a sense of accomplishment for the weekend. I might even get wild later and do the dishes!