Things 202-203: The beginning of the books

I've started with the books on the bookshelf. But I didn't have time tonight to devote to my plan of attack: Arrange all the books alphabetically by author. Look for duplicates and/or books I know we'll never read again or lend out. Purge.

Instead, I just grabbed two I knew off the top of my head:

From 365 things

The first, a book I bought for Chris thinking it was a "guy" book he'd enjoy. He almost couldn't finish it because it was so bad. Whoops.

The second, a duplicate. When Chris and I started dating, he insisted I get this book by his favorite poet. So I did. And it is a great book, although I really only read his version. And now, nearly nine years later, we're married, live in a little house with a big dog and a fast-growing toddler, and we have still two copies of this book: his all marked-up and dog-eared; mine barely touched. So I'm saving the former and passing on the latter.

That's all for now. More TK.

Long lost blog

It's been a while. As always, I will blame my lack of blogging on being busy. But really, I've been all kinds of busy, mostly travel-related. So far this year, I've been to:

- Orlando
- Milwaukee
- Minneapolis
- Kansas City
- Orlando (again)
- Atlanta
- Kentucky

Later today, I'm flying to Charlotte. And then next week, I go to Phoenix.

After that, I'm staying put for a few weeks. Most of this travel is work-related, although a few trips (KC, Kentucky, Phoenix) are mini-vacations.

Despite this travel, I have been working on my 365 project, just not the documentation and blogging portion. Here's the latest:

Thing 188

From 365 things

Cleaned out a filing box...

Thing 189

From 365 things

... add random stuff found in the office closet...

Things 190-201

From 365 things

... and a collection of stuff from around the house. We have some ill-fitting winter hats, old gloves, and tons of baby bibs. Regarding the latter, I get tons and tons of hand-me-down bibs for Maya. And although my first instinct is to save them all for any potential future kids, even if I had 12 kids I'd never need the heaps of bibs we have.

Despite these efforts, I have just 59 days to get rid of another 164 Things. So we'll see. Maybe I'll get there. Maybe I'll come close.

p.s. A little shout-out to my dad, who turns 65 today. Happy birthday dad!

Friday morning madness

Hi there. I'm not sure if you know this, but there was this sort of large snowstorm recently. Maybe you've heard about it.

Among other traveling headaches, this storm has left many Chicagoans who depend on alley access a wee bit stranded. People like use.

We did manage to dig out our garage and get the car out yesterday morning. We ended up getting stuck a few times trying to get out of our alley, and again on our street. But we finally got out by driving the wrong way down our street. When we got home last night, Chris once again had to dig out our garage to get the car back in. And that brings us to this morning...

This morning was one of those crazy mornings we have from time to time, even when we're not battling 3 feet of snow. Chris and I only have one car, which suits our needs quite well most of the time. But occasionally, a second car would come in quite handy. This morning was one of those occasions. Here's the back story:

This weekend we're going to Kansas City to visit some friends. Like many trips we take, Rosie isn't coming with us, so my parents, who live in the suburbs, are watching her for the weekend. Although we don't leave until tomorrow morning, Chris had court this morning in the suburbs, so it worked out well. Chris could drop the dog off at my parents house before court. But here's where it gets tricky.

Chris has to be at court at 9 a.m. And because we only have one car and the weather's too cold for Maya and I to take public transit, Chris has to drop off me and Maya at her daycare downtown before driving Rosie out my parents', and then driving from my parents' to court. As you can imagine, this means we all have to start off pretty early to get everyone delivered before Chris goes to court. Throw in an epic snowfall, and it was a very early morning indeed. Here how this morning went down:

- Chris got up at 5, showered, ate breakfast, and went outside to begin re-digging out our garage.
- I got up at 5:30, showered, got ready and got the baby ready.
- Chris finished digging out the car, came back in and got ready for court. Around this time, he realizes that he accidentally left his suit jacket at the office.
- Around 6:30, we load up the car with Maya and the dog and try to leave. We get stuck in the alley.
- In his half-suit and dress shoes, Chris pushes the car while I rev the engine and the wheels spin.
- In his half-suit and dress shoes, Chris falls in the snow and does a minor face plant into the hood of the car.
- We finally get out and Chris gets back in the car.
- I drive backward down our alley (not easy, considering there's a giant Rosie head blocking my view), turn down another alley (still going backward), and turn again down out street, going both the wrong way down our street, and of course, still driving backward.
- We finally get out to closest major street, begin driving forward, and begin driving to Maya's daycare.
- Traffic is terrible, and Chris begins to worry that he won't make it to court by 9.
- We finally get to Maya's daycare. Chris jumps into the driver's seat, and I take Maya into daycare. Chris and Rosie head to the burbs.
- I take public transit from Maya's daycare to my office. Other than being very, very cold, my drama ends there.
- Chris drives to the burbs, drops off Rosie at my parents' and drives to court. He makes it there at 9:00 on the nose, but not before sending me this text at 8:48:

"I just killed a squirrel."

It's been a heck of a day folks, and it's not even half over. So if you happen to know Chris, have his cell phone number, e-mail, whatever, send him some kind words. If you see him in person today, bring him some chocolate or even better, an alcoholic beverage. And if you've never met him, just send some positive vibes his way. Thanks.

Things 178-187

I had to take a brief break from the office to document these Things. Most of them have been piling up in my Things to give away pile for a few months. I had planned to purge them when taking on my closet. But then there was a coat drive at my office, and I knew I needed to at least pass on the heavy coats during the cold season rather than wait until I get to the closet, which might not happen until summer 2012 at the rate I'm going.

So here we have an assortment of clothing, including three winter coats that are a little old and ill-fitting, and fortunately on their way to someone who needs them:

From 365 things

Things 151-177

I decided to take a little break from the bookshelf of terror and instead focus on the office closet. This is because as I tried to file some things found on the bookshelf, I realized I could no longer open the office closet door to access the filing cabinet. This is quite a process.

Among the many Things jamming the office closet sliding doors is a plastic tub full of random electronic parts. Mostly wires, actually. In fact, of the 27 Things pictured below, about two dozen of them are Ethernet or telephone wires. Amazing when you consider that between the two of us, Chris and I have owned a grand total of four computers over the years. How we managed to accumulate more than 20 wires to connect those four computers to the the Internet is beyond me.

From 365 things

Also included in these Things are wire splitters, a DSL router and co-ax cables. The tub of electronics also was home to an assortment of power cords. What they supply power to, however, is still a mystery. I'm guessing old cell phones and digital cameras. Until I figure that out, though, I'm going to hold on to them.

The past week; a culinary tour

The last week of the year is always a busy one for us. In addition to all the usual holiday chaos, Chris and I both have our birthdays. This year was no exception in the madness department. Maya even pitched in and got an ear infection last week (on Chris' birthday, in fact) to make the week even crazier than normal.

But rather than give a play-by-play of the past week, I thought I'd steal a post from a fellow blogger (who's on a blogging hiatus at the moment) and just give you all recap of what I ate over the past week or so:

Goat-cheese pizza
Sweet potato fries
Popcorn
Pork tamales
Pecan-crusted salmon
Cheese
Chicken skewers
Falafel
Jalepeno-stuffed green olives
Turkey
Sweet potatoes
Dried fruit
Mixed nuts
Chili dip
Cheese omelet
Broccoli cheddar soup
Mediterranean sandwich
Beet & potato quesadilla
Chili mac
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Cookies
Potato chips
Stuffed cabbage
Carnival squash soup
Raisin bran
Steak
Whole-wheat pancakes
Chicken & butternut squash curry
And of course, inordinate amounts of wine and beer.

'Tis the season.

Things 145-150

Another baby nap, another shelf. Today we have this lovely assortment:

From 365 things

- Yet another Chicago Fire item. This time, it's a photo album featuring team pictures. Chris went to a Chicago Fire fundraiser a few years ago and got all this stuff.
- More cards from my baby shower.
- CD-ROM explaining how to install Ikea kitchen cabinets.
- Wedding invitation from 2009.
- Old reporter's notebook. This one was partially chewed up by a dog we briefly dog sat a few years ago.
- Thank-you cards I wrote and never sent.

And that concludes this installment of "Just how lazy are Sarah and Chris?"
See y'all next year!

Things 138-144

I swear this is still happening. The holidays, people. That, and Maya's walking.

Anyway, here are some more Things, all found on one shelf of the bookcase.

From 365 things

In no particular order, we have:

- Broken Chicago Fire picture frame
- Wrist band certifying that one of us is, in fact, of legal drinking age
- Stack of receipts
- Cards from my baby shower
- Expired Gap certificates
- Ticket stub
- Casino player's card

Most of the Things above pre-date Maya. You know, that walking, sort-of talking 14-month-old kid. Which goes to show how long it's been since I've cleaned off the shelves of the bookcase.

It also illustrates our pre-baby life. One filled with things like casinos, shopping, and events requiring tickets and/or wrist bands. A life I hardly remember. But as awesome as that life was then, you know what I didn't have? Baby wipes in my purse. Greatest thing ever.

Oh yeah, and Maya.

Things 134-137

The past few weeks have been extremely busy. All those other times I said I was busy? Total lies. This past month has been busy for reals. Still, I managed to find some time to do a little clutter clearing.

First, I took advantage of the newly created space in my filing cabinets to sort and file this bag o' bills and mail.

Thing 134

From 365 things

I'm a little embarrassed to admit how old some of the stuff in that bag was. It all began a year ago when I was on leave. My filing cabinets had gotten over-stuffed, so I couldn't fit another thing in them. I needed to go through all my old bills and purge, but I couldn't find them time or spare hand due to the little creature now attached to me at all times.

At the same time, I had grown too tired to keep up the constant nagging I do regarding Chris* and his inability to do anything with mail. It goes like this: About every two weeks, after I nag for a while, Chris will finally open all the mail he receives. He then recycles stuff he doesn't need, and places stuff that requires action in a pile on the coffee table. Then he never touches it again.

So last year, while tidying up before hosting Christmas Eve dinner, I threw all the piles of mail into this bag. And there it sat until a few weeks ago.

This method of clutter creation will likely be a common theme as I attempt to clean out our office. The task ahead is overwhelming because our office is so filled with piles of crap I haven't had the time or energy to deal with.

Because my head starts to spin every time I walk into the office and look at everything that needs to be done, I decided to start relatively small with this bookcase:

From 365 things

I started with the upper left-hand corner of the bookcase and pitched these three Things:

Things 135-137

From 365 things

Old batteries, old receipts and old business cards. I'm not sure how or why we still have these, but such is the story of our house. I'd like to point out that the area I cleared on this bookcase was about 1 percent of the whole thing. And this bookcase is only one small part of our cluttered office. So get comfy. We're gonna be here a while.

* Chris saw a little preview of this post as I was writing it and asked me to add the following: "Chris is the best husband, father and dog owner in the universe. However, he is not good at sorting mail." The man speaks the truth.

Everything's coming up uh-oh

Maya's new saying is "uh-oh." Sometimes, she uses this word correctly:

She (intentionally) drops her cup on the floor — uh-oh!
She "accidentally" drops her dinner on the dog — uh-oh!

But more often than not, the phrase is her response to any situation:

We put her coat on — uh-oh!
She opens her toy box — uh-oh!
We change her diaper — uh-oh! (Well, sometimes that's an appropriate response).

But used correctly or not, it's pretty exciting to hear her communicate. "Uh-oh" joins her already extensive vocabulary of:

Ak (which refers to her cousin "Jack," or any photo of a boy)
Ba (when looking up, she means "balloon." Any other time, it means "book.")
Nana (Banana)
Eeeew (which means "moo," as in, the sound her stuffed animal cow makes — and sometimes, she's decided, her stuffed animal monkey, too.)
Da (Everything else)