Wow, Pix, that's awesome. I need to do that.

I'm at that stage where I keep walking around the house just to look at (and smell!) it. I do wish I'd managed to get to the bedroom (clean sheets would make tonight even better), but I'll tackle that tomorrow after tax prep and tax meeting.

There's something so deeply satisfying about manual labor when you work in a brain-heavy job. I am exhausted and sore, sure, but I can see the results of my hard work. So often my results at school are nebulous at best. I'm actually really looking forward to starting to go through my clothes to get rid of everything that is faded, worn, or dated. I rewarded myself with an Old Navy shopping trip today so I have a few pieces to freshen up my look, which always helps to motivate me.

I also have to tackle preparing the patio for a BBQ of ND's work colleagues from the conference in town. That's a daunting job. I need to replace the cushions on the patio furniture since Byron really destroyed them in the last months of his life, so I need to measure them and see what's out there. It isn't going to be easy; they're full cushions, so I can't easily cover them or find cheap replacements. I also need to replace the patio curtains from Ikea and clean the whole yard up. Yeah. Just a few things to do before Saturday.

Sorry to be all me!house. I'm babbling, I'm so tired.

Ha, no, that's how my brain works, too.

Flylady made me throw out ten pieces of clothing last week, which I resented and fussed over, but I already can't remember what all they were. So it was obviously a good toss, and someone will get good use out of them.

I am thinking about swapping out my winter wardrobe, but it's still, like 34 at nights, so maybe wait until after Easter.

I need to clear the deck too, but I thought I was doing it for guests this Friday, which turns out not to be the case: we'll be going to their place. So the next thing we need to tidy up for is our buddies coming in on April 7th for their concert.

I'm off today and tomorrow. I plan to give the kitchen a thorough cleaning (fridge, cupboards and all), mop the linoleum floors, straighten up the closets, and wash the windows.

We'll see how much of that actually happens. I have replaced a burned out bulb in the fridge, and if I end up calling that my spring break accomplishment, so be it.

At 10:30 someone's coming to take down the rest of the tree that dropped a ginormous limb on my car last summer. [link]

I'm kind of sad to see the big, old tree go, but I can't say I'll miss the spiky gum balls it drops every fall.

I've been deleting the FlyLady e-mails for a couple of weeks, because they were getting overwhelming. But I've still been doing the dishes every night and making the bed every morning.

Funeral this morning. We're all an odd combination of somber and jittery.

And in the best timing ever (for real), my brother e-mailed me this morning and told me he is hatching a scheme to ship the Alchemist's gluten-free bottled beer to me. This is a direct quote from his e-mail: "I will figure out how to mail you some in the next few weeks. I have ideas (cue Mr. Burns finger tapping)."

I e-mailed back "Exxxxxxcellent."

YouTube is our best friend now.

TCG was amazed by the how to paint videos I found online. What did we do before the internet?

Thanks again, everyone! I'm going out with Mom today to look for new sheets for the new bed, curtains, etc.

Thanks again, everyone! I'm going out with Mom today to look for new sheets for the new bed, curtains, etc.

The prospect of starting out all new, in a new place that's YOURS, sounds like so much fun!

The prospect of starting out all new, in a new place that's YOURS, sounds like so much fun!

It's so exciting. I can't wait for our new bed to be delivered with our new mattress.

Good for you, Steph. I have the flylady emails filtered, so I get the sneak peeks and missions in one folder, musings in another. Then testimonials, which I always delete unread, and the rest, which I read if I'm feeling particularly unmotivated. But honestly since I got her stuff in Cozi calendar, I don't read much of the email.

I wish you peace and comfort from the funeral.

Sj, I love that part so much. We didn't have the budget for it, but one of our donors was extremely generous and basically furnished and kitted out our house for us. I am snuggled under the flannel sheets and down duvet we bought at that time and it still makes me happy. I had never, in my adult life up to that point, bought nice linens I really wanted and it was great.

Sj, I love that part so much. We didn't have the budget for it, but one of our donors was extremely generous and basically furnished and kitted out our house for us. I am snuggled under the flannel sheets and down duvet we bought at that time and it still makes me happy. I had never, in my adult life up to that point, bought nice linens I really wanted and it was great.

We're really not buying much. We have a ton of furniture that both of us had before we met as well as quite a few pieces we inherited from my mother when she sold her house in the city. So it is basically just a new bed and a few lamps. We desperately needed a new mattress anyway, and the bedframe is a metal one that was fairly inexpensive. Mom and I are going to a discount outlet today for sheets and curtains. We bought a queen for the new bed, so we have to buy new sheets and we only need a couple of curtains because we're mostly using what we have.