Made It to Tuesday.

Now I see how Weight Watchers and such works. Yesterday, because I had posted my goals for the day, I made sure each of them got accomplished. The chest of drawers went to the thrift shop; the print in the kitchen was re-hung; and the schoolbooks were returned to their respective schools. What's more, I put the two under-bed storage boxes snagged from KidTwo's move under the bed in the living room, and filled them with the stuff that had been living under there all higgly-piggly.

So what should today's goals be? Phone calls! I have to call KidThree's doctor to ask a question that we forgot at our visit last week; to call KidFour's doctor to find out the results from Friday morning's blood tests; to call for a dentist appt for myself about the tooth I broke a week ago; and to call the appropriate state department re: medical supplies for KidThree (supposedly ordered last week). There is also the usual: laundry, dishes, etc. And I'll call our Victim Advocate to find out how the trial is going, and if there is any estimate on when KidThree has to testify.

(KidThree was struck by a stray bullet from a gang fight a little over a year ago, and the trial for her assailants started last week. She was left a complete T-9 paraplegic, hence all the appointments and the need for medical supplies. But, NOT complaining--she is alive and has full use of her head and her heart and her hands. That is so very much!!)

Today is a better day than yesterday. I got a bit more sleep last night, which always helps, and a check showed up in the mail yesterday. Money in the mail is always a good thing. Another couple of checks should show up today or tomorrow, which will make those good days, too.

I'd like to have a goal for the apartment today, but am not sure what that would be. I think, if I have the energy, I'll go to IKEA and get part of the set-up I want for the tv, to see if it will work. I'm trying to set this living room up to be kid-friendly, as I've left the workforce to care for KidThree and am earning extra money by babysitting, and as we've lived in this apartment for a bit, I've found things that need to be changed or reorganized. The tv is in front of the front window, which has under it the air conditioner, so no solid piece of furniture can go there. What I did was to set up a narrow table directly over the a/c and put the tv on that. However, that doesn't fully utilize that corner, and I've figured out a way to get more use out of it. Get a longer table, one with storage legs set up for pc towers, but use the storage space for board games, not computer towers. That gets every bit of use out of every square inch of floor space over there, and goodness knows I have a lot of board games and they need to be accessible to the kids. Today I can't swing the cost of the entire set-up, but I can get two of the pc-tower leg pieces and put them into place. The table to go atop them can come later: right now, they will just look a little funny on either side of the table that is there now.

Another thing that can be done in the apartment is to hang up my curtain. My sister does custom sewing and I have a gorgeous hand-made curtain from her, complete with matching hand-made sofa pillows. That curtain used to hang in my former living room, but here, because of the placement of the air conditioner, it will have to go in my bedroom; it will hang in place of the closet door. I've already removed the closet door (now stored in the back of the closet), had the curtain rod cut down to size (the closet door is not quite so wide as the former sliding glass door), bought the extra curtain rings (I didn't buy enough when it was originally hung up and so it has always hung a little funny, missing those four rings), and had the curtain cleaned, so all there is left to do is to take the brackets to the hardware store to buy the appropriate screws/bolts to fasten them to the wall. Then I can hang the curtain rod and then the curtain when next I have KidOne and KidFour both available. KidThree can sit in the doorway and make sure we hang the rod up straight. Getting the curtain hung will not cost more than a buck or two for the appropriate hardware, so I will put that next on the list of things to do. It will be a heck of a chore as the curtain rod is heavy and the curtain is big and heavy, but oh my will it look nice and brighten up my dark bedroom.

Time to go start laundry now. We had to give up our washer/dryer when we moved (our previous apartment was inaccessible), so I have to use the laundry room here. Since most of the residents here are college students and so sleep late, I usually get the laundry room to myself if I start early.

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