Long day today...

It dawned clear and warm- 63 deg - this morning, so I went down into the basement. In between doing loads of laundry and taking them out the back to the clothesline, I worked on unpacking and repacking all of my ceramics, Christmas stuff - everything that had been taken down to the basement. I unpacked everything except the five BIG boxes of small molds and put everything up on the electrical room and ceramic room shelves, clearly marked - the fall decorations, the spring decorations, the miscellaneous vases, bottles, and glassware. Lots of Christmas stuff; everything from lights and garlands to della robbia wreaths and trees.

I'm a little nervous about those shelves in the ceramics room; they are made of wood shelves and cinderblock supports, not nailed together like the ones in the electrical room. My molds are so heavy! The big tree I had to put under the shelves; it was just too tall. I'll have to unload and label the molds in the boxes and stack them as best I can - the little ones on the shelves, bigger ones on the floor. Glad the furnace is in that room; it will help keep the molds dry. It'll also dry out my greenware a lot more quickly in the winter when I'm down there! Unlike the garage I was in, in Hardeeville, this room has a readily available water source for my mud mixes.

I cleaned and vaccuumed the utility room, too. It smells so good down there now - not musty and damp like it was starting to again. Having the big outside door open all day helped that, too... the breeze coming in and freshening it.

Set up the shelves for food storage when the order comes in, too. I hated waiting to order til we got here; it takes eight weeks to fill orders and they are having some trouble filling orders for some items. Everything dehydrated and in either #10 cans or pails that vary in size. I ordered a lot - more than a year's supply - so we'll see what they can ship. The shelves in that room are good and sturdy, screwed into the wall. It is next to the furnace room so the cans and pails should stay pretty dry this winter; but not IN the furnace room so things don't get too hot.

Nancy left a lot of empty pickle and other glass gallon size jars, as well as glass cider jars, down there. They should prove good for storage, especially of the opened cans' and pails' foodstuffs, as well. I boxed them up and put them in the food storage room.

So basically I spent the whole day organizing the basement, except for going out and hanging the laundry, then bringing it back in again. I ran out of space and had to use the dryer for one load.

I went out to feed Lake; she has been coming in to the barn when I go into the corral with her feed. Today she ate one Oreo but spit the other out; don't know why. As she went to her feeder, I saw that she was covered with flies! Poor little girl. I went online and got some herbal recipes for fly repellant, but wrote Nancy an email to check and see if she had a preference. Since she is not MY horse, I can't presume to just do whatever I want.

Anyway, Mike made supper and folded the socks after I brought them in. I was glad of it - I was starting to get tired, bringing in and folding all of those clothes! I'm glad I won't have to let them pile up like that again! He hung the pic of Scarlett O'Hara right where I wanted it; you can see it from the front door when you come in, and it looks like she is looking dead at you!

I wore my big knee brace with the big metal hinges all day yesterday and today; I just stripped it off. What a relief! I hate wearing it; it starts to chafe and burn, but I HAVE to or I'll not be able to walk the next day. Aggravating thing.

I have been wearing jeans and no makeup for two solid weeks now, except for the day we signed the papers and last Sunday for Mars' graduation party. It feels wonderful to get up and just throw on jeans and a shirt, maybe a jacket, and GO. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and pretty, just like today, and drier still - think I'll be able to finish mowing the yard tomorrow once the dew dries up. Then I might tackle either the front room or the family room boxes. I wonder if I am purposely avoiding the remaining boxes of clothes upstairs? You betcha! LOL It's getting organized but it is still frustrating to find all of those clothes that I used to wear and can't fit back into yet. Oh, well - maybe another month.