Personal Productivity: Way Up

It seems that every time I move into a new apartment, my parents go on vacation the next week, and so I spend that week dog-sitting and staying at their house, instead of my own.

I'm not complaining! Their house is wonderful, and it means I get to hang out with my dog, even if he spends most of the time outside after around 5 pm in the summer. It's just a strange coincidence. The last time I moved into an apartment - my old apartment in Oak Lawn, and I mean old in multiple senses of the word - my parents promptly left on vacation, and I took care of the dog for a week. I believe they actually vacated for vacay (wah wah) with the same set of friends with which they're now roaming Jackson Hole and its environs.

Saturday, I took the opportunity of their absence to do some things for everyone, as well as for myself. For instance, I bathed the dog. That helps my parents, me, and most importantly, the dog. If the amount of hair the dog shed in the process is any indicator, it will also help some plumber in the near future.

I took my clothes to the dry-cleaner. My parents' cleaner, that is, not my dry-cleaner in Dallas. I'm in love with my Dallas dry-cleaner. I want to marry him, and then I'll have clean stain-free clothes forever. What more could a girl want?

I went to the Container Store (again) to exchange an under-bed clothes bag for a drawer organizer and a bamboo CD storage bin that will not hold CDs. It fits perfectly in the bathroom cabinet above the toilet and will keep my seldom-used medicines nice and tidy (NyQuil, for instance).

I went to Target and bought some stuff. I can't remember what I bought there, but it was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR SURVIVAL. I'm pretty sure it is, anyways.

And I cleaned out my storage unit. There were three things in the storage unit that had to be moved, one of which I couldn't transport by myself. I enlisted a friend to help me, and we made a day of it, following up the vacating by seeing the new Harry Potter movie, then beer and a game of fetch in the backyard (the dog fetched, not my friend), and then dinner at a Thai restaurant, because I'm tired of all the restaurants my mom and I usually visit. I actually wanted to eat Middle Eastern food, but the place I used to go closed.

It made me cry inside a little.

Sunday, I slept. A lot. I woke up at 2 pm, because I decided I'd just sleep until I woke up. No, I didn't stay up late. I was in bed and asleep by midnight, in fact, so I got a good solid 14 hours of sleep under my belt to get me through the day. I didn't do a whole lot, but I worked a bit at my apartment, putting drawing materials into the drawer-organizer I bought (Container Store!).

I have a desk in my living room that is skirted, and there's a lovely little rolling trolley that disappears under the desk when not needed. The drawers of the trolley - one of which now has a drawer organizer - hold pens and pencils and paper and paperclips.

And six rolls of Scotch tape I found while unpacking all of this stuff.

And seven erasers. Five of which were identical and still in their plastic wrappers.

I think my erasers are procreating.

Monday, I will drive my mother's mini-van to work so that I can drop by the UPS customer support center nearest my apartment to pick up a table I ordered, along with some curtains. After I mend a drawer runner and replace the drawer, my bedroom will be finished.

At least, it will be finished for now. In my world, decorating is never finished.