A post in which I work my ass off on Boxing Day

I think the tradition on Boxing Day is that you clean out closets and stuff. If so, I truly observed it today.

I got up this morning with a mission. Every room in the house is torn all to hell, and I was determined to re-claim the living room in the name of some semblance of order. I thought if I could just get one room back it would preserve what's left of my sanity. But in the meantime, I felt pretty bad. I've been over-doing, plus I'm afraid I picked up Eve's bronchitis. Fortunately, I had the remainder of a round of antibiotics here. I took one, had some breakfast, and dug in to work.

I re-hung the blind in the living room, and then did the ones in the bedroom. I am finally done hanging %^$#@!! blinds! I feel like that's all I've done for a week now. I had to take them all down for the window people, then put up temporaries in the bedroom, then go buy the new ones, then install them all. I took a moment for personal triumph and sat down to drink a glass of water. Then I got right back to work.

Before I could start cleaning, I had to get all the crap out of the floor and out of the piles all over everything. The goal was to get everything I could out of the house to start. I started sorting. Garbage out first. I usually only put out a 15gal bag every other week, but I filled the bin up today. Then I sorted the recycling and Goodwill piles. I loaded up the car as full as it would possibly go and hauled that load off. Then I came back home and started cleaning.

I decided while everything was torn all to hell anyway I might as well deep clean the half of the living room that was torn up. That took most of the day. I washed walls, wiped everything down, and then scrubbed the floor by hand. When all that was done, I took a breather and drank a cup of soup I had started in the crock pot yesterday.

I called Billy. I was supposed to go to his place last night to watch The Christmas List, which he had recorded for me, but we got back too late. We had put that off to this afternoon. He was going to the movies with his sister today, which worked out fine. While they did that, I got cleaned up and finished putting the living room back together.

By the time I finished all of that, I was feeling pretty rough. I know the feeling now when Epstein Barr is kicking my ass, and I had it. I had to knock off for the day. I turned on telly, took some ibuprofen, wrapped up in my big new Slanket, and lay my ass down for a bit.

By the time Billy called me after the movie, I was feeling better. I headed over there and we went out for sushi. That was what he wanted, and it was my thank you dinner to him after all. I can pretty much eat sushi anytime, and it was excellent. Ben and Billy's sister went with us. I had met her before, and really like her. She is super nice. We had a lovely meal, and then they took off. Billy and I put on our jammies and settled in to watch the movie he recorded for me, covered in puppies. That movie is cheesy and lame, but I love it anyway.

By the time that was over, we were both ready for bed. I went home, walked gratefully into my intact living room, and then made my way through the destroyed bedroom to hit the hay. I took a moment to admire the finally completed new blinds before I turned off the light.