See You Later Starbucks- Week 5 Wrap-Up

My friends are amazing.  They are beautiful, amazing people, generous with their time and their things.  Recently I was without a car for three months, yes you read the correctly, THREE MONTHS, and during that time it was by the grace of my friends that I got to work, the grocery store, out to dinner, anywhere.  I love and appreciate them more than words can say.

All that said…  My friends are a bunch of jerks.  Well, at least when it came to this week’s challenge.  My affection for Starbucks is widely known, I don’t make any secret of it and I don’t apologize for it.  And I go there.  A lot.  So when my friends found out about me giving it up for a week?  It was open season.

“So I guess we shouldn’t invite you when we go for our afternoon Starbucks run?”

(Since when have you been going for an afternoon Starbucks run?  And if you did you weren’t inviting me anyway.)

“Where should we go for lunch today?  Oh, hey how about Starbucks…  Oh right, Jamie can’t.”

(Since when did we ever go to Starbucks for lunch?)

“Oh hey, Jamie…  Look at this nice warm Starbucks…  Doesn’t it smell goooood.”

(I hate you right now.)

It was all in good fun, I know, and I’m not really mad.  But it was funny how suddenly everybody felt the need to parade all things Starbucks in my field of vision (and smell).

It’s because they all know.  They all know that it’s a staple in my routine.  If I have to be at work early or late, there will be Starbucks involved.  I wasn’t always this way.  In fact, for years I didn’t drink coffee, really at all.  I’m not sure what changed it, probably when I gave up soda several years ago and needed to get a caffeine kick some other way.  That and a couple of visits to Europe where coffee is just…  Different.  To this day I don’t drink coffee black, except when I am in Europe.  It’s better.  Darker, bolder, less chemical crap in it. 

I’ve never been one of those pot a day people.  My mother was like that as I was growing up.  Actually she a pots-a-day plural kind of lady.  There was always coffee in our house.  As years passed so did the coffee addiction and slowly it rubbed off on me.  I rarely ever drank it at home though because I never wanted to brew an entire pot and instant coffee makes me want to gag.  And then one day I received the most wonderful gift….  A Keurig.  If you don’t have one of these, get one.  They are the most amazing invention on earth.  Good, brewed coffee…  By the cup.  It’s kind of amazing. 

So how does this relate to Starbucks?  Well I think part of the draw is that at Starbucks you get a cup of coffee.  It’s a one-off and that is generally all I want.  So why is the Keurig not enough?  Well, 2 things.  I have found that really its espresso I truly love and, particularly here in Florida, I usually want some sort of cold iced concoction.  And pouring a home brewed cup of coffee over ice is just not the same.  I love a good caramel macchiato and without an espresso machine at home I can’t make it.  And even if I had an espresso machine at home?  That just seems like a lot of work when there is a nice barista who will make it for me.

And well that’s part of the charm right?  There’s a convenience factor.  I just go in and decide what I want and somebody makes it for me.  And then if I want to I can sit in a comfy chair, or write on my lap top at one of the tables.  I can snuggle up inside to get out of the cold, or cool off to get out of the heat, or when the weather is nice I can sit outside and enjoy the air.  It’s social without having to be social.  You are among people but solitary.  That’s a feeling I like sometimes.  Or, of course if you go with someone else you can sit and talk without having to spend the money on a whole meal and without having to put either person out by going to their house.  And I run into people I know there all time which is always a pleasant surprise.

And then of course there are the baristas.  When you go to a place enough the people who work there start to know you, recognize you, remember you.  And like the Cheers song says, sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.  There is something comforting about someone else recognizing something about your routine.  It’s a safe relationship.  You can be happy to see each other, know enough to guess what I am going to want, we can share some pleasantries, but you never have to dive deeper than that.  You don’t, like in an actual friendship, have to worry about any of the emotions that go along with truly knowing another person.  Now before anyone thinks I am anti-social or that I don’t like to become emotionally involved with people, this is far from true.  I’m probably one of the most, if not the most emotionally open person I know.  I absolutely crave human contact and I will be the first person to talk to you about the deepest, darkest parts of your being.

But sometimes, it’s nice to have a break.  Sometimes its nice to say hello, how are you, thank you, and goodbye and feel like you’ve made a connection of some kind, any kind.  I suspect this is the attraction of most merchant-customer relationships like this, even if we never consider it.  There is a mutual appreciation.  The merchant appreciates the business, and therefore the job security, not to mention a familiar face who they know will continue to be pleasant to them since they don’t want someone to spit in their coffee the next time they come back.  The customer appreciates the business being there for them when they need it or want it (and believe me, I have no greater appreciation for ANYONE than I do the Starbucks barista at 3am when I just got up from a 2 hour nap after working 23 hours straight and I am on my way back in for more.  At that moment, there is no greater human being in the world), and they appreciate the familiar face they know is not going to spit in their coffee the next time they come back.  It’s a win win.

I know there are those out there who will shake their fists and scream about how I should be supporting small family owned coffee houses rather than a giant corporate conglomerate.  And I get that.  And if there was such a place near me I would absolutely support it.  But the fact of the matter is that there isn’t.  There’s a Starbucks within 3 blocks of my house and another within a mile and nothing else that comes close for miles.  There’s a great place called Stardust Video and Coffee http://stardustvideoandcoffee.wordpress.com/ that I love and would totally support, but it’s on the other side of Orlando, probably an hour drive.  It doesn’t make sense, and it certainly doesn’t make sense for regular visits.  Plus there is something comforting about knowing I can walk into a Starbucks anywhere in the world and get a drink that I know exactly how it will taste.  And I do mean anywhere in the world.  I once got a frappacino from a Starbucks on the bottom level of the Louvre.  I’m big on experiencing local culture and food when I am abroad, but by that time I had been living in France for nearly a month and was just a teeny bit homesick and that frappacino was the best damn thing I had ever tasted in my life.

And I am not the only one who feels this way.  If you want to read about someone else’s affection for Starbucks check out this blog.  http://teachingtuckandty.blogspot.com/2011/01/starbucks.html

It’s not an entire blog devoted to Starbucks, but she does mention it in a few entries and how, after her husband died suddenly and unexpectedly, Starbucks was the only place she felt she could go and feel normal.  This, by the way, is one of the best damn blogs on the internet and everyone should read it.  But I digress.

So, why then, if I am so hell bent on extolling the virtues of Starbucks did I want to give it up?  That’s easy.  It’s expensive.  In both dollars and calories it is expensive.  And dollars and calories are both things that I can not afford to give up freely.  I have several different drinks I get regularly, but the most common for me is an iced venti non-fat caramel macchiato quad (meaning with an extra shot of espresso).  This drink costs just under $5.  And if I get one 3 or 4 days a week…  52 weeks a year…  You do the math…  I don’t want to.  And not to mention while I am there I will often grab a breakfast sandwich or a yogurt.  Cha-ching….

Calories wise we’re talking about somewhere around 275 calories every time I get the drink.  Let’s say you have an average allotted calorie intake of 1500 (it’s actually a few hundred less for some people), then you only have 1225 left…  And sometimes I go to Starbucks more than once a day…  You do the math.  I don’t want to.

So there you have it.  The great Starbucks shut out began.

I should start off by saying in all fairness that this week was made a little easier by the fact that I did not have a car for most of it.  I was relying on rides to and from work and I wasn’t going to ask someone who was already doing me a favor to make an extra stop on their way.  If I’m already putting someone out I’m not going to ask them to go further out of their way.  Sure, I could have gotten up a little earlier and walked to the one 2 blocks away if I really wanted to but I didn’t want to.  So because of that it wasn’t really an option and it definitely makes things easier when it’s just not an option.

Well, except for that one day.  Several of us had gone out to lunch and on the way back I hopped in my friend Erin’s car.  Mind you, this was after several days of taunting from everyone in the office.  And I was jonesing a little bit.  Sure, I was drinking some home brewed Keurig awesomeness every morning, but it just wasn’t the same.  And the pumpkin spice latte had just come back.  And I wanted one.  Bad.  I hopped in Erin’s car and she announced she wanted to stop at Starbucks on the way back to the office.

Crap.

Just crap.

The wheels in my head started turning.  I mean, it was Erin’s decision to go.  If we were already there then technically I wasn’t breaking the rules right?  I said I wouldn’t GO to Starbucks, but here someone had TAKEN me to Starbucks, through no fault of my own.  I could get a tall, just a taste really.  It wasn’t my fault.  And it would be silly to be there and not go in.  Or, what if Erin got it for me?  I mean it’s not unusual for us in the office to make a run for each other.  I could pay her back next week.  Then it wouldn’t even be me getting the coffee.  And it would be rude of me to not take it if she got me something….

I stayed in the car.  I waited in the car and didn’t go in and declined Erin’s offer for her to get me something.  And that was that.

I missed it.  I passed it every day and damn if I didn’t want to stop.  And if I had had my own car it would have been a lot more difficult.  But I could have done it.  I’ve found some substitutes that are good enough, though definitely not the same.  I have those plastic Starbucks cold cups and with the right flavored creamers it was passable.  But you still don’t get the experience with that.  So you are left with just a passable drink with none of the extras.  It’s not the same.

But then, sometimes things can’t stay the same to get better and that’s where I am at.  The bottom line is that I can’t afford to do what I have been doing.  In any way.  I can’t afford it anymore.  So I have to change, have to find a way to make passable be enough.  Oh how true this is of my whole life.

So I’m not going to stop going.  But I think I will start to look for options that are cheaper in both dollars and calories and using them less often.  After all, the real experience I’m looking for is a better life.

Water Water Everywhere And Not A Drop To Drink- Week 4 Wrap up

Ooooook.  Did you all think I’d disappeared?  I know, I know…  Sometimes life gets in the way.

            So let’s go back, let’s go back, let’s go way on, way back when.  (Bonus points if you know that that line is from.)  When last I left you I was about to tackle my water challenge on week 4.  100 ounces of water every single day was the goal.  I have this water bottle that holds 32 ounces so I figured 3 of those a day plus another glass somewhere in the day.

            I don’t know why this has been so much of an issue for me lately.  I literally carry a water bottle almost everywhere I go.  I mean, I won’t carry one into a restaurant, but I will into a store, to work, to the movies, into friend’s houses.  My friends Kelly and Joe are always making fun of me for bringing water to their house.  “We do have water Jamie…  Is our water not good enough for you?”  Your water is plenty good enough.  It’s just a habit at this point.

            I mean, I live in Florida and its flippin hot here most of the year.  I admit, I always slack off a little in the cooler months.  Hydration falls to the back burner, but then it’s not nearly as big an issue then anyway.  But in the summer…  I am the hydration nazi.  I have been known to make someone sit down and drink a glass of water before I will let them do anything else.  Now being that I work in entertainment with performers who are sweating their tuckases off, this is not as crazy as it sounds.  Being properly hydrated can be the difference between life and death, and that’s not an exaggeration.  More often it can be the difference between functional and non-functional.  Not drinking enough can cause all sorts of issues from headaches to just plain being tired, let alone more severe things like muscle cramps and heat stroke.

            But more than that, there’s just so many damn good things you get out of drinking enough like awesome skin.  For me one of the biggest benefits is how it helps in weight loss by making you feel full.  They say that often feeling hungry is actually your body’s way of telling you that you are thirsty.  And if you are drinking the correct amount of water you can’t help but be filled up a lot of the time.  For me, if I ever actually feel thirsty I know that I am already dehydrated.  And I attempt not to ever let that happen.  You can ask a couple of my friends about the day I was already dehydrated and didn’t realize it and then had a couple of drinks…  It wasn’t pretty. 

And if you need more about the awesome benefits of water try some of these:

http://www.mangosteen-natural-remedies.com/benefits-of-drinking-water.html

http://www.health-benefit-of-water.com/benefit-of-drinking-water.html

http://healthcave.com/17-health-benefits-of-drinking-water/

            Until recently.  I guess the biggest issue is that over the past year I have spent more time indoors at my job and the times when I am outside are very irregular.  When I was stage managing in the parks I was on a very regular and rigid schedule.  If I had, let’s say, 6 shows a day, the show times rarely changed.  So I could gauge my progress through the day.  I would often think, okay I need to drink half of this bottle of water by the 2^nd show, then the other half by lunch, then another bottle full before I leave by the end of the day.  It just became routine, I didn’t even think about it.  My days aren’t like that anymore.  Probably a good 75% of the time I am working in an office and I don’t have the same meetings every day.  So often the day is broken up into before lunch and after lunch.  And while I’ve tried to think ok, a bottle before lunch and a bottle after lunch, I will often find myself getting to the end of that time frame and realizing I have 2/3 a bottle to go and the only way I’m gonna make it is if I chug.

            The other 25% of the time I am working an event.  And during an event there is no such thing as a regular schedule.  It used to be that we generally provided water bottles everywhere we had techs or performers.  So I made it a point that anytime I stopped anywhere I would grab a bottle of water and chug it down before I left wherever I was.  We’ve gone green now, and so we have water coolers lots of places but not so much on the bottles.  This is absolutely the right way to go.  Better for the environment, more cost effective.  Absolutely the right way to go.  Except that it kind of throws a wrench into my plans.  Yes, I can still carry my own water bottle but then I have to worry about remembering it, finding a place to fill it up, not leaving it sitting anywhere, etc etc etc.

            Which is kind of what happened during this particular week.  I was working an event on the Friday and Saturday night, with overnights on the Wednesday and Thursday before it.  I was absolutely spot on with my water consumption all through the week.  We didn’t have a water cooler out at my stage but there was a break room nearby that did so I just set goals for myself- You will drink this much by this time.  And while I barely made it, I did make it…  Until Friday night.  Friday night at my stage was a big ol’ mess.  A freaking monsoon swept through, damaging my equipment, flooding my area…  It was a nightmare.  Once it finally stopped we had to set up as fast as we could and then it was go go go to get all the scheduled entertainment in.  I barely stopped.

            Now this is not all that odd on events.  I mean, if everything went smoothly all the time there would be no need for my job.  That’s why I am there, to take care of things when they get messy.  And I did try and try to remember to keep drinking water but I would set the bottle down and forget where it was or I would put it out of view of everyone but that included out of my own view!  And it was kind of out of sight out of mind.  A few times I went back to the break room for a second and when I was there I would try to remember to chug at least a glassful.  It’s so important when I am in that mode; it helps you stay alert…  Not drinking enough can make me feel like I am crashing.  I think I ended up close to my 100 ounces that night, if not actually getting there.  But it was not without a lot of thought about it and if I had not had this challenge to do, I don’t think I would have hit it.

            The next night of the event I was much better.  I had seen what happened the night before and concentrated on making sure I got enough.  And that was a long night.  In at 3pm, out at 6am the next morning.  And it was hot.  Really, stupid, muggy, sweaty hot.  It would have been a lot easier with water bottles, which makes me wonder if I should just buy my own when it comes to events like this.  I know it isn’t green, but I would recycle them and then I wouldn’t be so damn freaked out about leaving the bottle somewhere.  On this particular event I was stationed at one stage, but that is very often not the case.  I have to go from one location to another and I may or may not be back.

            That was the case with an event I just did the weekend before last where I would check in places once and then never see it again.  It would have been super handy if I could have grabbed and gone.  It’s something to consider I guess.  And I suppose it depends on the event.  Regardless, I have to find the answer because this is my life (which I love) and I need to make it work within the reality of what I have.  In the weeks since this challenge I have not been good about keeping up with the water and now that the weather is finally turning a bit cooler I continue to struggle to get it all in.  I need to keep working on this one.  Especially because it has never really been an issue before.  I really just need to find a way to make it a habit.

           

            There is one other thing I should talk about that is going to fall into the realm of to much information for some of you, so don’t say I didn’t warn you…  When you are drinking the correct amount of water…  You have to go to the bathroom all the damn time.  Seriously.  All the time.  And while this is a little bit of a duh, and a little bit funny, it actually is kind of a problem.  If I am in my office it’s no big deal…  Unless I have a day full of meetings and I have just chugged a half a bottle and I am looking at the clock realizing that there are 20 minutes left to go and these people always run late and so more like 30 minutes to go and good lord I don’t know if I can make it that long.  OR I am in the middle of an event and I have people on stage, or coming to stage, or from stage, or I’ve got equipment failing, or performers getting sick, or any other number of issues to deal with…  Sometimes it’s not only inconvenient to leave for a few moments, its not possible.  So you try to find this balance between drinking enough at exactly the right times so that you will be in a good place to run to the restroom when you have to…  You laugh…  But if you have been in my shoes you know exactly what I am talking about…  This act of timing is damn near an art.

That all said, I still probably drink a lot more water than a lot of the people I know.  You will be hard pressed to see me at a meeting without a bottle, or in my car, or anywhere else for that matter.  So maybe I am being a little bit harsh on myself, and it’s also possible that I think I need more than I do (the standard is 64 ounces, but there are some schools of thought that say drink half your body weight in ounces).  I think there will be more to come on this one and hopefully when I do an update I will be able to tell you that I am being better about it.  In the meantime I am going to finish this bottle I have next to me.  All 32 ounces of it.  Which is by the way, the 2^nd bottle that I have had today.  So at the very least there is my 64.  Working on it...

           

           

*Photos courtesy of Google.

Week 9 Challenge- Just DO It!

Oh, hello friendly blog followers.  Did you think I’d given up?  Never fear.  My little experiment has not gone bust.  That pesky thing called life just got a little in the way.  Things started getting crazy with work and not having a car for 3 months and then I got the WORST migraine of my life and ended up in the ER one afternoon.  After that work got even more crazy because of all the time I missed for the migraine. 

So missed a couple weeks in there but I will go back and make ‘em up at some point by doing a double challenge some weeks. 

So I believe we are now on week 9.  (Holy crap…  How the hell did that happen???)  Last week I did do a challenge which was walking an hour every day outside.  I owe you all some wrap up posts and those are coming soon which brings me to this week’s challenge-  Do 10 things I have been putting off.  (And although there are several updates missing, posting on this blog only counts as one of those 10 things!)  I am an excellent procrastinator.  A professional really.  And there are a number of things I have been meaning to do, some for weeks, some for months.  This week I’m picking 10 and tackling them head on. 

I bet you all have some things you have been putting off as well.  Maybe you will join me?

Wrap-ups coming soon!

Week 6 Challenge- Every Penny Counts

OK, ok...  I know I owe you all a week 4 and week 5 wrap up.  Last week was crazy and I ended up with a 4 day migraine on all the days I was going to get crap done.  I'm even posting this a day late but I did already start this week's challenge.

I often find myself thinking, where the hell did all my money go?  I am constantly trying to make ends meet and I don't know why.  I have a suspicion that it is all the little things I buy that seem insignificant at the time.  Once in college I had an assignment where I had to track every penny made or spent for an entire month.  Being that this was about 9 years ago now I think it's time I look at this again.  So that's this weeks challenge, tracking every single cent and hopefully finding where I can cut back (leave Starbucks alone...  I already cut that for a week.  :)  )

More to come soon!

Week 5 Challenge- Sayonara Starbucks

Busy busy busy right now.  Last week's wrap up is coming soon.  In the meantime...

I am addicted to Starbucks.  I make no apologies for this.  However, I do know that I could stand to be a little less addicted. 

So for this week I am giving it up.  Don't think I am crazy.  I am not giving up coffee.  That would just be wrong.  But for this week I will not set foot in or drive through a Starbucks.

Oy.  I am sad already.

Lean Mean Cleaning Machine- Week 3 Wrap Up



Last week sucked.  Not this past week.  This past week was fine, but the week before, during the no soda challenge, it sucked.  I realize that as a writer I should be a bit more eloquent about this but really, it was just a week full of stupid, sucky, lame things all piling up on each other until I was feeling a little buried by it all.  My friend Whitney literally said to me at one point, “If you need something…  Don’t attempt to do it yourself…  It could be dangerous…  Call me.”  Next to that, I think I said it best when I posted this past week’s challenge:  “It’s been a rough week and everything in my life just feels a little…  Messy.  Not tragic, not falling apart, not even bad…  Just messy.  My brain feels cluttered.  My heart feels disorderly.  My life just feels a little grubby at the moment.”  This was not the way I wanted to kick off my 31^st year of life.  And Whitney and my friend Laurice felt the same and assisted me with a birthday relaunch dinner to attempt to start this whole thing over again. 

So when I looked at my list of possible challenges for the week I knew that I needed to just clean up my surroundings a bit.  Scour my space, make it a little more organized, and a little more pleasant.

Let’s get something straight.  It’s not like I’m disgusting or anything.  You will not find me on an Episode of Clean House; no one needs to do an intervention.  But I am generally living in a state of controlled chaos.  I hate cleaning.  I like the feeling of accomplishment it gives me, but the actual act, ennnh I could do without it.

This is an issue with 2 parts because there is tidying up cleaning, basic organization, putting things away, a place for everything and everything in its place, and then there is actual cleaning cleaning, dusting, mopping, spraying, wiping, etc etc etc.

My issue with the first part, the organization of cleaning is that frankly, I have to much stuff.  I know this.  I am well aware of this issue.  I am a collector by nature.  It is a deep rooted personality trait.  And I don’t have stuff just to have it.  There is sentimental attachment to all of it.  Every single knick knack.  I don’t want to delve into this to much because I will have a few challenges devoted to this fact, where I will organize specific spaces that I have avoided or let get out of control, get rid of things I don’t need, and just generally try to pare down.  But for now, know that I have a lot of crap.  And it takes a lot of effort to keep it tidy. 

My issue with the 2^nd part is that cleaning makes me sick.  No really.  Cleaning literally makes me ill.  I have a list of allergies that takes up an entire sheet of paper.  Dust, pollen, mold, animals, trees, grass.  Basically, if it is in the air, I am allergic to it.  I get 5 allergy shots every week.  FIVE.  Every. Single. Week.  Have for the last 2 years and will continue for the next 3 years at least.  I get the highest number of shots of anyone in the doctor’s office.  Go me.  When I clean, be it dusting or vacuuming, I am supposed to wear a special allergy reduction surgical mask.  So just imagine yourself for a minute, donning a mask like you are about to perform an appendectomy every time you whip out the vacuum.  And really, I don’t know that it makes that much of a difference.  Even when I wear it I can feel the pressure in my head build up, the headaches start, my eyes get itchy…  I feel like crap.  So cleaning, literally, makes me sick.  It’s not an excuse.  It’s for real.

But it is also a catch 22.  If I don’t clean there is more dust, etc.  If I do it gets kicked up and sucked into my sinuses like a magnet.  I kind of feel like I can’t win.

There’s another issue here and that is that while I do feel a sense of accomplishment when it is done, I am also annoyed that it so quickly has to be done again.  I am anti-making the bed.  I like the way it looks, but damn it I am just going to mess it up again…  Tonight…  It has always been a task that just doesn’t make sense to me.  It’s not that I never ever do it.  But I don’t do it as a rule.  And this holds true for all cleaning.  It’s just going to get messy again.  Yes, I understand that this is a fact of life but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t annoy me.  I like projects; I have always enjoyed project based work.  But I like projects because you complete it and move on.  Cleaning is one of those never ending things, a Groundhog’s Day of chores.

And you know, there was just never an importance put on cleaning in my house growing up.  I think I am for the most part better than my upbringing in this respect, but I also think there is something to be said for not caring that you have the shiniest sink on the block and for spending time on other more important and/or more fun things.  When I was a kid I was a total and complete slob.  Because I could be.  And it was just kind of no big deal.  It wasn’t until I went to college and had to live with people who did not come from that sort of upbringing that I had to worry about such things.  But actually I adjusted quite well and quickly and in many of my living situations since I was known as the clean one or at least the pretty much as clean as everyone else one.  And not only that I found a sense of calm that came with the monotony of cleaning.  If I was upset and feeling out of control I knew that I could control something.  It was a great outlet.  There was a period of time when my roommates in college could immediately tell if something was wrong with me because I would be scrubbing the kitchen, not talking, not listening to music, not paying attention to anything else.  All I wanted was to walk away from that kitchen knowing that it was spotless and that I did it.  They knew to proceed with caution when trying to speak to me in these moments and that it was only a good idea to do so when I was almost done, winding down, feeling like life was a little more manageable now that there were no crumbs on the toaster.  After college this trait calmed down a little, but still I don’t think anyone would have ever said I was a slob to live with (please, dear former roommates, correct me if I am wrong).

And then I moved in with my current roommate Randy.  Randy is a very clean person.  An exceptionally clean person.  His space is always completely organized, completely tidy, completely put together.  And because of this, our shared space is always this way too.  He is so clean that he cleans up after me.  To be clear, this is not something I take lightly, and something I work very hard to not take advantage of.  I feel bad when he does it.  Still, almost 5 years of living together later, I feel bad about it every single time.  When we first moved in together he moved into a place I had been living in by myself for nearly 2 years and almost every day I would come home and something would have been cleaned and reorganized.  This might sound like heaven to some of you, but for me, someone who had been living alone, completely in control of my own space, and who had, as I stated, been known as the clean one, I felt like he must think I was an utter disgusting slob.  And one day after coming home to find something else suddenly spotless I broke down in tears and confessed that I thought that he thought that I was a horribly disgusting human being and he couldn’t bear to be in this filth another moment.

As it turns out, I’m not that bad, he’s just that clean.  And now that I recognize that and we have settled into our Odd Couple ways, everything is cool.  I’m sure he cleans up after me more than he would like but he is very generous about it.  I’m sure when he saw that this week was going to be all about cleaning he jumped for joy, at least on the inside.  Unfortunately for him I concentrated the vast majority of my efforts in my own room because it needed that much love and I needed that much sanity in my personal space.  Poor Randy.  Maybe next time for the rest of the house (although, I think it probably comforts him more than he would like to admit that when my door is open and he can see inside it looks clean and somewhat orderly, or at least more so than it was before).

Before I move on I should add one more thing.  Time.  It’s all about the time.  I have a moderately hectic life.  There will be weeks at a time when I am barely home save to shower and sleep.  And during those crazy days, even if I do have some time at home, the last thing I want to do is work on anything.  Sometimes you just need to unplug your brain.  And I want to catch up on TV, or reading, or the internet, or anything that does not involved a vacuum or sponge.  During these days I will come home, dump everything into a pile, and then move on to do the things I have to do in order to keep up appearances (like laundry and ironing, since you know, they frown on wearing the same thing 8 days in a row at my workplace, and want you to look professional and junk).  And sometimes that is just all I have the time or energy for.  But then when you get to the end of those times you have a pile of crap, a pile of dust, a messy world in general.

And that is what I have come out of.  A messy world.  And I needed to cleanse.

And so Sunday began my cleaning power hours.  I started off with a little bit in our shared space, cleaning off the kitchen counter where I dump my mail and then leave it for days at a time.  It was also cluttered with birthday cards, sunglasses, and general other catch-all kind of crud.  I cleared it, actually went through the mail, and scoured it.  I did a little laundry, a little ironing, and most importantly that day, I cleaned out the bag I use for work.  That poor bag…  I’m like a boy scout, always prepared…  For anything…  And as I am working on events, big and small, I will throw things into the bag and very rarely take them out.  I had been meaning to do this for awhile but kept putting it off thinking it was going to take forever.  It didn’t.  And that one little thing was enough to make me feel like I could start my week feeling a little lighter.  Literally.

Monday was devoted to my bathroom.  My bathroom was not in such a state that I would have been embarrassed for anyone to see it, but I will tell you that it was getting close.  Not only was it in a state of disarray, it needed actual cleaning as well, the sinks, the shower, the tub, everything needed a good scrub.  There is something that is very calming about a clean bathroom.  I think because it is where I get ready for my day, if I am starting my day in a state of chaos how can I expect it to be anything but chaotic.  I think the bathroom has replaced the kitchen for me as far as the space that I feel the most gratification from scouring.  And all the rest of the week I just kept thinking how much nicer it was.

 

On Monday I also started to tackle the heap-o-crap that had been piling up on my bedroom floor.  That was a lesson for me that I was even able to get to that since I figured cleaning the bathroom would take me way longer than an hour.  It didn’t and I got way more done than I thought I could.

On Tuesday I tackled my dressers and night stands, clearing them off, dusting them, dusting everything on them (no small act…).  I also made my bed (Yep, that’s right, I did it) and vacuumed the entire upstairs of our apartment, yes, including Randy’s room…  Although I’m pretty sure my version of vacuuming (no straight lines, not getting into every nook and cranny) may drive him a little bit nuts.

 

Wednesday was devoted almost totally to ironing and laundry…  For a single woman I do a ridiculous amount of laundry.  And ironing because I pretty much have to iron all my work clothes.  Do other single people do this much laundry?  I am not a clothes horse; I don’t change my clothes 8 times a day…  And while I am thinking about it, how the hell do you people with kids have time to do anything other than laundry??

Thursday and Friday I devoted, almost entirely, to my Alice in Wonderland collection.  I have a ton of Alice stuff.  I love it.  I’m not getting rid of any of it.  Don’t ask me.  However, it is an entire collection of little knick knacks, and figures, and snow globes, and more, that all need to be dusted.  And I had not touched it in forever.  In fact as I had acquired more items I had just placed them on the shelf and not rearranged anything.  So now not only was everything covered in a pretty impressive layer of dust (on glass shelves that were covered in a pretty impressive layer of dust) it was a jumbled mess.  I took every single item off the shelves and put them on the floor so I could clean the shelves themselves off and then spent that day and the next dusting every single item as I put it back up.  And then vacuuming again since now my bedroom floor was covered in dust.  What a pain in the ass.  A necessary, long over due, I’m glad I did it pain in the ass. 



Jumbled Dusty Mess



Slightly Less Jumbled, No Longer Dusty Mess

Saturday, the last day of the challenge was a weird day.  I opted not to post this recap that day because I had so much going on and wanted to get my last power hour in.  But to be honest I did not get one straight power hour in.  I had a date that day and spent the morning doing other things and only got about 15 minutes of general tidying up done.  I was feeling a little guilty about this because after the date I had a housewarming party to go to and knew that I was probably not going to have time to get the rest of the hour in unless I opted to do it when I got home that night, which, lets not kid ourselves here, was not going to happen.  However, lucky for the state of this blog, the date went very very badly.  Very.  So much so that I cut it off short and ended up coming home with several hours to spare before I needed to head to the party.  Date fail.  Blog win.  So I spent some time on a little more laundry (seriously?!  What the hell am I wearing all week??), making my bed (yes again, I know…  We’re all shocked), and just generally picking up a few of the things that had gotten a little messy again through the week.

And so here I sit, feeling a little less cluttered, a little more like my head is on straight, and my heart is in the right place.  I had the same realization that I always have when it comes to things like this and that is that it never takes me as long as I think it will and I can get a lot accomplished if I focus on it for a few minutes.  I also found myself not feeling as sick as I have in the past which means that my allergy shots are working, and that the Benadryl I took every day before having at it helped the situation (although made me exhausted).  Am I going to clean for an hour every day for the rest of my life?  Oh hell no.  But do I appreciate the feeling of things being clean and organized?  You betcha.  I actually found myself wishing that I had more time to tackle other areas.  I’ve got an office that is screaming for some attention.  But hey, I’ve got 49 more weeks to go, there is plenty of time.  I’ll get to it.  I’ll get to it all.

*Pictures courtesy of Google and my cell phone.  J

Week 4 Challenge- Drink Up!

If you’re wondering what happened to the wrap up for this week’s challenge don’t worry, you didn’t miss it.  I’m hoping to post it tomorrow.  Or maybe Monday.  I ended up with plans for the day and I can either work on the wrap up, OR I can do my last power hour of cleaning.  Or I suppose I could attempt to do it tonight when I get home but since I don’t know for sure when that will be I’m not taking any chances.  Plus, this week was a little philosophical and I want to make sure I devote an appropriate amount of time to the wrap up.

So anyway, look for that wrap up in the next day or two (yay Monday is a holiday!  Woot!).

For the week 4 challenge it’s all about hydrating.  I live in Florida.  And in Florida it is still really freakin’ hot.  While the last couple of weeks have been tolerable we go back and forth between tolerable and oh-my-god-I-might-burn-alive-just-walking-to-my-car.  Now, normally hydrating is not a problem for me.  I carry a bottle of water wherever I go.  But lately I feel like I am just carrying it around and not drinking enough of it.  Add to that that I have an event at work this week and I know that I need to keep up with it.  More in the week’s wrap up about how I know this is the thing I need right now.

So we all know that the recommended amount of water is at least 8 glasses a day.  That is 8 eight ounce glasses so 64 ounces.  But I live in Florida.  And it’s hot.  And I’m running around a lot.  So I’m going to aim for 100 ounces a day every day all week long.

Drink up!