#(by a lot I mean grocery shopping. laundry. vacuuming. and taking out the trash)

[artblueminecraftorchid]

Saturday Morning Confessional

Hell lingers behind every shadow;

I leave the lights on, yet they stay.

Electricity bills climb higher,

Nights get longer,

Temperatures colder.

You’d think Hell could pay a heating bill

Once in a while, but in spite,

The nickels and dimes stack up.

I miss the sun.

This daughter of God thrives on routine,

But the clock shifts back and forth;

The government’s grasping attempt

At brighter mornings. Bitter as I may be,

I am grasping with them.

Light, light, God grant me more light;

Even if it casts shadows, at least

I’m not in the dark.

For all the scrambling to daylight,

I sleep longer, frittering away

Morning hours. Shorter days chopped

Ever slimmer. I used to sleep

When the sun went down; beat the

Dark to my bedrest and

Flee from the fear. Now, it’s 6:30PM,

The night already creeping, dinner

Not yet made. I stay awake,

Forget time, shiver in the gloom.

It does not bode well for winter.

Thanks be to God, who turns the planets on their axes

My alarms went off on a Saturday, and

I could not get back to sleep. Thanks be

To God, from whom the sunrays burst

In helium-synthesis glory; the day was

Majesty’s declaration, cool and bright and joyful.

Thanks be to God, I got up early, amen.

The laundry’s in the dryer, the food bought

For the week, the carpets are all vacuumed;

I’m resting, not asleep. May every chore I do

Be prayer and praise together:

Thanks be to God, I’m having a good day.

Hell lingers behind every shadow;

May God’s angels clear them away.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Spoon Deficit

This is going to be one of those points where I’m just not okay with this disability bullshit.

I mean, I cope, for the most part. I like to think I cope. Sure, I complain a bit, but I do shit. I get on with my life. But there are some times when the spoons I need for “Eh, I’m pretty much used to it” just aren’t there anymore, and I just wind up with, “Why me?” running around in my head. It’s self-pitying bullshit and I hate it, but it feels like a pretty valid question. Even if I know the answer is “There is no ‘why’; shit just happens”.

Hell, especially when I know the answer is “There is no ‘why’; shit just happens”.

I’m tired of needing a cane. I’m tired of having a pinched nerve that would have just been an annoyance a few years ago fucking cripple me for three days, because my pain response is always set to “I hurt” and anything that is actually hurting me is ten times worse as a result. I’m tired of having to carefully budget spoons for shit I actually need to do, and all too often having to cancel things I really want to do because all the spoons had to go to things I wouldn’t have given a second thought to a few years ago.

I think most of all is that I’m tired of dealing with this shit alone. Don’t get me wrong; I love having my space. I love my flat despite its many problems that should have been fixed years ago - I can hardly complain about my stepfather’s procrastination when at least I have a roof over my head that I’m not going to lose to economic bullshit, and for which I don’t have to work a full-time job or argue with the benefits people. (Because seriously - the benefits agencies here will refuse benefits to people who are undergoing radical chemotherapy, so I don’t think they’re going to have a lot of sympathy for fibromyalgia.) Just ... I have to clean. I have to dust, run the vacuum, scrub the bathroom, wipe down the kitchen surfaces, take out the trash and recycling. I have to cook, and do the dishes by hand. I have to manage the laundry. I have to go out for the things I accidentally forgot to pick up in the big online grocery order (or the things that it’s not prudent to pick up until nearer the time of cooking, because storage space), or things that weren’t available when they were packing my shopping, or for things I can’t order online. All of this takes so many more spoons than it used to, and leaves me with very little to actually just ... do other things.

But ... I mean, there’s no one else. I mean, my parentals could help with some of it, but I refuse to ask them to come over and clean up my mess, no one touches my laundry but me, and I’m not sending them out to the shops on my behalf because I don’t carry cash to reimburse them and they’re aware enough of the economic nightmare this country has become that they’d start fussing over my financial situation. (Which is essentially fine, by the way; I just don’t have it in me to have that conversation.)

This is my way of saying, “I have to go out for mallet meds and some other groceries and I haven’t recovered the spoons I spent during this fairly hellish week and my right arm’s still having twinges and the pollen is turning my sinuses into fibreglass and pain and I am not coping today and am tired of suffering”. Clearly I am in spoon deficit right now. I just wish there was an easier way of recharging them and still doing all the things I’m supposed to do.

[mikauzoran]

Lukadrien: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter Four

Read it on AO3: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter Four

When Adrien woke up, everything smelled fresh and clean, like fabric softener and laundry detergent.

He was warm and dry, and the bed, the covers, and his pyjamas were all comfortable and soft.

He’d been holding his cat plushie, Chat Noir the Third, when he’d fallen asleep, and C3 was still tucked under Adrien’s arm, fur fuzzy against Adrien’s skin.

It was comforting. In a way, it reminded him of Plagg and how they would sometimes snuggle.

Adrien rolled over onto his back and hugged C3 closer.

Grief and joy mingled in Adrien’s chest as he stared up at the clean, white ceiling.

The morning sun was pouring in through Adrien’s windows in a cheerful, inviting way that Adrien had never experienced in his old room with his old windows.

He was safe. He had a home—a real home this time.

It had been eleven years since he had last had a true home…since he’d lost his mother and the mansion had become silent, cold, and empty.

But now Adrien was home and safe and wanted.

He buried his face in C3’s fur, remembering what Luka had told him the previous day: Luka had bought C3 for Adrien so that he would remember he was loved.

It had been a long time since Adrien was last loved, and the prospect of getting something like that back was overwhelming.

He set C3 aside so that he wouldn’t get him dirty as he cried.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly why he was crying, if it were happiness or sadness or stress, but it felt good to get the emotions out.

When he was done, he sat up, cleaned his face with the tissues on the nightstand, and got out of bed, ready to do his best with the second chance he’d been given.

It felt amazing to get dressed in new, clean clothes with the knowledge that he could throw them in the laundry whenever he felt like it at no charge and that he didn’t have to sleep in them or wear them for multiple days at a time.

It was really nice to have a spacious, private bathroom with a door that locked where he didn’t have to worry about the sanitation.

Well…Luka’s bathroom was currently a mess with toothpaste and shaving cream smudges on the counter and mirror and grooming products left spread out all over the place. Used towels were scattered, crumpled on the floor, and the medicine cabinet was left open.

But Adrien wasn’t necessarily worried, unlike he had been when using other bathrooms where he didn’t even want to think about what kind of germs were growing on surfaces.

Once dressed, Adrien went to Luka’s door and listened for signs that his roommate was awake.

The apartment was still, and Adrien didn’t see any light peeking out from underneath the door, so he assumed that Luka was still sleeping and, instead, made his way to the kitchen.

It was a war zone that had been subsequently ravaged by flood, famine, and pestilence.

It was hard to believe that things could go to ruin in as few as six days, but Adrien was seeing the evidence with his own eyes. Luka was the comparatively neat and tidy Couffaine, but The Breakup had obviously laid him very low indeed.

Dishes were piled high in the sink and crusted with days-old food debris, so Adrien rinsed and scrubbed to the best of his ability before loading them all up in the dishwasher.

Hardly anything in the fridge was worth salvaging.

Adrien got out trash bags from under the sink and started checking dates. He sniffed the items that still resembled food and summarily tossed the ones that were more petri dish than pasta.

He cleared off the counters, sorting the refuse from the misplaced possessions and raided the cabinet below the sink for cleaning supplies.

Once the kitchen was spotless, he expanded his efforts to the living room, picking up the dirty clothes, junk food wrappers, and takeaway containers.

He located the mop, broom, and vacuum cleaner in the coat closet and set about sweeping, reasoning that he would vacuum the rug once Luka was awake so that he didn’t disturb him.

With the living room looking presentable, he gathered up the rubbish, dirty clothes, and items needing to be returned to their respective homes, putting each grouping in their own location to be dealt with later. He then moved on to the bathroom.

By the time he was done tidying and scrubbing, it was midmorning, and he was starting to get kind of hungry. When he’d woken up, he’d still been full from the ridiculous amount of food he’d eaten the day before, but after burning so many calories cleaning, his body was getting ready to eat again.

Luka still hadn’t emerged from his room, so Adrien left a note on the blank page of a sketchbook he had found while cleaning to let Luka know that he hadn’t run away. He was just grocery shopping.

He tore another empty page out of the sketchbook so that he could write up a list of the things he needed from the store.

There was a Monoprix just up the street from the apartment, so it took him less than an hour to walk there, shop, and make it back home again.

He picked up a croissant from the bakery section to snack on as he cooked breakfast but noted that it paled in comparison to what he remembered of those from Tom and Sabine’s.

Adrien was beginning to think that Luka was dead as he plated the food. It was almost noon, and Adrien hadn’t heard a peep.

Luka had looked exhausted the previous day, and he’d mentioned not sleeping well since The Breakup, so maybe he was just catching up on sleep, but Adrien had enough experience with depression to know that it was time to step in and drag his flatmate out of bed.

He knocked on the door, but there was no response.

Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob and discovered it was unlocked.

“Luka, I’m going to be really mad if you’re actually dead,” Adrien grumbled, hesitantly pushing the door open. “Luka?”

Adrien blinked as he got his first glimpse at the inside of Luka’s bedroom.

It was even worse than the rest of the apartment, and that was saying something. Garbage and dirty clothes were strewn everywhere, and the floor was like a minefield of filth.

“Oh, Luka,” Adrien cooed, carefully making his way across the room to the bed. “You’re really hurting, aren’t you?”

Luka snored softly, deaf to Adrien’s sympathy.

“Orpheus.” Adrien kept his voice quiet as he gently shook Luka’s shoulder, not wanting to startle his friend. “Luka? Hey. Wake up.”

Luka drew in a long breath, and his eyes slowly blinked open.

He stared up at Adrien in a daze.

“Angel,” he whispered, reaching out to stroke Adrien’s cheek.

Adrien was torn between enjoying the attention immensely and feeling guilty about it because Luka was obviously still out of it.

“You are not awake,” Adrien chuckled, carefully removing Luka’s palm from his face. “Earth to Luka. Come in, Luka.”

Luka gave a jolt as he blinked and his eyes came into focus. “Oh my gosh. Adrien. Sorry. Hi. What’s wrong? Did you need something?”

“It’s breakfast time. Get up,” Adrien teased, tugging on Luka’s arm lightly.

Luka cursed under his breath. “I am so sorry. Give me just a minute and I’ll go to the grocery store and then make you some breakfast.”

Adrien snorted in laughter. “No need. It is I who have made you breakfast. Come eat before it gets cold.”

Luka blinked at Adrien. “You what?”

“I made omuraisu,” Adrien explained with a pleased smile.

“You what?” Luka repeated, wondering if his ears were failing him.

His Adrien didn’t cook.

“I’m twenty-four,” Adrien enunciated. “I make my own breakfast. Now, get up or I’m seriously climbing in bed with you and pushing you out.”

“…You made breakfast?” Luka echoed in disbelief as he followed Adrien toward the door.

“Yep,” Adrien confirmed with a pop to the p. “I’ve worked in a lot of kitchens these past few years. The chefs taught me some things.”

They stepped out into the living room, and Luka had to do a doubletake. “Faeries came during the night and cleaned the apartment.”

Adrien cracked up. “I mean…it’s not like this is the first time someone’s ever called me a faerie, but…I prefer the term ‘knight in leather armor’.”

Luka gawked at Adrien. “You cleaned the apartment?”

His Adrien wouldn’t know what to do with a broom if his life depended on it…unless he needed to use the broom as a weapon. His Adrien had that covered, but to use a broom for its intended purpose…

Adrien came to a stop in the kitchen, pushing one of the plates of omuraisu towards Luka.

“Surprise,” he announced softly, a sad expression in his eyes that made him look older than Luka had ever remembered. “I’m a functional, responsible adult now too.”

“Yeah,” Luka breathed, looking at Adrien with new eyes. “You went and grew up on me, didn’t you?”

He pulled Adrien into a tight hug, and Adrien squeezed back.

“I had to get it together pretty quickly,” Adrien confessed bitterly. “I cook, clean, do laundry… I even scrub toilets now.”

Luka pulled back, looking mortified. “Please tell me you didn’t clean the bathroom.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Adrien assured.

Luka dropped his forehead to Adrien’s shoulder and let out an animalistic groan. “I am so, so sorry. I swear I was going to clean everything today.”

“I know. I believed you when you kept telling me so last night,” Adrien informed. “It was just that you were completely wiped out, and I saw an opportunity to be helpful.”

Adrien took Luka’s face in his hands and tipped it up to look him in the eye. “This isn’t like before when I’d sneak out and come visit you when I was upset. I may still be a mess, but you’re a wreck too at the moment, and, now, I’m able to help and support you too.”

“Don’t sound so pleased about me being a disaster,” Luka chuckled, horrified and amused all at once.

“I promise I’m not. I’m just glad that I can finally do something for you after all you’ve done for me.” Adrien gave Luka a sincere smile and then stepped back to focus on his food. “Eat your breakfast already.”

Luka sighed, resigning himself to this alternate universe where his Adrien was fully capable of taking care of himself.

“Thank you,” he stressed, digging into the omuraisu. “…Geez, this is good!”

Adrien smirked around his fork. “Told you so.”

“What else can you make?” Luka wondered through a mouthful of rice and egg.

“I specialize in ethnic food,” Adrien preened. “I do desserts passably too, so maybe tomorrow I can make tiramisu and chickpea coconut cashew curry.”

Luka bit his tongue to stop himself from confessing his eternal love to Adrien because it was way too soon after The Breakup to be developing feelings for anyone. Besides, Adrien was vulnerable; Luka would be taking advantage of Adrien’s dependency on him if he made any kind of move.

He never wanted Adrien to feel pressured into anything for fear of winding up back on the street again.

Instead of the declaration of love, Luka smiled gratefully. “I’m really, really glad you came back into my life yesterday.”

Adrien paused, looking taken aback for a moment, his fork pausing halfway to his mouth. “You like curry that much?”

“It’s not just about the curry,” Luka chuckled. “Thank you for all of this.”

“Sure.” Adrien returned the smile with a grin full of pride. “I’m not even done yet. I still have your room to clean.”

“No,” Luka groaned. “I can clean my own room.”

“I’m sure you can, but I’m going to help you,” Adrien informed in a tone that told Luka he would not be backing down. “You can tell me what you don’t want me touching, but I can at least help sort the trash from the dirty clothes from the dishes from the stuff that just needs to be put away.”

“I will consider letting you help,” Luka conceded through gritted teeth.

“Perfect!” Adrien chirped cheerily. “…So, I didn’t start any laundry yet because I wasn’t sure what your preferences were, but this evening after we sort through the stuff in your room, you can tell me how you want your laundry done, and I can work on that while you hide your dirty magazines or whatever.”

Luka rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure that Adrien remembered that Luka was demi and didn’t experience sexual attraction unless he had a strong emotional connection with someone and, therefore, had no need for dirty magazines. They’d talked a lot about sexuality when Adrien was sixteen/seventeen and trying to figure things out. Adrien didn’t have trusted adults to talk to, and Luka was actually really honored that Adrien had come to him.

“I will consider letting you help with laundry,” Luka repeated with a shake of his head.

“Great. So…status update,” Adrien prattled right along, leaning his forearms on the counter as he consumed his omuraisu. “I gathered all the trash and piled it up in bags by the door because I didn’t know what the building’s trash collection procedure was.”

“We can take it down to the dumpster on our way out the door to band practice,” Luka replied.

“Cool.” Adrien nodded, taking in the information. “I also piled all the clothing articles in two heaps over by the couch….” He hesitated, biting his bottom lip. “…Not all of the clothes are yours. I can wash them and fold them up in a trash bag so you don’t have to see them, if you’d like.”

Luka winced. “…I don’t know right now. Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Adrien rushed to assure. “I’ll just go ahead and do that, and then you can deal with them whenever you’re ready.���

“I really hope there wasn’t anything too embarrassing,” Luka groaned.

Adrien grimaced. “You both have impeccable taste in underwear?”

“I want to die,” Luka replied with an ironic smile.

“It seriously wasn’t a big deal,” Adrien stressed. “…Though, I wasn’t able to determine as easily what was yours as far as possessions go, so I just lined them up neatly against the wall out of the way. I hope that was okay? You don’t have to go through them anytime soon. They can just wait until you’re ready.”

Luka reached out and rested a hand on Adrien’s bicep. “Thank you.”

Adrien placed his hand over Luka’s and smiled. “What are friends for?”

“For times like this,” Luka hummed, feeling blessed.

There was a beat, and then Adrien went back to his status update. “I cleaned out the fridge and went shopping for the essentials, but we’ll need to shop again tonight or tomorrow for the rest of the week. Also, I bought a cheap rice cooker. I hope that’s okay. I had a rice cooker up until a few months ago, and I used to cook all kinds of things in it. I can do a lot with a rice cooker.”

Luka grinned, watching Adrien fondly as he animatedly recounted his rice cooker culinary adventures.

Adrien had slipped so easily into Luka’s life, making himself indispensable in less than twenty-four hours. It left Luka wondering what he’d been doing without Adrien for the past four years.

 “Émile!” Josie cried, sprinting across the bar and enveloping Adrien in a fierce hug.

Luka, smiling fondly, stepped around them and went over to get the things he’d left with Jacob the previous day from the bassist. “Glad to know I mean nothing to you, Josie.”

Josie ignored Luka, focusing all of her enthusiasm on Adrien. “Look at you! You clean up nice, Kid! Look at your little baby face! You are the cutest thing. I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, Josie,” Adrien chuckled, hugging her back with genuine affection.

Luka couldn’t stop grinning because Adrien was adorable. He got attached to people so quickly.

Jacob looked back and forth between Luka and Adrien and quirked an eyebrow quizzically. “You two came together?” he whispered so only Luka would hear.

“He’s actually my roommate now,” Luka confessed, wanting to get this conversation over sooner rather than later.

Jacob’s eyes bugged out. “Dude. You work fast,” he hissed. “You’re already shacked up?”

“No.” Luka winced. “It’s not like that. It’s completely platonic. He just needed a place to stay.”

Jacob nodded, not believing that for a second. “Right.”

“Émile!” Marc greeted, leaving his guitar propped against his keyboard on stage to go give Adrien a hug. “Hey, Kiddo. I did get your text with your phone number. Sorry I didn’t text back. I read it right away, but I was in the middle of burning food, and I completely forgot.”

“No worries,” Adrien assured, returning the hug and absolutely loving it. “So long as you got the message.”

Luka promptly shoved down the little niggling of jealousy that sprouted up at seeing Adrien being affectionate with another guy.

Josie quickly distracted him as she came over and hung off of his shoulder. “You don’t look like crap today.”

“Thank you?” Luka frowned, trying to decide whether to be insulted.

“He said Émile needed a place to stay, so he moved in with him yesterday,” Jacob reported, looking at Josie expectantly.

Josie’s eyes went wide. “Wow. Very opportunist. You get any yet?”

Luka swatted her away. “It’s platonic. I just broke up with The Girl, guys. I am not jumping into anything for a very long time.”

“Are you trying to say that my baby brother isn’t good enough for you to seduce?” Josie snorted, doing a very good job of actually looking offended.

Luka threw his hands up in frustration. “You know, I was having a good day until I had to deal with you two clowns.”

“Émile!” Jacob waved as Adrien and Marc came over to join them. “Sup, Kid?” He opened his arms for a hug which Adrien readily gave.

“Hey, Jacob.” Adrien smiled nervously as he pulled back, reaching up to rub at his neck. “I actually have something I need to tell everyone.”

The band’s expressions suddenly went serious.

“What’s up, Émile?” Josie prompted gently.

Adrien took a deep breath. “That isn’t actually my real name.”

Luka’s eyes widened, and he reached out to rest a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “You sure you’re ready to do this now?”

Adrien nodded. “Yeah. They’ve shown me nothing but kindness. I don’t want to lie to them.”

“Is your real name ‘Adrien’?” Marc inquired.

Everyone looked to him in surprise.

Adrien blinked. “You knew?”

Josie and Jacob turned to Marc with twin frowns.

“How’d you know that?” Jacob demanded.

Marc shook his head. “I wasn’t sure. I just thought you kind of looked like the billboards I used to see all the time.”

“Billboards?” Josie echoed, arching an eyebrow.

“My name is really Adrien,” Adrien confessed. “Adrien Agreste.”

Jacob blinked. “That…sounds familiar?”

“I used to be a model,” Adrien elaborated. “Especially about ten years ago my face was on everything. You couldn’t get away from the advertisements if you tried…. I’m also known more notoriously as Gabriel Agreste’s son,” Adrien informed, gaze directed intently down at his shoes. “You know. Papillon.”

Jacob promptly pushed Luka out of the way and wrapped his arms around Adrien, announcing, “Just so you all know, this is mine now.”

“I don’t think so,” Josie huffed, coming to join the puppy pile. “I saw him first, but if I get caught when I sneak into jail to assassinate his father, you’d sure as hell better take care of him for me.”

She turned to Adrien (who looked very, very confused).

“You’re adopted,” she declared, her voice just on the right side of calm even as it came out clipped and furious. “There’s no way you’re actually related to that slimewad. He akumatized my little sister when she was being bullied, and there is no way you’re related to him. Besides, like I keep saying, we are officially adopting you now.”

Marc reached out a hand to rest on Adrien’s shoulder. “We’re here for you. Promise.”

“People…don’t usually react like that,” Adrien hiccupped. “They usually want nothing to do with me when they find out who I am.”

“People suck,” Jacob reported. “Obviously, they didn’t put much effort into finding out who you really are because, if they had, they would have discovered that you’re a precious baby who deserves to be loved and protected.”

Adrien turned to Luka with a watery smile. “You pick good people.”

Luka grinned. “I picked you, didn’t I?”

The whole group besides Adrien groaned.

Adrien only smiled.

“…So why ‘Émile Dupain’?” Josie inquired as they slowly pulled away.

“‘Émile’ is actually my second name,” Adrien explained. “I was named after my mom.”

Everyone nodded, making cooing, “that’s so sweet” noises.

“‘Dupain’ I stole from a friend,” he confessed with a blush that made Luka narrow his eyes. “It was the most common surname out of all of my friends, so… Plus, it was like taking a little piece of home with me while I roamed around.”

They all cooed again.

“Wait. Hold up.” Jacob turned and pointed to Luka just as the conversation was about to shift. “He’s not surprised about any of this. Did you tell him already yesterday?”

Adrien bit his lip, smiling guiltily. “I’ve known Luka for about a decade now, actually. I didn’t recognize him yesterday until we were outside on the street, though. He still had blue hair when I last saw him.”

“Man, I dated him when he had the blue hair,” Jacob sighed, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have let him go so easily if I had known the black hair upgrade was coming.”

“Hey,” Luka grumbled. “I looked good with blue hair. It went with my eyes.”

“I actually think the black offsets your eyes better,” Adrien hummed thoughtfully. “The black makes the blue pop. I like it like this.”

Luka’s brain broke. “O-Oh? You think so?”

Marc put a hand over his mouth, holding in a laugh. “He’s never going to dye his hair again.”

Josie opened her mouth to quip, but then she caught the soft, warm, gooey way Luka was looking at Adrien.

She sucked in a sharp breath. “Holy crap! He’s Adrien!”

Adrien gave a start, suddenly very worried. “Uh…yes? I thought…that was okay?”

She waved her arms, shooing away his concerns. “No. The thing with your father is fine. I meant that you’re Adrien. Luka’s Adrien!”

Jacob’s jaw dropped. “He’s The Boy!?”

Adrien looked to Luka for reassurance, quite obviously anxious at something he had no way of understanding.

Luka grimaced and wrapped a comforting arm around Adrien’s shoulders. “Yes,” he said pointedly. “He’s the dear friend I’ve mentioned many times to you.”

Jacob scoffed under his breath at that.

Marc decided to stay out of it.

“I really was worried about you while you were away,” Luka explained to Adrien. “I may have been a little preoccupied.”

Slowly, Adrien began to nod, thinking he understood. “Sorry again for worrying you.”

“He survived,” Marc assured, beckoning Adrien over to the stage. “He was a real mess for a while, though.”

Josie hung back, giving Luka a skeptical look. “You moved in with The Boy a week after breaking up with The Girl?”

Luka shrugged helplessly. “It’s platonic.”

“You make questionable life decisions,” Jacob snorted. “You’re screwed.”

“He’s going to wish he were,” Josie sighed. “Does your sister know that you’ve set yourself up for total emotional annihilation by platonically moving in with The Boy a week after your breakup with The Girl?”

“Adrien isn’t ready to tell people he’s back in Paris yet, so don’t you dare say anything to Juleka,” Luka growled protectively, getting his friends’ attention.

They shared a look and then held their hands up in surrender.

“We’re just worried about you, Dude,” Jacob clarified sympathetically.

Luka sighed, all the hot air coming out of him. “I’m kind of worried about me too,” he confessed.

[venusmages]

otp tag.

tagged by @solasan​, thank u!!!!!   tagging: @ritualism​ and @editoress​ i think all my other Wayhaven ppl have been @’d already

PENNY AND FELIX EDITION

DISAGREEMENTS.

who is more likely to raise their voice?

i neither! penny if i had to choose, but shes usually p good at keeping cool. and felix doesn’t seem like a shouty person anyways.

who threatens to leave but never actually does?

N/A

who actually keeps their word and leaves?

N/A

who trashes the house?

N/A

do either of them get physical?

N/A

how often do they argue/disagree?

i think their first disagreement is in book 2 when Felix got hurt during Sanja’s rescue. Penny feels super guilty about it and is worried Felix is brushing it off when he has a right to be upset. She’s kinda haunted by that whole situation and the choice she had to make. Other than that, they definitely never really argue. At most in the beginning Penny was just kind of oblivious/flippant because she’s socially awkward lol

who is the first to apologize?

both lmao

SEX.

who is on top? who is on bottom?

Felix is a little top  you cant convince me otherwise

any kinks?

not really

who has the strangest desires?

i think they’re mostly just cute in bed without anythnig crazy going on

who’s dominant in bed?

  FELIX!! in the cute ‘i got this’ kind of way. Penny’s shy so definitely not her.

is head ever in the equation?

duh

if so, who is better at performing it?

felix has the charisma but i think penny has the technique

ever had sex in public?

 they did almost fuck in nate’s library 

who moans the most?

Penny!  Felix thinks its cute

who leaves the most marks?

FELIX LOVES HICKIES. hes sad that they don’t last super long on him, but she tries anyway.

who is the more experienced of the two?

I think they’re pretty even actually

do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’?

latter

how long do they usually last?

im sure it varies

rough or soft?

soft!!

is protection used?

YES. penny is ON that shit. Though she wouldn’t be against having kids one day.

does it ever get boring?

nah they’re too cute and in gross cuddly love. Does felix look like he’d EVER get bored of the detective

where is the strangest place they’d have sex?

it didnt  happen but again, nates library. Penny was secretly kinda into it 

FAMILY.

do they plan on having children / do they have children?

 I don’t think either are seriously considering it for a while but Penny is a good 50/50 on it!

if so, how many children do they want/have?

just one, maybe two.

AFFECTION.

who likes to cuddle?

Felix! Penny’s a little more standoffish in general with physical affection, but she does love cuddling Felix. If he wants to cuddle she’s p much always down for it.

who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places?

Felix. Have you heard what that boy says

who struggles to keep their hands to themself?

Felix! Though only in private. He know’s Penny’s shy and its cute to do it when shes working or something. He likes playfully distracting her.

how long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable?

Probably for a good while, though Penny has a tendency to get antsy. Usually it just means her getting up and him happily following after her though

what is their favourite non-sexual activity?

video games! She showed him Animal Crossing and it was over

where is their favourite place to cuddle?

on the couch!

SLEEPING.

who snores?

Penny...

if both do, who snores the loudest?

Not loudly , but again penny.

do they share a bed or sleep separately?

they share a bed!

if they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart?

depends!

what do they wear to bed?

Penny wears pj shorts and a cotton shirt, pretty simple. Felix is probs similar

are either of them insomniacs?

Penny DEFINITELY is. Thankfully Felix doesn’t sleep a lot so she’s rarely disturbing him!

can sleeping pills be found by the bedside?

YEP. Especially after book 1, she started having nightmares.

do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side?

Felix is a koala.

who wakes up with bed hair?

Penny. Felix somehow always looks fucking perfect and she’d be jealous if she didn’t think it was so charming.

who wakes up first?

Penny. Even if Felix is just lazing about, she’s one of those responsible people or something.

who prepares breakfast in bed for the other?

Felix tried. keyword being tried. 

what is their favourite sleeping position?

Penny sleeps on her side and Felix clambers around either with one leg over her or spooning her usually.

do they set an alarm each night?

Penny does!

who has nightmares?

Both :(. Hard to tell with Felix how often for him

can a television be found in their bedroom?

Penny doesn’t have a TV

who has ridiculous dreams?

Felix for sure. Sometimes involving stuff pertaining to the Echo World and Penny is like ??? and he doesn’t know how to explain it.

who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed?

Felix

who makes the bed?

Felix, because he insists. Penny goes back and straightens it out

what time is bed time?

 bed by 1

any routines/rituals before bed?

felix insists on brushing their teeth together bc he thinks its cute (penny does too). its how she first actually got a glimpse of his fangs

who’s the grumpiest when they wake up?

neither! though felix DOES complain.

WORK.

who is the busiest?

penny. felix is  busy keeping himself from dying of boredom

who rakes in the highest income?

n/a

are any of them unemployed?

n/a

who takes the most sick days?

Penny, though very rarely. She usually saves them for days where she wants to work from home because the office got too overwhelming.

what are their jobs?

Vampire Agent vs Police Detective

who sucks up to their boss?

 Felix tries to charm Rebecca. Rebecca just sighs.

who is more likely to turn up late to work?

Felix. Got distracted

who stresses the most?

PENNY. though she usually takes things in stride, she’s a little up tight.

do they enjoy or despise their careers/occupations?

Penny is fine with being a detective and doubly fine with being an agent.

are they financially stable?

yeah!

HOME.

who does the washing?

Penny. We know what Felix’s stance is on laundry considering he hides his socks in Mason’s hamper.

who takes out the trash?

Felix , and he acts like a hero

who does the ironing?

Penny! She wears nice clothes that definitely would require ironing. 

who does the cooking?

Penny is a serviceable cook, though she tends to cook the same things. And sometimes still eats like a (healthier) college student because she doesn’t have the energy. Felix LOVES using it as an excuse to order food.

who is more likely to burn the house down just trying?

Felix.

who is messier?

Felix. More just disorganized

who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor?

Felix. Again, boy clearly hates laundry

who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere?

Neither. Unless Felix yoinked the keys - then they could be anywhere.

who answers the telephone?

FELIX. First ring, always. 

who mows the lawn?

city slickers for life so neither

who does the vacuuming?

both. felix likes doing it and danciing

who does the groceries?

Penny because felix will bring back a bunch of things they didnt need

who takes the longest to shower?

Penny. She uses so much water

who spends the most time in the bathroom?

neither!

MISCELLANEOUS.

is money a problem?

nah theyre secret agents

how many cars do they own?

just penny’s little clunker

what’s their song?

waterfalls coming out your mouth // violet hour (especially this one) // sugar

do they live in the city or in the country?

small town

do they own their home or do they rent?

penny’s renting but wouldn’t be against owning a little flat somewhere

do they enjoy their surroundings?

wayhaven is home and comfortable for penny! she was actually falling out of love for it before she got promoted, now she feels protective over it and the supernaturals shes now aware live there.

what do they do when they’re away from each other?

felix goes insane waiting until they can meet up again. penny is often thinking abt him but is eager to get work done so she can do it even sooner

where did they first meet?

abandoned warehouse in book one - though the first meeting SHE remembers is him kissing her on the hand... romance...

who spends the most money when out shopping?

i feel they both are pretty similar! Theyre Fashionable, though Pennys really good at budgeting.

who’s more likely to flash their assets?

listen it doesnt happen in canon but if you do the combat training route with felix he fucking puts your hands up his shirt

any mental issues?

penny has anxiety and has been diagnosed as autistic since she was, like, 12. felix clearly has some shit he’s not letting himself fully mourn but OKAY BUDDY

who finds it amusing when the other trips over? 

penny laughs when felix trips just because he’s like a beautiful ragdoll and always ‘saves’ himself in really funny ways. felix is such a prince charming i think he’d see her tripping more as an excuse to be dashing and handsome at her and save her from face planting than laugh. 

who’s terrified of bugs?

penny definitely isn’t. could see felix losing his shit over a spider.

who kills the spiders around the house?

PENNY. doesn’t kill them though.

do they have any fears for their future?

Penny’s worried that loved ones might get put into danger due to ... everything. Verda found out about vampires and wasn’t hyped, so she’s worried about their friendship and his saftey most of all. She’s also worried about making ‘tough’ choices like the one at the end of book 2. It’s not a pleasant dilemma.

their favourite place?

Penny’s apartment!

who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner?

felix FOR SURE

who pays the bills?

both, but penny set it all up on autopay bc felix would forget.

who’s the tallest?

Felix! He’s like what, 5′7-5′9? penny’s 5′3.

who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other?

Both! Penny’s shy when doing it but she loves felix’s reaction because he’s always super excited.

who wanders around in their underwear?

neither

who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio?

felix. duh

what do they tease each other about?

everything! penny teases felix over how energetic and goofy and ~suave~ he is. He teases penny over being bashful - but she actually teases him more! He teases her over ROMANTIC stuff.

who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times?

Penny. The waistcoat, Felix. Why. No

who crushed first?

FELIX DIDDDDDDD. Penny got flustered but is very :/ at relationships bc she struggles socially and the only serious relationship she had prior was fucking BOBBY. So she straight up doesn’t trust that felix is being genuine at first. Also she’s a lil bit oblivious.

any alcohol or substance related problems?

nope!

who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am?

neither

who swears the most?

probably felix, though I don’t think he swears a lot either?

[hellas-himself]

Crack Ship Holidays

Halloween Pt. 1- Cassian x Feyre 

.

.

.

My cellphone falls to the floor and I groan, blindly reaching for it in the dark. Was it really five-thirty already? I tap the screen until the cursed alarm goes silent. I slide out of bed, taking the pillow and blanket with me and once my bare legs hit the cold floor, I shoot to my feet and toss my phone on the bed.

It was only October and the damned apartment was a freezer. But I have to shower; I have mascara and eye liner smeared on my face, my hair looks like a rat’s nest after all the hairspray I’d used and this dress- god this stupid dress. It belongs to Mor, but I haven’t done laundry in over a week and I needed something decent to meet them all in at the bar. It was beautiful, but it was so snug that it left marks all over my skin. And that wasn’t even counting what the strapless bra did to me.

Cursing, I shower quickly, washing my hair under cold water until it turns hot enough that I stop shivering. I blow dry my hair and pass the flat iron over it quickly before hurrying to get dressed. Mindful of where I will be today, I slide into skinny jeans and a black t-shirt. No one is going to see my Halloween socks, which is a tragedy, but at least I have my sweater. I know Mor and Nesta would look at me with disgust if they knew I hadn’t washed this sweater since the last time I’d worn it but it still had Cassian’s cologne. As did his leather jacket that he so conveniently left here after everyone had come over to play cards. 

My car takes way too long to start but luckily, I still have enough time to stop for coffee and a bagel before driving to the school. One of Cassian’s friends, another tattoo artist, has a girlfriend that teaches music there. He had mentioned to Cas that they needed an art teacher and my best friend gave them my number. I had been so nervous when he’d told me, to the point that I almost puked. But he had talked me back down to earth and drove me to meet the principal last week.  And for now, it’s just volunteering, and I can live with that.

I mentally go down the list of all I have to do when I get there. I have to find and park in the visitor’s section. Go to the front office and hand in my ID and get signed in. Scope out the supplies readily available and set up shop before 9am.

The security guard eyes my bag of art supplies with amusement.

“Carrying a body in there?” he asks in a pathetic attempt at teasing. I force a laugh. If I say what I really want to say, I will ruin this and I cannot fuck this up.  

“Good morning, you must be Ms. Archeron,” the secretary says cheerfully. She wasn’t here when I came in last week.

“Is it that obvious?” I ask, reaching into my back pocket for my wallet.

She stands and leans over, as though sharing a secret. “You’ve got a bit of paint on your jeans.”

I look down. “Oh… That happens a lot.”

I set the bag down, taking my license out and sliding it towards her.

“Perfect,” she says. “I’m Briar, by the way.”

I nod, doing my best not to shove my hands into my pockets- a habit I developed thanks to Rhys.

“So, I know we asked for an hour,” Briar says, typing away at the computer. “But some parents handed their forms in late. Do you think you could stay until… eleven?”

“Uh… Yeah. Definitely.”

Briar hands me back my license and then holds out a name badge.

“I’m trying to convince the principal to do something like lanyards but for now, this is what we have.”

I put the sticker on my sweater, mindful of the sparkly bats on my chest. Then, she guides me out of the office and through several hallways until she unlocks the door to a room bigger than my apartment.

“The previous art teacher left it just like this… We’d hoped so much for her to come back, but her husband got deployed and she needed help with her kids. She moved out of state over the summer.”

I set my bag down on a table and start walking around. There was the teacher’s desk with the projector beside it. A shelf that housed various kinds of paints and two enormous paint-stained sinks. The brushes were stored in cups of all kinds, ceramic mugs and plastic cups, glass mason jars. This was heaven.

“So… I’ll leave you to it. The first class begins at 9.”

“Is there an attendance sheet or something?” I ask, suddenly remembering that there was more to this than painting.

Briar giggles, her cheeks flushing pink.

“There’s a book. But don’t worry about that today. I’ll send someone up with a sign in sheet for the kids.”

I nod, taking the leather jacket off.

“Thank you,” I say and she smiles, leaving me to my own devices.

*

The smell of barbecue is doing nothing to help how hungry I am. I step into the diner and go to my usual seat, waving at the owner who is already telling the cook that I’m here. I sit down with a long sigh, pulling my phone out and checking my messages. Two missed calls from Nesta. A text from Elain in our group chat. 57 messages in the group chat with Rhys, Lucien, Az and Cassian. I roll my eyes and ignore that. Then, there are the calls from unknown numbers, all of them within minutes of each other. I lock my phone and set it down, looking up when the bell at the door rang. My heart does leaps in my chest as Cassian looks my way, breaking into a smile as he walks over.

“Well, if it isn’t the new art teacher,” he says by way of greeting, pulling me in for a bear hug when I get to my feet.

“It was just today,” I remind him, “And hello to you, too.”

He flicks my nose before sitting down across from me. He smirks when he notices that I’m wearing his jacket. He takes off his own and rolls up the sleeves to his shirt.  

“How did it go?” he asks, adjusting his watch.

“It was… terrifying.” He raises a brow but I smile. “Kids are fucking scary, Cas… And being responsible for 20 of them at once is just…”

“A nightmare?”

“A dream.”

Cas snorts.

“It’s been too long, Cas. I feel out of practice… But I started them with color theory and having them paint their own wheels… The second class was even bigger and it was just so much fun.”

Cassian is still smiling and I blush, grateful that our food is being placed before us.

“I haven’t seen you smile this much in a while, bunny.”

“I was smiling last night,” I quip, and happily reach for my strawberry milkshake.

“You were drunk.”

“All the same.”

Cassian would normally push the subject, I know, but he only has an hour and a half before he has to go back to the shop. And between proving a point and eating lunch, food will win every time.  

“This isn’t over,” he says, stuffing fries into his mouth.

*

I toss my keys on the little table in the entrance hallway, kicking off my boots as I walk into the apartment. I set my bag down on the floor before I walk across the carpet to open the blinds. I look around the living room and internally kick myself for forgetting that my sisters are coming over today. Last weekend’s beer cans and empty boxes of pizza are still littering the floor and coffee table. Someone’s bra is hanging over the arm rest. Rhys managed to leave his socks under my couch, and as I pick them up, I make a mental note to bring up a ‘strip poker laundry basket’ for them to deposit their clothes when we play. I grab the bra and realize that it’s mine.

I start a load of laundry and wash all the dishes in the sink and around the apartment. Once I finish with that, I take out the trash which required two trips. When I get back to my apartment, I wash my hand and burn incense- dragon’s blood, Cassian’s favorite. I vacuum the carpet and sweep the entrance hall and kitchen but don’t bother mopping. The bathroom is miraculously clean, but my bed is a disaster. The fitted sheet is beginning to come off but I hear the doorbell and leave it alone, tying up my hair as I go to answer it.

“I thought you stopped smoking,” Nesta says as I kiss her cheek.

“I did.”

“Then what’s with the incense.”

“The neighbor was cooking fish again,” I lie, but it’s happened enough that Nesta easily believes me.

“Elain is stopping to bring dinner after she leaves work.”

“Are you thirsty?”

Nesta sets her purse and keys on the counter, shrugging off her trench coat. She looks as flawless as always.

“Feyre, we know that you haven’t gone for groceries in weeks.”

“But I have water.” I sound pathetic, but I am not going to tell her that I went food shopping and brought everything to Cassian’s house. He’s the better cook and I would rather drive to see him every night than burn dinner at home. I was never here as it was.

“We had a luncheon meeting, I’m alright for now.”

She sits down on the barstool and looks me up and down. I have paint on my jeans and shirt, and I’m still wearing my purple sweater with the bats tied around my waist. When I see her eye my socks, I start walking.

“I taught at the school this morning,” I say as I grab my bag off the floor. I bring it to the kitchen and start pulling out the palettes and brushes I want to thoroughly clean.

“Did you like it?”

“I did, honestly.”

For once, she doesn’t roll her eyes when I set the palettes in the sink. I turn on the water, grabbing the sponge set aside for my art supplies and the soap.

“And what did the school think?”

I blush at this. Nesta doesn’t do well with unknowns.

“Briar, the secretary, she says she’ll call me once she hears something,” I say, and before she can scowl, I add, “But the principal seemed really happy with what we did. They asked me to stay an extra hour… It was a lot of fun.”

“And if they ask you to come back, will you take the job?”

“It’s not a job, Nes… But I mean, if it came to that, of course.”

“You turned down teaching jobs to work at that bar and look how that turned out.”

“I was depressed, Nesta. Cut me some fucking slack.”

“You can’t expect Cassian to keep saving your ass, Feyre.”

“I don’t expect anything from anyone. Least of all Cassian.”

“It’s almost been a year –”

I set the palette in the drying rack a little harder than I mean to.

“Did you write that down in your calendar so you can remind me that Tamlin left? I know how long it’s been Nesta.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You can’t depend on Cassian forever.”

“Why do you hate him so much? He is always there for me- something you can’t say. Honestly, sometimes I have no idea what he saw in you.”

“I told him I was sorry.”

“You broke his heart and have the nerve to bitch about what he does for me. I love you, Nesta, but give me a fucking break.”

*

I am almost glad that Elain cancelled dinner. Nesta had left once I refused to listen to her empty apologies. But now, I’m hungry. And alone. You can’t expect Cassian to keep saving your ass, Feyre. I laugh at myself; my thumb is hovering over the voice call button under Cassian’s name. My eyes burn with tears and my throat feels like it is closing up. Did Nesta not understand how much I hated the fact that I’ve had to ask any of them for help?

I toss my phone across the sofa, hating that I am crying. Hating that almost a year has passed and my life is no better than it was when Tamlin left. Hating that Nesta seems to forget that she was able to finish college because I was the one working my ass off to keep us afloat. Hating that I’d let Tamlin convince me to leave my job- my career- just to leave me.

I breathe in deeply, letting it out as I press my fingers against my eyes. I know that I can’t drive like this. With a sniffle, I get my jacket and boots on. The more I move, the less I cry, and by the time I make it down the stairs, I only have a stuffy nose.

The owner of the corner store gives me a sympathetic smile when they see me walk in. I can’t return it, but I wave, going right to the fridge. I grab a beer, ignoring Nesta’s voice in my head, telling me how irresponsible this was. I grab another one just to shut her up.

“Your usual?” he asks as I near the counter.

“Uh… No. Surprise me.”

Tamlin and I would come here every few nights, always getting the same thing. I’m not sure what’s for dinner tonight, but I see him throw a soda and bag of chips in the bag and decide that I’m perfectly fine with that. I pay in cash and wish him a good night, hurrying back to my apartment.

I put on a game show and sit down on the sofa, taking everything out of the bag. Before I open the Styrofoam container, someone starts knocking on my door. I don’t have to ask who it is, but I am still caught off guard to find Cassian standing outside, holding a bag of take out.

“Cas… Hey.”

“Your phone dead?” he asks as I give him a quick kiss on the cheek and let him in.

“No… I went up the street.”

He sets his bag next to my food and sits down, taking off his jacket and tossing it.

“Az told me Ellie had to cancel dinner with you,” he says as he starts to take his food out of the bag. He grabs one of my beers and opens it. “Iliana got sent home sick from school.”

“Oh… What about Val?”

“I dropped him off at Rhysand’s before coming here.”

I make a face. “Stupid apartment and its stupid dog rules.”

“What’s for dinner?” he asks as I sit beside him.

“I don’t really know,” I reply. “I told him to surprise me.”

Cassian takes a drink of his beer and chuckles.

“Well. I’ve got Chinese.”

It’s a sandwich, that much I know. A sandwich Cassian tries to take the moment I hold it out to him.

“Bunny, please.”

“What is it?” I ask again, holding the sandwich up and away from him.

“It’s a tripleta. Chicken, beef, and pork with cheese and those potato chip fries. And the mayo-ketchup. I haven’t had one in forever! I’ll give you anything!”

I start laughing, as if I would ever say no to him.

“We’ll split it,” I say, laughing some more when he hugs me tight.

Cassian changes the channel to watch one of our favorite crime shows. I take my boots off and sit cross legged. He smiles when he sees the little ghosts on my socks and reaches down to pull his jeans up to show me that he’s wearing the exact same ones.

After we eat, I bring the empty containers to the garbage and come back to find Cassian sprawled out on the sofa. When he sees me, he holds out his arms to me and I walk over, letting him pull me into his arms. I rest my head against his chest, closing my eyes.

“Rhys says hello… He misses you.”

I giggle. “As if he didn’t freeze my phone texting us so many times.”

Cassian holds me a little tighter as he chuckles.

“You know how he gets when he thinks he’s being ignored.”

“He’s a brat.”

He laughs. “You’re telling me.”

I stretch out a bit and Cassian places one hand on the small of my back, the other on my arm where he begins to trace his fingers up and down bare skin.

“You alright?” he asks quietly. I don’t say anything at first but then I shake my head.

“I’m stuck,” I whisper. “What is wrong with me, Cas?”

“Nothing is wrong with you.”

The way he says it makes me want to believe him.

“What did Nesta say to you?” he asks and I sigh. “You only ever get like this when you talk to her.”

I cross my arms, resting my head against them to be able to look at him.

“She just… It’s been almost a year. And nothing has changed.”

“You really believe that?”

When I don’t answer, Cassian sighs.  

“Last November, you couldn’t leave your bed. You didn’t eat. You didn’t even talk. You taught classes today, Feyre- you would have never let yourself even think of such a thing before.”

He’s right- I know that he’s right, but it doesn’t stop me from crying again. When I get up, Cassian follows suit and simply pulls me into his lap, cradling me against him.

“Things like this take time,” he says. “And I’m going to be there, for as long as it takes. You know that, right?”

“I can’t expect that of you,” I say before I can stop myself and Cas goes still.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I’m sorry… She just really got to me.”

“What did she say?”

Once I repeat her words, I feel completely ashamed of myself. I want the earth to swallow me whole when Cassian curls a finger under my chin and makes me look up at him.

“I love you, Feyre Archeron. And I don’t give a fuck what your sister thinks. You are my best friend, just because she refuses to lend you a hand, doesn’t mean that everyone else has to.” He brushes the tears away and tucks an errant lock of hair behind my ear.

“I love you, too.”

He presses a kiss to my forehead and I close my eyes, letting out a sigh.  

“I’m always gonna be here for you, bunny.”

When he kisses me, I practically melt in his arms, but I still pull away.

“Cassian, you know I’m no good for you,” I say.

“If you weren’t good for me,” he says as his hands slide to my waist. “I wouldn’t be here.”

It’s a lie, we both know. So I kiss him, adjusting myself to straddle his lap.  

“If we’re going to hurt… might as well be with each other, right?” I say, and he chuckles.

“Don’t use my own words against me.”

I kiss him, reaching back to untie his hair.

“Just this once,” I say in a terrible imitation of his voice. I run my fingers through his hair and he closes his eyes. He sighs, and the smile that blossoms on his face gives me butterflies.

When he opens his eyes, he smirks; he’s caught me staring.

“Hey, the second time was your doing,” he quips, tugging on the hem of my shirt and pulling up. I lift my arms and laugh as he tries to mimic me. “This time and no more.”

“What can I say? You make me feel alive,” I declare, blushing suddenly. I did not mean to say that out loud. Cassian pauses his attempt at undoing the hooks of my bra. I have no idea how to turn my words into a joke.  

“Alive, huh?” he says softly. “That makes two of us.”

I don’t believe either of us are ready to unpack any of that. So I put my hands on his face and kiss him, and Cassian abandons my bra to slide his hands down to grab my ass. I shriek when he stands up, taking me with him.

“Asshole!” I shout, Cassian laughing as he walks towards my bedroom. He tosses me on the bed, walking over to turn a light on. When he turns to come back to me, I toss a pillow at him.

“Don’t start,” he warns, trying not to smile.

“Make me.”

Cassian chuckles at that and climbs on the bed, grabbing my ankle and pulling to him. He starts tickling me, and I have no strength to grab the other pillow and hit him with it.

“Stop it!” I managed to say through laughter.

“Make me,” Cassian says, mimicking me. But he still stops, grabbing me by the waist as he moves to lay on his back. My heart tightens in my chest at how light his eyes are. I reach out to brush his hair away from his eyes, then to trace the contours of his face.

“Plan on painting me?” he asks, smiling.

“Do you want me to?” I am out of breath.

Cassian traces his fingers up my spine and unhooks my bra.

“Not yet,” he replies and I laugh, leaning down to kiss him.

.

.

.

I had meant to put this out on like... Tuesday so by yesterday (actual Halloween) the fic would line up but fuck it. 

Cassian and Feyre are my #1 crack ship (that isn’t Sesshomaru and Kagome). I might try to do the next few holidays as well. But for now, it’s based around Halloween. It was supposed to be a one off based off a song BUT it turned into this fluff fest. Also, the “bunny” nickname came from another thing I wrote and never posted in which when they were like fresh out of highschool, Feyre went on a trip with Cassian and the guys, their dad. She wanted to try out hunting and shot a rabbit and cried so much about it Cassian started calling her bunny cuz it made her mad. Then it stuck. 

And then I couldn’t stop using it. I mean... he COULD call her Fey but no. Bunny. Also, remember how in my Elriel fic our Illyrians were basically like me and my family? Puerto Ricans from the mountains? We’re sticking with that. 

I do have to separate it into like 4 parts because it’s like 30 Word pages long and I can’t imagine how terrible that would translate on Tumblr. <3 

also, if you have a pairing request or whatever, I got you. 

[dreamsheartstory]

Can we talk more Neighbors AU? Once co-habitation starts, how does daily mundane life start to play out? Who grocery shops? Who does the yard work? Who cooks? Who takes out the trash and then doesn’t put a new bag in? You. Are. The. Best. Glad things are good in life! Keep up the keeping up. 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻

we sure can! I love this ridiculous au that just ends in soft fluffy polyam domesticity. 

Cohabitation is interesting because they all have their own established places. Anya’s been in hers for years - Gustus used to live there with Aden but everyone grew up and Anya stayed put with the mustang. And Luna has lived in her little one bedroom for years. And Raven just moved into the duplex when this whole thing started. So it’s a pretty big deal when they all move together... but lets rewind before that decision becomes “let’s find a house big enough for all three of us”

Raven has the best kitchen hands down. And the least stuff, so it feels like she has the biggest place. Luna also just really likes the vibe of Raven’s kitchen so they end up gravitating there. Luna ends up texting Anya shopping lists because Luna or Raven are the ones to cook usually. And Anya works basically next door to the grocery store. Anya doesn’t mind swinging by after work because it means she doesn’t have to cook dinner and no one has to run extra errands.

They end up falling into a pattern of Luna cooking/planning and Raven helping out in the kitchen. Anya does dishes. Raven also bakes and slowly teaches Anya to bake and somehow Anya surprises everyone and ends up being *really* good at baking.

Luna tends to the plants, pruning and repotting and puttering around in the garden. Raven tries to help with weeding but it all depends on how her back is doing. Anya rakes leaves and mows the lawn... eventually rips the lawn out and replaces it with clover and moss so she never has to mow the fucking lawn again.

Inside, Anya tends to take care of the garbage and recycling. Luna scrubs down the bathroom regularly though the others try to wipe things down at least. Raven vacuums and dusts. The three of them all pitch in for laundry - though Anya folds all the shirts, Luna does the socks and underwear, and Raven takes care of sheets and towels and stuff (she can fold a king size fitted sheet in about 45 seconds by herself).

They also do regular movie nights where no one is allowed to think about Work. They’ve found they need to set aside time to just calmly co-exist and it makes them all a lot happier. “Movie night” is maybe a misnomer. They sometimes watch a movie but sometimes just read/nap/color/tinker quietly in the same room. Usually a movie is on, often there is cuddling, but sometimes they need to just be.

[downonmemestreet-archive]

Splitting Up Together Sentence Starters

Episode 1

“Did you take out the trash bins?"

“Did you set the alarm?”

“Did you throw out the chicken?”

“Did you lock the gate?”

“Did you feed the turtle?”

“When we first started dating, we never high-fived.”

“Our relationship became that of two camp counselors.”

“I was just gonna go for a quick run before work.”

“Cool. I was just gonna do the laundry, vacuum, plunge the upstairs toilet, call a guy about the broken sprinkler, go to work, come home, and make dinner.”

“Cool. What’s for dinner?”

“She was mad I didn’t do more. But whatever I did was wrong anyway.”

“So, long story short, we’re pulling the plug.”

“They’re not eating the salad.”

“Well maybe if you hadn’t referenced a dead dog with rabies.”

“They can’t get a divorce. What is gonna happen to us? We don’t have another couple to hang out with.”

“Look, we’ve been living separate lives for years.”

I mean, if you you want to leave your butter on the counter I mean, I didn't, but I could if I wanted to."

“Then, you want to go on a run and not even shower afterwards?"

“Oh, you want to rediscover your collection of ugly hats? I did."

“So, it's just a lot of latitude with perishables, personal hygiene, and - unattractive headwear?"

“When it's turned off, it gets damp, and when it gets damp, the centipedes come."

“And if (name) ever left me, I'd kill myself. And not like how people say, like, "I'm gonna kill myself." I really would. Like, I have a plan. I would drown myself.”

“Still, I figure there must be someone out there who wants to have sex with me.”

“You two are terrible role models.”

“I would rather enjoy my time with the kids and not spend it ruining food."

“So, what, I'm the bad guy because I want the kids to eat properly?”

“I mean, he's a self-centered child, but you you have control issues, and I know you haven't figured it out yet, but all the fun stuff happens when you're not in control."

“I want fun stuff to happen."

[ Text ]: My balls hurt

“You know I married way out of my league, right?"

“I already told you if (name) ever left me, I'm gonna throw a pool party for one."

“She thought you were gonna surprise her, and you didn't."

“Let's talk about your huevos and why they might be hurting."

“You didn't fling them around in some weird way, did you?"

“He could just smell my uncertainty."

“He's happy because I let him make me happy, and he never feels like a failure."

“Well, you'll just take that right into your next relationship."

“And are there any developments on that front other than all the sexting with your child?”

“We haven't had sex in two years."

“He just looks through me like I'm invisible, and I accept it even though it's hurtful and upsetting and it doesn't make any sense."

“I need passion and romance and sex in my life, and (name) just doesn't."

“I mean, I thought he just lost his sex drive, but he lost his sex drive for me.”

“Excuse me? Why are you wearing a onesie? We are outside."

“We are grocery shopping."

“We are outside the house, and I am fresh to death right here, and you look like a homeless Ghostbuster."

“Why would I be a homeless Ghostbuster? I have a full-time job busting ghosts."

“Are we vibing? I mean, my radar might be broken, but on the other hand, you aren't leaving."

“We're partners. We have to stay connected."

“And you're the man, which means I'm following your lead, and if you don't keep me in your gaze, I might get lost."

“I am - I think - you just explained why my marriage failed."

“Well, I think that raising money for cancer is sexy."

“No one cares what you think is "sexy”.”

“No one cares what you think period."

“The doctor said he needs to masturbate."

“You just told me not to ask for your help."

“Well, you said you didn't need my help."

“Well, maybe I was wrong."

“So, this is supposed to be (name)'s masturbation nook?"

“I like to think of it as more of a lair.”

“This is really creepy.”

“Nothing is weirder than doing it in a pantry that your mom decorated.”

“Okay, I got one. She comes from a matriarchal society. She wears a bikini, but she kicks ass in it, and her bracelet game is very strong."

“Well I broke eye contact. I was a bad partner."

[crownuponherhead]

fdajjlfhadjh ✩ for jimmy and lainey

send ‘✩’ for the following:

DISAGREEMENTS:

Who is more likely to raise their voice? lainey does its just her way of balancing how he towers over her. Who threatens to leave but never actually does? I don’t think either of them would after all this. Who actually keeps their word and leaves? neither. Who trashes the house? ainsley lbr when she would throw a fit and like lainey gets super ugh and fixes everything. Do either of them get physical? never How often do they argue/disagree? I think disagreeing is more often than arguing but they rarely fight. Who is the first to apologise? lainey she feels too terrible still. 

SEX:

Who is on top? Who is on the bottom? they probs switch back and fourth a lot they’re young and in love. Who has the strangest desires? i could see lainey being all about him after a game if it ends too late and she’s just like... you can shower later...with me.Any kinks? tbh idk i mean probs but like idk rn. Who’s dominant in bed?  jimmy. Is head ever in the equation? occasionallyIf so, who is better at performing it? I think they both know each other well enough that there isn’t really a whose better kinda thing.Ever had sex in public? they probs fucked in on of their cars in high schoolWho moans the most? lainey Who leaves the most marks? lainey. Who screams the loudest? L A I N E Y. he probs has to cover her mouth sometimes so they don’t wake up ainsley bc they’re having sex what good parents. Who is the more experienced of the two? they’re equal little angels who've only had each other. Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’? make love but sometimes they fuck. Rough or soft? typically soft. How long do they usually last? I think they make it last bc like its about making up for lost time to them. Is protection used? they learned their lesson in high schoolDoes it ever get boring? no bc they’re in love. Where is the strangest place they’d have sex? hc they have sex in the dugout or something when they come to watch the stars from the  ball field. 

FAMILY:

Do your muses plan on having children/or have children? they have their angel ainsley and more in the future If so, how many children do your muses want/have? I could see lainey being reasonable bc she's been a single parent for so long and is like maybe 1 or 2 more but thats it and jimmy is more like lainey lets have a soccer team. Who is the favorite parent? jimmy bc like ainsley is just so starstruck her daddy is around. Who is the authoritative parent? lainey she got used to it and its hard for her to relax and realize its not just her parenting now. Who is more likely to allow the children to have a day off school? I think lainey would when it comes to going to games and going to visit him when he’s training and jimmy would more to surprise her or lainey. Who lets the children indulge in sweets and junk food when the other isn’t around? jimmy omg can u just imagine lainey coming home to them eating a dozen donuts and she’s like  ????Who turns up to extra curricular activities to support their children? they’re both at every single event they're so proud and her number one fans. Who goes to parent teacher interviews? they both try to but it’s usually lainey because he’s at a game or getting ready for one during a lot of themWho changes the diapers? Who gets up in the middle of the night to feed the baby? jimmy probably does a lot when they have another baby because he didn’t get that with ainsley. Who spends the most time with the children? I think they try to balance it out they love them so much. Who packs their lunch boxes? lainey. Who gives their children ‘the talk’? its a joint conversation where they use themselves as a life lesson of teen pregnancy. Who cleans up after the kids? lainey she hates the house being messy. Who worries the most? lainey she gets anxiety when any of the kids are sick.Who are the children more likely to learn their first swear word from? jimmy he’s around all those baseball players all the time. or tbh one of the players when they’re on the field after a game. 

AFFECTION:

Who likes to cuddle? they both do it’s a really natural thing for them both. Who is the little spoon? lainey. Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places? I think it depends on the situation tbh bc they both do a lot. Who struggles to keep their hands to themself? I could see it being jimmy. like just wanting to have her in his arms or like hold her hand just like she's there still. How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable? probably awhile because they’re constantly moving and being cute just like trying to be with each other. Who gives the most kisses? jimmy. What is their favourite non-sexual activity? tbh just like simple things. lainey loves when he helps her do things like the laundry or when he helps her cook dinner. and he loves it when she gets involved with what he loves like I feel like ever since they’ve been in high school she’d play baseball with him for fun and he’d get some practice it. tbh just making the other happy Where is their favourite place to cuddle? the couch or bed.Who is more likely to playfully grope the other? maybe both of them?? I wanna say him but I could see her doing it too. How often do they get time to themselves? not often a lot of times it after Ainsley's gone to bed or someone is watching her. 

SLEEPING:

Who snores? probs jimmy. Do they share a bed or sleep separately? they share a bed and they’re precious. If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart? together they spent too long apart. Who talks in their sleep? I could see lainey talking in her sleep. What do they wear to bed? lainey probs wears his t shirts and a pair of socks and he probs is a shirtless sleeper but maybe I just like kJ’s abs. Are either of your muses insomniacs? lainey is when ainsely’s sick for sure. Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside? I don’t think so. Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side? they curl together they’re so in love. Who wakes up with bed hair? jimmy. Who wakes up first? lainey so she can make breakfast. Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other? I can see jimmy doing it for lainey on random days like to treat her. What is their favourite sleeping position? spooning with room in their bed for ainsley if she has a nightmare. Who hogs the sheets? lainey. Do they set an alarm each night? lainey does for sure. Can a television be found in their bedroom? I think so like so they can watch movies and cuddle in bed. Who has nightmares? lainey has nightmares about ainsley being sick they’re repetitive and she’s had them since ainsley was a baby and jimmy just calms her down when she has them and walks with her to Ainsley’s bedroom to prove she's okay and lainey falls back to sleep. Who has ridiculous dreams? jimmy. Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed? jimmy. Who makes the bed? lainey. What time is bed time? it varies. Any routines/rituals before bed? lainey moves all the decorative pillows to a chair on the side. Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up? jimmy when he wake sup to Lainey’s alarms. 

WORK:

Who is the busiest? lainey. she’s got school, work, and still has old habits of being a single mom. Who rakes in the highest income? jimmyAre any of your muses unemployed? I think lainey probably is for awhile when they move. Who takes the most sick days? lainey. she takes a sick day anytime ainsley’s sick.  Who is more likely to turn up late to work? jimmy. lainey is too precise. Who sucks up to their boss? tbh jimmy. What are their jobs? jimmy is a mlb player and lainey is trying to be a nurse. Who stresses the most? L A I N E YDo your muses enjoy or despise their careers/occupations? jimmy loves his, lainey knows she had to do this to provide for ainsley so jimmy could follow his dreams. Are your muses financially stable? together yes. 

HOME:

Who does the washing? lainey. Who takes out the trash? jimmy. Who does the ironing? lainey. Who does the cooking? lainey with his help sometimes. Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying? I don’t think either of them are. Who is messier? jimmyWho leaves the toilet roll empty? jimmyWho leaves their dirty clothes on the floor? ainsley and jimmyWho forgets to flush the toilet? Ainsley. Who is the prankster around the house? oohhhh Idk. Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere? lainey Who mows the lawn? jimmy. Who answers the telephone? omg does anyone have landlines???Who does the vacuuming? I think they take turns. Who does the groceries? laineyWho takes the longest to shower? laineyWho spends the most time in the bathroom? lainey

MISCELLANEOUS:

Is money a problem? for lainey when they aren’t together yes. when they’re together no. How many cars do they own? two probs, Lainey’s old Jeep Liberty and whatever jimmy drives. Do they own their home or do they rent? Lainey’s house is rent free and an old family home that her great aunt and great uncle built and wanted to keep in the family. you know one that is completely payed off besides utilities. Do they live near the coast or deep in the countryside? I mean like they’re a good 3 hours from the ocean. Do they live in the city or in the country? suburbs/city. Do they enjoy their surroundings? I think its a nice balance of being what they grew up in but away from their small town. What’s their song? god they’re so cheesy it’s probs some Taylor Swift song from when she still did country. What do they do when they’re away from each other? they try not to be away from each other after they get back together. when they are theres a lot of FaceTime. Where did they first meet? I mean small town probs like elementary schoolHow did they first meet? romantically their best friends were dating and made them double date. Who spends the most money when out shopping? lainey probably does but its mostly on Ainsley. Jimmy probably has to talk her to getting something for herself a lot. Who’s more likely to flash their assets? jimmy. Who finds it amusing when the other trips over? Jimmy. Any mental issues? lainey gets anxiety from ainsley’s chronic asthmaWho’s terrified of bugs? ainsleyWho kills the spiders around the house? lainey does she got used to it. Their favourite place? the ball field at their old high school . Who pays the bills? lainey wants to be independent bc she left him not the other way but jimmy sneaks around her a lot. Do they have any fears for their future? lainey is scared he’ll get tired of her. jimmy is scared she’ll leave again. Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner? jimmy. Who uses up all of the hot water? lainey. Who’s the tallest? jimmyWho’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other? jimmy. Who wanders around in their underwear? lainey does in their room. Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio? lainey. What do they tease each other about? old things they did in high school that they cringe about now. Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times? laineyDo they have mutual friends? yeah old high school friends. Who crushed first? they both did. Any alcohol or substance related problems? no. Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am? they would together on date nights. Who swears the most? jimmy. 

[finallement]

What I buy

Consumption and Materialism  Part 1      

  Normally, I am not a big consumer - I would say I’m somewhat of a snob about NOT being a big consumer. But my dependency on first-world creature comforts became a sobering realization during the power outage. It’s only when you don’t have something that you realize how much of a consumer you really are. Food, water, utilities, information sources - and most of all, the extra cognitive processing energy consumption as I scrambled to arrange for my parents’ and my basic needs during the outage. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with power outages before - I lived on the Long Island Sound and hurricanes happened - but I wasn’t taking care of elders. 

Here is what the village wharf looked like during the storm. You don’t have to watch for very long to get the idea:

https://www.facebook.com/cindy.horsfall.3/videos/pcb.10159650482658868/10206818968630318/?type=3&theater&ifg=1

 Being on the phone with Hydro-Quebec’s automated message, I couldn’t help but think of the Eubanks & Schaeffer (2008) article that refers to Laura Penny’s book, Your Call is Important to Us. It makes you want to shake them by their virtual shoulders to have to listen to an endless stream of useless information such as HQ touting their phone app for power outages (what if my phone battery is dead?) or to go online to their website (fat chance with no internet). That is, if they were even accepting calls. At one point, I had to call 911 because the powerline across the street had snapped, spiralling and sparking, into the woods, road, and neighbour’s driveway. I knew it was pointless to try calling HQ. 

  Our entire village was out of power but fortunately, our community centre has a generator so I could go there to charge my cell phone, computers, lanterns, and to cook food. There is a generator available for our home’s use but the owner of the generator was tag-teaming it around to 3 other locations and besides, it didn’t help with our heat. Simultaneously, my father had a severe attack of vertigo and was bedridden. Seeing our neighbours at the community centre was heartening in the way that a crisis can bring everyone together. Perhaps this will be the way affluenza can be tamed, by really learning first hand “the rewards that come from community involvement” (Mattison, 2012). 

My consumption journal. 

 I shop for three people.  My consumerism is mostly based on optimum healthy food choices for the parents, and also what I call ‘mood-food’ - things they like to eat that help keep their weight up. It is a fairly prosaic list. * by an item means a commentary will follow. The commentaries are to illustrate what is going on in my head as a consumer.

Oct. 26. The usual stuff. Groceries: Milk, soy milk, tofu, ham, BBQ chicken *, carrots, onion, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, lettuce, parsley, bananas, pears, chips (potato and nacho, whole grain) cheetos, cookies, graham crackers, ice cream, tartar sauce, horseradish sauce, applesauce, peaches, white beans, soup, canned pumpkin, canned cherries, corn meal, brown rice flour.

*BBQ chicken. I resort to buying these now and then, but I feel guilty every time because (1) the idea of mass-produced chicken is too depressing - “nasty, brutish and short” (Hobbes, 1651) are their lives (2) the packaging. I wash it and put it in recycle but I would wager that for every one that gets recycled, three get put in the trash. It gets the fast-consumption treatment from start to finish. (3) the food quality. Although they taste good, there is a lot of salt and a lot of fat.

Unusual stuff: 2 bottles of white wine (one for home, one for Jacques) The aforementioned reusable produce bags, 3 shirts (Jacques’ birthday present) a pair of shoes for Dad.*

*The bags, shirts and shoes were purchased through Amazon. This company makes it way too easy to shop there and they are very, very good at staying in touch and getting you your stuff fast, but it still makes me uncomfortable. I was brought up by children of the Depression (one a New England Yankee; renown for, and proud of, their frugality). My sister and I wore lots of clothes purchased at church rummage sales. But see how the mighty have fallen - now I shop online. Amazon specializes in immediate gratification. While you shop, they suggest other things you might like and so help me, I have ended up buying more stuff that way. My weakness is event clothes, especially costumes for plays. 

Oct. 28. (Canadian Tire)* Gallon of grey paint, toilet paper, paper towels, baking soda, Mrs. Meyers’ all-purpose cleaning fluid, batteries., gas for car.

* I like Canadian Tire, although the excessive merchandise annoys me. The commentator for the video, “The Story of Stuff,” reminds me of the inner monologue that runs in my head while I’m shopping. For example, looking at those awful Keurig coffee single serving containers makes me furious. But I like CT because they have a decent website that actually tells you what aisle something is in, so that if you’re not the type of shopper to linger and hang out (I’m not) you can get in and get out in fairly short order. The other thing I like about them is that you can apply your points at the checkout (they show on the screen) and as they also have a gas station, I get my gas there, too. About the car - yes, it uses gas. It is my father’s former car, which I took over when he stopped driving and after I sent my dear Fit back to the States because (1) no point in having 2 cars, since I’m the only one driving, and (2) too expensive and time-consuming to bring it over the border permanently.  I talk to my car and keep him reasonably clean - I think things like buildings and cars, while not being exactly sentient, absorb the energy we put towards them and ‘know’ that they are cared for. Ironically, this is what builds an image for advertising. The history of the ‘relationship’ someone has with a certain brand of car is carried forward and burnished to a high nostalgic sheen to keep you loyal to that brand. The following link is to show what I mean, NOT because I drive a Mustang!

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/16/16892736/ford-mustang-bullitt-detroit-auto-show-2018

(Jean Coutu Pharmacy)* Prescription drugs for the household. My parents don’t take too many, but nevertheless I am still going to the pharmacy 1-2x a week. I order prescriptions over the phone via their automated service, but I usually have to wait in line for them. There are large and scary photos of women’s faces with fake eyelashes and pink lips that I try not to look at while I’m waiting. I have nothing against makeup -I wear it - and decorating one’s face and body is as old as humankind - but the advertising is appalling. It’s not artistic, it’s depressing and vapid and completely negates any sense of human-ness. And what the labels say -! My sister claims to have seen a bottle of foundation with ‘resurfacing’ written on it. Great, just what I want to be told, that my face needs to be resurfaced.

Here is the view from the pharmacy:

Groceries: Halloween candy*, flour, mango salsa,* grapeseed oil, eggs, cheese, yogourt, apples, bread.

*Halloween candy: we had no trick-or-treaters because of the weather, so we ate it instead. Holiday-sanctioned junk food! * Mango salsa was strictly an impulse buy, as what I really wanted was lemon yogourt but realized I couldn’t have it then as it would interfere with my synthroid rx (calcium blocks a lot of meds) - so, I was a primed sitting duck for the salsa in the next aisle, justifying my purchase because it was ‘on sale!’

Nov. 2. Been without power for 12h. 

Groceries: Napkins, pickles, cookies, tea, maple syrup, chicken broth, graham crackers, canned cherries, peanut butter, buckwheat flour, orange juice, milk, eggs, cheese, soy milk, grapes, apples, chicken, deli sandwiches,* cotton squares.

* Deli sandwiches were a concession to the storm so I didn’t have to cook. I don’t visit the deli much because it’s an expensive way to buy meat. I did cook the chicken at the community centre, and I think I blew a fuse with the skillet. 

Canadian Tire: Gas for the car. Camp stove and fluid. Definitely an unusual purchase, but desperate times call for desperate (expensive) measures. Financial conscience assuaged by more CT points. 

Pharmacy: More prescriptions. Cetaphil cream (a must for keeping my mother’s paper-thin skin hydrated), latex biodegradable gloves (I use these one-use gloves for applying my mother’s skin medications - she has a rare genetic skin condition.) I don’t like using single-use anything, but I need to protect my hands. When the CLSC nurses come, they throw  away everything they use - gloves, tweezers, scissors, saline bottles. They have to. I used to rinse off the tweezers and scissors and save them with the extra bandages the nurses leave.

Razor blade replacements for Dad’s electric razor.

Nov. 3. Power restored late in the day. I went into consumer overdrive: rushed around using every appliance in sight - three loads of laundry, the dishwasher, the vacuum cleaner, and I went to the store, too. Threw away everything in the refrigerator, just to be on the safe side with my parents. I hate the waste, as so many go without - and although there wasn’t a lot to throw out, it’s still a financial loss. I read somewhere that most food waste is from households, not restaurants - I have not researched this but if this is accurate, it’s a frightening indictment against us wasteful Westerners.

Groceries: Water,* mayonnaise, tartar sauce, beef and chicken broth, chips, butter, one beer, cheese, deli meat.

*Water was purchased mainly for the container. Jacques had given us a huge water container with hand pump but the smaller gallon containers are easier for the parents to pick up. 

Nov. 4. Groceries: Peanuts, baked beans, ice cream, frozen fish, tofu, grapes, bananas, celery, hummus, bacon, chicken, veggie burgers. 

Nov. 5. Haircut and highlight, 2x a year. I am not clever about cutting /highlighting my hair and have learned it’s best to leave it to a professional. Justified by only going twice a year.

Pharmacy (next to hairdresser) more batteries. I return used batteries and ink cartridges to Bureau en Gros recycle in Magog.

To sum up my consumer patterns: in the plus column, I coordinate my errands so I am not making several trips to Magog (10m. From Georgeville). During the summer, there is a nice farmer’s market in the village where I can buy vegetables and eggs. There is a village market, but it is expensive so I don’t go there often. I take my parents out for breakfast once in a while to the village restaurant. They make their own bread and use locally sourced food. I realize that it is a privilege to live in a place like Georgeville. It gives me a deep sense of serenity that people would spend a great deal of money to replicate in a vacation.

In the negative column: if I were not as happy with where I lived, or felt that my social life was missing something special, or if I was lonely - and if I had the money -  I would consume a lot more. Almost all of the readings point to people spending money they don’t have to buy things to fill that void inside. That would not be my situation, but I would spend money for things like nicer art supplies, going out and traveling. I am aware that I have consumer weaknesses but I try not to give in to them too often. 

Behaviour Shift: Part 2

 My pivotal moment was actually a thought on the back burner that got moved to the front burner; this thought being, I/we have got to get off the grid. That slender thread that brings power into this house is something I have no control over if it breaks, and I have to be in a position to take care of the folks. This is a project that needs to be carefully planned, but the time to start planning is now. Working on the solar curricula really got me thinking about it.

 My one concrete behavioural shift was to purchase reusable produce bags so that I won’t be taking the single-use plastic bags in the store anymore. I have been thinking about it, but finally decided to do it, motivated in part by this assignment. It is embarrassing to admit that it took this long to make the change, as I had written a paper in 2014 on the effects of plastic in the oceans.

https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2012/10/24/Discarded-plastics-distress-albatross-chicks

 Another shift was away from plastic water bottles. They have been banned from the community centre in the village and it was my dad who said he wanted metal bottles for us - and now we have them.

 Challenges with changes - any new behaviour takes some time for adjustment. For example, I finally stopped chewing gum about 4 years ago. It took awhile, but I finally did it. Such a waste of money! I also stopped drinking carbonated water, but I still crave it now and then. I am trying to improve my recycling habits. Starting a compost this coming spring will be my next venture.

A small postscript: Some of my notes from Trevor Norris, from authors he cites

Arthur Brittan: “Advertisers sell privatization - individuals isolate themselves from demands and obligations of political and social relationships.” It sounds like the advertisers are implying that dependency on a community makes you weak. This is really disturbing. 

Zygmunt Bauman: “quick-fix world of consumerism.” Spending time in the pharmacy has me dwelling on the quick-fix world of pharmaceuticals - that, and living near Pfizer headquarters in Connecticut. The way pharmaceutical companies advertise their wares is its own creepshow; the barrage on TV relentless. My parents watch a lot of news, and as the viewing public at that time of day are generally retirees, the pharmaceutical ads are prolific. Serious-looking actors in white lab coats touting pills galore.

Barber: “McWorld in tandem with the global market economy has globalized many of our vices and almost none of our virtues” - “Consumerism as imperial project of global expansion of cultural uniformity” - In 2006, I went to a rural part of Bulgaria for a month on an artist exchange program - photos of Rocky, Madonna and J-Lo abounded, among other American pop culture icons. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Ivan Illich - “Schools are the reproductive organ of a consumer society” - my mother was really into Illich in the 1960s and his views, considered radical then, turned out to be most prescient. Consumerism indoctrination starts in earlier grade levels now, however. The tweens market comes to mind - pre-teenage girls being forced to think about their looks way too soon. 

      References

Eubanks, P., Schaeffer, J.D. (2008). A kind word for bullshit: the problem of academic 

writing. CCC[College Composition and Communication] 59:3

Horsfall, C. (2019). Video from Georgeville. Retrieved on November 4, 2019, from 

https://www.facebook.com/cindy.horsfall.3/videos/pcb.10159650482658868/10206

818968630318/?type=3&theater&ifg=1

Klavitter, J. (2012). Discarded plastics distress albatross chicks. [U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service, 

Open Spaces: A talk on the wild side]. Retrieved from 

https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2012/10/24/Discarded-plastics-distress-albatross-chicks

Mattison, M. (2012). “Emancipation from Affluenza: Leading Social Change in the 

Classroom.” Dissertations & Theses. Paper 116. http://aura.antioch.edu/etds/116

Norris, T. (2011). Consuming schools: commercialism and the end of politics.  Toronto: University 

of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. eBook.

The Phrase Finder. (n.d.). The meaning and origin of the expression: nasty, brutish and short. 

Retrieved November 9, 2019, from https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/nasty-brutish-and-short.html

Warren, T. (2018). The return of Ford Mustang Bullitt tugs at auto lovers’ heart strings. 

Something new, in the spirit of something old. Retrieved from 

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/16/16892736/ford-mustang-bullitt-detroit-auto-show-2018

[movingagainau]

Interstate Removals Cleaning

Top Ten Items to Keep Your Home Organised

Even the most frugal person I know will occasionally splurge on an item that will help her keep more organised. Here are some of my favorite organizational tools for the home. 1) Lazy Susan Thanks to the soul who invented this little item! They're cheap, and help keep spices, bottles, and condiments neatly arranged and at your fingertips. Use them in the pantry, in cabinets, on the kitchen table - they're absolutely life savers when it comes to staying organised. 2) Plastic Basket for Lids Plastic containers - a double edged sword! One the one hand they keep me organised and save tons of time in the kitchen, especially. But searching through ten thousand lids that don't fit can drive a person nutty. I use a plastic basket for all my lids so they're in one spot when I go looking. 3) A Triple Swing-out Towel Holder Put these under your kitchen and bathroom sinks to save space and keep your sink area uncluttered. Use it to hold towels, cleaning rags, trash bags, etc. 4) Laundry Hooks Place a few strong adhesive hooks in the laundry room - these can be used for hanging coats, clothes, etc. Hooks are great to hang up mops, brooms and other cleaning supplies, too. 5) Plastic Baggies with Zipper Locks How did our ancestors survive without them? Baggies are perfect to store small toys, puzzle pieces, and any little items that go together in one spot. The two-gallon sized ones are my favorite. 6) A Labeler These don't have to be expensive to work. And having containers and shelf spaces labeled is a great way to help children keep their items organised, as well as yourself. Do yourself a favor – use a labeler for a week, and you'll wonder hoe you ever lived without one. 7) A Compartment Tray for Your Junk Drawer Occasionally, I actually open my junk drawer to search for something! Having miscellaneous items in little compartments of the tray will save you time and frustration when you go searching. 8) A TV Remote Holder How much time have you wasted looking for this little item? Make or purchase a holder for your remote, or put Velcro on the back and stick it someplace near the couch. 9) Laundry Sorting Bin Less than ten bucks, these bins help keep your dirty laundry organised, so that when you're ready to wash the whites, they're all in the same spot. No more digging through a giant hamper to find the right clothes! This makes laundry time so much simpler! 10) Two-tiered Spice Racks These cabinet organisers save time and hassle in the kitchen. How many times have you searched for the oregano - behind the cinnamon, no - the nutmeg...Wait -where was the nutmeg? You get the idea. These items are by no means all the great organising tools out there, but they're my choices for time saving and hassle free living!   ================================================================= Do you shudder when you think of people coming over to visit unannounced? Do you panic when you get a message on your answering machine that family is coming and they left 4 hours ago (and its a 5 hour trip)? Do you try to clean before your cleaning lady comes? Can you not afford a cleaning lady and try to do it yourself, ending up discouraged, frustrated, and thinking its just impossible?. The real key here is to take it a step at a time. Take it at your own pace. This IS a fight that you CAN and WILL win! You will have to commit to having less stuff if your home and letting go of the sacred-cows you've hung on to for all these years (but please note that these cows haven't lifted a finger to help you get organized or clean they only collect dust and take up space!). This isnt having Clean Sweep come to your home and do the work for you its all *your* work. Don't worry. It can all be done in a few minutes each day. Yes, you, too can occupy a relatively clean environment as long as you relax and let go of "it's-got-to-be-perfect-itis". Ready for step one? Good. We're going to De-clutter first - set a timer and put on some energizing music to get you going. Decide that you're only going to De-clutter for 15 minutes in one certain room. Then if you want to work longer, say, another round of 15 minutes, you can. But you don't have to. This helps you get motivated, even when you feel like cleaning is the last thing you'd want to tackle. Yep- psyche yourself out. Go from room to room one day, just De-cluttering - 15 minutes in each room. Some rooms might take only five minutes - there's a good feeling! Others might take 30 minutes before you can walk through the room without tripping over something. It'll all average out. Then on day two, go back to your first room and surface clean. Wipe off counters, sinks, flat surfaces. Then spot vacuum. If there's a stain on the kitchen floor, spot clean that baby. Day three, pick another room. Day four, still another. If you're so motivated one day and get on a roll, surface clean two rooms. After you've De-cluttered, were going to take fifteen minutes a day and do some deeper cleaning in each room. You know, vacuuming thoroughly, dusting, swatting away cobwebs, etc. Now, if you just repeat this simple schedule, you've got a house that would at least make the grade on a pass-fail system. That takes a load off your mind and alleviates stress in your family relationships. Remember, its better to do a little each day and get the job done, than to stress out in an embarrassingly cluttered environment because you're too overwhelmed to even start. Go ahead set that timer! ===============  

Where should you start.

Start in The Laundry Room   While some home-organization gurus will tell you to start in the kitchen, I'm going to advise beginning in another area. The kitchen will be the third place we attack and this doesn't make it less important, but I will explain why I'm starting elsewhere. First, if you look around your home, you probably see lots of clothes. Am I right? You've got clothes in closets, you've got clothes in piles (meaning to put them away and not having time, eventually just pulling them out of the pile and wearing them), and you've got clothes in laundry baskets. You might even have rumpled clothes in the dryer or (heaven forbid!) the washer. If its the former, the clothes are only rumpled. If its the latter, theyre probably rumpled AND smelly and (potentially) mildew-y. Yuck! Somewhere in this mountain of laundry, dirty, clean, or otherwise, is your home. And Im guessing that if you have a laundry room, you keep the door closed, as there are multiple mountains piling up in there. If you dont have a laundry room but have a laundry closet (with room for the washer, dryer, and some shelves), Im betting you havent seen the top of your dryer for weeks or even months. Its covered in rumpled clothes and towels, right? Have you guessed where were starting? Thats right! The laundry area of your home. And here why: if you get your laundry room cleaned and organised, you'll be much more apt to actually DO the laundry that plagues you and helps your home to be disorganised. And because you wont want to undo the work youve done in the laundry room, you're more likely to fold the laundry when its done, and put it away. Theres something that's a breath of fresh air about a straightened laundry room sort of like when you walk in to a closet where everything is hanging neatly.

So start with small steps:

1) Can you see the floor? No? Then pick up whats on the floor and put it in laundry baskets. If you don't have enough laundry baskets to accomplish this, then just sort the things in to piles outside the laundry room. I make piles of light clothes, whites, darks, and towels/rags. 2) Can you see the top of the dryer? If not, put the excess clothes in the aforementioned piles. Grab one rag to dust and have two plastic grocery bagsone to collect junk, and the other for later. Dust the dryer from the lint-leftovers and use a little window-cleaner if it doesnt come off readily. Dont neglect the area where the start button is that can be grimy, too! 3) Can you see the top of the washer? If not, repeat the steps in #2, using the window cleaner if necessary. Okay - now youve got your washer & dryer cleaned off. Congratulations! Lets continue to take small steps in the laundry room 4) Now take a critical look at your supply-shelf(vs) . Do you have empty bottles or boxes lying around from spent detergent and/or fabric softener? Clean those out. Use that grocery bag that you've put excess dryer lint in and pitch those empties. Then organise whats left. If you need to add things to your shopping list, now is the time now you know what you've got and what you need to buy. When you organise your supplies, I recommend putting the detergent and any liquid softener above the (gasp!) washer. Make it easy to reach. Put the dryer sheets over the dryer why reach more than you have to? If your shelves are higher than you'd like, use the top ledge of your washer & dryer to hold supplies! Ive never seen a washer and dryer that don't butt up to a wall for the electrical plugs they need. So use that space to your advantage. Put the detergent box or bottle on the top of the washer, along with whatever other washing supplemental you have. Put the dryer sheets on the top of the dryer so you dont forget and end up with a load of static cling! 5) Trash Bags If you have wire-shelves above your washer & dryer, youve got a built-in place to hang a trash bag. Use that extra grocery-sack and cut one of the handles in half. Then tie those two ends around some of the wire-shelf and use the bag to collect dryer lint and empty containers from your emptied laundry supplies. When its full, cut it down and put it in the trash and put up a new one. 6) Now look at your floor Does it need sweeping? If so, grab a broom and sweep. It wont take you more than 5 minutes and you'll feel much better about your room and your work especially if something you've just washed falls on the floor as you're transferring stuff to the dryer. 7) Congratulations! You've done the preliminary work of organising your homeyou won the battle in your laundry room! Take a 15 minute break and enjoy this victory. Then start the task of doing the excess laundry that youve been collectingone pile at a time. When the first is done, swap it out immediately to your dryer or to hangers, if thats more appropriate. Take it one pile at a timein other words, small steps! Soon, youll find that it really only takes 5-10 minutes to fold warm clothes from the dryer and put them in laundry baskets, ready to transfer to the appropriate rooms, closets, and drawers. The rewards are huge herekeep up on it (one load every day) and youll win the war against the mountain of clothes in your home. --------- Im so proud of you committing to organise your home is the first step in actually doing it! Lets hit the Linen Closet! ? If you have excess laundry to deal with, you probably have a linen closet that is less than user-friendly. Once you have clean towels, rags, and other linens to put away, you wont do it if your destination is less-than-appealing. So lets organise it! This is the first place where you'll have to be brutally honest with yourself about what you keep and what you get rid of. When I say, get rid of, I don't necessarily mean it ends in the trash”if its towels, bedding, etc., that are in bad condition, your local animal shelter would be grateful for your donation. They always need things for the dogs and cats to lay on in their runs and crates, and your cast-offs in this area will be eagerly accepted. 1. Take stock of what you have for shelves. Do you have wooden or wire shelves? Do you have problems with things falling through if you have wire shelves? If so, you don't have to worry and go buy scrap wood to line the shelves with a simple piece of shelf-lining (you know, that bumpy green stuff that comes in rolls) will lay nicely and prevent small things from falling through. If necessary, put some of that down. 2. Now take a look and see what youve got in terms of extra bedding. How many beds in your home? You should have a minimum of 1 extra bedding-set for each bed, a maximum of 2. Think about it before you start to write me and tell me why you need 6 sets of bedding for each bed”if you have small children who have nighttime accidents (or get the stomach flu in the middle of the night), you might have to change sheets in the morning (or the middle of the night if its barf!), and you'll have some clean ones to put on. You'll put the dirty ones in the washer and get the machine started on that task. Then you'll swap things to the dryer. You'll still have clean sheets on the bed and if you've got 2 extra sets, another clean one in the linen closet. So now with that argument won, go through your bedding. Do you have mis-matched pieces? If so, put them in the donation pile. Do you have twin pieces mixed in with king pieces? If so, separate them in to piles. Make sure everything is folded (Ill give you a pass on the fitted sheets”those are impossible to fold neatly!). Now set aside one or two shelves for your bedding. Make sure that the bedding for the queen bed is not piled up with the stuff for the crib or twin bed. You can fold the stuff in squares or fold it in to long rectangles and then roll it. Either way is acceptable”it just depends on how much space you've got. Now we move on to towels and other things in your linen closet¦. 3. Take stock of your towels, washcloths, and other terrycloth things. Do you have towels that are holey or bleach-stained? Do you have towels that arent very absorbent from using too much fabric softener? Do you have towels that don't match your current bathroom  Donate them. Keep only that which matches your décor (unless you turn it in to a rag), and only that which wouldn't embarrass you to put out for guests when they visit. That should pare down your towel collection to a more manageable number. I cant tell you an exact number that is appropriate here”that depends on how many members are in your family. What I can suggest is 2 towels per person”one that's currently hanging in the bathroom and one clean one that can be conscripted in to service when the current one is in the wash. Do you have washcloths? One for every-other day of the week would be appropriate”many people dont use them anymore, in this age of scrubbies, poufs, and other facial cleansing methods. 4.Do you have a rag-pile (or kitchen-towel pile) in your linen closet? If so, fold those and put them on a shelf that's easy to access. You'll use those most frequently, so make them easy to reach and use. Again, sort through and see whats in reasonable condition and put the rest in the pile for the animal shelter. 5. What other things are in your linen closet? Do you have table linens there? If so, do you know whats there? Are they neat enough that when you need them you dont have to go digging and put the iron on œfry it silly to get the wrinkles out? If any of the above is true, pull them out, wash, sort, keep only the best, and fold (or press) them quickly and put them away. 6.Finally, if you have other miscellaneous things (doilies, candlesticks, etc.) in your linen closet, set a shelf aside for those things. If you don't have a full shelf to ascribe to them, use a shelf thats only half-full of other items. Again, sort through and keep only what youre in love with”anything else can be donated to a charity-resale shop, given to siblings, or sold on eBay. Don't keep things just in case great-aunt Mildred comes by”she wont, and if she does, she probably wont remember what it was. Remember, you're organising your home so that its not just a house of stuff for your family. Thats much more important than not offending a distant relative! Congratulations you've won the battle with your linen closet. Isn't it such a nice feeling to open up a closet and not be in danger of the falling towel zone?..   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Arguably, the kitchen is the heart of the home. We cook there, eat there (hopefully as a family), entertain there, chat at the table, do homework, and any number of other family-related things. A disorganised kitchen discourages us from doing the above; we don™t want to cook and eating will likely then take place in front of the TV. We don't want to entertain others or sit and chat because the clutter distracts us and makes us feel ashamed of not keeping things in better order. So lets get to it! Please understand that this room CANNOT be done in one day or in one chunk of time. I'm willing to bet it took more than one day for your kitchen to look the way it does so it will take more than one day to un-do it. Be patient and attack these different tasks in small chunks of time small steps! You'll find that as each one is done that you'll be motivated to do another and another. And then when its all done, you™ll not want to mess it up, and so be motivated to keep it organised! Oh happy day! 1) Unload your dishwasher. If your dishwasher is full of clean dishes and not put away, you won™t have a place to put your dirty dishes as you clean up. If you don™t have a dishwasher, take a look at your sink. If you've got clean dishes in your dish rack, put them away now. Then move your dish rack to the counter and put an empty dishpan under the sink. You'll see why as we keep going. 2) Take a look at your counter tops. Are they piled high with papers, dishes (dirty), and appliances (some you haven™t used in weeks or months)? Are they stained (underneath the stuff on them)? Lets clear off one counter top at a time. Pick your smallest one and clear everything off. Put it on a table or other surface where you can go through the things. Put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher (or dishpan under your sink), go through the papers (junk mail = trash can, bills go to the study, etc.). Put the other miscellaneous things you've found in separate piles to be schlepped to the appropriate rooms where they belong. Then look at the naked counter top. Take a cleaner of your choice (I love the Lysol disinfecting wipes, but you could use a spray cleaner, a bleach cleaner, or simple window cleaner) and a rag and start wiping from back to front. Sweep the crumbs in to the garbage can. Now put only the things which are *necessary* back on the counter. That means no excess paperwork, no hair bows, etc. If you need space for a coffee maker or other small appliance, you now have it! 3) Move to the next counter and repeat the same steps as above. So you've survived the cleaning of your counters. Great! These next few steps will require an honest look about your kitchen and an honest appraisal of your culinary skills and commitment to cooking. Not if you will cook, but how you will (or do) cook. Remember to use small steps!   4. If you have a dishwasher (or dishpan under your sink) and its now filled with dirty dishes, now is the time to get it running. Put the detergent in and set that baby to pots & pans. It uses more water, but if your dishes have been sitting for a while, they™ll need the extra strength of that cycle to get sparkling clean. You don™t have to use the dry-cycle it eats up energy and makes your dishes too hot to handle. When the dishwasher is done, open the door and let the dishes cool *briefly* before putting them away. Do the last step quickly”if you keep the dishwasher empty when the dishes are clean, you've won a large portion of the battle to keep your kitchen organised. If you have a dishpan thats full of dishes, move the pan up to the sink and start washing. Dry them quickly and put the dishes away”then move your dishpan to its spot under the sink for collection of future dishes. 5. Take a look at your kitchen appliances on the counter (or up above the cabinets). Do you have too many things that you hardly ever use, but collect dust and kitchen grease? Take an honest assessment of what you have and when you last used the item(s). If you haven™t used it in a while or don™t plan to use it in the near future, donate, sell, give it away, or pitch it. Take a look at the cast-iron skillet you have but haven™t used in God-knows-how-long. Useful, yes. In your life? Maybe not. Be honest and be brutal. You™ll end up with kitchen appliances that you love and that are useful, not clutter. 6. Now look at your sink. How grimy is it? Take a good steel wool soap pad and scrub that bad boy out! If you've got a porcelain sink, dot use a steel wool pad, but do use a gentle abrasive. If you don™t have a cleaner on hand to do it, sprinkle a good portion of baking soda on your sink and use a wet rag. Rub the baking soda paste (created with the water from the rag) in circles and when you've completed the whole sink, rinse the remainder down the drain. Regardless of what type of sink you have, once you've given it a good scrub, pull out the window cleaner and a dry rag. Shine up the faucet and inside of the sink (if its chrome). Dry it all out and your sink will shine! I dare you to put a bunch of dirty dishes in it after that! So now you have cleaned off counters, only the appliances you need and love, and a shiny sink. You are on your way! Remember small steps get the jobs done! 7. Take a look at your cabinets. Are they clean? I'm not talking about the insides (yet!), but the outsides. If they have built-up grime on them, take a cleaner and rag and wipe them down. Youll be amazed at how different they look and how dirty that rag will be! 8. Now lets talk about the front of your large appliances. Fingerprints are fingerprint sit doesn't matter if its on an avocado-colored refrigerator or a chrome-colored one. Take some window-cleaner and 5 minutes on each appliance and spray ˜em down. Wipe them clean, and don't forget the small crevices where crumbs hide. Remember you're not doing the insides, just the outsides! Hit the refrigerator, the stove, the dishwasher, and anything else that fronts in the kitchen that I might not have mentioned. 9. Now take a look at your kitchen table & chairs. When was the last time you washed them down? Is there food stuck to them that is of questionable origins or dates? This will probably take more than 15 minutes, but take a rag and a bottle of cleaner. Spray the chair from the bottom rungs to the seat and up to the top. Let it stand for 2 or 3 minutes and spray down the next chair. Go back to the first one and start rubbing with the rag. You'll be amazed at what comes off and how clean the chair becomes! Repeat each step until all the chairs are done. Then spray down the table legs. Same procedure spray, let it sit, rub and wipe. Now your chairs and table are clean enough to eat off of! 10. Take a gander at your floor. Dismal, huh? Start small sweep it with a broom and dustpan. Move the things that are up against the wall, but don't feel obligated to sweep with your toothbrush. In other words, don't obsess about the crevices do the best you can with a regular broom. Sweep in to small piles to make pick-up easier and transport the dirt & crumbs to the trash can. Now take out a mop. I don't care if its a rag mop, a sponge mop, or a Sniffer mop. You don't have to mop like your mother did just wet the floor with a cleaner and wipe up the dirt. Remember even chores that aren't done right (according to how you were taught) but are *done* still bless your home and your family! Let your floor dry and take a break. By now, the surface areas of your kitchen are clean. Just a few more steps and you're done in this room! ? 11. Were gonna get down and dirty here: under your sink! Most people keep cleaning supplies under there; some keep garbage cans, and still others, appliances. No matter whats under your sink, tackle it! If its cleaning supplies, look and see what you've used and never used and whats just dried out and old. Pitch what you don't use, wont use, or is old. organise your cabinet in the way that's best suited to you what you use the most up front, whats less-frequently used in back. If you don't have a dishwasher, remember to leave room for your empty dishpan to collect dirty dishes. 12. Next is your dish cabinet(s). However many of them you have, you probably don't use everything in them. Be brutally honest here: if you haven't used it recently, you probably don't need it. And I'm certain that if you offered it to someone else who was just starting out, they *could* use it. Consider looking up a Free cycle group in your area (www.freecycle.org) and joining. Its free and keeps things that still have life in them (but no use in your home) going around. Pare down to 8-12 place settings with your dishes; serving dishes are necessary, but no one needs 7 serving dishes that are the same size. If you're cramped for space, consider how much more relaxed you'll be when you open your cabinets and can actually FIND what you're looking for! organise your shelves in the way that best suits your family needs it doesn't have to be perfect, just useful. 13. Hit your spice cabinet next. I recently went through my spice cabinet and was shocked at how much I had (duplicates!) and didn't use and I'm a born-organised person! Pitch what you dont use or is out of date. Consolidate in to smaller bottles, if possible. Use lazy-Susan if applicable to your cabinet space. 14. Finally, go through your appliance/baking cabinet. If you dont bake cheesecakes, why keep the spring form pan? Do you have 12 cookie sheets? Three or four is as many as one family needs even if you have two ovens, each only has 2 shelves. One sheet is on one oven shelf, so 4 would max out your ovens. Do you have broken appliances? Pitch em! Put what you use in front, and things used less-often towards the back, but still in reach. Whoo hoo! Now your cabinets are organised! And by now, your entire kitchen should look as if its had a mini-makeover! Congratulations!   ======================= The Master Bedroom As we move through the house, we are going to hit the master bedroom next. I want this room to be a haven and an escape for you. You wont see your room as that if you don't like it and the decorations you have in it. Remember: small steps! 1. Walk in to your bedroom as you walked in to the family room and look at it critically. Is it cluttered? Whats the first thing that you notice? Do whatever that is first. If its making the bed, do it. If its putting dirty clothes in a basket, do that. Whatever it is, get it done. 2. Does your bedroom fall under the Law of Flat Surfaces? If so, start by clearing off the dresser(s) and headboard. If you have papers there, look through them, pitch what needs to be pitched, and file away (as you did in the study) what needs to be filed. Once you can see the tops of the dressers and headboard, run over them quickly with your duster. 3. If you have lots of things on your dresser tops and top of the headboard, the next challenge is to de-clutter. You've already done the paper-aspect of this”now look critically at the other things you have. Do you have too many jewelry boxes? What about baskets that are supposed to organise things? Now is the time to determine what you absolutely love and wear all the time and what you hardly look at and almost never wear. Pull out the things you're not crazy about and get rid of them. Give them away, throw them away, or sell them online. It doesn't matter”as long as whats left is what you truly love. If you have too many organizing baskets, now is the time to realize that more things to hold your clutter isn't organising”organising is paring down what you have and then keeping it orderly. Go through your baskets and determine which perfume bottles are your favourites and which ones you just dont use anymore. There is no glory in keeping 35 scents on your dresser if all they do is collect dust and make things look messy. 4. Lets move on to the floor. Can you walk freely in your room? If not, use the laundry-basket method and pick up the things on your floor. Deposit the items in their correct location and run the vacuum. No moving the bed or dressers”just sweep where you can easily walk. 5. Look at your windows”are they grimy? What about the window ledges? Grab your rag and window cleaner and give them a quick once-over. Youll be amazed at how much dust you pick up and how clean your ledges will look after that!   Moving right along, let hit the closet and dresser next! I cannot emphasize this enough take small steps! 6. Walk to your closet. Whether it a walk-in that you could camp-out in or a smaller closet that has bi-fold doors, it is supposed to organise your clothing. Do you have Fibber Maggee closet in there? If so, open it, grit your teeth, and then proceed to step over whatever just jumped out and tried to kill you. If you have too many clothes in your closet, it not doing you any good. If you have fat clothes and skinny clothes, now is the time to be realistic and get rid of anything that you cannot wear RIGHT NOW. Don't hope for a different size in 2 months”pick out the best of what you have right now and will wear right now and keep only that. If you re staying at home and not in the working world, get rid of your work clothes. Donate them to a women shelter or sell them online. Do whatever you have to do to pare down the number of outfits in your closet. When you have only what you love, you'll take better care of it. 7. Once you've purged your closet of things unworn and out of style, take a look at what left. organise that by style of clothes. In other words, put blouses with blouses, skirts with skirts, and pants with pants. Make it easy on yourself to find clothes in the morning! 8. Now look at your dressers. Same procedure as your closet”go through and get rid of that which you don't wear often and don't love. You'll be better able to close your drawers and keep what you have from looking rumpled! Pitch, donate, or sell it your choice. 9. Now there just one spot left”your bedding and window treatments. Do you love how you've decorated, or does your room still sport the big orange flowers of the 1970s? When is the last time you washed your bedding and curtains? You might find that a quick trip through the washer and dryer brings back even the dingiest of bedding. Strip everything off and cart it to the washer”hot water and bleach”all bedding is made to withstand the normal amount of bleach and not lose its coloration. Take it from the washer to the dryer and once it dry, schlep everything back to your room. As you make the bed and re-hang the curtains, look around. If you still don't love it, make plans to replace it. Remember”your room is to be a haven for you and a place you love to unwind and spend time. Although all of the steps for the Master Bedroom are here, all are easily done in other bedrooms, too don't neglect those!…     ==============

Organising Your Bathroom

Organising your entire house at once is a sure prescription for insanity.Instead, you want to move steadily through your home, organising in small steps as you go. Lets talk bathrooms. If yours looks less than inviting, we can change that follow me! 1. The first things to consider are the counter tops. Are they dirty and disorganised? First, take everything off of one area of the counter and place it on the floor. Spray that one area with whatever you use for bathroom cleaner and wipe it down. Put the things you took off that area back and repeat the steps with the other areas of the counter top. Put the things that belong in drawers away, and the things that should stay on top (soap dispenser, etc.) should be wiped down. Don't neglect the sink use something that will break up toothpaste spit & soap scum and clean that baby out! 2. Move on to the toilet. If you have things on the back of the toilet, take them off, put them on the floor, and clean the back of the tank. Replace the items and hit the area where the seat lift its a great collector of hair and dust. Lift the lid and wipe down the actual seat you'll be amazed at the collection of dead skin cells on it. Then clean underneath the seat as well. Next, scrub the inside of the bowl with whatever cleaner you choose and scrub it with a long-handled toilet brush. Flush and close the lid this part is done! Finally, use your rag and cleaner to hit the bottom of the tank where it bolts to the floor. This is a prime spot for dust and hair and is often neglected. 3. Next is the shower or tub. Shampoo and body wash are great things they remove grit and oil from our bodies well. Unfortunately, the bubbles they produce tend to collect on the sides and bottoms of the shower and when they dry, its a tough grime to clean. Grab a good soap-scum cleaner for this job and be prepared to use some elbow grease. Spray it down and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then use a non-abrasive (i.e., non-steel-wool) scrubbing pad and go to work. Keep scrubbing until you hit a smooth tub surface. Rinse when you're all done use a large cup or bowl to splash clean water on the back of the tub and get all the grime down the drain. 4. Now look at the floor. Do you have weeks or months of dust and hair there? Use a broom or Sniffer -type sweeper to clean it up. Then go back with a damp mop and grab the dust that's stuck to the floor from humidity and water. 5. Finally, grab your window cleaner and spray the mirrors. Do small sections at a time or the cleaner will dry before you get to it. Wipe it down and smile you're done in the bathroom!..   =========

Organising Your Home Office

  When organising your office, you've got a couple choices. Write a list of all the little things that need to be done and work on them a few minutes each day, or dive straight into the deep end and do it all in one fell swoop.. If you™re sick of your entire office, box it all up like you™re moving, and set the boxes in a different room. Then unpack one box at a time and organise from the bottom “up. Make sure to file papers as you go along. I like the little at a time approach. My first step would be to take all the papers that are scattered about and put them into one box. You can file these now, or clean your desktop and surrounding area further. I like putting all the filing together, all the books together, and then working on one pile at a time. If several folks in your home are receiving mail, you can use wall-mounted acrylic holders and just label them with each person™s name. That takes care of the mail lying around. A friend of mine keeps all her bills on her refrigerator with a magnet. As soon as they come in, they go straight on the fridge. That way, they cant get lost underneath piles of papers. I've adopted this idea and it™s saved me a huge headache. Now I don™t have a bunch of envelopes and bills lying around on my desktop, just waiting for payday. Decide what your office needs and designate a spot for each item. If you make calls from this area, you™ll need a phone, phone book, message pad and pens. You™ll need a place for the computer and accessories, plus a spot for copy paper. Set up the basics first, and then decide item-by-item what else you want to place in your office. Do you have room for personal items? Pictures can be placed on a bulletin board or hung on the wall. You ability to focus and accomplish is affected by a messy desktop, so make it a priority to keep it De-cluttered. Once you've set up the office and filed your paperwork, you can buy some colored folders or stickers and color-code your files to make it easier to find what you™re looking for. If you take just 15 minutes every other day to clean off your desk and surrounding work area, you™ll find your home office a much more pleasant place to work! And your personal efficiency will skyrocket as well!   ======

The Study or Computer Room

Where do you house your computer? Does it have a room of its own along with the books in your home? If you have a study, were going to head there next. This is another reminder to take these tasks in small steps you'll not accomplish this in one day, even if you're born-organised!. 1. How does your desk look? Can you see the top? Are you convinced it even HAS a top? If not, lets start here. Take one small area of your desk”to the right of your monitor, for starters. Sort through the paperwork you have”determine what can be filed (in folders and then a filing drawer), what can be thrown away, and what you need on your desk (bills that are due). Don™t whitewash yourself here”be honest and figure out what you can do without. The less you have on your desk distracting you, the better you're going to feel. Remember”small steps here! Now work on the area to the left of your monitor. Leave space to be able to adjust the volume on your speakers and get to your printer. 2.Bulletin Board. If you don't have a bulletin board, this might be the best opportunity to put one in to use. You don't have to have a fancy bulletin board with ribbons”a standard cork board with pushpins will do nicely. If you have paperwork that you don't want to file away (yet) or things that you need to keep in front of you for memory-jogging purposes, a bulletin board is a great addition. On my bulletin board, I have things that I don't need cluttering up my desk, but I do want in easy reach when I need them. 3. Take a look at your bookshelves. Are they organised so you can find things? I™m not saying that it has to be by the Dewey Decimal system, but as long as you can easily find things, that's what counts. My shelves are alphabetical, but that™s me. Are your shelves dusty? You don't have to take everything off of them to dust them”under the books is rarely dusty. Simply dust from the edges of the books to the edge of the shelf. Done! 4. Hows the floor in this room? Can you walk and not kill yourself? If not, use the laundry-basket method we've already discussed and sort through what you've got, what you need, and what you don™t need. Once you can see the floor, run the vacuum. Again, not the edges, just where you can walk and roll your desk chair. 5. Finally, dust the furniture in this room. Run your duster over quickly and pick up whatever particles spell out help me on flat surfaces. You™d be shocked how quickly dust builds up where your computer is involved and how effective the fans are in your CPU! Here is one area completely organised! Keep in mind that many small steps make one great journey!

Organising Your Dining Room

An organised dining room adds extra comfort to a home. If you're like me, sometimes its the only organised room in the house! Lets take a quick look around. Do you eat in here often or is it only for guests? If you dont use it often, you may just have some simple organising and dusting to do. 1. Are there papers on your table? Is this table a collection spot for things you want out of your way and then forget about? If so, take the bite out of the Law of Flat Surfaces! Use the laundry basket method we talked about in the family room here: if there are things that don't belong in this room, put them in baskets and take those baskets to the appropriate rooms. 2. Do you have a china cabinet or other means of storing fine dishes? If so, how does the cabinet look? If its stuffed to the gills, start by taking a hard look at what you have, how many place settings you have, and how many you need. If you want a guideline, take one from the line in Sleepless in Seattle: 12 is too many, 8 is too few. 10 is just right. How many creamers, sugar bowls, and teacups do you have? Are they collecting dust and never getting used? Pare down and give them a quick dusting with your duster. When you open the doors to your cabinet, do you grit your teeth and wonder whats going to jump out and kill itself at your feet? Consider giving your surplus to a newly-married couple that can use it, or donate it to a women's shelter or other worthy charity. Dust down (or use furniture polish”whatever is applicable here) the front of your cabinet. 3. What about your lighting source? Dusty? Grab your duster”hit the table, the chairs (rungs and bottom of the table, too!), and the lighting source. You don't have to take it down and scrub it clean”just dust it, and if necessary, shake the dead bugs from it. 4. As the final step, run the vacuum In here”not the edges, just the middles where you walk. Move the chairs but not the table”dont even think about pulling out the china cabinet! If there are things behind there, they're small and no one else is going to see them. Congratulations”your dining room is done! Happily, its often one of the easiest rooms to keep looking nice and neat!.. ===============================

Family Room

  Some homes have a great room and no living room, others have a family room and a living room. No matter what you call it or how many of these rooms you have, organization is necessary to make it a welcoming haven for your family. Walk in to this room as a visitor would. Notice the small details that you've overlooked in daily living. Do you see clutter? Your guests do, too. To make this room inviting, were going to reduce the number of *things* in this room and make it more homey. 1. What did you see in terms of clutter? Magazines and newspapers all over? Toys? Shoes lying around? Start with several laundry baskets (empty, please!) and put things that don't belong in this room in the baskets. The idea is to send things to different areas of the house in these baskets and make your de-cluttering that much easier. Throw away the newspapers and old magazines. If you're just not going to have time to read them, get rid of them. Why have them hanging around making you feel guilty? Put toys in the basket that will get them to their owners rooms. Shoes should be kept in the room where their wearer lives. Now that you've done that (and delivered the baskets to the appropriate locations), go back and look at this room as a visitor sees it. Better? If not, keep going in small stages and steps. 2. Look at your furniture Do you see fingerprints and dust deep enough to write a ransom note in? Do you even see the top of your furniture? If you cant answer the latter question, dont worry about the former one. Take care of the flat surfaces first”we call this The Law of Flat Surfaces. This Law is defined by the idea that flat surfaces collect papers, no matter what the surface is: tabletops, armoires, desks, or floors. If you start with clean flat surfaces, youll be more likely to keep them clear”a little every day. Once your flat surfaces are clear, give them a once-over with a furniture polish (if appropriate) or glass cleaner (if appropriate). Run the vacuum dont worry about getting the edges and moving furniture”just vacuum the places you can get easily. Chances are if you cant reach the areas easily, no one has been able to deposit large amounts of dirt or tracks back there, either. 3. Can you see your TV Through the dust and fingerprints? If not, give it a once-over with the rag and some glass cleaner. Same with your stereo cabinet. 4. Now look up. Do you see cobwebs in the corners? Not a huge deal”grab a feather duster and knock ˜em down. Thats that! You've tackled your family room and/or living room”congratulations! Keep moving along, taking baby steps every day. Soon, your home will exude the warmth and hospitality you want.   ==========================================

GARAGE

If you don't have a garage, these tips still apply to you just move the directions here to your basement, storage shed, or wherever else you stash bigger things. If your cars don't live in your garage, were going to change that! Get ready to take small steps and make your parking area livable again! ? Lets take stock of your garage. Are there things all over the floor? Do you have a path picked out to the house? Have your cars even lived inside your garage in recent memory? If not, get ready we going to wave the checkered flag on getting to work! 1. First, we need to clean up your floors. If they are particularly cluttered, well make a way, but it will take lots of small steps. Start by putting all garbage (trash) in a trash receptacle. I don't care if it doesn't have wheels or it doesn't have a badge just do it! If you're not sure if its trash and don't recognize it, put it aside and ask a member of your family. If they cant identify it, throw it away. I know it sounds harsh, but you'll thank me later. 2. Make a keep and sell pile As you're sorting through things, you need to make a pile of keep and sell. I recommend using old large flat sheets for this purpose to keep things separated. Determine what you absolutely cannot do without (and why you love them!) and get rid of the rest. Chances are good that if the things are in your garage and you haven't been out digging through the boxes and piles, you wont miss what you get rid of at all. 3. Now that you've sorted, lets talk about shelving. If you don't have shelves in your garage, you're wasting valuable space. You will be amazed at what some plywood and brackets can do to get stuff up and off the floor! If you need to install shelving, now the time to determine how many and how long they should be. Then call your local Bunnings store and have some wood cut for this purpose. Plywood (at least thick) will do the job. Put brackets at least every 600mm. Then use a level and install the brackets. For added security, put a wood screw in at the edge of the bracket and wood this will stabilize your shelf. 4. Hooray! Your shelves are up! Now start putting things that you've stored on the floor up on the shelves. I recommend an area for car-care things (oil, soap, antifreeze, etc.), one for gardening supplies, painting supplies, and another for general house-items that you use once or twice a year. 5. Kids Bikes If your kids aren't riding their bikes in and out on a daily basis, consider hanging them upside down from the garage ceiling. Bunnings sell large hooks that screw in to the wall or ceiling and are wonderful to hang bicycles by simply use the hooks to catch the inside of the tire, one for the front wheel and one for the back wheel. This will maximize your floor space considerably. These hooks also work well if you have a fertilizer-spreader sitting on the floor put the hooks in the wall and hang the spreader up and out of the way, especially since its only used a few times a year. 6. You can see your garage floor, good! But how bad is the dirt-level? Take a shop-vac (wet-dry vacuum) and empty out whatever is in the tub. Put some insect-killer in there, preferably the powered sort. Now that your vac is ready, section your garage in to quadrants. Move everything away from the walls in one square and start vacuuming. Hit the edges, the concrete blocks where the walls meet the floor, etc. Don't forget the crevices where the concrete quadrants come together. Once you've vacuumed it, spray whatever insect-killer (liquid form) you'd like at the perimeter of the quadrant. Put things back where you had them and take a break. 7. When you're ready for your next small step Attack another square and repeat the steps until the whole garage has been vacuumed. This will prevent tires from being punctured by loose nails or screws, and keep you from tracking all of outside in your home! 8. Okay, your garage is organised Swept it out, and ready to receive its inhabitants. Move your cars inside and enjoy the lack of frost, ice, & snow in the winter, and the lack of scalding hot steering wheel & seats in the summer! There you go! Think of how delightful it'll be to have everything in your garage organised and at your fingertips! ---------------------------

Organising your basement

  Organising your basement doesn't have to be an overwhelming job. Just follow these few simple steps and youre on your way! If you dont have a basement, consider organising your attic space so you can find what you need when you need it. . 1. First, go through and find that which is obviously rubbish and throw it away. Don't think twice about it”rubbish is rubbish, no matter how long you keep it. 2. Look around for a large space on the basement floor. Put down two large flat sheets and use one sheet for stuff that you love and need to keep (i.e., Christmas decorations are a great example), one sheet is for stuff you've kept and haven't used in who-knows-how-long. Once all of the things in your basement are on those two sheets, well move on. 3. Take all of the things on the chuck sheet and box them up. Either put them out for the garbage collection, have a yard sale, or donate them to a charity. Now go back and look at your keep it sheet. 4. Your keep sheet should have things that are used periodically Such as Christmas decorations, or things that are used frequently but only in the basement. For things that are used often, keep them handy (such as at a workbench) and make sure they are neatly hung up or put in drawers. For things that are used periodically, put them in re-usable boxes or storage tubs. Then make sure the boxes or tubs are well-labeled so you can find the things when you need them. 5. Elevate your boxes. Now with the things that you have in boxes or tubs, you should elevate them a few inches off the basement floor, just in case of flooding. No one ever plans for their basement to flood, but it DOES happen. I recommend getting old pallets from a pallet company or retail store”many will just let you take them if you ask politely”or use pieces of 2 x 4 timber to elevate your stuff. This will prevent a certain amount of water-damage, but also permit you to treat for vermin in your basement, if appropriate. Cockroaches and mice don't like open spaces such as this”they prefer it when things are tightly against floors and walls and its dark. Congratulations your basement is now organised! Remember, you can use these same tips to organise your garage and attic, too!   KEEP THE HOME ORGANISED   Now as much of a challenge as it was to do all of that pitching, organizing, and cleaning, how do you maintain it and not let your stuff overwhelm you again? There are some easy steps to take and they just take moments a day. Please don't email me and tell me youre too busy to do this because of your special situation everyone can find the time to take 15 minutes a day and maintain their home in stages. If you cant, then I'm going to brashly suggest that you re-evaluate your schedule and determine what IS more important than maintaining your home for your family.

Maintaining the Kitchen

Daily, put dirty dishes in your dishwasher or dishpan under the sink. When either is full, do the dishes. If you run your dishwasher while youre asleep at night, youll pay lower utility rates and the dishes will be cool and clean in the morning ready to be put away. Run a rag with the cleaner of your choice over the counter tops and tabletop once a day. This will take you just moments, yet will help keep your kitchen organised and neat. You dont have to scrub or take everything off the counters, just wipe where you've cooked or eaten. Clean your sink daily. Scrub it with a soap pad or use some window cleaner and a rag if your sink is clean, you're less likely to let dirty dishes pile up in it. Sweep your floors once a week. Just take a broom across it and get the big crumbs. Then run a damp mop over it to get the weeks dirt washed off you don't have to shine it, just a damp mop (the type is your choice).

Maintaining the Living Room Areas

Pick up the papers that land on your Flat Surfaces and either throw them away or file them appropriately in the study every evening. If you are diligent about keeping the papers picked up, your room will appear much more organised and clean, even if you haven't done any deep cleaning. Dust once a week run your duster over the flat surfaces. Its a 5 minute job that will make a large dent in your room(s). Vacuum once a week. Don't move furniture or pull out the crevice tools, just do the middles where you walk. 15 minutes, max. Take your glass cleaner and go over the TV screen and any other glass that collects fingerprints once a week. 3 minutes, tops. Just doing quick and easy tasks gives you the push to get started. Thats the key when it comes to staying organised. Once you get going, things get done!.. Lets keep going.before you realize it, you'll be giving Martha Stewart a run for her money.

Maintaining the Bathrooms

Take some window cleaner and a rag and squirt the mirror just where its gotten toothpaste spray. Dont do the whole thing thats a waste of time and cleaner. Just hit where its dirty. Use a quick swipe of a rag with cleaner to wipe out your sink and faucet from the toothpaste and shaving cream residue. This gunks up a clean bathroom quicker than anything else. I use one-half of a disposable (flush able) bathroom wipe one half is enough for the counter, sink, and one other area of my choice. I typically choose a part of the toilet, and that way the whole toilet is cleaned by the weeks end. Swish out the toilet bowl with a quick flick of the brush. No cleaner is necessary. Were just doing some easy maintenance here. When you shower every day, take your pouf or wash cloth and use some of the leftover suds from your cleanser to wipe down the sides of the shower or tub. It takes a minute to do, but it will prevent having to bend over the tub and scrub it out periodically. Once a week, sweep your bathroom floors and catch the hair that collects there. Thats easy enough, right?

Maintaining the Study

Don't put papers on your desktop to just collect. When a bill comes in, put it in the bill-organiser on your desktop or pay it immediately and put it in the mail. The same with other mail and paperwork. I open the mail right over the trash can that way, whatever is garbage doesn't collect on my desk, but hits the circular file immediately and its out of my hair. Consider having a cross-cut shredder in your study for shredding pre-approved credit-card offers. Most identity theft takes place when information is gathered from credit card applications that were stolen from the trash. A shredder is a worthwhile investment. Dust your bookshelves once a week. Run your duster over the area between the ends of the books and the edge of the shelf. Wipe down your monitor weekly with window cleaner and a rag. Thats it. Print this info out and hang it on your fridge if you like. You'll find it easier to remember the little tasks that need doing, and youll be reminded that its just going to take a few minutes each day to maintain your organised household! Finally, the last stages of maintaining your organisation¦ and you thought this section would never come!

Maintaining the Laundry

I recommend doing laundry daily, depending on the size of your family. If you have at least 3 kids, do some every day. For example: baby laundry is handled differently than adult laundry. You shouldn't use fabric softener for baby laundry, but its fine to use with adults clothes. So choose a day to do only baby laundry. Choose a different day to do adult laundry. Do your oldest child's laundry on a given day (maintain that day on a weekly basis), your next child™s laundry the following day, etc. If you keep up on it, it wont become a Mt. Vesuvius and overwhelm your home again. If you find laundry tedious, sort and per-treat while you're watching TV, for example. It takes moment to pluck a piece of clothing out and check it for stains, squirt it with per-tr-eater, and then put it in the dirty basket, ready for the wash. Folding can be done the same way. Once its folded, I recommend putting it on the recipient™s bed (not in the basket). This way, it must be put away before retiring for the night and you won™t live from a laundry basket full of clean clothes. If you have things that need ironing, do it when the laundry is clean and hang it up. Be done with the task and make sure that clean, ready-to-wear shirts or blouses are smiling at you when you walk in the closet in the morning.

Maintaining Your Sanity

This is easier said than done, I understand. But what I™ve discovered is that if you put your home on a schedule, things won™t overwhelm you. You™ll know that vacuuming will be done on one day and that laundry will be done on another. You™ll not resent walking in to the bathroom, because it will make you smile to see a shiny sink when you turn on the light. And you™ll know that YOU are special enough to have a clean bathroom, not just the company that comes to visit. You™ll have peace of mind knowing that if a package comes to your door, you won™t kill yourself getting to it and won™t be ashamed to throw the door open for the UPS guy or mail carrier. Most of all, you™ll have the appreciation of your family, and you™ll know that you™re setting up good habits for your children to observe and repeat in their own homes. No matter what the Master-card ads say, THAT is priceless..   Read the full article

[planthiseatthat]

The Long Hello

I worked out a system early on.

In my graduate school days, I was poor, overworked, and hungry all the time. On my day off, I would hit the grocery store early, cook up a storm, fill a lot of tupperware, and then often have my three beloved classmates to dinner over which we would download about the week that had passed and strategize about the week ahead, how we would take care of each other, kick ass, and take names.

My system has evolved over time. My skillset has grown, my lifestyle has changed (and changed, and changed again), and the tools available are more fantastic than they were when I was 21 years old.

But the fundamentals have remained the same: I pack food on the day off and spend the week enjoying it. I streamline the shopping, the cooking, and the packing. I’ve figured out what kind of variety will keep me from tearing my hair out, and I’ve also figured out how to minimize waste by using leftover ingredients in new ways before they turn into trash.

Meal planning is not for everyone. But I adore it, and mine is a system that works for me. And make no mistake: there are exceptions to every rule. Sometimes, there is no day off. Sometimes, the grocery store is out of something I planned my week around. Sometimes, my oven turns out to be broken after I planned a baked pasta and also calzones. But, as with all plans, the framework gives me the freedom to improvise and adapt.

And most importantly, planning allows me to enjoy my meals many times over:

reading recipes gets me excited about the meals,

plotting nutritional breakdowns allows me to feel confident that I’m going to have a healthy week with a sharp mind and a strong body,

planning my groceries (and seeing the bill!) allows me to feel financially responsible,

organizing my time in the kitchen allows me to look forward to all of the free time (for vacuuming and laundry!) I’ll have after enjoying my kitchen time,

cooking the meals means I get to engage my passion for cooking, no matter how long the work week has been/will be,

looking at my beautifully stacked fridge at the beginning of a week makes me feel cared for,

and then, eating the food is delicious; I'm an excellent cook.

Over time, a number of people have asked me to share my tricks. I have demurred for quite some time. First I was on the road, having touring adventures. Then, I was in a bad marriage (if I’m being honest, which I intend to be), and I wasn’t empowered to use my voice (or feel good about myself). Then, I was running shows for the most part, and the meal prep was super easy because “show mode” is somewhat less of a time commitment than “rehearsal mode” or “10-out-of-12 mode” (“10-out-of-12’s” are the part of the technical rehearsal period before previews begin when the cast is on stage from noon ‘til midnight every day; stage management and crew often arrive at 8am and leave at 1am on those days, making those periods 90+ hour work weeks). I have done rehearsal processes in the last couple of years, but they have been low key, short processes after which I have returned to running shows again. The structure of my days during those time periods didn’t feel like good, solid examples of how my organizational system really applies.

But now, I am back in rehearsal mode, to be followed by tech mode, to be followed by show mode. It’s a show that I know will take up a lot of my time (a labor of love!), so I will be strict about my meal planning and enjoy all of its benefits.

And I’ll document all of this planning and finally share these “tricks.”

It’s not rocket science, but I’ve figured out what works for me. It’s not for everyone, but it puts me in the best place.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[a-woman-apart]

It’s All Confusion

This has been another fruitless day. I had a bowl of cereal so that there would be a landing zone in my stomach for my vitamins and Wellbutrin. By the time I took my shower, it was around 1 pm. I honestly cannot remember what I was doing before then. I have spent most of the day feeling disoriented, confused, and exhausted. I know that I posted online about trying to decide if I wanted to go to the Paramore concert, but I do not know if that was before or after I left the house.

When I finally did leave the house, it was to go to my local library to get some sheet music printed out, so that I could practice and have some semblance of productivity going on. I usually do everything in the library where I work- or the one on campus- as opposed to the local library, so I honestly really couldn’t remember where this one was located. I had a general idea, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it there sans GPS, so I ended up spending about a half hour driving around trying to find it before I finally gave in. It turns out that it was in the general vicinity of where I remembered it to be, but I had driven right past it (naturally).

When I finally get signed up over there again, I find my sheet music and send it to the printer. A message pops up saying that prints are $0.25 a page, so my ten pages of sheet music will be $2.50. This is highway robbery when compared to the library where I work, which is only $0.10 a page, so I am unpleasantly surprised. I avoided going there today because I’m still trying to hide the fact that I don’t work another job anymore on Saturday, because for right now I would rather not be scheduled on the weekends.

I have other stops to make after the library, but I only end up making one. I pass up Family Dollar, where I need to buy candles, and a number of grocery stores, where I should be buying food, and then I stop at the beauty supply shop that’s a little ways from my apartment. After hearing about how low I have been feeling lately, my friend had offered to do my hair for free. She’s going to cut the sides off for me, but add braids to the top. It is going to be totally awesome, so despite my low energy levels I agreed to go over to her place on Sunday to get the work done.

Please keep in mind, that during all of my little adventures it was almost unbearably hot outside, and I could not remember if I had drunk enough water at that time. So by the time I got home, my mind was totally clouded, and it only got worse when I had to go outside again. I had to walk to the mailboxes (apartment life yay) to see if I had gotten my sister-in-law’s baby shower invitation. The baby shower is another thing that I need to get ready for, and I still haven’t gotten everything together yet. I would have liked to already have gotten more things, even though there are still a few weeks before it will be time to attend.

I think once I got home I was just watching totally mundane videos on Youtube (fuck that sheet music I guess), and feeling more and more like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I knew I had a list of things that I needed to do, but my mind just felt/feels so clouded. At my sister-in-law’s advice, I drank some more water. She reminded me that with allergies and the air being so dry it is important to stay hydrated. I know this, but my levels of thirst and fatigue still feel unusual.

Even with the haze of confusion and fatigue on my mind, words very clearly started to form in my head of a post to write on here. This reminded me that when I have literally nothing else, I am always able to return to writing as a source of grounding and comfort. Even when I feel lost and disoriented, I can write about that disordered feeling with amazing precision and insight. I would like to think that I am able to make a colorful narrative out of useless, frustrating experiences. I wasted so much time today, all because I could not focus on things that needed to be done. The laundry is piling up, the house needs to be vacuumed- and maybe mopped- and there is homework that will be due tomorrow night. I have around seven or eight songs that I need to start learning for all of my classes.

I am becoming more aware of the fact, however, that I say these things all the time. I always feel that I am falling behind in school, but I have never made a major mistake on stage or flubbed a lyric. I only have one C that I can remember in all of 3-4 years of my time at college. My caseworker always compliments me on my house being clean. The laundry always ends up getting done, even if it is on an odd day. I don’t really leave dishes in the sink and I sweep and take out the trash. In general I keep things up, even though I feel as though days/weekends like this are becoming more frequent. Maybe they’re not. Maybe that inner bad bitch that did well all summer long is still in there taking care of business. Maybe even though I feel like I am faking it, I really am still accomplishing the things that I need to as a student and as a friend.

They say, “fake it ‘til you make it” right? So maybe even if I am being fake, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Even if I show up to school and don’t know what the fuck I am actually doing, maybe just showing up will be enough. Maybe the act of going out and getting the sheet music today was the beginning of a process, a process that will include me sitting in front of my keyboard and figuring this stuff out- all five flats included. What if things come together, just like they always have?

Maybe the question isn’t of whether or not things will come together, but whether I will be satisfied when they do. Somehow, things going as well as they have so far has not been enough to make me happy. Maybe this is because my happiness is based on the wrong metric. I keep thinking I will be happy when I achieve this thing or that, but no matter how many accolades I gain, I am constantly striving for the next tier on the tower of success.

There’s gotta be more to life / Than chasin’ down every temporary high / To satisfy me

No matter what I do, it’s never enough. Maybe I should adopt my mom’s stance, and be like, “I am going to do what I can do today, and if I don’t get everything done, that’s just fine.” I hear her say this all the time, and she still gets things done. Also, she has a lot more happiness and- maybe more importantly- peace of mind than I do. I have even less peace of mind than I do happiness. I am constantly restless, constantly striving to derive meaning out of the day to day struggles of life.

In summary, I feel like absolute shit. I can’t think straight, my apartment is cluttered, and I didn’t really do anything today but hang out on social media, watch YouTube, and write this post (and I guess I’m listening to ambient music as part of an assignment for Tuesday). In many ways, I feel like I have just shut down. I just have a spark of hope, just enough to keep me going, and when it’s dark out and no one’s around, it keeps going (Paramore reference for the win).