Growing Up, Growing Old

I've spent a lot of time in my dining room this weekend, trying to get my stuff sorted into groups by tasks so I can make good decisions about how to build the cabinetry. For example, everything that has to do with cutting or punching or sanding in one area, everything related to joinery -- adhesives, fasteners and the like -- in another area. An interesting point (or not!) is that working with paper and working with wood have a lot of parallels, so I should end up with a decent scaleable design for my workshop as well. :-) I just ordered window shades from JCPenney. These will be the first "layer" for the windows, and probably the only layer in the summer months. I am really excited because they are "top-down/bottom up" - so I can adjust them from either direction, which will be nice to let the sunlight in without having my neighbors seeing me move around. Thing is, this seems like a very "grown-up" activity, in my mind. I can say that this is the first time in my entire life that I actually planned and then ordered any window treatment. So, I feel a bit like a lady, as it were.

It's been a really nice long weekend, especially with the beautiful weather we've been having. And of course, after a visit to Joe D, I had a carload of stuff to unpack, sort through, clean up, and store. This is my way -- I go there, I get some things, I bring them here, and I decide whether to keep or purge. This is my "Stealth Organizational Project," a sub-workflow of the "Giant Organizational Project". One of the boxes had another part of the family postage stamp collection. I say "family," because at one point, I think we actually had my grandfather, father, brother and myself collecting stamps. Exciting stuff. I was going through the books and contemplating what I could do to consolidate the collection and how to make sure the stamps are well-preserved and considering going to a local stamp club meeting and it hit me that I'm beyond grown up at this point. I am actually an old man, what with my love of stamps and trains. Of course, I am also a 14-year old girl, with my love of kittens and ponies and the like. And I'm a diva, based on my collection of makeup and hair products (most of which are never used), and a middle-aged man, based on my tool collection and plans for my workshop. So I guess I'm really just a lot of things. Not easily categorized or referenced, to be sure.

Query

I have mentioned previously that I wanted to look into taking some medication for my sleep problems. Now, let's say, hypothetically speaking, that my well-intentioned neighbor happens to take said medication and that -- hypothetically now -- she foisted some of said medication off on me today.

What would be the right thing do, if such a situation were to actually occur? She would certainly ask me at some point if I had tried the medication, and how it worked. Would the best course of action in this situation be to continue with my plan to talk to my doctor about this and then just tell the neighbor that the medication worked? Or to actually take the medication? I do hate these types of hypothetical problems...

Open Letter

Dear Blog and Friends who Read my Blog,

I am sorry for my extended absence of late. I do not know why this happens, but I seem to be incredibly busy and yet non-productive lately. However, I have many random snippets of updates to share. And since we all know how much I love a good list, here goes:

1) My new job is still really challenging and still very busy, but I really do love it. Every day, I feel like I understand a little bit more and that there is hope that, one day, I will actually know how to do the job.
2) We got "early release" today, so I only had to work until about 12:30. YAY!
3) I have been cleaning and organizing pretty much constantly, although you'd never know it to look at the place. I have discovered that I need more furniture, specifically STORAGE and WORKSPACE.
4) This is all OK, because WE FINALLY PICKED OUT THE TABLE SAW!! And, JoeD paid for it, AGAIN. Which means that the money he gave me for the saw before can go to other things, which should probably be "savings," but instead, turns out to be "scrapbooking supplies". YES!
5) I love television. I am really hopelessly addicted to it, which again, is OK, because:
6) Last week, one of my co-workers hosted a "FRIENDS" trivia party, which was exceptionally fun. Here is a pic of my team wearing the t-shirts we made. I printed the decals out the night before and we ironed them on and made the sign during my lunch hour. Hee!
7) Boston Market prepared our Thanksgiving feast this year, and if you think that's ridiculous, just imagine trying to prepare your own Thanksgiving feast for 4 adults and one typical 3-year old and you'll know why we chose to have the Boston Market do the work. I would rather prepare a meal for 40 than for 4. At least you get some scale there.
8) The mirror from the baby shower is finished and it's here: http://www.starglazers.com/ - click on "examples" and it's the 3rd one. I think it turned out great! What a pheomenal idea from Jenn-Dub!!
9) I know I end up saying this a lot, but I really do think I have the best friends in the world and I'll be thinking of each and every one of you over the holiday weekend!
Love,
-Erin

"private" message to Rachel

I can't get this to go on your blog, so here's my comment on your latest LIT post:

Heidi is wickedly diabolical and awesome!
I have to admit that I was both sickened and delighted at the entire story. because I love to tell stories and talk about things that are gross.
also, i am especially delighted that SHE asked HIM to go out. And that their "date" entailed her lifting some grub and coming back to his place to get it on. I have to give you mad propers for thinking to make all the noise so they wouldn't be having all the sex on your sofa. Ew. Things like this make me miss you, yet, if you weren't away, you wouldn't have this particular story to share. Ah, the paradox!!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: I think my voting precinct hit an unofficial record tonight. They were at 402 voters, and the most they've ever had, even in presidential election years, was 250. This is all anecdotal, from one of the poll workers. I thought I would be the "odd bird" as a Provisional voter, but there were 2 in front of me and 2 behind me, so I guess Provisional voting is the new Absentee voting. Although Absentee voting was supposed to be the new ballot box. So who knows where we're headed next?

The Bad: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement/view/ Frontline's report on the sad state of retirement savings today. The last thing I need is to hear more bad news about how the middle class is getting pinched. Actually, it's possible that this is just the thing a lot of us need. I can say that my votes tonight went toward the candidates who seemed the most concerned with the issues of the middle class. I know it's very proletarian of me, and being proletarian is not en vogue these days. But I'd rather accept my fate and try to work toward a brighter day for all of us than live in denial, pretending that I'm part of the Bourgeoisie when I'm actually not.

The Ugly: I still cannot get my sleep habits under control. Sunday night, 2 Benadryl did the trick. Last night, 2 Benadryl caused me to oversleep through my alarm and be massively late to work. Tonight, I took 1 Benadryl and I've decided to talk to my doctor about Lunesta.