Progress report

 

The final repairs from our little flooding incident were completed last week.  We've now turned our hands into unpacking everything we packed away so that the cleanup and repair operations could proceed, and putting them back where we want them.  It's a very big job, almost as big as moving house.

We decided to go for a less cluttered look in our living area, so we got rid of an old, much-cat-clawed sofa and a few other things.  We'll have fewer seats for visitors, but we don't entertain much at home, so that isn't necessarily a problem.  Folding chairs to the rescue when needed!  I'll also be replacing older blinds and window coverings with better units, and I need to find a comfortable armchair to fill one hole by the fireplace.  I guess I'll haunt the used furniture stores to see if I can find something with character.

I bought 2'x6' white bookcases to replace the older 3'x6' wood-veneer chipboard units I'd had since the late 1990's.  Some of the latter were getting pretty worn out, and one collapsed during the packing-up process, so it was long gone time to retire them.  We scrapped three that were too rickety and worn to salvage, kept one in the spare bedroom, and donated two others to a local friend who's got even more books than we do.  The 2'x6' bookcases have the big advantage of being more rigid, thanks to the shorter span of the shelves, and they're also more lightly loaded, meaning one can slide them over the floor more easily if need be.  The white color looks very nice against the deep brown paint on the end wall of the living-room.  It lightens up the whole room.

In the process, I accumulated seven boxes of books that were surplus to requirements as I re-filed and re-sorted our library.  One's already gone to the friend who took our bookcases, one's put away to await a visit from a friend who has children who'll enjoy its contents as they grow up, and I'll be distributing the contents of the other five to resident members of the North Texas Troublemakers this weekend.  Any left after that will be donated to the local library's next book sale.

Also, to our great thankfulness, the winter crud that's affected Miss D. and myself seems to have finally run its course.  I was under the weather for about seven weeks, and Miss D. even longer with repeated attacks of sinusitis.  This year's crud has been a particularly nasty variety, as I'm sure those of you who've had it can testify.  Hurry up, spring!

Anyway, so far, so good.

Peter