the Reading List Post

I was seeing what was going on around the internest and I found that Loretta is starting up List Friday again. The list for this Friday is what you are reading this summer. I am compelled to do this because I need a summer reading list like I need a hole in my head, seeing as I have 6 bazillion books sitting around all demanding to be read at the same time. But because I like order and discipline.......not...... I do have some things I want to read so here goes:

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien - this is our book club book for September so it is first on the list.

Travels with Herodotus - Ryszard Kapuscinski -- one of my hero writers, I think I could read the phone book if he wrote it, but I haven't read this one. If you have never read him, read The Emperor or Shah of Shahs after reading either of those you will be joining me in the phone book.

Omnivore's Dilemma -- Michael Pollan -- I've read the corn section.. the first meal... and then got distracted, but I had my mouth hanging open in awe all through that chapter so back I will go.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union -- Michael Chabon -- Because I read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and didn't want it to end, and I hope this has the same effect.

And, what I would like to THINK I will read:

The Matisse Biography -- Hilary Spurling -- BOTH books. I am delusional here, but I would love to read them, so there they are.

That's the list for now. It certainly can become more fluid by August.

This, by the way, is my 101st post on this blog. It is the 191st day of the year, so that is almost a post every other day. I started on January 22nd this year, so not bad!

Well...................Nevermind......

I feel like a Lilly Tomlin character, but I can't remember which one.. was it the switchboard operator? Anyway..
there is a purse within my purse.
that was where the wallet was sposed to be
I looked there
the man who cuts my hair looked there
it was empty except for my glasses
On Saturday morning I found my passport and was about to leave for the bank
the purse within the purse was lying there and I took my glasses out
.....
there is a secret compartment inside the purse. A pocket behind the pocket.
you know what was there
as soon as I saw the pocket I knew what was there

Yep
but my cards still don't work, once cancelled they can't be uncancelled
but my money DOES work
and I am willing to wait quietly til my card appear

and I never did put out the contract on that man, so he is safe
sigh
nevermind

It is "done"

Except for the big fat cat in the middle of the workspace, it is 90% done. There are still boxes to clean out and things to figure out but for the first time since I moved up here to semi-urban Manhattan, I have a place I can actually DO things in. How EXCITING!!

Another shot, because I don't know when it is too much of a good thing:


I think it will be great in the daytime.




I do need a place to sit at the lowered table, but we shall see if I actually sit there or if it is home to printing once I have some young male company with the strong hands needed to tighten the legs on the drawing table. My mother always said "With your hands you better not want to be a washer woman." or words to that effect. I have NO strength in my grip and I guess it is way too late to start squeezing those exercise balls.


One final picture of the territorial issue we have going on here.



I put an old bathroom rug in Sienna's crate so it would be warmer for her. She likes it, but Romeo LURVES it. He goes in there as soon as she gets out in the morning and basically stays there all day. He has given up his cardboard box... Moving on UPscale, I guess. She routs him out at night when she goes to bed, but he didn't want to leave last night and for a while they were both in there.

The boy knows comfort when he sees it.

Day 2 - Studio

All the wrapped and stacked framed pictures are stored, except for the ones that are still waiting to be hung (they are in the bedroom) and the front bookcase on the left is re-organized. It was one of those tasks that you couldn't do one thing til you did 4 others. Three closets had to be re-organized before there was room in them for all the framed things. I didn't set out to re-org the closets, but it is collateral damage here. So the framed stuff got put up in the top of three closets and it will take an act of congress to get them down again.

Clementine found the whole thing VERY boring. Tomorrow is the back of the left side and some tossing out of things. Then on to the dreaded right side.

studio before

This is it. Today has to be the last day it looks like this, since I can't even get to the window to see the view, which is great.


The view is across the Hudson River, so I can see the Palisades in New Jersey and a lot of the river, though that is true only in the winter. In the summer I get a little sliver of river. (Don't ask about the little bodies hanging in the window. They are for another post sometime, but they are NOT bodies and they are NOT hanging)


I missed the picture but earlier today there was a white tug pushing a white barge with white boxes of some sort on it down the river. With my luck it was nuclear waste from the Indian Point Nuclear Reactor, but it was pretty great looking in any case.

OK, the goal is to start on the left corner and work my way around. Today I am hopeful.

desk, day2

I got it mostly clean. It looks fake it is so cleared off... although I suppose even a clean desk is relative. There are still things on it, but close up it looks shiny.

Before I do "before" pictures on the "studio" though, there are a couple of other aspects of this cleaning jag I am on.

The desk is really the first thing people see when they clear the hallway. Frances' comment about how different our lives were made me think about this view:

Standing in the entry foyer, you can see why the clean desk is something I need to focus on. If you look carefully you can also see that Sienna thinks this is a waste of perfectly good time that could be spent shagging balls on the tennis court (her), or throwing balls on the tennis court for shagging (me).

Finally, there are these things..somewhat neatly arranged in a tray. I found the ladybug in the

subway, just sitting on a bench, the knitting cables are for the Denise set I am going to list on EBay. (I want to know where they are and the minute I put them somewhere I will forget where they are). The mouse is for whenever someone else uses my computer so they don't mess with my stylus and pad.

There are sunglasses, folding reading glasses, a hair clamp and a battery for my phone. I NEED all of them, and if they aren't there, where would they be??? someplace where I couldn't find them. SO, as long as they all fit on the tray they are staying there.

Now on to the studio, but that is a several day project and "befores" will wait til tomorrow.

I am learning that my biggest problem is that I am an "in the open in piles" kind of organizer. If I put it away ...I can't find it.

How to address that.. do I make lists of where I put everything I think I might look for and then put the lists on the desk? That sounds a little weird. Suggestions? Getting rid of most of it is NOT an option, wait til you see the stuff in the studio!

Starting the final push

This is my way-too-messy-to-work-on desk. It is sort of symbolic of the mess that I am living in right this minute. When I first moved in, I was all about cleaning up and putting away, but when I got to the last boxes it started to overwhelm me like it did when EVERYTHING was in boxes. I need a jolt of "just do it nowitis". The kitchen and the living room are overall fine, the desk is a hole in that particular fabric.

Today the desk. Tomorrow the dreaded Studio. I had a good start there, but later when I unearthed anything that didn't seem to have a home I put it in the studio to deal with later. Now is later.