A LOT LESS DUST AND A WHOLE LOT OF TEA

My original plan was to enjoy a hot cup of tea on Sunday morning.  Finding a single tea bag was the catalyst for the way the rest of the day unfolded.  Here at the itinerant housing one could find a multitude of single packaged tea bags under, on top of, and wedged between the 11 intact boxes, all tightly vying for their spot in the very crowded cupboard.  I had the feeling that if I removed one tea bag that an avalanche of others and boxes would come tumbling down, creating an interesting assortment on the counter and most likely, the floor.  Inspired to give the cupboard some sort of organization led to a good three hours of deep cleaning and reorganizing of the entire kitchen, sipping on multiple cups of tea while enjoying my morning.  The cupboards hold an interesting assortment of packaged food, many spices in triplicate, pots, pans, containers, gadgets, etc. all organized now for any successive apartment mates.  Even the toothpick dispenser is clean.   

Sitting down with a cup of tea in the living room got me to re-noticing how strange the seating arrangement was.  The room holds a large oak entertainment center, three end tables, three overstuffed chairs and a coffee table.  One of the chairs was put in a corner and it and another weren’t accessible.  The entertainment center was in a far corner that made viewing it difficult and impossible from the kitchen.  I learned that there had been attempts to create a more usable configuration, but that without moving the entertainment center, options were limited.  The entertainment center was heavy, but with the use of leverage, some determination and the thought of being able to see the TV from the kitchen, the mission was accomplished.  I have to say that the room is very pleasant now and dust free after several years’ worth was removed from the hidden baseboards.  Feeling a little guilty about taking the liberty to move things in an apartment that isn’t mine led me to send photos to Joanne, the public health nurse who comes up from Fairbanks several times a year for a month, so who is here most often.  She wrote back that it looked wonderful, asking how I had managed to move the entertainment center and told me to help myself to the chocolate covered acai berries she had left behind...they are awfully good with a cup of tea.  I finished in plenty of time to hem some pants and to begin watching DVD’s put out by the Centers for Disease Control about safe handling and storage of immunizations.  OK…I admit it = )  I also enjoyed Beyond the Sea, a DVD about the life of Bobby Darin and Miss Potter about the life of Beatrix Potter.  A perfectly perfect day.