My sink is empty

At some point this afternoon, I managed to put the computer down and go do dishes.

Got nearly everything either clean or in the dishwasher. My sink is empty for the first time in weeks. Yay!

And in the process, I've wiped out most of the ants that had recently come back to wander around in the sink.

Then I started in on the dining-room table. This table is where I deposit mail as it comes in. My usual practice is to go through at least the latest layer of mail every few weeks, and clear off the whole thing (by moving it to a pile on the floor of my room) every couple months, and thus keep the pile of paper on the table at least vaguely manageable.

But this year I've been having a harder time than usual keeping up with such things. The pile of paper has grown to more or less cover the entire table, in a mound about two feet deep.

I embarked on the archaeological expedition with much trepidation (and a shovel). Sorted through roughly half of it before I couldn't take it any more. Filled almost an entire grocery-store paper bag with recyclable paper; built a stack of financial documents and paid bills and such to be archived; made a small stack of urgent stuff. There are now two large but not impossibly large stacks of stuff left to sort and dispose of. The table's still unusable, but I've made significant progress.

I'm embarrassed to report that the mound of mail goes back at least to this past March. Maybe further. Luckily, all of my regular bills are either on autopay or pay-online, so I never have to open those. (Which is part of why I've gone this long without doing so.) I think that I already dealt with the medical bill that was on the verge of being reported to a collection agency back in October, but I'll have to check. (That was, as usual, just a case of my being flakey; I could've paid it immediately, just didn't get around to it.) I found credit-card cancellation-for-lack-of-use notices for two different cards that I never use; I thought, Well, that's annoying--why didn't they warn me? and then, deeper in the pile, I found one of the "warning: we're going to cancel your credit card if you don't use it sometime soon" notices. Sigh. I'm hoping this doesn't affect my credit rating. (I do use a credit card, all the time; it just never occurs to me to use more than one.)

Anyway. I don't think anything went disastrously wrong due to my inattention, but there've been some close calls. Gonna try to stay more on top of things in 2009.

What else have I been up to? Had another Xmas dinner on the 25th with the Evanses; hung out with Jay and Holly and Avery (who was mostly asleep) and Kam and Jill for a while that night. Friday I pretty much sat around the house, and did donations, and blogged; then I rushed out to run some errands. Bought comics, got a warmer pair of gloves, got a stocking cap, got silverware, got groceries (including pie, yum); then came home and read a whole lot of comic books.

Tonight, I'm gonna try to get some editing done and then maybe watch a movie.

No particular plans for the next few days, but there's still a lot of assorted tasks I want to try and get done before the end of the year. We'll see.

2 Responses to “My sink is empty”

  1. Anonymous

    We finally gave up and paid a professional to deal with ants for us. It was not that expensive and so far (about three months in) surprisingly effective.

    As for mounds o’ paper, I wish I lived closer. I’d come over and keep you company while you sorted. (We could do that once in a while anyway.)

    reply
  2. Jed

    I’m reluctant to bring in professional pest-control people because I don’t trust them to be environmentally sensitive. (I speak from one negative experience–long story.) But various people have recommended citrus spray; I need to try that.

    Thanks for the offer re keeping me company, but who are you? I’m guessing you’re someone I know, but I’m not sure who….

    reply

Join the Conversation

Click here to cancel reply.