Autumn Hibernation

It turned quite cold here in Chicago this week (the wind chill last night was 14F), and I discovered something about myself: in a cold climate without mountains, snow, and skis, I do not like to be outside. Not what one would consider a huge earth-shattering revelation, but noteworthy nonetheless.

Monday night Derrick came over for dinner. We had pizza, salad, red wine, and a good talk. The rest of the week was a blur of sleep, baths, showers, job hunting, conference calling, emailing, iChatting, DVD watching, organizing, tidying, cleaning, reading, writing, and eating leftovers. In a conscious effort to use my living room, I spent more time working on the couch and less time at the kitchen table.

Friday evening I went out to run a few errands and play Hand and Foot with the girls. Saturday afternoon, Suzanne came over; we made brunch, rearranged furniture in my living room, and played games. The time I spent working on the couch this week helped me a lot in my choices today when shifting furniture configurations. And since Suzanne left I've been very productive. I swept the entire place, sorted orphaned items in the office to be recycled or donated, boiled the egg noodles Caitlin made for me last week with the leftover pierogie dough for dinner, organized the books on my bookshelf in its new location ("children's" books on top, then books I haven't read alpha by author fiction then nonfiction, then books I have read fiction alpha by author, then plays and poetry stacked by size, then non fiction I've read stacked by size--don't judge!), balanced my checkbook, and paid bills.

Also, something I'm proud of doing today is listening to CDs. I'm not sure about the rest of you out there on the interwebs, but I listen to music almost exclusively digitally at this point. So for me to dig out the CD book and actually listen to some old discs made me very nostalgic and happy. Here's what I was blessed with this evening (all circa 1998-2002 for me):

• Carbon Leaf - Echo, Echo
• Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage
• Danny Michel - Clear (the disc doesn't have his name on it, and I hadn't listened in so long I'd actually forgotten it!)
• On Borrowed Time compilation from Directing Class one-acts
  

Sigh.

Anyhoo... (apologies: I picked this up from Hunchback), I'm very pleased with the new furniture arrangement in the living room and very thankful for Suzanne's assistance. I'm oddly satisfied with my cataloging method for my living room bookshelf as well (reference books remain back in the "office" a room which will be tackled shortly).

It's been a good week. It's been a hard week. I learned some good lessons, and made some great progress. I was reminded why I bought a 2-bedroom, and I'm very excited for my new roommate's arrival next week. Additionally, I have a rather daunting task ahead of me: I spent some time this week preparing and organizing, and I'm confident.