Was there a weekend in there somewhere?

Slightly productive, I could describe the last two days as being. I did (AMAZ-O) paint the final coat on the trim of the big window and the first coat on the smaller window in the bedroom. I put some of the bedroom stuff back together. I hung 3 pictures, stealing my favorites from other rooms and measuring exactly from the ceiling and sides of the room so they look vaguely centered and have some sort of relationship to each other. It now looks very strange, 3 pictures nestled on one wall and 2 bare walls, but it looks like a work in progress and there's not quite the echo in the room there used to be. I planted almost all of the plants and seedlings I have. All that's left are the zinnias I started from seed. I copped out completely and put everything in containers, including the big aster plants I bought. My solution to their size, pinch them back to make them look ok in the planter. I certainly am resourceful. I mowed my lawn, including half of the portion I'd decided I wasn't going to mow this year. That took a long time but I didn't have an asthma attack afterward, which is huge progress. I vacuumed the living room and tidied up and DUSTED. I used my long-buried Swiffer, which made me laugh a lot, but which picked up the dog hair dust bunnies like nothing else. I organized some of my clothes, figuring out which pants actually fit me, so now I have more than 3 pairs of pants I can wear to work. Wonder if anyone will notice? I'm wearing a different pair of pants today. Probably no one but me cares. I sat in the sun and read Country of the pointed firs, the book-of-the-month for our book group. I talked to Linda about the dinner for 15 she cooked Sat. night and lots of other things. I stopped to see Ken Friday night (that's hardly worth reporting, that's just a regular old event). I visited with Jenica, Drew and their friends for a minute or two at camp, then returned to retrieve my retriever shortly after visit #1. Tess was thrilled to have someone in camp she could drop in on.

I cleared the hallway of all the stuff accumulated from the bedroom--stuff I am NOT returning to the bedroom. Someday my second floor will collapse from the weight of the crap I'm storing up there. I'll be sitting in the living room, watching Dirty Jobs, or Deadliest Catch, and KA-BOOM! down will come Christmas wrapping paper, clothes that are too big, clothes are are too small, books I don't want, comforters I don't use, half-caned chairs, Jamie's bureau he refuses to come for (which I'd love to be using), the blanket chest I love having, named for a distant cousin from long ago (where could I put that downstairs?)--and oh, so many more things.

It was a good weekend, and I was cheerful and felt good about things. Felt good about my house, but wished I were a bit more motivated. Realized I was more motivated than I have been in months past. Kept Tess under control with her new cable, until she bolted so hard she disconnected her collar, after wrapping my sweet Cicely plant so tightly it was an incredibly amazing 3' high bundle, like harvested wheat. Anyway she didn't walk the bog with strangers--a huge victory. I'm enjoying the Firs book. It was written long ago in the style of another time altogether, which means I have to concentrate, and some phrases I don't understand altogether, but it's a lovely read and I've been meaning to read it for years. I wouldn't have continued to read it if the group hadn't chosen it so I'm extremely happy we're reading it. Mary Lou, the precipitator of this, is in Alaska as I write this, visiting her new granddaughter (named for a fish). I'm sure she's having a wonderful time and that's a lucky baby.

This week I'll get to see some of my favorite friends, who were due in last night. At least I hope I will. They're here for Workfest 2007. Next weekend the neighborhood fills up. If it were a boat it would be up to the gunwales in the water. Linda, Ken's nephew Joe, the women from Baltimore, Sally from Baltimore, probably the people from Cambridge, probably the Gray's, my relatives for Work Weekend--and more I can't think of right now. Lots of them will stay a week to celebrate the 4th of July. The lake will be fully of boats (remember, Leroy is opening it to the public like it's never been opened before. Or is that just the way he used to have it opened...).

And now the most amazing things await my cataloging skill: Chatting cheetahs & jumping jellyfish, Big band patrol (CD), Raggedy Ann & Andy: all that we love. That's not even beginning to address the videos from our local collection--like the Town of Plattsburgh's Bicentennial 1985 celebration. There's a whole bunch from Lake Placid I have to watch before I can catalog. And people think cataloging is dull--