Cleaning house

I've been making a lot of changes at home in a slow effort to emerge from the chaos I've built up over the last few months/years.

I've also made changes online: I'm weaning myself off my mac.com account, which has been hideously undependable, even more so now that Apple is changing it to "MobileMe," a concept that doesn't work for my life in SO many ways. So I've been moving list subscriptions over to otherinbox.com, which is like a junk mail sorter. I love clicking its DeleteAll button and seeing all that stuff go away! It's been great for store mailings to which I never reply but want to see. I've also slowly sent out the "please change my address in your e-mail address book" notes, but I hate the "send the note to everyone you have ever come in contact with" method, so I have shied away from sending too many bulk emails. (If you don't have my current Gmail address, drop me a comment and I'll make sure you get it.)

I've also gone through my office and found things that have been in limbo--in the case of some cowboy boots, in limbo for about 14 months now. I ordered them, they sorta fit, I wore them around the office to see, put 'em on a shelf, wore them on the carpet again... finally decided my calves just don't work for them. Sierra Trading Post's return policy is like Lands End's--any time for a full refund. Yay!

I also returned a Land's End swimsuit I bought last January, with 2 others I ordered recently, to a Sears. Seamless! And it'll be nice to have a fat credit on my credit-card statement, too. Plus, having people stop asking me why there are cowboy boots on my bookshelf in my office? Priceless.

I've started getting together regularly with old friends, too--a group from Cal Band. We've had dinner together 3 out of the past 4 months and it's been so nice to spend time with them again. Another friend and I started having lunch together every few weeks or so, and invited another friend to join us. That hasn't worked out (although she and I have had lunch), but it will soon. It is great to get these people I know and love, but rarely saw, back in my life.

At home, I finally replaced the dog door flap that was hanging on by 1" of rubber. As I replaced it, memories of the last replacement flooded back. Yep, it was just as much of a PITA and there was lots of cussing. But I got it done and now the chilly air isn't flooding into the room like it was.

I also cleared an entire shelf off my bookcase and filled it with board games, which G and I have really been getting into. It's nice to make room for things that give me such pleasure.

I hope to make many more changes of this sort in my life so that I can actually enjoy my space!