A new organization project

Yesterday's walk . . .

. . . and today's.  Same spot, same time.

Drastic and bizarre weather changes continue.  Today I woke up to fog and it was chilly and damp.  I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt over my tank top because I hang-dried all my laundry around my room for the night and the weather was so humid that my sweatshirt hadn’t dried all the way.  Juanita made sunny-side-up eggs for breakfast, which I learned are called huevos estrelladas (kind of translates to “starry eggs”) in Spanish.  Both names are fun . . . can’t decide which I like better.

Devos were good this morning.  Doug went over part of the Beatitudes out of Matthew 5 and I had plenty to think and pray about when I took my walk afterwards.  I couldn’t believe what I wore walking today versus what I wore yesterday, by the way.  Tank top and shorts yesterday, long pants and long sleeves today . . . and quite the difference in headgear.

Juanita actually didn’t need help with lunch today because it was a really easy-to-make meal, so I spent my day organizing the paper-supplies room, which is in the storage building across from the kitchen.  It was almost a bigger jumble than the linen room had been in (though with fewer objects in it), and it took a while to even get an idea of what was there and how to move it around without putting other things in the way.  They call it the “paper room,” but really it stores all the bathroom and kitchen items, which includes a lot more than just paper towels, TP, and napkins.  There are cleaning supplies, laundry detergent and bleach, spare mops and brooms, Ziploc and trash bags, plastic cutlery, disposable plates & cups, canning jars, Crock-Pots and rice cookers, coffee makers, and so many picnic coolers and dispenser drink coolers that it’s ridiculous.  But there is always at least one person on staff who prefers to keep things rather than just donating them or throwing them away, even if those things never get used.  And sometimes church groups donate or leave things that end up not getting used, like giant picnic coolers.  So there is only so much that can be got rid of, and the room has been in pretty bad disarray of late.  I did the best I could, but at lunchtime I was sort of at the end of what I was able to do on my own, and I enlisted Janet to help me on the next phase.  She fully tackled it!  I was getting tired, but she just jumped right in and started muscling stuff around, and before too long i got a second wind too.  Janet really seems to have a gift for organizing quickly and effectively . . . maybe it’s just because she has taken inventory of everything already and knows what she’s dealing with, so she has a good idea of where she’s going.  For sure, she gets lots of practice organizing and administrating through being here.  Anyway, by 5 pm we had it done, thanks to her!  It looked amazing.  I never thought we could get everything stored away and off the floor, but thanks to Janet, we did.  (And then after dinner she took Peggy in there to show her our handiwork, and the three of us ended up doing another ten-minute round of touch-ups.  With all three of our brains contributing, we got a few miscellaneous items repositioned to even better locations.  Praise the Lord!  One day, all done!  (Though I know Janet will go back and rearrange more . . . she gets OCD about her projects and always is thinking about how to make them better.)

The paper room BEFORE organization.

Got sort of chilly tonight compared to the last few nights!  The sky was clear though, and the moon finally is rising later, so Trish and I went out to look at the constellations for a couple minutes.  She has the Skyview app, and she has been down here long enough that she knows her constellations by now, so it was kind of fun.  She knew where they all were.  We found Polaris (the North Star), Mars and Saturn, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Aquarius, Scorpius (theme of the day was scorpions—I found another one today while cleaning the paper room, EEK), and of course Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.  We could even see the Milky Way!  It still wasn’t quite dark or cold enough for superb viewing, but they were pretty good.  Trish told me that in winter when they drain the little swimming pool, you can lay in the bottom of it to look at the stars because the pool edges block out any surrounding light.  Mental note for when we come down on the weekend trip in January!

And after.

After that, I went to Trish’s room and we watched Song of the Sea, which is a European film that came out in 2014.  Trish told me I would like it because I'm an art person, and wow, I did like it a lot.  It was unlike any animated movie I've ever seen--a feast for the eyes for sure!  Hard to describe the style exactly, very watercolor-ish and children's book-ish . . . it was like every new shot and scene was a beautiful and intricate fantasy picture book come to life.  The story is based on Celtic and Irish folklore and is about a boy whose little sister turns out to be a selkie, a mythical creature who transforms into a seal when she enters the water.  It was super cute and a very nice watch.  Highly recommended.  We ended up talking art and looking up different artists online, which meant I didn't even leave her room until 10 because the online art vortex is never-ending.  If you're an art geek like me or Trish, it's as dangerous to start looking up artists online as it is to go on Pinterest or Instagram for anybody else.  The vortex is like a black hole that will suck you in.  Anyway, we got sleepy so we finally called it a night.

Oh my gosh, Trish and I keep finding all these things we have in common.  Age 25, homeschooled, fashion sense dictated mostly by comfort, long-winded blogging habits, decaf coffee, love of sea animals, etc.  Now it's starting to get weird.  Tonight I discovered that her favorite comic strip in the newspaper is Pearls Before Swine and that she actually knows the "Age of Aquarius" song and has seen the ridiculous music video that goes along with it.  Like I said, very weird.  Maybe we're twins separated at birth?  Or at least twins in our minds?

I can't believe I only have one more week here!  The first week went by really slow, but this one was lightning-fast.  This weekend ought to have a bit more activity--Janet's old church from Thousand Oaks is the group coming down to stay--and Griselda's baby shower is Sunday!  Lots going on!  In the meantime, I must sleep . . .