Sit down for a minute dude!

 Cleaning done.
It's always such a strange and cathartic thing.  

I'm not talking about making the bed or wiping down the counter, or running the vacuum. 
I'm talking about. 
Dusting shelves, cleaning figures, redoing all of the displays. 

Moving furniture to;
 sweep and disinfect the floors and base boards.
Check clothes, blankets, and fabrics for mouse or moth chewings. 


~~~~
The Warrior Mouse
~
Last winter a little family of mice had taken up residency in a little corner of shelf behind some boxes and used the carpet like fabric from some old suite jackets I'd thrifted for a weekend of Frank cosplays to climb from floor to ceiling. (Still need to let those out in the shoulders). 
I was able to get all of them out into the field to either find a warm bit of hay to curl up in or nature take it's way.  
But then there was one.  
I couldn't catch the little guy. 
I had to chase him from one end of the house to the other.
Wiley and smart the little warrior used glue traps as parkour hurdles.  
I finally had the little dude cornered, removed the suitcases and shoe boxes so there was no where for them to hide.  Instead of freezing or make another neo like escape from the broom they ran strait up the broom handle and leapt claws first directly at my face.
(You stun them with the broom bristles and snag em before they get their bearings.) 
I caught the fearless fighter inches from my face.  
We looked at each other for a long, long moment before put him out in the field. 
I hope I didn't hurt him when I caught him, because I'd like to think that little warrior is one the crows watched and cheered for as he carved a path through the tall grass.
~
~~~~

Turning the mattresses. 
Changing out the wardrobe for the season.
Rerunning cables and checking batteries for damage or corrosion. 
Cleaning the coats and outerwear

~~~~
Luckily I got all of the dusting done before the cold snap hit so I've been breathing easy, which is nice.  Let me tell ya dude.   
I told bros at the game shop the reason I hired them is because it was too dusty around here to do any real open heart surgery on a system and the filtration system on this case is so good dude.  Heat dissipation combined with airflow that keeps about 90% of the dust off of the components. One of the hard drives crapped out, luckily the one I was using to store massive online games incase someone needed a pickup player.
It's still under warranty and I think I can get it out with just a screw and a couple of clips.
Well, pretty sure, since I checked under the back plate while cleaning. 

~~~~

Planning shopping trips and budgets for the year. 

~~~~~

"You budget your whole year in advance?"
"Yeah.  Don't you?"
"No."
"Look, I know I need to make a minimum amount to pay rent, bills, and groceries in that order.  
So that money's already spent on pay day, so I know how much I need to make in net take home each month."
"Net take home?"
"The amount after paying taxes and transportation costs. 
Before 45 took office I could get a weeks worth of groceries for $1000 fresh $40, spend $20 on canned goods and non perishables for storage, and $20 for cleaning supplies with $20 left over for gas.  (Never let your car get under 1/2 tank if you can avoid it, it's bad for the fuel pump to run at low fuel for too long.) 
Now for a full grocery run?  it's $100 for a fresh groceries, $50 for cleaning supplies...canned goods when I can afford them, but usually spending $100 or more for less, and fuel...it almost feels malicious at this point."
"Is that why we don't go to the theater anymore?"
"That's exactly why we don't go to the theater anymore."

~~~~

Ordering replacement parts and consumables. 

~~~
"Consumables?"
"Glue, tape, sand paper.  Ya know, stuff in the tool box that's only good for a handful of projects."
"Glass cleaner and air fresheners."
"Yeah, you got it."
"Why do you buy this expensive stuff?"
"I buy the stuff that last the longest. And that is usually more expensive than the cheap stuff."
"The cheap stuff?"
"Um...like the toy version of something.   Something that will teach you how it works but only really works if you're careful."
~~~


Then recovering.  
Which is where I'm at now. 

Can never seem to get through a cleaning without stubbing a toe or something. 
Going to have to be more careful, or find someone to give me a hand in case I turtle.
A little mantra I have to remind myself as I get older. 

Good news is I seem to still have decent balance, though I need to do some more ankle strengthening exercises. 
Going to need to do some more weight training to keep my strength up, furniture moving went considerably easier than I expected.  Certainly more easily than last year.
So with the exception of not practicing the gravity hammer as much as I would have I liked I at least hit my fitness goal for flexibility and cardio this last year, so yay!

Going to need a trainer at some point to keep me motivated 'cause it's easy to get wrapped up in a project and forget to exercise for a day or two.  
When I was younger, not as much of as an issue.  Just get up, stretch, and good to go.  
Now it's like "fuck, need my cane just to stand up"
So the exercise has become much more necessary but as long as I keep stretching and wiggling I should be solid.

Anyways, back to work,  I have some notes to go over and a few papers to update with the current data sets. 

Planet Money here I come!