Reason number two for coming to Pennsylvania is the accident case, which has settled. Nothing more to be said about that until the money is in my hot little hands. Then I will have a lot to say!
Reason number three is the job, which is a bit of a conundrum. According to the higher ups, they need me. According to my "manager" I'm a grunt and should consider leaving this operation soon because the product is getting trashed anyway (not according to everyone else above him). He also told me to pad my invoice with an extra 40 hours, which I refused to do, the result of which he didn't approve the lower amount of the invoice (the correct amount) and I didn't get paid. Which isn't a castastrophe just yet. My intention is to get hired as a full-time employee, rather than as a contractor, to further my plans to remain in the area to help my son with his family while he is in Iraq next year.
To understand the politics of it all, I was called in under desperate measures because the project needed to be saved. The plan has always been to "fire" or otherwise remove my "manager". I was specifically told to blind carbon copy (bcc) the higher ups on every communication. Now I need to decide how much more of this nonsense I will deal with. I've been vocal, but not adamant up to this point. I'm about ready to let loose, but do not want to fall into a trap. So, today I will quietly continue working on specific items that need to be addressed and see where it leads me. I'll put in a hefty invoice next week and then I'll see where things stand. If I don't get paid or involved I'll know it's time to exit. Of course, I'm communicating and working visibly on the hot issues.
Now for the clutter of it all. I'm staying at my old roommate's house and giving her money weekly, with the understanding that this is temporary. But the clutter is going to drive me more insane than I already am! I nearly went out and rented an apartment yesterday, or an efficiency, or a no-tell motel room. I'm so tired of helping my old friend with her clutter, only to see it come back. I'm in the mood to resolve issues so I proposed this: One area per week and if she doesn't go through with it I'm leaving.
Tonight the area is the kitchen and the outside trash area. Hey, you can't drag trash out if you don't have a place to put it! Duh! Then a clear path to the basement just to get to the washer and dryer will be the next area. I might include the bathrooms in the basement to washing machine activity because the "area" is about cleanliness. The next area will encompass the living room, dining room, closets, and entry way on the main floor. These are filled top to bottom with books, sellable items, junk, paperwork, and mess. In fairness, I've put little bird through the paces of ditching paperwork trash in the past, like forty clear trash bags of it, so it wasn't quite as bad this time. We won't even go into the areas like the wet trash filled basement, the damp atticSSS, the stuffed third bedroom, the stuffed closets, and THE BARN. Thank goodness the barn only has a second floor and no basement!
The kitchen is small and is packed with the usual clutterholic items such as: 21 frying pans, 16 spatulas, 95 plates, 295 mismatched silverware, spices & teas that are over 10 years old, moldy foods in the refrigerator, food that is well over 10 years old, gadgets that duplicate function and overflow every surface, and every household item sold on QVC and in the Lillian Vernon catalogue. How many ways are there to implement a cutting board? I found a cutting board that is three feet long and has a hole in it. Oy vey! That's along with the other 8 cutting boards, plus the four brand new ones laying on the floor. At least you can SEE the floor now. We will have a little helper tonight and with the use of six huge plastic bins we will pretend to do "Clean House". I'm playing the part of Niecy Nash, step into my office!
The six bin method includes removing/editing everything in the kitchen and all cupboards that are not used in the kitchen. Duh! There is a lot of that, classified as "to ebay", "to Charlestown Fair" flea market, "to donate", "to yard sale", "to go to another area", and to "store". The agreement is that a single woman only needs 8 plates, 8 bowls, 8 glasses, 8 cups, 12 place settings, a range of pots and pans without any duplicates, no more than two of any cooking utensil, and above all CLEAR COUNTERS. There is a nice plastic shelf system beside the fridge to store appliances that are actualy used. The counters are not for storage, they are for food preparation and cooking. Dishes are washed as they are used. Food is used, not stored. Cabinets are used for storage of kitchen items that are rarely used on the bottom, and for highly used items on the top where they can be easily accessed.
Then the fridge. My son and his girlfriend have a clean refrigerator with a few easy to see items that include actual food. Little bird collects condiments. And rotted food that is hard to see and impossible to locate for use. And a complex system for storing ice cubes to keep them from picking up odors. I propose: clean out the fridge, clean the fridge, and sanitize the fridge. Then we can use a real ice maker hooked up to a water filter. So far, I have little bird's agreement. She seems happy about it. There is a large table in the kitchen that is taking up extra space because the legs hit the radiator. I'm taking off the back legs and shoving it as close the fridge and the back wall as possible to get more room. Here is a picture of this as it looked once when it was originally decluttered:
I'll find the before pictures and post them soon.
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