A Round Tuit Kind of Day

I have been feeling dragged down and foggy-brained this week. Maybe it's the weather, or maybe it's just winter. I bumble around like a bee trying to get into a honey jar, trying first one thing, then another and never feeling like I've accomplished anything. But today, I got to some of those little things that wait until I can "get around to it."

First was defrosting the freezer in the gas refrigerator. I love my fridge; the electric bill took a nosedive when we installed it and it works beautifully on our free natural gas. The only downside is that it needs to be defrosted once or twice a year. I hadn't planned to do that today, but when we got up we discovered that the freezer door hadn't shut properly last night and the process was already started.

As we were clearing out all the packages we had literally stuffed in there, I found tonight's dinner: packs of frozen cabbage, green beans, green peppers, celery, venison, corn and carrots. All I needed to do was combine these ingredients with some onions and potatoes, a few spices and I had a huge pot of soup. So, two round tuits accomplished before noon. (You can see my recipe for this soup here.)

While I was on the hunt for my missing ring the other day I moved my jewelry box and managed to dump most of the contents on the floor. The result was a tangled mess of necklaces, pins, rings and earrings. I'd been meaning to sort these things out soon anyway as I seldom wear much jewelry now and when I do it tends to be the same favorite pieces, especially the earrings and rings made by Robert Riffe of Mystic Crystal. Since I didn't seem to be able to focus on anything else, I sorted my jewelry and ended up with a lot of pieces that will go to one of my booths to be sold. (Costume jewelry, nothing special!)

Then there were the totes we brought home from the booths the other day. Selling is a stuff-in, stuff-out kind of business. If something doesn't sell within a given time, I take it out and either take it to another booth, put it on eBay or take it to Goodwill. So the totes returning can have an odd assortment of all of the above. Today I worked through them and re-organized so they're ready for the next trip out.

The lingerie dresser is another of my "round tuits" for today. How do I end up with so many odd socks? It amazes me that with only 10 steps from the bedroom to the washer I still lose socks. And there were all sorts of other weird things in those drawers too--little bottles I stuck in there because I liked them and didn't know what to do with them, the battery radio for when the power goes off, greeting cards from my sons, a broken belt...the little dresser is right by the bedroom door and apparently I think it should be a catchall.

I did a little eBay work too, looking up prices and was pleased to see that a second piece of furniture sold through an eBay listing. I haven't tried listing furniture before but lately I've added some of the pieces for sale in my booths to my eBay listings with a "local pickup only" option. A dining table and chairs I've had since May sold last week, and today a china cabinet sold. I'll be doing more of these kinds of listings now that I've seen that it works. The cabinet to the left is currently getting a lot of lookers online. Larry repainted this one, painting the inside back red, and we bought replacement vintage pulls for it since the ones on it were not the right kind. I think it came out great. You can see my eBay listings here if you're in the mood to browse.

Last thing I accomplished was reviewing my list of stories for my program Saturday at Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling, WV. I am looking forward to being in Wheeling again, and to lunch with good friends and storytellers. Even with this yuck kind of feeling, that makes me perk up and smile!

So it was a day of no major accomplishments, but lots of little to-do's checked off the never-ending list. And that's enough.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.