Nesting

Everyone has asked if I have started the "nesting" phase yet.  You know...this is the time before a baby comes when a mother feels restless and prepares for the baby by getting a nest ready.  I have seen this behavior in mother cats when I was growing up on the farm many times.  They would walk around acting really wierd and you could tell the time was near.  Some of the longtime residents trusted us enough to let us nest for them by providing a box with some old towels.  Others chose nests in questionable places...one mama had her babies on a pile of hay (good nest) that happened to be located in the header of the combine (dangerous nest).  One indifferent and experienced cat just popped them out on the steps in front of the door...no nest to speak of!  Our docile golden retriever and the mother cat's brother were keeping a disinterested watch. 

When people start nesting people speak of putting the bedding on the crib, washing cute little outfits in sensitive skin forumula detergent, and cooking and freezing meals for those first hectic weeks back from the hospital.  I wish my nesting was like that...actually I don't think this is nesting at all.  I am just dealing with things that need to be addressed after living out of a suitcase for the last year.  For example...

I spent yesterday afternoon sorting and filing bank statements, student loan documentation and insurance information from the last year.  The bag pictured is just from the past six months or so...I found another stack in the basement by the file cabinet and there were some stray envelopes in my computer bag and on the kitchen counter where the mail ends up being piled.  Ugh I hate filing.  I know some people get a kick out of that sort of organization but I am not one of them.  It is definitely a  chore.  I can't think of a time when I have had to reference anything in my file cabinet and this makes it very tempting to just throw it all in the trash.  I love whoever invented paperless statements (my bank and student loans are now done this way) and I don't care how much woe it is causing the US Postal Service.  I had so much crap to go through that I ended up filling a whole garbage bag with paper waste just from the enveloples and excess paper that comes with most bank and loan correspondence (NO I don't need another brochure or letter about your privacy policies!)

I kind of started going on a tear in the basement after I finished filing.  I spotted a camera box (It is always hard for me to throw the boxes from phones and cameras until I am sure they are working and then I, apparently, forget I have them).  The box was for my first digital camera that I got for Christmas in 2004.  Since then, I have had two other cameras and my new Christmas one is my third.  It still had all of the manuals and cables.  That went in the trash.  I also found the box for a phone that I had three phones ago.  The box contained informational cd rom cds that I never even unwrapped.  Yikes.  I also found something funny...an empty checkbook full of carbon copies from the days before debit cards.  It was from spring of 2005 which was my last sememster of college.  During this semester I had the easiest classes ever and didn't study AT ALL...I wrote my papers and went to almost every session of class and took notes but those classes were so easy that just going to class was enough to be able to breeze through the tests.  What I did do was drink and my checks reflect that.  There were at least two checks a week to Buffalo Wild Wings and the Turf and several to the Union check cashing counter.  I'm sure that cash went right to Chub's, the Turf, or various liquor stores.  Ahhh what a life.  When I saw the dates I actually remembered what I was doing at those places those specific nights. 

Another thing that had to be addressed was putting away the Christmas decorations.  I think everyone can agree that, while taking out the Christmas decorations is a fun and festive event, putting them away is a huge chore.  Blaaahhh I don't enjoy it at all and it is also kind of sad and anti-climactic.  And yes, I know that the letter "a" on the TV stand is backwards...that has been fixed!

I did get quite a bit accomplished over the last week.  The soon to be nursury was filled with bags of my clothes, shoes, books and other items that I had brought back with me.  It was also full of gift bags from my shower.  A few weeks ago, we had a false alarm that my parents might be visiting so Justin packed all of the baby stuff we have received and accumulated into the closet and it was so full that the doors were about to bust off their runners (seriously).  As I have mentioned before, every drawer and closet was at full capacity so I filled my trunk with donations for a second hand store.  When I dropped it off, I saw that the store's donation area was not lacking because there was a mountain of bags of donations piled up to the ceiling and I am not making that up.  I was tempted to take one of my bags and just fling it up there to see where it landed!  So I guess we are not the only ones with some household excess. 

Now there is one last area to address and it will be the worst...it is the room that even well intentioned people end up filling with junk that they don't know what else to do with and hastily stash it "just for now" and there it stays.  This room is our basement guest room (soon to be only guest room)/my sewing room.  This is where we have our gift wrapping and my old law books and the closet is stuffed with summer dresses and shoes and old coats.  It is such a mess that you can barely walk in there and the expansive sewing counter that I was so excited about is piled high with debris.  I worked on my annual Christmas card scrapbook last night and I had to haul all of the materials upstairs because there is no room to work in that room.   Bllaaaaahhh double blaaahh it is a mess and I am dreading cleaning it up down there.  Eventually the twin bed in there has to come out and the guest queen bed will go in, taking with it space.  It is not going to be fun.