9:54 p.m. | 2003-07-28 There�s Already A Monkey Wrench In My Scheduling. I decided to rework my schedule so that I accomplish all my household tasks during the week, thereby freeing up my weekends completely. Easier said than done. See, tonight I�m supposed to do laundry, and I am, but it�s been a challenge so far. TheHotel only has one washer and one dryer. Now, I�m used to having my own machines hence doing the laundry anytime that I wanted, but that�s not working for me so much. It�s been a really long time since I�ve done �competitive laundry�. It�s not the sort of sport I enjoy. Right now, I�m involved in a round of who gets there first with someone who�s washing all their towels, sheets and blankets. I�m washing clothes that I need to wear tomorrow. That tends to bring out my normally dormant competitive laundry gene. If all goes well, I�ll be fluffing and folding in � hour which would make this single-load-of-laundry round about 3� hours long. That would be more than double the normal time. But, I can�t really complain, albeit I just did, because that was one of the sacrifices I made in order to live in my Dreamspace and walk to work. Trust me, the good still outweighs the bad by a long shot. It just may take me a while to get my new schedule all worked out, that�s all. Meanwhile, I�ve also been working tonight. That happens sometimes during our busy season. We�re actually pretty much caught up with everything. Just waiting for some loose ends to be tied up before heading into our super-busy season once again. I met with the HotelManager after work in regards to the porch garden. She�s purchased all these great pots and flowers, so we needed to figure out what to do with it all. I�ll be mixing my outdoor plants in with the new plants in different arrangements. So, I�ll be digging in the dirt again soon. During our conversation, HotelManager was asking me about how I arranged some furniture and whatnot. See, HotelManager hasn�t been at TheHotel for long. She�s a newbie, like me. Hence, she�s also been struggling with cramming all their belongings into a small space. Unlike me, they have a storage unit while my whole life is now in my Dreamspace. Anyway, I asked her if she wanted to come up and take a look at the stuff I�ve done since she was last up there. She did. And I swear, as much as she goes on about how I have so much stuff, she loves it. Especially my antique furniture. She also likes how I�ve arranged things. I�ll tell you, small spaces make you really creative. She did offer me some storage space in the basement for my �homeless� books. This is that. (HM:) Have you really read all these books? (CI:) Yes. Well, except there are several that I haven�t read yet. (HM:) Wow. If you don�t want to get rid of any of your books, you can store the extra ones in one of the basement nooks. The only thing you�d need to do is get a lock so no one takes anything. (CI:) Thanks. You know, if someone is jonesing to read a book to the point they�d feel compelled to take one of mine, I really don�t have a problem with that. I�d just consider that my literacy program. (HM:) In that case, we could just put a plaque on the door that says �library�. (CI:) That�d work for me. I really need to sort through my books. Tomorrow, for the first time in my life, I�m gonna try grocery shopping after work. That ought to be interesting, if not exhausting. But, for now, it�s back to work again. your thoughts? seed flower