Good things...

The books are all gone!  I have my dining room back!!  Plus, I got to talk football with the guy packing away all the books the whole time he worked!!!

Also gone are the office supplies I tore away from my hoard.  Oh, that was the hardest downsizing yet!  For sure I get an A+ for effort, but perhaps only a C+ for result.  I was able to fill a banker's box of supplies, such as staples and binder clips and sticky notes.  And I filled a banker's box of paper, card stock, and labels.  I could not bring myself to do more, and kept half of the colored printer paper that I have on hand.  Now, who ... who in the world ... is going to say, "Hey, Myrtle!  Could you print me up some flyers on colored paper????"  No one.  Still, I thought that I might could one day find myself needing colored paper.

The upshot is that, in the basement shelving, I have greater organization and less stuff.  The mailing supplies are all tucked away in a box on the bottom shelf, instead of stuffed haphazardly in an open box on the top shelf.  All the colored paper is re-storted by color.  And all of the color printer paper is in a single box.  I did not end up with any empty boxes, for one has a stash of educational things I'd like to sent to my friend Mary, eventually, and those are now in a box, out of sight.  I also put away some things differently than they had been stored, so that arrangement of the boxes on the shelf makes more sense to me.

Yes, I still have three-ring binders.
And top-loading sheet protectors.

In a way, I look at all the shelving in the basement and still see too much stuff.  But the things that are there are used, useful, or have enough potential for me to keep.  For example, one box is all light bulbs.  Another is the mailing supplies.  One is the special papers I kept, such as the really expensive glossy stuff.  One is power strips and extension cords.  One is all the old framed photos that I no longer have out but have nice frames that can be used again.  Things you might have and things unique to me.  And, of course, two have those binders.  That is down from an original six boxes of binders......

I also managed to vacuum before the non-profit staff arrived, so as to have a reasonably presentable first floor.  Vacuuming makes me awfully hot, which makes me weak and shaky, weak and it is STINKING HOT outside, which also makes me weak and shaky. Being rather nauseous and swollen today, I was all decked out in men's lounge pants and a hoodie.  SIGH. I wish I could have looked more like a normal person.

At least the tulips are loving the STINKING HOT WEATHER.  All of them are open now.

AND.
AND!
AND I FOUND MY MISSING COMPRESSION STOCKING!!!!

I am very much relieved about that.  Apparently, it never made it into the laundry and was, thus, not statically clung to anything.  Instead, it was behind the trunk at the end of my bed.  To open it, I have to pull it out a bit.  I wanted to switched the quilt I keep out for the airing porch to a lighter weight one.  When I pulled away the trunk, I found the crumpled, dirty compression stocking.  I sit on the trunk to peel them off of me and set them beside me with my boots until I am done changing my clothes from respectable going-out-of-the-house clothes back to lounge pants and hoodies.  Then I toss them into the laundry basket and put the boots away on the lower shelf.  So, I must have knocked one backward when changing.  I would never (obviously) have thought to look there.  I am surprised in all the bed linen changing I never spotted it.  But at least I do not have the wasted cost of a pair of compression stockings now.

The other cool bit of news came when I was savoring the organization that I did in my closet.  That pushed me into the right place so that putting away my clothes is easy and keeping things straight is almost automatic.  Neat.  Well grouped.  Good line of sight.

The latter is what made something catch my eye.  You see, one of the things that I kept—something I am most certain that the rest of the world would have thrown it away—is the cloth cover for the magnificent botanical sheets I bought a few months ago.  It had a velcro enclosure and was that loveliest of fabric.  I put it at the far end of the shelf in the closet where my laundry basket is.  When I put the dirty compression stocking in the basket, I pulled it out a bit to ensure nothing had fallen behind it, something I do from time to time.  So, my head was more inside the closet than usual and I spotted the sheet set cover when I straightened back up.  All alone on the end of the shelf deep in the side of the closet where I cannot easily reach things.

Yes!  The cover makes for a most perfect slip case for the little pillow that I use on the steamer lounger!!  And it matches the steamer lounger cushion rather well, don't you think?

I forgot to note that the reason I like to use the small pillow is that sometimes the plastic of my ice packs breaks/splits open and starts leaking blue gel.  Thankfully, that blue gel will wash out (if you use Spray-and-Wash) and not permanently stain a pillowcase.  However, if I used the icepacks directly on the steamer lounger cushion (a rather non-economcal gift from my sister) and they leaked, I would have no way of cleaning up the blue gel stain.  Thus, a little pillow is important.  And having a large pillow case around it made it difficult to handle, adjust, pick-up, etc.

I am practically giddy over good news today ... an abundance of which that made dealing with the ails of my body a bit more endurable.

I was able to get my blood work done for the appointment with my new GP just before the non-profit staff arrived.  The dining room is visually restful again. I have a cover for my small pillow.  My missing (expensive) compression stocking is found.  The fountain has not run dry once, despite having STINKING HOT WEATHER, with the new/old right-sized basin.  The baby robins are chirping up a storm.  The floor is actually clean.  It is altogether too hot to even harbor a smote of needing-to-paint-the-back-porch-railing guilt.  And today was a pulled pork taco day.

Good things make for a better day not matter the battles of my body.  That is one of the blessings of being chronically ill.  I am truly grateful for the smallest bits of good news and the little things that came make life a bit easier.  Now, I shall enjoy another good thing:  an afternoon nap with my still-lavender-scented fluff-ball!