How badly do I need a job? The votes are in...

Seeing as I am currently unemployed and have most of an entire house at my disposal, I had already figured that now (or, "then") would be as good time as any to start with the cleaning.

As much as I wish I was done at any time after any "project" I set out to accomplish, because there is a house of stuff, STUFF THAT I WANTED MY MOM TO SORT THROUGH BEFORE SHE LEFT IN WINTER AND AGAIN WHILE SHE WAS HERE THIS SUMMER might I add, and ~my~ stuff to sort into this place, I have found this an ongoing project.

I need money. I'm not just saying that to be coy, I NEED money at this point and I need to find something that I want to do so that I can stick with it, and, I have been looking, but, not too tough. I have been looking and applying, but, not calling and confirming....and, nobody has called me.

I cannot say, at this point, though, I acknowledge a need to start being more self-sufficient, I am upset with this arrangement. It has given me time to unpack. I moved down here in January. I didn't unpack all my clothes until July. I'm still not, "fully unpacked." as there's another box full of stuff that I need to decide what to do with and then I'll probably need to rearrange some things in the house IF I want to keep them in this house before I could meld my things with them.

I bring this up because some point between the winter and the spring, I rearranged part of the kitchen. These changes made the kitchen less cluttered and more efficient because, when one keeps shoving things in cabinets and drawers, 1) One loses track of what one has, 2) One is not able to find what one needs conveniently, 3) Others may not be able to find what others need conveniently and, 4) Time and elements affect said items and they may not be fit for consumption or use of any kind anymore. This is why I wanted my mom to go through things, but, noooooo...... *Decides to leave the digressive dissertation about all the stuff I have found whilst cleaning, including, but not limited to Christmas items, out* So, when she was here in summer, and the house needed to lose a cabinet so that the water filter could be installed, she told me not to touch anything on the counter because she needed to fit those items in the cabinets underneath. No problem.

The best part of that was when she asked, "Did you know this house had a waffle iron?"
Me: No. Did you?
Mom: No.

See what fun it is to clean in an old house everyday?

So, I decided, since, while she was down here, the house got a dishwasher and she didn't rearrange more than she had to, wouldn't it be fun (yes, I am sad) to go through the cabinets and wash everything and see what all we have and put them back in a proper order....or, order? I can put all the plastics together and all the measuring cups (6, if one doesn't count the one on the ring) together, and all the great big pasta pots (8, but, who's counting) together. I could put all the spices and oils in one cabinet and all the paper/wax/foil products in another so some wont be in one and some wont be in another.

I don't know when the last time I had such a good time was.

Amongst my cleaning I found two dead flies, three dead brown spiders, a long (insect) leg, longer than the scorpion I found and, one dead scorpion. It is little, but, well preserved. It now sits atop the mantle over the fire place in a snack baggie that was lying around within a bottle/jar I found. I find that there is so much this house has to offer within itself! It's like Hogwarts, truly, because whenever I open another door, there's a surprise waiting! [Case in point, this is an edit: I have begun (and, am almost through for all I know) cleaning out three hardware drawers in the kitchen. My mom didn't want me to, but, after being not able to find measuring tape (we have 5 in the kitchen alone, 4 of which are not broken), it's happening. I don't want hardware stuff in the kitchen, but, I guess if it must stay.... In the second drawer, I found half a tube of Colgate toothpaste. I think it's Colgate Total, so, it's in the last 4 years, if not much sooner, I'm guessing. I also found a toothbrush holder and a toothbrush in the first drawer. Not the same brand of toothbrush and holder, mind you...]

Well, that only got me so far. There were three cabinets that my mom didn't want me to go through, but, after being sick of not knowing what stuff this house still held, finding out that there were part of different collections everywhere, SOME OF THE STUFF DIDN'T EVEN BELONG IN A KITCHEN, and it would help with space issues, I decided: but I must.

And so I did. I was surprised to find that there was a 28 compartment, 1 week - 4 times a day pill dispenser in the kitchen cabinet. I was appalled, appalled I tell you, to find there were still pills in it. WHY didn't my mom dispose of them as soon as whoever they belonged to died? I mention that because it was buried, as was four, COUNT THEM, FOUR, lemon juice bottles (alright, at least two, a lime juice bottle, and a bottle that is plastic but has the look of a wicker jug that I'm not sure of) shaped like lemons and such. Actually, they weren't buried so much as stuffed behind a Lazy Susan with half of a collection on and surrounding it.

I think I found the lemons first because I called up my friend to complain to her about it.

This was sometime last week. Late last week, if I recall. I just got around to washing them today. Not through the dishwasher but, dish soap and water and then put them in the dish rack to dry.

Once they were dry, along with a tall bottle that was in the kitchen cabinet but originally contained bubble bath and another bottle if sorts that I had originally thought of pairing with another bottle in a cabinet SOMEWHERE before I took another look and saw that that other green bottle was actually a vase, I put them in a moving box that I had put in the next room earlier this day.

I was over at the dining room part of the kitchen (as opposed to the kitchen part of the kitchen) and, setting things up there and picking through a motley inventory of items in a plastic woven green strawberry container when I found another bottle. A teeny bottle. It had some dirt in it and so I decided to see if I could wash it out....I couldn't. The opening at the top is very small and doesn't add water well nor does it drain well. I couldn't really get anything down in the teeny bottle to scrub it out, and, while trying to remove dirt or mould or something from the inside, it occurred to me....

I checked to see if I had the right number of bottles as I gathered the lemon/lime juice containers (that I now noticed were from different parts of Italy...or, at least had different cities' names on them) up out of the box. I brought them into the library here and set them down, grabbed a book and got to checking my theory online.

I had the right amount of bottles. Technically, they, I do not believe, are different sizes, but, they are different shapes, which I can pretend mean different sizes. I had to find that riddle and then appropriately decide bottle placement, and I did.

The next thing to do (I was percolating at this point) was find the best place. I went to the linen closet at the end of the hall on the other side of the house and grabbed the shrink wrapped shelf that just happened to be in there, waiting for it's moment. I had wondered, many times in the past 6 weeks, every time I opened the linen closet door to have that shelf look me in the face, WHAT in the WORLD am I going to do with this (besides just letting it look unused in it's shrink wrap in the linen closet)?

I found it. High, above head level so that nobody will knock into it, in the Slytherin Hall, closest to the dining room part of the kitchen and the Great Hall (because one had to go past the Great hall to go to the basement and the dungeons....but, you already knew that). It will be a perfect fit. No door will swing open to hit it, and it's in it's own nook, almost, not taking up an entire wall or anything.

Ladies and Gentlemen and Follower of This Blog, might I present:

THE SEVERUS SNAPE MEMORIAL!!!!! :D :D :D

Underneath the shelf with the bottles will be the riddle as found in Sorcerer's Stone, done in the LilyUPN font, on a piece of paper, burnt/aged.

I shall post a picture of it when it's finalized.

.....And my mom didn't want me to go through the cabinets....

Summing up prayer from "The Simpsons"

I know, I still have the Family Reunion to write about and I will, but, I couldn't think of a better place to put this where it wouldn't get lost or deleted. From the episode, "Four Great Women and a Manicure". As said by Reverend Lovejoy as the religious head of the English speaking about the Spanish Armada:

"Lord Jesus,

Although our country turned Protestant for the SOLE reason that our fat, mean king could dump his faithful wife, we know you're on our side. So please, destroy these horrible monsters who believe your Mother should be revered."

--"Amen"

.....Incidentally, I still hate Krebs Public Elementary. August 13 is getting closer and closer.... What a horrible reminder.