Today it was a nice day for spring cleaning. Well, every day of my life is kind of like spring cleaning. One of today's tasks was cleaning the windows--of which there are many. Unfortunately, only one is over a porch so I could clean the outside too. We live at a big intersection with a stop light so all of the exhaust makes the windows really gross.
But I got outside and scrubbed as best I could. We have at least one streaky-clean window!
The Breadwinner's job was to move the different layers of glass up and down from the inside. She also sat with her phone at the ready to dial 911 in case I ended up off the roof. Always good to have a spotter.
This is the big intersection where we live. A big intersection for Plattsburgh, that is.
I cannot take credit for this one, but I am proud of The Breadwinner for coming up with it:
We buy a lot of bulk foods (rice, beans, lentils, barley, on and on and on) and we were storing them in their bulk bags in a big bin that we had to dig through every time we wanted to cook something. Being a big Camp person, the Breadwinner had a ton of Nalgenes which we now have lined up on a shelf. We still need about 30 more for all the different bulk bags we have, but hopefully I will get my glass jars up from the Island soon.
This is our bedroom! I hung up the tapestry and put the ridiculous duvet cover on the bed. Suddenly, it was much more homey! Also, I'm proud to say that I make the bed every morning. If we both weren't so opposed to top sheets, I probably would not because of the extra step.
This bit of organization is my doing:
All of this used to live in a 3-foot-high pile on my side of the bed. I purchases 12 crates, wire ties, and two closet shelves. After an hour of construction and umpteen hours of sorting, we have hers-and-hers clothing storage that takes up surprisingly little space and will be easy to reuse/rearrange when we move!
Also in the bedroom is the turtle pool. No, it's not supposed to be opaque but the filter isn't working properly.
The Breadwinner is big into crafting and likes the idea of organization. She just needs some help in implementation. I will consider this the "before" picture and hope to soon have an "after." If only I had a before-the-clothing-storage-unit photo!
The one thing on this side of the room that is organized: my wool!
Some more "before" messiness.
This is my epic To-Do List. I scratch off a few things a day. I definitely have enough to keep me entertained until I find a job!
This picture is misleading because I actually did not really clean the turtle pool. That was all the Breadwinner. I will wash all the dishes in the world but I am having none of that turtle business.
Around Valentine's Day, I had been couch surfing in Northampton, staying with people in Tyler primarily. When it came to V-Day weekend, I was a single curmudgeon who did not want to do anything until a new friend invited me to spend the weekend with her in Burlington, Vermont and go to a drag ball. This seemed preferable to staying at Smith and I was ready to go exploring beyond Western Mass. She took me up to Burlington on Friday afternoon and I fell in love with the mountains on the drive up. On Saturday morning, we wandered around downtown and I thoroughly enjoyed the city. On Saturday night, the drag ball happened. Above is Kristina dressed as a drag queen--and because it's Vermont, she needed to try the outfit with snow boots.
Grease, Brokeback, and the prom, oh my!
I decided that I was James Bond. Thanks to Meesh's contribution of suspenders and a bow tie, my tux jacket totally became a tuxedo! Good thing I was dressed as James Bond because I needed my stealth skills for a bit of light breaking and entering that night.
Chin-dancing! When we got to Higher Ground for the party, we wandered around the venue and eventually found our way into the little room where they were actually playing dance music. 
So we danced.
No, seriously, my only dance move is to turn my head at oblique angles.
I wonder what's going on to the right.
Introducing: The Breadwinner! On our way back into the big room because the little room was full, Meesh ran into her friend from camp whom she hadn't seen in many years. "Take a picture of me and Chuck!" was my introduction to the Breadwinner.
James Bond meets Brokeback Mountain.
Those fish were actually coming from a drag queen's 3-foot-tall head piece. Those of us under 5'2" kept getting fished in the eye all night. Aforementioned drag queen also had a knack for finding my ankle with her stilettos.
Sometime around now, I went into the bathroom and saw a woman I assumed was dressed as/looked like Alison Bechdel (only my favorite writer ever whom I saw speak at Smith once but was too fangirl nervous to actually ask her about why when she changed publishers, her books went from HQ to PN, which implies a de-queering, in my opinion). I made a dumb joke to her about the lack of toilet paper. So dumb, in fact, that I have erased it from my memory, I just know that it happened. She smiled and washed her hands, then left the bathroom. Later on, I found out that she was at the drag ball (a post on her blog which she has mysteriously deleted). Which means that I said something stupid to Alison Bechdel. Alas.
I spent a lot of time imagining what I must be saying or explaining in this picture. "Ya see, first ya take it by the tail and, are ya' followin' me?"
And the rest is history.
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