Goal #2

Goal #2: more party prep.

I'm having a housewarming party on Saturday, and there is so much to do!  True, I have already had people over, but they were mostly family remembers and are required to like me even if my house is kind of an unfinished mess.  (Which is not to say I didn't try to spiff it up, because I did.  It just wasn't quite so stressful when I knew it would still seem unfinished.)

However, lots of people are coming over next weekend, and they are not all required to put up with my unfinished-ness!  Granted, they are all people who agreed to come (so either they already like me or just want some free food), and I warned them on the invite that I was "mostly moved in," but there are some things I'd really like to have finished before they arrive, including:
- finish putting together the cabinet (for real this time);
- hang my bikes from the ceiling (this required a special trip to the hardware store for a 13/64 drill bit.  Really?  Can't you use a standard size?  C'mon people!);
- general cleaning;
- finish planning the menu;
- test out a couple of recipes;
- shopping.

So much to do, so little time.  I have made progress on a few things since the fam was here for Christmas though!  I got the last of my books put on shelves; I made some extra space in my utility room for I'm-not-sure-what-yet; two trips to Lowe's for appropriately-sized plastic totes allowed me to protect my sleeping bags from the funk in the garage; I hung the decal E got me for Christmas (and it is awesome!); a trip to Target for an enormous red and green Rubbermaid tote allowed me to sort, organize, and store Christmas decorations; my adorable little Christmas tree is now a safe place for birds to hide (thanks to T, who delivered it to my bird-watching friend); and I organized my desk a bit.  So, progress!  Yay!

 What to put here?

Books, unpacked.

 My now-awesome bedroom wall!
(Don't mind the disaster of a bedroom.)

[Aside: As votes to return to goal #1 and start counting over again created, as T said, "a landslide victory," which is to say 2-0, here we are back at goal #2.]

Recap of Goal #53/1: it's a partial victory.  Thanks to T, who delivered it while I was at work, the cabinet is now at my apartment.  It has leaves reattached and a back on it to keep stuff from falling out.  (The back, a new version of an old household item - the radiator grate - itself required about four trips to different stores before one of the highly qualified employees knew what I was talking about.)  Hopefully it provides enough structural support; I think it will.

I keep forgetting to pick up the new handles I'm planning to put on it (versions of which were many times bought and returned at Home Depot), so I haven't put the doors on yet - they're hard to open if they don't have handles!  I'm also pondering what I can do to protect the underside of the leaves from the supports scratching against them as they're lifted and lowered.  I think some felt and craft glue should probably do well there; even better because I think I actually have those things on hand!