a project and a deadline

It's official. The HVAC crew will be at the house on July 9th. They've been very accomodating, and they're going to be installing our system in two stages. Since we're getting a two-zone system with two units (one in the attic and one in the basement), it's possible for them to install it one floor at a time. So on July 9th, they'll be installing the HVAC for the first floor. It should take them about four days. After that, we'll move downstairs and gut the upstairs (be warned, helper-people!). Once that's done they'll come back to install the upstairs system.

So, by July 9th, we have to be ready for them to come. Which means we've got to be ready to move downstairs, basically. So I've got a project:


Clean this room. That's our back bedroom, which will someday be the calm, relaxing, zen-like guest bedroom (which my mother has been anticipating since Don and I moved in together). Right now, it's serving as both our temporary office (read: where we spend the majority of our time, attached to our computers by steel umbilical cords like the desperate Internet addicts we are) and storage for everything that "goes upstairs".

As you may recall, all of our downstairs stuff is in "storage" -- aka the garage -- while we renovate. Most of the stuff pictured above is destined for the same fate; it's boxes of craft supplies, or knickknacks, or whatever. Our dining room chairs are just out of sight in the closet on the left, too. It's all got to be lugged out the garage eventually.

Then there's the stuff that's got to stay, to get moved downstairs to the new temporary office (the dining room). All of my jewelry-making supplies, all of the Anapurna inventory, shipping supplies, and various other business materials. All of my writing stuff -- and anyone else who writes for a living will tell you that it somehow generates a huge mess. Papers, binders, files, blah blah blah. Our desks are staying, of course, and our computers. There's also some stuff laying around in the giant mess that's meant to go up on eBay, some stuff we found in the house that we don't really want but someone else might. I've given up on actually listing it myself -- I'm going to take it to an eBay auction place and have them do it. So all of that has to get pulled out and boxed up. And don't forget the office supplies! Those have to get organized somehow.

This should be fun. If anyone's got organizational tips for giant messes like mine, feel free to share.