Okay, so, 5 days, 2 bags of garbage, and 1 bag of recycling later, and my kitchen is more or less back to its pre-Christmas condition.   I, on the other hand, remain sleep-deprived.  No surprise there.

This weekend was a whirl of accomplishments, and I’m rather proud of me for it all.

On Saturday I replaced the burned out right-rear indicator light on my car for the first time ever.  I’m feeling rather competent about that, I must say.  They burn out in a rather spectacular manner, I discovered.  Not only does the signal on the dash flash about 2x faster, but the entire cabin fills with the overpoweringly acrid scent of burning electronics.  Quite disturbing when you don’t know the cause.

Also on Saturday I met a couple of friends for lunch and got drawn into their New Year’s resolution plan–three major goals for the year and three minor, and achievable, goals each week to support the major goals.  Each week we’re accountable to each other for the previous week’s goals.  This week I chose to 1) clean and store 1 empty mouse cage, 2) get the 2 bags of garbage out to the lane for pickup, and 3) put all the dismantled orange boxes into a larger box of cardboard that will eventually go for recycling.  So far I’ve managed to clean 3 (yes, three) mouse cages and two wheels, move the garbage out to the lane, and get the cardboard into the larger box.  Yay, me!  Again, I’m feeling particularly competent.

One of the three cleaned cages became home to Mama Dude, the spiny mouse; it’s also near the heat vent, so she can bask in the warmth at one end if she chooses (she’s been choosing to when she’s not otherwise occupied).  She also got one of the two wheels, which has made a world of difference.  The other wheel went into the cage with her two sons (the Dudesons).  They’re also loving it, although there have been a few squabbles over it.  If the bite marks on their tails don’t subside by the weekend, I’ll put a second wheel in with them.  Evidently “sharing” isn’t a concept they’re familiar with when it comes to wheels.

Then, to finish off the weekend, I made a batch of Black Sticky Gingerbread and tweaked it to near-perfection in the form of 5 dozen mini-muffins.  *yum*

All in all a very productive and ego-boosting weekend!  I’ll try to post each week’s goals here and my success (or lack thereof) in completing them.  Feel free to mock me if I fail.  I still have to get the other 2 clean cages stored away, and then I’ll be done this week’s crop.