So, yeah. I’ve been trying to do things. I just haven’t really said much about it beyond a Facebook post.

One of these things is trying to set up a daily theme for my blog. I’m still relatively unsettled about that, and, obviously, not adhering to it at all. This is going to need some more work.

Another thing–an ongoing thing–is that I’ve got another GoodReads goal. I did so well last year, eventually pushing past my final bump of 200 books, that I just set myself the goal of 200 right away.

Since I knew that I wouldn’t be able to figure out what the hell to read about twenty books in [or a little more–roughly the ‘published works of Stephen King and George R. R. Martin], I also gave myself a list. The Top 100 Science Fiction Books.

To make this task a little more active, I’ve also decided that, every time I finish a book, I will tweet something about it.

I am 32 books into my goal, and I have tweeted about them all. So, this is actually going very well.

I haven’t been knitting much. I should get back to my blanket at some point.

What I have been doing, in fits and starts, is cleaning the kitchen.

There are a few people out there that know that this is a little amazing, and a hell of a task.

It all started one day, when a former baggie of ice became a baggie of water and leaked all over the stove top. I discovered this when I went into the kitchen for…no idea. I got distracted by the puddle of water on top of the stove.

Wiping that up turned into scrubbing. Scrubbing turned into scraping with a fresh razor. Scraping with a fresh razor turned into scraping with a metal paint scraper when that razor blade snapped and it turned out I didn’t have any other razors.

All that turned into the cleanest stove top we’ve ever had.

Over the next few days, I kept going. I ran the dishwasher a few times. I started cleaning up the ‘dining’ area. I cleaned off the counter next to the stove, and shifted a few things around on the counter next to the sink.

I set up a few jars of orange peels and chunks soaking in vinegar to try a cleaner recipe that a friend uses.

Sometimes, it would look like I was doing nothing. Just sitting there staring. Those times, I was addressing storage issues I’d come across. Like ‘where the fuck do I put my two-burner skillet and my wok?’ or ‘okay, how about my rolls of foil/cling wrap/wax paper and my freezer bags, because climbing up to the top of the fridge every time I need them is not awesome.’

I came up with two plans that seem to be working.

The wok and the skillet are hanging on over-the-door hooks mounted on the back door. And, since I couldn’t stop there? I added a length of chain to each hook, and S hooks on each chain to hang various things from that chain.

The bags and rolls? Are now stuck to the side of the stove with magnets. Two or three magnets, carefully slid into the bottom corners of the boxes, holds them nicely.

There’s still quite a bit left that needs to be done, but taking it in small chunks seems to be working fairly well.