The newly cleaned old metal cabinet that was originally at some county courthouse in a southwestern state is now in the office closet and will hold various heavy files and paper things. They're coming in from various places around the house--school supplies, graduate school notes, reems of printer paper. I took stuff from some of the wooden shelves in that same closet and will move lighter things to those upper shelves. One was beginning to sag a bit.

I defrosted the last of the ground beef from the freezer--I don't buy pre-ground any more unless it was actually ground in the butcher shop of the grocery store where I buy it. I have been using chuck roasts cut into about 1 pound chunks, from the freezer. Take them out to thaw a little but then grind cubes of the somewhat icy roast and it grinds very nicely in the Kitchenaid blender's grinder attachment. The meat was cooked thoroughly and is made into taco filling. I added black beans this time for more roughage and because it tastes good and looks nice.

The dogs (and I) are going to get a nice long walk as soon as the meat is finished and put in the fridge; we want extra exercise today and tomorrow morning before the inspector arrives. The house is still messy, but I've cleared most of the kitchen counter, have cleared the halls where things had been stacked before putting away, and I've been sweeping and mopping. As I move stuff I encounter old spots from cat barf, so I'm cleaning all of those and my floors look much better than they have in years. (When you have a cat that upchucks several times a day, like Clementine did, it becomes a fruitless exercise to try to keep up with more than just wiping it up with a paper towel and moping infrequently.)

SRS