the simple challenge took an unplanned hiatus because for the last three weeks my life has been anything but. acquiring a nine-week-old welsh terrier named oliver: unsimple. moving myself and olly from our little one-bedroom into a two-story house with two roommates and another dog: unsimple. scrubbing, sweeping, scrapping, taping and painting a 500 square-foot apartment in the course of three days while maintaining a full schedule: unsimple.

i've been told i act like a five-year-old who hasn't been taught how to do anything. it might sound harsh, but there's a nugget of truth in that statement. i'd like to think i'm a bit of a classic idiot savant: very strong in a few areas and dismally insufficient in every other. for example, i don't really know how to swim. or tell time on an analog clock. or change a flat, mow the lawn or use a propane grill. until i moved to kansas city last june i'd never taken out the trash. i'm not even a very good driver.

something else i'd never done: clean a stove top. i mean really clean one, taking the entire range apart and scrubbing until it looks new. so i think it follows that i'd never really known how utterly noxious some household chemicals really are. as in, causing headaches, nausea, faintness of breath and congestion the likes of which could compete with the nastiest of flus.

unfortunately, i didn't even consider making my moving process part of the simple challenge until it was over. but i won't miss another opportunity to simplify: my roommates and i have a big feat in front of us, in terms of cleaning and unpacking and setting up our new house. so the next simple challenge phase will examine the best way to set up a shared household in terms of simplicity and conservation.