On sorting out

It's a tough job and most of us leave it until it's a huge mess. Yep - I'm guilty of that. But it's not that huge.

Years ago a colleague at work - well she wasn't so much my colleague - she was a manager and I was a worker bee. She had had a meeting at her house day for something and there wasn't a piece of paper or knick-knack in sight. Her house was like her personality. A clean slate! Or maybe that made her better at firing people?  I never worked for her, but boy - she ran a tidy house!

I'm not sure that I would want my house to be quite that tidy, but our kitchen is pretty much like that. The rest of the house does look lived in.

Will this ice ever go away? My girls are not happy and I'm not happy. I'm not taking a lunatic on a leash for a walk when there is ice on the road/sidewalks. Just not going to happen.

Here's the second part of the story I shared yesterday. What happened upstairs? Well, now that M is gone - OK - she's been gone for a couple of years, but it's time to get those two bedrooms organized. I had this vision in my head that she had left loads of stuff behind. Well, she did sort of, but once I got going, I realized it's not as bad as originally thought.

Now if I could only get her to focus when she's here - we could get it completely done. I don't mind to go through it and toss, sort, keep and I will - but I'm giving her one last chance. Next time she comes - what she doesn't go through - I will. Then it will be done. I have no problem storing her stuff until she has a big enough place to take it, but I don't want to be storing junk and so far - there was a lot of junk.

I don't think it was responsible for her to leave it all behind. I told her that I would pay her back by leaving her tons of my junk to go through. But I'm not going to do that. I'm working on it - just not fast enough for my liking - too many fun things to do instead, but there are days when I think I could just heave-ho to a few boxes in my office and I would never know they are gone. That will come - don't worry. The more I toss, the more I want to keep tossing.

I think I mentioned this yesterday, but it's an EXCELLENT idea to get your kids involved. I would say that getting rid of things is a LIFE SKILL. My parents never taught me that - so I became somewhat of a tidy hoarder. So get your kids involved when they are young so they know that it's OK to let go of things - that's awesome.

Now onto the pictures.

This is M's old room. Yes - those colors are BRIGHT!!!  I took all the stuff that she didn't want and placed it onto this long counter. My goal is to go through all that and get rid of it. Some will be given away, one or two things I'll keep (like my tuffet that is hiding in the left-hand corner) and some will be garbage.

Things to sort from M's room

Here's the other corner of the room and the window seat. I'm happy to report that all the pedestal cabinets are empty. The window seat is empty except for two boxes of stuff that M wants. There is a bookcase in her room that is full of books and a few knick-knacks and the closet is chock a block full. But that's it! So it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I know that even more can go. Next time................

More stuff to get rid of 

I also emptied all the cabinets in her bathroom. I will deal with all that as well and then that area is also done. It's amazing how much junk collects and we just don't deal with it. It gets hidden behind a cabinet door. Well - it's all out in the open. I've already started on this pile and got rid of a couple of bags of stuff yesterday.

M's bathroom is getting a tidy up as well

My goal is that this bathroom will be completely empty except for the linen closet which is in that bathroom. I would like to repaint the room as it's never been painted since we moved in. That's terrible. I hate painting.

Then onto the one bookcase that is still in the other bedroom. The top was crammed with stuff. Now it's all crammed onto the shelves of the bookcase. Books, magazines and craft supplies.

M's bookcase 

Then I moved her bed into the blue bedroom - that's the one that the batting was stored in before. I took all the quilts off that table and moved the table into M's room. Basically swapped a bed for a table. 

What an inviting workspace

This is the room over the garage and it has amazing windows, but can be cold. So my intention is to work up there on warm sunny days. How could you not be inspired by that space? Yes - at some point, all the stuff will come off the walls and it really should be repainted in a more neutral color but for the moment, this is how it stays.

Gorgeous workspace

I moved all the linens from the bed onto the work table. That's my first thing to deal with. Most have been washed. I sorted out pillows - tossed a bunch of them that were old. Stuff went into the linen closet and it looks not too bad at the moment. Ready for the next batch of stuff to go on the table to be dealt with.

First up - deal with the linens

This is one of her old nightstands. Can you tell me why kids are fascinated with stickers?? I have a job ahead of me as I remove stickers from the furniture, the doors, windows, and walls in the room. GRRR - kids!!!!  But on a nice warm day with an audiobook - it will be a nice way to spend the day. 

Removing stickers

My goal with that room?? Oh - I'm going to make it into a "she-cave". Once the junk is gone, I'm going to have a work table - it's already in there. I'll set up the chair that I got from my parents home and I might from time to time, take a sewing machine up there. But for the most part - it's just a nice place to hang out - totally undisturbed with a great view!!!

Just another shot of the junk to deal with

Back to the blue room. All of my batting supplies are stored in one corner of the room. 

My batting is stored in one corner of the room

 Except for this one bolt because there wasn't room in the other corner. There are two closets in that room in case you think the room is very small. It's a decent size. !

One more roll of batting

There are three rolls of batting stored beside the bookcase that will get quilted into my charity quilts. Once those are gone - well that's a long ways away. They were given to me or were bought (by me) for that specific purpose.

Batting for charity quilts

 I took all the fusible fleece and foam and put it on top of the bookcase. Now the floor is much neater and easier to keep clean.

A few supplies hanging out on the bookcase

The queen sized bed is now in this room as well. I have plans for that bed, but not before I have a guest coming in the next week or so. After she leaves, then I'll share the plan for the bed with you.

On that note, I'm out of here. Got a lot of work to get done this weekend and we have guild meetings, classes and a whole lot more happening.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!