When daily life becomes clutter!

I'm a stress eater, and if I had had an Advent Calendar with candy in it -- well, it would have been Christmas Eve by 1 PM yesterday! 

It wasn't seriously bad, but it involved scammers, and I'm sick and tired of scammers. I'll let you know the details later. No money (per se) was handed over, so I'm okay. But I'm just tired of all that. 

I can see why people with mental health issues or even physical issues are taught coping mechanisms. I needed a coping mechanism to get me back on track. I'm fine today, but I need to find a coping mechanism to NOT let certain things bother me. 

However, the day started out well! I had an amazing workout in the spin class. I felt like a million bucks after class. When I got home and finished my morning routine, I somehow got twisted up in this. 

YES, that is a little bundle of dried-up elastics. Sigh. 

Dried up elastics

Here's how that came to light. There were some bulldog clips on the kitchen counter that DH left there from when I asked him to find writing instruments that he no longer used as I was preparing a box to drop off at the local school. 

So, sorting through the bulldog clips and other small items he left on the counter, I looked in my desk drawers. Although they were sorted, neat, and tidy, some of the buckets were overflowing. And when I pulled out the one with the elastics, this little bundle was hard and dried out. Elastics do that! 

Oh dear - do you want to be the one they talk about when someone comes to clean out your house. Did you know this "old lady" kept elastics, which were garbage? 

The trays in the desk drawers came out. And I sorted through staples, clips, and various other things. What was garbage went in the trash, and what could be useful to someone else went in a box.  

Sorting office supplies

What I want to keep is neat and tidy in their respective cubbies. I should never have to buy another stamp in my life! Why do I have so many? And I should NEVER have to purchase another office supply either. 

Neat and tidy drawer of office supplies

There are three drawers, and this is the first one. The second one was filled with paper pads and post-it notes. How many does one person need? So I sorted out some of that, and I need to finish today because seriously? I only need a few. The rest can be used by a teacher? Or the students in the classes. I hope so. 

Speaking of sorting and culling, I popped into the local thrift store yesterday. They have a drop-off center in the back and must sort it right there. There are only partial walls between the store and the sorting area, and I swear they have a MASSIVE bin where they stand and break glass. Every time I walk in, they are sorting glass and smashing LOTS! I'd love to peek around the corner, but you can't see - trust me - I tried!

I understand they may receive dishes with chips (can't sell those), but what else are they smashing? Does anyone have thoughts on that? 

Most of that orange yarn is still there. The turnover in this store is CRAZY, or they are diligent about its time on the shelf and turf stuff. NO -- they can't do that, as I've seen some puzzles on the shelf for a few weeks. 

The orange yarn is still there

So, Miss Murphy was off to the vet to get her shots and annual check-ups. The minute we walked in, she had to bark. Not constantly, but enough to be annoying. And all the while, her tail is going a mile a minute, so she's not unhappy. Quite the contrary - this is her way of being part of the conversation. 

And, of course, she wouldn't sit still on the scale when we arrived, but once we were getting ready to leave, she sat there and wouldn't get off. 

MOM - I lost weight! 

By the way, losing the half kilo was commented on, and the vet was happy because Murphy is a porker! She needs to lose more weight, but at least it didn't go UP! How that dog can be overweight is beyond me. She doesn't eat lots - well, she would if we let her. And she's pretty active! But she is solid, so the weight is muscle, not fat! 

When she entered the exam room, she was still happily letting everyone know she was there. Again, it's not annoying, but she doesn't need to bark at everything. MOM -- I need to bark! And every walk, we have barking incidents -- some days - it's almost constant, and other days, only a handful. 

We got a "lecture" from the vet on her barking behavior. It wasn't a lecture per se, but perhaps she was trying to tell us that barking that much wasn't good. We got a handout about barking. 

Murphy has some reading to do

She hasn't been groomed in years because the groomers can't handle her constant barking. The vet thinks it's because she is attention seeking - yep --- that's right, and the other half of the time, it's because she sees something and NEEDS to get it! She's just a very vocal girl. 

In the afternoon, I needed to find a specific piece of paper, so an explosion across the kitchen happened with the paperwork, but I found the paper, and that's all that counts. I did a bit more sorting, which I'll finish this morning. 

Using the kitchen to sort paper

I made it to Studio B to work, but much later than initially planned. I swear this looks like a loaf of something! But these brown scraps didn't make the cut for my current brown scrappy quilt. 

Brown scraps are all neat and sorted

I currently have three buckets of brown scraps. The one on the right where the pieces are too small for the project. The middle one is in for the browns that don't work, and the one on the left is the one I'm cutting from. 

My brown scrap bins

And I managed to get my two sets of flying geese completed. Plus, I'm making progress on my 365-day quilt. I now have TWO blocks done, and the next set of blocks is a little easier to sew and has a LOT fewer pieces, so that's a bonus. 

Flying geese units

I went to the grocery store yesterday to look in the frozen section for the pain au chocolate, and I had no luck. I suppose I could have asked. I see them online. I don't need them, anyway, but I'm curious about them. 

I have a couple of errands to do today - at least one by car, and I have a few things to finish tidying up so I can get rid of the boxes of stuff that are hanging out in the kitchen. I swear this decluttering business is hard work. Not physically so much, but mentally. And then there is the business of getting rid of what is still good. I'm slowly working through the mess -- I cannot imagine someone having to do this within a limited time frame. It's just way overwhelming. 

But I'm seeing the light about what is valuable and what is not. I read somewhere the other day that the things we value today will no longer be valuable when we are gone. And there is a LOT of stuff in this office that is not really of any value to me -- so definitely NOT of value to anyone else. And I'm talking paperwork. So -- I almost feel like I should grab a box of paper and start tossing! But I still have to clear that desktop! But before I do that, I must deal with all the stuff in boxes on the kitchen table. Time!!!! I need more time!!! 

I'm just thrilled that we are taking responsibility for our mess and not planning to leave this for M to deal with. It's a good learning experience. 

It's not so much that we have hoarding tendencies; it's more that the stuff just creeps into your life, and you don't see it. How many pads of paper does one person need? Then you start to sort, and it becomes the elephant in the room. I'm sure this happens to everyone. You get a freebie from somewhere and then another, or you get stocking stuffers. 

The point is that we have ZERO use for most of what we get as freebies or little things here and there. They become clutter. I used to be happy to receive all that stuff, but NOW? No, thank you!

Well, I'm off to start the day, and let's see where it goes. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!