I had been speaking with someone the previous day and they're also in the process of tidying up - sorting, purging, whatever you want to call it. Their goal is one hour a day.
I think that's a great idea as I would find an entire day too stressing. Half a day - a couple of hours is about all I can handle. Then I get bored. But what a feeling to actually make that happen.
So I spent the morning sorting and purging. Mostly purging as the boxes of stuff that I tackled came from the garage - they had gotten wet. It would appear that we have a leak in the garage roof (we've known for a while) and these boxes which were to be sorted got wet. The boxes had been moved from the leak area a while back, but some of the stuff was still wet. Oh - a fun morning to say the least.
Most of the stuff is gone - there are a couple of small boxes to deal with next week and then a bit more stuff that was on the kitchen table. Here's what happened yesterday.
I started with the mass of pens and pencils that have accumulated over the years. I found a box and put all the extra pens, pencils, eraser, markers, etc. that we don't want. Yes - I know that some of the pens probably don't work. I figure that some kid at the local school can have fun messing around with the box and sharpening the pencils. Yes - I covered the hold in the bottom left of the photo so the pens don't fall out.
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| Box of writing implements that will be donated |
Oh my - I found my Cross pen and pencil set. I remember how coveted those sets were when I was just starting out in the business world. A status symbol. If you had the silver, you weren't quite as good as if you had the gold. Never mind - they are in the box. I didn't even have to hold them in my hand and ask if they gave me joy - I just tossed them in after I took the picture.
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| Cross pen set - gone |
This is the holder for pens in the kitchen drawer. Oh yes - see how tidy that junk drawer is? Everything is sorted and in a small container. At least now when I want a pen, I can find one. Before it was filled with writing things - but no pens.
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| Writing implements in the kitchen drawer |
And this is what's in my desk drawer in the office. There are some markers and a few pens and pencils. I certainly do not need more than that. Matter of fact, I think there are boxes of brand new pens in the bottom drawer. Oh yes - just checked - SEVEN boxes of pens and one box of pencils. Seriously??? I have put six of the boxes of pens in the giveaway box and kept one of the boxes of pens and the pencil box.
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| Writing implements in my desk drawer |
This little container was overflowing with erasers. I kept three and the rest are gone.
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| Erasers in the desk drawer |
Good grief - I even found the touch-up paint pens from the last two cars that I've had. Those are gone in the box that will go to the garbage depot along with all the other bits of paint, thinner and other caustic products that I'm amassing.
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| Touch-up pens for old cars |
I can't wait to get through this round which will mostly focus on the office. Once that mess is cleaned up, then it's going to be starting all over again and keep paring down until - well - until there's nothing left. OK - I might want to keep a few things.
I think I'm going to schedule Wednesday AM as my tidy up day. It seems to work for me and I'm happy as a clam doing it.
Then it was onto the boxes in the garage. I had brought them into the laundry room and seeing them the day before and the condition they were in, I think that overwhelmed me. But I took ONE at a time as I had promised myself I would do. Here's the first one.
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| A box of junk from the garage |
Obviously, there was mold on some of the stuff. So without much thought or care in the world, that stuff got tossed. I did hold back a few things that I want to keep. And I found some hand dyed fabric samples that had NOT run. They were dampish but OK. A wee bit musty smelling and I might just toss them all in the wash and see what happens.
Of course, I had a little helper. I could see Miss Murphy busy with something at the front door. Oh gosh - this pin must have dropped on the floor and she took it upon herself to investigate. Now can you tell me how she managed to get the backing off?? There's a sharp post on the back of the front part. And we're lucky that she didn't swallow the darn thing. Oh, Murphy!!!!
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| A casualty of Murphy's curiosity |
There was one box that must have sat on the floor in the garage. It was disgusting. Hmm - what's in the box? A bunch of dampish papers all dealing with exercise and nutrition. All the health programs that I've enrolled in over the years. An ENTIRE box. I guess I've been searching for years for some amazing solution to weight loss and healthy eating. All I needed was to learn to control what I eat!!!
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| Piles of dampish paper for nutrition and exercise |
I found these old magazines - Nutrition Action - probably never read. And tons of other handouts all related to eating healthy. Exercise plans - never done!
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| More handouts and magazines |
And this is how our food used to be analyzed before there were apps like MyFitnessPal. Holy!!!!! I did keep a couple of papers so I could check the personal information (mostly weight related). The rest is in the recycling box. Which is almost full! I'll browse the papers, take a note or two and then that small handful of papers will also get tossed.
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| The old way to analyze what we were eating |
There's good news though - I found something for Ronda. She has been complaining about the new Canada's food guide and said how much better the previous guide was. She didn't have a copy. Well, guess what? I found a copy!!!!
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| Canada's Food Guide |
It folds open and gives you the portions depending on your age and gender.
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| The inside of the OLD Canada's Food Guide |
It was in good shape and not wet so I've saved that for her. Even better - I found the PREVIOUS version of Canada's Food Guide!!! TWO copies!!!! I think I saved one copy for her and tossed the other one. She can do what she wants with them.
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| Two copies of the much older Canada's Food Guide |
It was a great day and very little went in the giveaway pile. Mostly garbage or recycling, but it felt good. What was even better is that it wasn't that painful to toss that stuff. I've hung onto it for years, obviously didn't treasure or need it so it was easy to say good-bye. That's going to help enormously when I hit the boxes of paper that are stored in the office. I'm hoping that it's going to be easy to toss entire boxes of paper. But baby steps - we're making a dent and if I can keep at it once a week, I'll be happy.
Seriously - I wish I knew (or felt) like I do now - but 20 years ago. There was no reason for most of this stuff to accumulate. Oh, how I wish that I had spent time showing my kid how to do the sorting/purging thing. Hey KIDDO -- think about it - get good habits now with your stuff or you'll be in a mess when you're older.
And then to call the kettle black - look at the studio! It's a disaster. But I'm working here so it's all good. I think I worked on all four sewing machines in the studio yesterday! I like the machine setup.
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| A working studio |
I had to do some embroidery. Oh - wait until you see what I made. I wasn't sure that there was going to be room to do embroidery on that narrow desktop. I had a few inches to spare, but you can bet that I watched that hoop until I knew it had cleared the highest point! Yep - that means that I'm going to keep that room as my working studio. The basement studio will be for classes and for storage. I can still work there if I want as once it all gets back in order, there's a sewing machine, cutting table and ironing board down there.
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| The hoop has enough room to function on the narrow desktop |
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| Two embroidery machines |
I need to get to the long arm today. I have a quilt loaded and it's a custom one. I MUST get it done by tomorrow so I can move on. I have a couple more that I want to get done this month and this month is rapidly moving along.
I went for a walk in the afternoon yesterday. I'll be so glad when the sidewalks are completely free of ice. There are just little pockets left, but it means you have to be on your toes. I love my walks in the afternoon. Wish I could fit it in every day. The library is a good destination when I don't have an errand. I dropped off a couple of books yesterday, browsed through some magazines and then came back home.
Here are a couple of links for you to peruse this morning. The first one threw me for a loop. F+W Media (the people who publish Quiltmaker, McCalls, Quilting Arts, and many more) has filed for bankruptcy. YES -- we all know that the magazine industry is in trouble. Many have been revamping what they do. F+W Media did make moves, but not the right ones. Not sure what it means for me. I'm listed as one of the creditors on the creditor list. For the moment, it's life as usual.
I think I have four quilts that have been accepted and need to be made and there are about 2 or maybe 3 that are waiting to be published. Going to be interesting to see how they dig themselves out of this mess. What does it mean for those with subscriptions? Who knows?
The second link is a warning to anyone who uses an older sewing machine. This can be a very dangerous situation. Please read this carefully. One of my friends had a similar situation. She came home to find smoke in their house because of an older sewing machine. She's now got a new power cord, surge protectors and power bars that you can control the outlets.
On that note, I'm out of here!!!! Paperwork today! Oh - I almost wish it was Wednesday when I could do the tidying up!
Have a super day!!!!
Ciao!!!
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