Demolition time

 Oh my -- we got out the hammers and crowbars yesterday, and this is what happened. 

We demolished the Exit Game Advent Calendar

The EXIT Game Advent Calendar is no more! We were searching for the answer to the final puzzle. I swear I knew where it was, which involved removing the game's " liner " from the outer box. OH -- all I saw were some tags you could cut and use for Christmas gifts. That wasn't it. 

Back to square one. That's what I love about this game- you think you're on the right track, yet you are not. So, the game fell apart once it was removed from the box. We were looking for something, but what? No clue. There were two clues to follow. DH spotted them, but what to do with them. 

He tried to reassemble the box, and I took it from him and took it apart again! Then, as I tried to reassemble the box, I heard something! WAIT -- what's this? And I found the gift! 

The "gift" from the Advent Calendar

But how did the clue relate to what I found? EVERYTHING from the box was now strewn across the table, and we were contemplating the mess; then he shouted out what the clue referred to. So yes, we got the final puzzle, even if we had to work backward to get it! 

What an absolutely fun thing to do. Again, if you are not already into puzzles, you will NOT like this. I've been doing puzzles since I was a kid. And you know you like puzzles when you take very little entertainment with you on a 30-day hike in Spain, but you have some Suduko with you! And you need to find an eraser because something wasn't working! I didn't even take a book -- I ripped out a few pages and took only those!

When M was here, she and I started a small one with only 10 puzzles, and we were halfway through, so finishing that one will be next. Then, we decide where to go from there. 

What is disturbing is that last night, a friend posted that someone purchased one of these games from my favorite online store, and it was a knockoff. The box looked the same, but the inside of each room was empty. The clue cards had a one-line sentence on them. They have complained -- so beware!!! That is NOT the version you want. That's sad. 

Well, true to my word, I looked at a drawer in the kitchen. See how neat and tidy this drawer is, and I haven't even touched it. 

An already tidy drawer

I had an organizing spree in the kitchen years ago, and we got rid of HALF of the contents of the kitchen cabinets. Yep -- stuff sat on tables in the living room for months as I sorted and cleaned. It was a HUGE job. But now, when I go through the cupboards again, it will be easy. 

Honestly, I expected to open that drawer and close it up again. But I didn't. Even though that looked neat and tidy, there was WAY TOO MUCH stuff in there and some junk. 

So I emptied everything out and wiped down the drawer. 

The drawer needs to be wiped down

Here is all the stuff that was in the drawer. Not a lot, but................

The contents of the drawer

This is what the drawer looks like now. I eliminated many of the pads of paper - how much paper does one household need? Those little notepads are the worst. They collect and multiply worse than rabbits. The elastics went into the office drawer, as did one eraser. No sense in having stuff like that in multiple places when I would go to the office drawer to find those items. I added two pens as there were no pens in the drawer. 

The after of the drawer cleaning

Now that's a clean drawer. I did not tackle another as that took me a few minutes longer than I thought it would, and I needed to get to the computer. 

Two more distribution lists have been created! So, if you are interested in the Out of the Box project OR the Digital Cutter with Applique and did NOT get an e-mail from me yesterday, let me know. 

More lists will be created today. Five lists remain to be created, and those are a manageable size. 

I completed the first two months of homework for the Heartfelt Sampler quilt. It didn't take long, but it still took time. There are three more block sets to complete, and I still need to cut those blocks out. Then I still have to prep the homework for this month! I'm still one month behind!

Homework for Heartfelt Sampler

Oh yes --- there was ONE hiccup with the Advent Calendar. There was a small disc with an emoji face that wasn't where it was supposed to be. When I demolished the box, it popped out somewhere. 

The missing emoji

I did a lot of prepping for my applique class with Thimbles and Things this weekend, and I had been looking for a set of applique tools. Could I think where they were? So I looked in the box with applique stuff - not there. I even checked one project box in the event it was there. Not there either. 

Then I looked where I should have looked in the first place - the bag with all the applique PREP tools. And there they were! To prevent the various tools from being scattered in the bag, I placed them all in the same bag, so when I opened the CLEAR plastic bag, I saw the missing tools. I guess I was thinking the packaging was larger! 

So all the sorting and decluttering is working - I need to trust the system more. Those tools were where they were supposed to be; I just needed to look more carefully!!!

While I was reading after dinner, of course, I had entertainment. In case you think Murphy is the instigator, Lexi was pretty persistent. She wanted someone to play with, and at first, Murphy wasn't taking up the offer, as she was lying quietly on the dog bed. Lexi then took her dance into DH's office, and he was busy. So she returned to Murphy, and finally, Murphy got up to play. 

I can't help laughing when I watch them. They are hilarious and look and sound like ferocious beasts ready to rip each other's throats out. 

Mom -- it's OK -- I'm letting her look like she's winning!

Well, I'm off to spin class this morning and then computer work and more prep - I need to get that applique presentation done today as I have more homework to prep on Thursday and Friday for a different class. 

I hope you have picked ONE space in your house to declutter. What is it? Was it as easy to deal with as my drawer was? Don't hate me on that one -- I've worked my butt off to get to that point! And see -- the decluttering never ends! You just start all over again, and each time, what you thought was precious the first time is no longer precious! 

On that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!