Out With the Old ...

It's fall, and it's time to change out the closets. This means that I have to take all the summer clothing out of the closets and drawers, store them properly, and take out the winter clothing. Stuff that doesn't fit any more is boxed up and taken to charities, given away to people who can use them, or thrown out. Sometimes there is a bit of alteration required. For some reason the waistbands tend to shrink over the summer.

I also tend to find "stuff" that has accumulated that we no longer need. Since I still teach part time, I find papers and magazines to be recycled, pencils and pens that no longer work, books ready to donate to library or writing group, and other things. It's a busy time.

My kids tell me that I hang on to things I no longer need. Maybe so, but I think a lot of the accumulation stems from the fact that my days are very busy and often I'm too tired to deal with the hassle of deciding what happens to each item. When I come home, it's all I can do to put on a pot of decaf coffee, sit down and unwind. It seems when I lie down, exhausted, my mind doesn't want to slow down and I can't sleep. So the next morning I wake up exhausted, and we start all over.

But twice a year I manage to make time to dig around and sort through as much as I can stand. I avoid it like the plague the rest of the year, but it’s a necessary evil. Sometimes I find things that remind me of happy times, and I relieve them a little, like the little bow and arrow set my daughter insisted on purchasing at the Renaissance Fair. Other times I shake my head and wonder what possessed me to spend my time and money on an item, like the striped sweater from Old Navy. Both are in boxes, ready to go to go somewhere else. I have one closet done, several more to go. I can do this.

Otherwise, where will I put all my new stuff?

Focus Weekends

Last weekend I spent two and a half days at a bed and breakfast with fifteen other writers. We all brought our laptops and lots of food, and spent the weekend doing what is sometimes difficult in our hectic lives – writing. Most of us got a lot done. I love weekends like that. Scrapbooking weekends are also great fun – you spend the time with other people who are working on the same type of thing, you share stories about your lives, you share ideas, and sometimes supplies, and you make progress on your projects.

It seems that weekends centered on a single endeavor seem to make visible results. So I thought maybe I should set up all my weekends that way. Even if I’m at home, I can declare it to be the time for one of my interests. Here's a possible schedule:

Weekend #1: Writing. I do nothing but write, eat and sleep. Whenever I sit down at my laptop I need to add at least one page to one of my manuscripts. Since my laptop is open all the time, the word count should increase greatly.

Weekend #2: Scrapbooking. I can set up my 6 foot folding table in an extra room and put out my scrapbooking projects on it. And whenever I get up from working on my computer, I can sit down and work on my scrapbooks.

Weekend #3: Sewing. On the same 6 foot table, I set up my sewing machine and/or serger. I use the kitchen table to cut fabric, and then I sew, sew, sew. The grandbaby will be here before I know it, and he/she will need clothes, bibs, blankets, etc. Gotta get going on all those.

Weekend #4: Cleaning. This is the one I hate the most, so I'm saving it for last. The 6 foot table gets folded up, the laptop is closed except for doing necessary school work and I get busy organizing some area of the house. My kids have threatened to put me on "Hoarding: Buried Alive" if I don't get things put away, given away, or used up. I'd rather use it up, so I need to get a lot done on Weekend #3 in order to make progress during Weekend #4.

I think maybe I'll give this a try starting next month. That gives me the week to get things set up. I can't be too rigid on this, of course, because family obligations come first. But maybe if I limit my focus on weekends, I can get some more progress done on things.

Wish me luck.

Organization of My Mess, Part Two

So I think I have most of my daughter's stuff out of the one room. It's stacked in the living room, since she hasn't been here. She'll probably tell me to toss it all. I'll have to deal with that when the time comes - or maybe bring it to Goodwill. I even got ambitious and emptied her stuff out of the bathroom. I came up with all kinds of makeup, which she told me to toss, and a bunch of medications, which I tossed right away. I now have lots of drawer space in the bathroom!

Now I have to organize my own stuff. I have a bunch of scrapbooking stuff. That will go in the large file cabinet in the other bedroom. Now I have all kinds of fabric to sort. Most of that should probably go in the basement, in the large vertical files. But it's so nice to have it handy when I have the chance to work on it!

I've got some really pretty fabric that will make nice skirts. Last week I got a pattern I'd like to use to make the skirts with. And I've got some pretty Asian-inspired fabric to use for quilting. And there's a bunch of heavy-duty canvas that I started making tote bags with. But I've had to put my sewing and crafting on hold while I attempt to organize. By the time I’m done I’ll either forget about my skirt and bag and quilt projects, or I won’t know where I put them. And that makes me unhappy.

But in order to make my children happy, and keep them away from my stuff, I have to be unhappy and organize it. I guess that’s the way it goes. They seem to think if it’s organized, I’ll be happier. Okay, maybe eventually. I just hope they let me keep my laptop out.

Maybe I’ll hide it in one of the bathroom drawers I just emptied out.

Needle in a Haystack

A friend of mine recently became a grandmother for the first time. It’s definitely a major milestone for her and she is ecstatic. I decided to mark the occasion by making a simple cross-stitch project that I found on the internet. It’s a sign to be hung on a doorknob with a design that says: “Shhh … (insert name) is sleeping.” No specific colors are given, so I figured I’d do it in various shades of pink, in honor of the new granddaughter.

It’s been a while since I’ve done any cross-stitching. I found the fabric and embroidery floss easily enough, but for some reason I couldn’t find a needle. There are dozens of needles in this house, every size and type needed for my sewing machine and serger, curved and straight, metal and plastic, pointed and blunt – but no cross-stitch needle. I dug through every drawer and under almost every piece of furniture. No needle. If I were a logical person, I would have run to a craft store and bought one, but a) I was short on cash, b) I was really busy, and c) why would I spend money on something I know I already have? So I put the project on hold and went to work on something else. After all, the baby will be taking naps for a while – unlike my own children, who grew up overnight.

So I gave up looking for the needle, and I started packing for a weekend trip. I unearthed a suitcase I had used for a trip in April. When I opened it up, I found an old cross-stitch project – with two needles in it! Fortunately, my friend’s granddaughter is still a baby – and I still have the fabric and floss. Wish all my “lost” objects could be found so quickly!

It seems the things I can’t find always turn up when I stop looking for them. Is it a conspiracy? Perhaps. Maybe all the items in my house like to take turns driving me crazy by hiding when they know they’re wanted, and then appearing when I’m no longer looking. I’m sure my husband wouldn’t appreciate being compared to a “lost item”, but he did turn up when I stopped worrying about finding my soul mate. I wonder if the strategy works for finding things like my youthful figure, and oh yeah - my memory?