The view out my window this morning… snow … in… Los Angeles! Technically, once I got dressed and went outside… hail. Lots of tiny little balls in drifts reminding me of a story my husband tells about the bean bag chair that ripped open on the escalator at Macy’s…
Not much quilting going on this week, working on my newsletter and a special program I am very, very excited about. I’ll be telling you all about it soon. Hint: if you have any unfinished projects you’re going to want to play along.
I have been making progress on my 2021 pet project, to Konmari my house. I am reasonably organized and my home usually looks neat and clean (my studio on the other hand…) however having lived in this house for 20 years quite a bit of “stuff” has just stuck around. Too many clothes I never wear in the closet, books I’ll never read again (or ever read once) on the bookshelves, cosmetics (especially samples) clogging up drawers. In June after so many weeks at home I started going through drawers and my closet(s) discarding. Then I listened to Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I was aware of the meme - “spark joy” has been everywhere and I watched the Netflix show, unable to quite get the “Konmari method”, then I listened to the audiobook….3 times, maybe 4. With that deeper understanding in place, I begin to TIDY.
my books from one bookcase
These are being donated, close to half…
Books (of which this is only the beginning) are not the only things I’ve been “tidying”. Marie recommends you start with clothing “take everything out of the closet and drawers, all clothing, and place it in one pile”.
my pile…and there was more on the floor
Even with a car load of clothing donated from my closet in June there was still so much more to let go of. The photo of my clothes pile above was New Years Day. Now all my clothes fit in 1 closet!
With hundreds more books and 1000’s of magazines and papers to continue to TIDY the “paper” step will take me awhile yet. Paper is my downfall, I keep way too much, I hate to file, I delay decisions. A vision of life without paper clutter, one where I can find what I need easily without digging through piles has me fueled and moving forward. I would love to move more quickly on this step, but we are having the carpet in our family room replaced with a waterproof wood look flooring. As anyone familiar with Murphy’s law of home improvements which states, “Any and all home improvements will require a minimum of 3 other home improvements, and at least 1 unplanned, “while you’re at it” task or repair”. I am currently required to repaint said room, better to have the old carpet as drop cloth and paint now, than risk paint spatters on the new floors…or so the theory goes. If you are going to put in new flooring, you ought to paint the room, if you’re going to paint the room, you ought to have the old wall a/c unit (upgraded to central air) taken out and the wall patched, (inside and outside), if you’re having the wall patched, you ought to have the other vents patched (same central air upgrade, just not done back then) which now means there are patches in almost every room in the house, why….? because of “WHILE YOU”RE AT IT”!!!!