Search This Blog

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Cleaning Bug

Photo Courtesy of marthastewart.com
I am queen of procrastination! I confess! It's been - what? - five, six months since I blogged. I suppose I have no excuse as I have had no work or classes for the summer and have just been sitting on my ample bum doing nothing of value. Although I am probably being a little too harsh on myself... I have enjoyed events with friends and even made a little headway on a novel I haven't worked on since I was fifteen. Granted - it needs a lot of work and revision since I have grown and changed, but the basis is there - it's a start. Anyway, I have been yo-yo-ing between inspiration and complete lack of motivation, which accounts for the long interruption between blogs.

The past few days I have been completely waylaid by allergies! Ahhhh! Nasty things, really! Congestion, sore throat, itchy eyes, and not to even mention the exhaustion (at least for me). Of course, it probably doesn't help that my husband and I added another pet to our family (temporarily watching him for my sister), a small but fluffy thing that seems to do nothing but eat, sleep, crap, and shed long white hair all over my dark furniture! Granted it's not his fault, but it doesn't help my predicament.

Amidst the sneezing I caught the Cleaning Bug and decided to tackle our second bedroom (office/craft room) closet. What a challenge! I am seriously evaluating the small hoard of baubles and unused craft objects that have been passed down or that I have acquired, sitting there waiting to be used on some project or other. I keep forgetting they are there or what project I had in mind for them in the first place! Perhaps I have subconsciously held onto them as long as I have because I felt like the full drawers of bits and pieces made me a crafter/artist - which is just absurd. So I am trying to prioritize my projects and discard unfinished/un-started ones - I figure these materials would be much better in the hands of someone who will use them and am therefore going to donate to my local thrift store or post something on Craigslist. I have not yet finished the closet, but I already feel as if a weight has been lifted. I think next I shall start on my kitchen (again) and then my clothes closet (which has been needing some rotation and thinning). I have also taken a leaf out of Bea Johnson's blog and will be donating most of our books to the local library (which I have not yet stepped foot into and it is apparently right across the street!). I love to read, but honestly I have hardly touched my books and I find it much easier to read on the computer (since font can be enlarged and books can be awkward to hold after long periods of time, etc.) and we have been considering investing in a Nook so as to cut down on clutter. Also, and I have not yet brought this up to my husband, but we have an extensive DVD collection - which I am now realizing only 1/6 of which gets watched...I am going to propose that we sell those DVDs that hardly get watched since we have Netflix and can rent them anytime we get the urge to re-watch a movie. I think this would save space and be a valuable use of our money and time.

I look around our house and I see many non-functioning items and art pieces that I have no personal attachment to. Yet I still have this...fear/hesitation, I guess...of letting them go. What will I put in that place then, I ask myself? Can I find something functioning that replaces this aesthetically? I think this will be an interesting way to get the creative juices flowing, challenging but fun!


'Til next time, Dear Reader,

~*Nicole