20 February, 2011

Mid-February Mural-ing

This month I've been working on cleaning out a lot of the clutter that has taken up residence in the midst of things that are actually useful--specifically, old products that have been hanging around in my bathroom and a bedroom drawer.  In a frenzy of ditching, I got rid of some old moisturizer, a mostly-empty container of Tummy Butter from my pregnancy (excellent stuff, but gone a little dry to be keeping around), and thirteen other assorted toiletry and cosmetic items--and that's just scratching the surface!  If I keep this focus up for another week or two, I'll have a much tidier bathroom and bedroom.  (Sherry and I have chatted and decided that we can "get ahead" on items, as long as we maintain an average of one item per day--which worked well for me this week, as I was away for a few days to visit and to get paint for...

MURALS!

I've been wanting to do some work in the nursery for a while; decorating it kind of got rolled in with decorating the rest of the house, since we were moving in just about a month before the baby was due, so I never really felt like it got finished to a point that satisfied me.  We're planning to move the crib in there soon (I think I can finally stand to let it go out of our room *sigh*), so I would like to have the room looking nice and inviting.  I decided I'd like to paint some jungle animals on the walls to match our crib set and curtains, and so this weekend Sherry, her son and daughter, and our niece came down to work on the project with me.   With the help of an overhead projector borrowed from my husband's school, we managed to get all the animals drawn on the walls pretty quickly and got started on the painting.  We'll need another weekend to finish things up, but so far they look great! 

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Posted by Krista at Sunday, February 20, 2011 0 comments

16 February, 2011

Ditch Report -- Early February

This time I do have a pretty detailed list. I'm actually 'way ahead for the month in terms of numbers of items ditched. Krista and I haven't discussed whether it's actually permissible to "get ahead" or if finding one item per day is de rigeur. We'll have to have a chat about that. This list could mean I can take the rest of the month off!

So anyway, another pass through drawers and closets has netted me the following ditches:

> five pairs of sandals
> one pair of jeans
> one string of beads
> two shirts
> one sweater
> one skirt

I'm using a combination of how-long-since-I've-worn-it and how-much-do-I-like-it, with a smidgen of how-well-does-it-fit thrown in to make my decisions.

AND...I started a job which is somewhat painful but must be done. I began culling some books. They are seriously taking over the house and there are many which I won't read again and don't think I need to keep for lending purposes. So the books-to-go box now has twenty-eight books in it. Eep!
If you see something you want, let me know quickly!
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Posted by Sherry at Wednesday, February 16, 2011 0 comments
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09 February, 2011

Getting Focused

I had thought I would choose a de-cluttering focus area to concentrate on each month. Maybe a room in the house, maybe a particular type of clutter. For February I was looking at either the kitchen or my office.

However, I'm rethinking that plan and considering a more free-form decluttering process. So far this month I've been all over the place. Some old papers from my office, a shirt I'm tired of, a half-finished knitting project that's beyond salvaging, etc. I see it, I know it has to go, so it goes. I think this is going to work better for me. Also, I don't know if I'm going to be as particular as Krista in detailing every item here. :) (But I will be ditching something every day.)

However, my most notable ditch this week was an unfinished sewing project that has been taking up space in my sewing room for--are you ready for this?--over seventeen years!

It was a skirt, jacket, and blouse that date back to my law practice days. It would have been awesome (although we wouldn't have said "awesome" then LOL)--really pretty dark teal wool and a coordinating silky blouse. The blouse was partially finished, but the skirt and jacket were only cut out. The pattern pieces were still pinned on to the fabric and many of the pins were rusty.

Many times over the years I've looked at this huge bag of fabric (usually when moving it out of my way to get to something else) and thought that someday I'd finish it, but yesterday I considered it with a critical eye. Let's face it, we're talking almost twenty years ago and styles have changed, even if I were still working as a lawyer. And those shoulder pads just don't work anymore, anywhere. :) So I finally let it go. What a relief!

On the stitching side, I did a quick project yesterday. I had found this great machine embroidery pattern at Urban Threads a while back, and thought it would look great on a t-shirt. I picked up one for $5.99. Yesterday I headed to Mom's and used her machine to stitch out the design, just in time to wear to writing group tonight. If you can't read it in the picture, it's the beginning of Poe's The Raven in--you guessed it--a raven. :)
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Posted by Sherry at Wednesday, February 09, 2011 1 comments
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08 February, 2011

This week's ditchings

Whew!  The first week of February has been busy, and Baby and I spent about half of it at Mom's.  We went so that Sherry and I could work on a project together...but more about that in another post.  Despite being away and spending time cleaning for a playgroup meeting at my house (scheduled for today, postponed due to weather...of course, since I baked in preparation!), I managed to ditch the requisite number of things.  Here goes:
* four partly-used tubes of lanolin from the early days of nursing (I haven't needed it in months, and I realized that by the time I have another baby, I'll definitely want to buy a new supply!)
* two pajama shirts that were really too old and ratty to even sleep in anymore
* a large plastic hamper (replaced with a smaller, more suitable cloth one--the plastic one will be used this summer to hold bags for vegetables at my in-laws' farm)
* some old fitness magazines and assorted papers
* some diaper creams that we found ineffective and so didn't use
* a mostly-used container of Tummy Butter from my pregnancy (this stuff was amazing!)
* some old photo albums that had lost their stickiness, so photos were falling out
* a box of nursing pads that I had found too bulky for comfort
* some outdated medications

Hurrah!  Clutter: 0  Krista: 9
(Also, I finished reading All Clear by Connie Willis--an exhausting but excellent read!)
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Posted by Krista at Tuesday, February 08, 2011 0 comments
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02 February, 2011

The Beginning

Krista and I often find ourselves inadvertently on the same mental wavelength. This project was not really collaboratively planned--I was at my house, tackling clutter and getting back to some creative projects, and ninety-odd kilometers away, she was at her house, resolving to--you guessed it--clear out some clutter and get back to some creative projects.

Meanwhile, on a different mind track, I was thinking about taking on a year-long blogging project. Why? I have no idea. I have plenty of other projects on the go right now. However, I seem to do a lot of things because "it seemed like a good idea at the time." ** I did not, however, have a good idea of *what* I should blog about for a year.

Then it hits me, when we're talking one day--we should do the blog thing together. Half the work and twice the fun! Fast-forward through a few conversations and we arrive at this blog.

Although January was well underway by the time we'd finalized the plan, I knew I had already met the monthly goal. My clutter-clearing focus in January was clothing: mine, and my kids'. In tackling my own overstuffed closet I considered whether the item fit the way I liked, how long it was (adjusting for seasons) since I'd worn it, how much I liked the item, whether the thought of wearing it was a pleasant one, and whether I had more than one similar item that perhaps I liked better. Although I didn't count them, I know I culled at least one thing for each day of the month.

In addition, I did some de-cluttering in the kitchen as we were installing a new cupboard and the timing was right. It seems there are always too many things--that don't get used--in the kitchen cupboards.

On the "Stitch" side of the equation, I really was stitching. I knitted up a pair of armwarmers for myself from various leftover yarns. I am not an expert knitter, and this project presented a bit of a challenge for me, since the yarns were various weights and I had to do a lot of (gulp) math to try and figure out when I should increase, decrease, and make adjustments. In the end, though, they turned out to be very satisfactory, and I'm almost through a similar pair that my daughter requested when she saw mine.

I haven't decided on a February focus yet, although I've tossed some things from my office just to keep up. I think it will be either office or kitchen.


** Exhibit A: my law career.
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Posted by Sherry at Wednesday, February 02, 2011 0 comments
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