Parting...

It has been a weekend of letting go.

In the spirit of Fifty Things I had a garage sale. I have been pulling items and tossing them in the garage with everything that didn't sell at last year's sale. Again my Stepmother and Dad came out to help. She's a whiz at organizing these things and did all the pricing for me. But there was a big difference in this year's sale. I was determined that what was left wasn't coming back in the house. A few things did. My parents left a few things that wouldn't fit in their car, to pick up when they return. There is a pile leaving the house when the Geek-boy can make use of a larger vehicle. I have a small collection that is going to get posted for sale on Craigslist. The rest??? I posted a Curb Alert on Craigslist saying anything left today was going to Goodwill. And lo and behold today it is all gone. And there is room in my garage. And my basement. And the clean-out isn't done yet.

But I had to endure an even bigger episode of letting go. My parents weren't here solely to help with the garage sale. They had an agenda. Little Dude has made a big step into becoming a Big Boy; his first trip without Mom or Dad. He's off visiting the Grandparents for the week. I am back on contract at work and he's not in school yet so this is a big help. He spent three days at work with me and I love him, but he was driving me nuts. When first we broached the subject he said he didn't want to go without us. Gradually he has gotten used to the idea. First he thought he could go for a day or two. Then for a few weeks he thought three days might be nice. Lately it has been five days. Which is good because that is how long he will be gone. He'll also be spending time with my mother and little brother while gone.

I didn't cry. I almost cried, but I didn't. The person who is having the hardest time is Little Miss. Within two hours of him leaving she began asking where he was and when he was coming back. In fact, in the morning she stated that he couldn't leave because she loved him. (Total Awwwww moment) And when he was getting into the car and we were saying goodbye guess who came out of the house wheeling her suitcase behind her expecting to climb in the car beside him. It will be an interesting week.

I've already noticed that the house is much quieter.

But we are not resting on our laurels while he is gone. Within two hours we had cleared out much of his room and I was painting the walls. The color is the same; I've just been staring at it for the last year thinking it really needed a third coat.

 And now it does. We are moving into Phase II of the Super Hero Room Makeover. The walls are the blue he picked out of the swatch book. The Scenic in me is twitchy about the straight color on the walls. I can't just roll some color on and let it be. Of course not! Why would I do that? The finish on the walls is an eggshell. I'm thinking of doing some sort of pattern in a glaze, no color change just something in a different sheen. I just don't know what to do yet. We're considering  making it look like comic panels or doing the 'kapow' bubbles. You know these:

I'm hoping inspiration will strike me in the night.I'm working on some panels for the walls with various characters on them. Ultimately I'd love to have them done and up before he gets back. His  loft bed won't be done before then. It's still in the drafting stage. The Geek-boy was pricing the lumber today.


I also tackled the playroom/mancave. The Geek-boy hung as much drywall as the intrusive Sewer-Pipe-That-Must-Be-Moved will allow. I finally convinced him that I should just mud what I can and do the rest when it is up. So after Little Miss went to bed it went from this:

 to this.

 

I know. So exciting. But it is progress. And progress is good. 

And now I'm going to fall asleep reading Game of Thrones.

Plugging back in

Oh hello.

I finished my big painting project before the end of my contract (barely) and then I decided to unplug for a while. I just needed a break.

And take one I did. From most everything. If it didn't have to do with my immediate project at work, my kids or the disaster known as my house...I pretty much didn't have contact with it. I've barely touched Facebook in the last few months.

But don't think that means I've been just lounging around eating bon-bons....though I will admit to a day or two where the MS had me bedridden. My MS has been the current that I have been struggling against the last few months. I feel like I've had to fight like hell for every inch of ground I've gained. Today was infusion day, and boy was I ready. But it seems I'm not the only one feeling this way. Whether it is the alignment of the planets or just this bloody heat, the rest of my infusion-mates had a rough month as well. I've said it before and I'll say it again. MS sucks!

This was the odd summer out in the last few years where I have actually had some steady work. And luckily for me it was on my own schedule. But you can read about that adventure at Footprints in the Sky.

When I wasn't working, or wrangling the Minions, my focus was on continuing the downsizing of the clutter. And to make a few things in the process. I've somewhat amended the Throw out Fifty Things idea to include a companion project: Create Fifty Things. When it all comes down to it, I am an artist and I love having a finished product at the end of the day. That was one thing that made my retail career so frustrating. Well, that and stupid people. I would work all day and have nothing to show for it. Even if what I do sucks, at least I can point to some scenery that looks different than it did in the morning and say "I did that today."

So what have I done the last two months?

I started by attacking my sewing corner that I had carved out for myself. I unearthed it and jumped in on a few projects.

 Little Miss has a few new dresses

and another waiting in the wings.

I made a bed rest for Little dude.

I'll have reviews of the all the patterns in a future post.

I pulled out my entire fabric stash. All of it. I kept finding fabric....some here...some there. Where was that cotton I had gotten for pajamas??? Oh here it is....with 4 other boxes of forgotten fabric. I washed much of the stash and was sorting it into Keep/Donate/Toss piles. I had started to assign fabric to patterns. And then....

the wall came down.




My husband. My...lovely...husband decided it was time to start the work on the hallway/livingroom renovation. And he ripped out walls...walls that when ripped out created a lot of dust. Dust that covered my recently unearthed fabric stash.

........

Yeah. I nearly killed him.

Instead I set about rewashing and ironing my entire stash. I packed them into ziplock bags before sorting them into Rubbermaid bins, knowing the renovation mess was not over yet. And that bit has stalled. I still have a laundry basket of fabric left to iron and put away...but it safely resides in our bedroom. Completely in the way, but away from the drywall and saw dust.

And in sorting the fabric stash and all of it's bins, I continued the can of worms that my yarn stash sorting had become. And in the time between when I first dumped all that on my living room floor and when I finished sorting, I made a lot of cuts. Some figurative and some quite literal. (Screw wasting any more time on this huge tangle. cut your losses, cut the crap yarn and save the one you will use) I felt like Homer Simpson as the football coach.

Of knitting I've done very little...if any. I'm stuck on a project. I started the Medusa shawl while on my trip to Texas. I love the pattern. I love the yarn; Ball and Skein Glissade, colorway Elderberry. I love the shawl but I'm in a debate with myself whether or not to start over on a smaller needle. I tend to knit losely, but I am right on gauge. It make be the silk content in the yarn throwing me off. I just don't know. And it is sitting off in the corner while I decide.

I should be in bed...

but I'm not.

I'm packing.

Well, I was packing. I've been side tracked by Twitter and hunting yarn shops in Ft. Worth.

Yep. I'm heading to Texas for a work conference. Without the family. I've never been away from the kids more than 2 days. This is going to be interesting. And the Geek-boy has his load-in week while I am gone. I think his work is going to learn 1. just how much he does and how much they rely on him to ditch everything else for them and 2. just where is priorities really lie. Meanwhile I'll be hobnobbing with people in the industry and possibly hitting the spa in the hotel. Just think. I will have almost a whole week where I will be allowed to us the bathroom on my own. I won't have to do someone's hair every morning while they steal my breakfast. And I won't have to wipe anyone's butt aside from my own.

This is my first real trip since being diagnosed. I'm slightly (very) anxious about it. Especially since the Geek-boy won't be there to help me and keep me calm. I hate flying. I'm stressing about going through security with all my meds. I'm worried I won't have the stamina to do all the walking around the convention. 

And speaking of diagnosed today was the two year anniversary. Woo hoo? With two major treatment changes over the last year I can't say it has been a fun ride. Part of me kicks myself for going off the infusions when I did. Had I hesitated a little longer, we would have had the study in our hands and known that it was safe for me to stay on it. And in those months of going off that and onto the pills and back again I know I lost some of what I had. And I am beginning to doubt if I will ever get it back again.

Enough of the depressing stuff. Packing has been insanely helpful in the Fifty Things project. I'm not sure if it was my tendency to procrastinate or the OCD, but my forays into The Closet of Doom led to a huge clean out. What is The Closet of Doom, might you ask? It is a strange anomaly in our house created by half-arsed renovations by the former owner. It used to be a part of the kitchen. It someday will be a part of the bathroom. But now it is a tiny space (about 4feet wide and 10 feet deep?) with open stud walls, various forms of flooring, and a bare bulb that serves as a linen, medicine, cleaning and catch-all closet. After this weekend, it is far more organized. Between that and my clothing closet I was able to add a bunch more to the list.

Tossed this time:

• Travel sized toiletries we will never use
• Old expired medicine and product
• Travel alarm clocks (cell phones do this now)
• Ace ankle wraps (too small and elastic cracked)
• The disposable underwear from the hospital acquired when I had the minions. (Done with the baby making here. Don't need them)
• Fake nails bought for a costume.
• Old eyeglasses (going to the donation bin at the library)
• Numerous scented lotions, body washes, bath extras and fancy body scrubby things. (Toss what's bad and donate what isn't)
• Inflatable bath pillow. 
• Stretchy skinny jeans (I don't even know how I got these)
• Pull over fleece jacket (not to my taste. It can keep someone else warm)
• Shoes

Fifty Things Total: 15

Not bad so far. I expect to make some huge progress when I return from the trip. And now I must to bed.

Fifty Things: the journey begins

I have been reading Throw out fifty things : clear the clutter, find your life by Gail Blanke. It challenges you to take a hard look at the clutter in your life, both mental and physical, and assess if it hinders or helps you. I've decided take up the challenge and blog about it.

It's not a big stretch. Over the last year I have been attempting to pare down our clutter and simplify things overall. I cleaned out a lot. Donated a bunch. Even had a tag sale. But there is still so much to do. I figure by documenting what goes, I'll have a tangble way to see my progress. When you have so much to toss out, it often feels like you aren't getting anywhere, when you are. It's just like knitting (see it all comes back to the knitting). There are times you knit and knit and knit and the project doesn't seem to be getting any bigger. I've adopted the tip of placing a marker where I start for the session so I can actually see how many rows I've knit, even if it feels like it's all going into a black hole somewhere. I'm hoping blogging about it will do the same. And maybe some others will join in.

About the book itself...I borrowed it from the library. I suggest you do the same. Some people might find it worth the money but honestly aside from the initial premise in the first chapter, I found most of it fluff and not very instructive. Much of the book is anecdotes and chatter about going through and tossing things. That might inspire some people, but not something that keeps me hooked beyond the first read. What really hooked me was the idea of a challenge with a definitive goal. "Decluttering" or "simplifying your life" can get to vague and overwhelming, but "throw out 50 (or 10 or 110) things" is a solid task. No question on what to do.

The basic idea of Fifty Things is to throw out 50 things over a two week period. Things that weigh you down and don't fit your life and the person you are hold you back and need to go. The items can be tossed, donated, sold, recycled....whatever. Just get them out of your life. Similar items count as one item. Therefore 75 magazines are one item. I won't give away the secret sauce of her rules (read the book) here, but it was enough to give me a push.

And with that in mind I did something I did something amazing and frightening and almost unheard of this weekend. I attacked my stash.

This was my yarn stash. (We won't discuss the fabric at the moment)

I set up several piles. One bin is what I am keeping. One bin is what I think is worth trying to sell on it's own. The third is for a person whom I found on Craigslist who wants all and any yarn and will pay for it. To her will go the lot of odds and ends and 'old lady yarn' I've inherited over the years.

I hit a snag in the process though. One in the form of a tangle that has taken up several hours of my life. I should probably just throw the whole thing out but there is some yarn in it worth keeping. I might just toss the rest tonight when I have the last bit extracted.

Before I waded into this quagmire, I tacked the box of jewelery from my husband's grandmother who passed away last year. I have a rather large collection of costume jewelery from my own grandmothers and great aunts. I decided to start documenting who the pieces belong to for future generations. Some of it will be saved for when my daughter is a tad more responsible, some will go into the dress up collection and some into collection of pieces that I wear.
Here are a few of my favorite items:

 I love the shiny.

 I love the dancers on each link.

 This pretty item had a lovely surprise inside....

 a beautiful gilt fan. If you look closely you can see that the flowers are tarnishing a touch on the folds where the are exposed. I'd love to display this but fear further tarnish.

I had hopes for the jewelery box that much of it had been kept in. It wasn't anything lavish. Just a basic inexpensive jewelery box, but it would be perfect to put on Little Miss's dresser and safe-keep the few items she does wear. But alas, too much time in storage meant that it acquired a musty odor that I just wasn't comfortable with. Frankly my throat was bothering me through the project and most of the evening. Out it went.

For now the jewelery was wrapped and packed away until I have homes for each category. (My own jewelery box is bursting after the death of my own grandmother).

Tossed this time:

• 1 jewelery box
• several broken pieces and odd earring backs
• several rusty corsage pins

Fifty Things Total: 3