Reorganizing can clear one's head

I don't know about you, but I'm a creative person. Which means - I'm kind of a messy and cluttered person.

Sometimes this makes me nuts. And like most messy people, I look at the mess and think 'I've got to DO something about this!' 

And then I procrastinate. It sounds like too much work. Pain and suffering. Ugh! Not having it.

Not today!

So the mess continues to make me crazy.

Until I lose it and decide to REALLY do something. 

Here is what was making me crazy:

So pretty!

This is where most of my tatting and other hobby materials exist. Mind you, I live in a flat with limited storage - and this is the one and only hall I have. And it's the thing you have to pass to come in.

Obviously MUCH has been dumped in these shelves. And not just tatting - work things, sewing and knitting/crochet tools, and a ton of miscellaneous junk.

(I'm not going to discuss my Pez dispensers now. I collect them because they amuse me. Sue me.)

A couple of those boxes on lower shelves were full of tatting thread and other supplies. 

So.... I finally got off my arse and went to work.

Corralling the thread

First I took charge of my thread - which was WAY outta control! I sorted it by brand, size, and color combination. Some time ago I got these nice boxes from Handy Hands and they are now a big help. I labeled all the boxes on the ends. The crochet sized balls went into other containers.

Then I looked at the beads and findings. Most were dumped into a big plastic container but there were a bunch in other locations. I didn't need everything so I contacted a friend who is a beader and have shipped her a box full. She should be happy!

A tiny selection of the beads

I put all the UFOs together.(Be honest - we all have UFOs.) I found I have a ton of tatting bags so I put those together too. Then I got all my shuttles in one box and found another to put tatting tools like picot gauges and crochet hooks. 

I never need to buy any crochet hooks again. And probably not any shuttles either. It will be a very long time until I need to get thread. 

And I sorted through all the miscellaneous stuff, giving some away and throwing out an ginormous amount of trash and junk.

Tidy!

Ta-da! SO MUCH BETTER! I freed up two whole shelves and several big containers! 

More importantly - I can FIND things when I need them. 

And I feel a big weight off. Whew!

Now onto the Pez collection....

Things I have learned

Miscellaneous things learned after my Christmas holiday...

• If you leave oatmeal in a cup at work for a few 10 days, it becomes something for the Bio-Hazard Disposal crew to deal with. Ew. I cleaned my spoon and mug in scalding water, then filled the mug with water and nuked it until I got a rolling boil in the cup. Die slimy green stuff, die.

• Mint M&M's are really, really good. Especially when they are marked down to $0.75 a bag. Nom nom nom.
• Note - I didn't say they were good for me. I spent yesterday morning at the dentist (soon to come: another root canal!), and I made an appointment with my internist to Try And Do Better.
• Sometimes bumper stickers are a really good thing. Or maybe I'm just lucky. I got pulled over by the state patrol on I-20 heading to Augusta when I blitzed pass 2 cops. "You were doing 74 in a 55 zone - I'll bring it down to 70" said the nice cop. "Thank you - I've never had a speeding ticket!" I said sadly. This is true - I've never ever had a moving violation. (DH says I'm just lucky, as my lead foot is well know in the family.) After a bit, the cop (a cheery young African American woman) came back to the car and said, "God is good! I gave you a warning. And I like your bumper stickers." "God is good! Thank you!" I gulped and happily signed my warning citation. And I didn't approach 74 mph for a good 15 miles, until well outside the I-285 perimeter. Whew!
• Do not trust your husband to put away fragile Christmas ornaments. You know, you'd think I would remember this, as it's a problem every year. I guess it's 'cause DH starts putting things away before I think to, and when someone tells me it's all done and everything is complete & ready to be put in the attic, I want to believe them. *Sigh*  I had to re-pack everything (and find a ton of things left scattered). So there was Shouting and Something Of A Scene. You understand, don't you?
• Curly is not trustworthy around money or anything, including un-opened gift cards addressed to other people. I knew this, but I slipped. And I won't again. I hope.
• Cleaning makes me sneeze, because of the dust created (because I hadn't cleaned in a long time). This is a reason for me not to clean certain rooms for a while. Pardon me while I blow my nose.
• Netflix on our new Wii is very addictive. I've been catching up on a number of Doc Martin episodes. So much fun!
• Finally - going back to work isn't any better than you thought it might be. Because it's still Work and Not Fun.  A brother in law says of Work, "If it wasn't shit, they wouldn't pay you." True that.

 Have you learned anything of value recently?

Man, I'm tired

DH and I are on vacation this week. And it's basically a staycation - we've got no money. So what have we been doing?

Tuesday - It occurred to me that my home office was in serious need of cleaning, especially since it's become the house dumping ground for stuff. I have several hobbies which clutter it (tatting, sewing, yarn things, genealogy, pottery, Pez collection, not to mention all my computer stuff) and school stuff gets put here too. The room isn't big, about 9' x 14' with a walk-in closet, but it has a great double-wide window and view of the woods. My mother always says that when the urge to clean comes, you should take advantage, because that urge doesn't come often or voluntarily in our family. So I went with the urge.

I had started purging big time when Moe mentioned that he'd always wanted this room. Why? His room, while bigger, is always a giant mess, and his reasoning was this: a smaller room = less room to clean up. Remember, this is a 14 year old we're dealing with. So we agreed to swap rooms, and the rest of Tuesday was spent purging my office of everything and beginning to move Moe in.

 You name it, it's on the desk.

See? Now much of my office is in the play room. For now. And my boxes are in another room, stacked sky high.

Wednesday - My sister from Charleston and I decided to have a lunch meet-up. Charleston is about 360 miles from Chez Crazy, so we had to find a central location. As most of the space between here and Charleston is a cultural wasteland devoid of much beyond Mickie D's and cotton fields, we met in Augusta. It's about dead center but still a hefty drive. Moe and a grumpy Curly joined me. Sis and I met in a cute cafe and had a nice visit. The lunch items were very good, but they have these cakes that look like something out of Dr. Seuss. Which we refrained from eating. I'm practically vibrating from sugar overload this holiday season.

 Honestly, the cakes were a good 10" tall and 6-8 layers.

 After we ate, we walked over to the Riverwalk section and tromped around a bit. This is a really pretty section area, and I wish there was something like it in Hotlanta. The Savannah River runs right by Augusta, and there's a nice amphitheater which Moe explored.

After we returned, Moe continued cleaning. With a rake and a shovel - I wish I was kidding. Really, to get the ankle deep crappé out of his floor, Moe scraping it together with a rake and scooping it up with a giant shovel. I didn't know we had such a shovel. It looks like the kind of shovel the circus uses for getting up elephant poo. He kept shoveling the crap into bags, filling up about 6 trash bags with junk. Ugh. And the dust in the house is killing me....

Thursday. Today. Sigh. DH and I got up at the crack of dawn and headed to his dermatologist's office to get a skin cancer cut off his forehead via Mohs surgery.  He's had this done before and should have done this earlier, but he was campaigning and didn't want to be in front of cameras with giant bandages and bloody places on his face. Years ago, DH had a huge skin cancer removed from his right cheek (misdiagnosed by 3 doctors for years) and had to have reconstructive surgery. This wasn't as awful, but still pretty big. Our very excellent doctor cut off a place about the size of a quarter out of the middle of DH's forehead, and sewed it up with some 30 stitches. It'll be a T-shaped scar and will blend with DH's lines.

The procedure took all morning, so I brought my tatting to amuse myself. I started on Angels In The Snow, using metallic Altin Basak. I found that this thread is a bit touchy to work with - the glittery part will break easily. Plus, I was antsy waiting, and I spent time talking to other patients in the waiting room. (I make friends easily.) We were there from 7:30 until noon, a long morning. I'll finish this later.

This afternoon we spent vacuuming Moe's old room and trying to figure out how to get my desk into it. Taking the door off will be part of the deal. The room is sorta plain and needs work. And paint.

While DH napped, I went to Home Depot this afternoon and picked out paint. Something soothing and restful, yet cheery. Whadaya think? I think this will end up being my much needed craft/tatting/sewing/office space. All for me. Mine, mine, mine.

BTW, Moe loves his new space.

I hope your days are productive. And now - I need to rest.