#14

Just back from a busy couple of weeks.

Spring has sort of sprung around these parts. Ah, the longer days are most welcome!

But I will give you one more tip for surviving until the temps climb a bit higher.

Cleaning was mentioned in a past posting. I promise this one does not require any cleaning. At all.

Just organizing.

Pick one thing. You know it’s out there. Something that you’ve been avoiding. Doesn’t even have to be a big project. It could be your purse! Or a junk drawer! Or files/piles of paper. It’s all about bringing a little bit of calm or joy to a person when the task is completed.

I am working on a couple of projects at the moment.

Here is my recent coup.

Organizing the closet.

Was I really only wearing the same old clothes because I chunked up and couldn’t fit into any of the old ones? Or was it because closets appear to eat up all the other clothes when one is not paying close attention? Lost in the mess?

I read an article some time ago. It mentioned, when conquering the closet, using matching hangers. So that all of the clothes hang at the same level and looks organized.

Hmmm. I thought I could do this.

There were a few other tips that I followed.

One was determining real estate. Stuff a person never wears shouldn’t be taking up prime space.

Another was categorizing by sleeve length.

Then color code. Use the rainbow as your guide for color coordination. White clothes first.

I wanted our closet to not just be easy on the eyes. I wanted the closet to be easy.

So I bought all new hangers. Black, slim, felt hangers at a local discount store. Heaved all mismatched plastic and wire hangers. Sayonara!

It’s not perfect but it’s better. I found that using just one type of hanger makes items so much easier to see and find.

These are just a few photos. The new hangers weren’t strong enough for my husband’s suits so I continued using the wooden hangers. Just made sure they all matched!

That’s my latest suggestion for passing the time while waiting for warmer days.

Happy Spring!

 

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#13

Lucky 13.

It’s now the first of March and winter is still with us. Here in the Northeast we have some of the white stuff on the ground and more in the predicted forecast.

So my list of ways to cope with the long winter continues.

Clean something.

Not just organize. That’s another posting.

But give something a real good going over with a bit of elbow grease. You’ll end up organizing in the process.

I chose my fridge.

Oh, I forgot to mention. Only you will take joy in this completed task. No one else will notice. No one else will care. Ever. At all. But you will. You will notice and you will care.

Back to me. I chose the fridge because it was time. Way past time. After the holidays. After the kids have returned to university. After ignoring it. After giving it a swipe here and there.

A refrigerator is a big to do. The big guns needed. Taking out drawers and such. Scrubbing the fossilized lettuce on the clear plastic bin. Gosh, I think it’s lettuce. But who can really be sure.

It’s a place of hope. For that half used something or other. The promise of what could be.

With just one more recipe. In the near future.

It’s like I imagine the would be thoughts of jalopies resting in a junkyard. “Maybe someone out there will need a used part and come get me. So I’m not a has been.”

That promise never happens. At least in our house.

But what does happen, and I will admit it makes me sad and happy at the same time, is this. Sometimes those hard choices about promises are just taken out of our hands. Decisions made for us. Not by us.

At first glance it looks to me like one of those fabulous aerial views showing us beautiful little islands and possible volcanoes in the middle of a Habanero salsa.

Or dead field mice.

Oh my gosh! A picture can tell a thousand stories. Like a Rorschach test.

For the record. I have a ton of glass containers so I am not even sure how that can even made it into the fridge. Please don’t judge me. But it did and happily resided there for awhile. A quiet and unassuming neighbor pushed into the background. Not needing any attention. Until it was time to spruce up the neighborhood.

Then it had to go.

I cleaned that fridge until it looked shiny and new. Every drawer pulled out and washed. Dried up puddles from old vegetable goop all gone. I sniffed containers of sour cream and eyeballed the cream cheese packages. If anything looked like it could be a candidate for the next new antibiotic I heaved it.

I will leave off for now.

Secure in the knowledge that you will wisely choose a smaller cleaning project. That you will never accept an invitation to eat at my home. That you wont ever crave my pumpkin pie.

Have a lovely weekend! If it’s snowing be careful on the roads. If it’s not snowing be careful on the roads.

Spring is almost here.

 

 

 

 

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