ORGANIZE AND DE-CLUTTER

 

BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE

It was time to grit my teeth, arrange the garbage bags, and prep the goodwill box. After three hours worth of organizing and decluttering, I transformed the room next to my office from a storage room back to a bathroom. 

I hope the spirit of Spring will reward me and move us from the photo on the left to the one on the bottom. 

I’ve … ahem … lived with the chaos for a long long time. Not willing to face the  journey toward making this a home again.

With all the moving, new flooring, soot damage …  mingled with my age and “delicate” memory … Tom would ask, “Where is the ………” and I would smile and say, “It’s in a safe place.”

SPRING IS WAITING!

But had no clue where that might be.  Our lives have been a daily treasure hunt, and is great fun when we find something we’ve “lost!”

Later in the day, re-entering my “new” bathroom,  I sucked in a breath of sweet delight! When clutter goes, it feels like you can fly!

Now I hope to organize one area daily. The office is next. Oh my! 

I still won’t remember where I put things.  But have become good at retracing my steps. Or thinking “Where would I put it if I was putting it away now?

Maybe I should make an index”

So come on spring!  You will be welcome!

 

Gratitude List

Autumn Trees in the Pacific Northwest

On those days when grumbles surface, catching them before they rule the atmosphere, challenging the negative with the good things often brightens the day, lifting me out of a funk into a different place. While blogging tonight, the list got longer and longer, so I’ve left many big and small things out. Had to quit somewhere!

Below is the gratitude list I could think of tonight …

-Husband, Children, Grandchildren, Brothers and their families
-Friends and Freedom
-Continuing Community Education
-Continuing Writing Education
-Kindness received and given
-Reading and writing
-Music
-Social networking with readers and writers, Connections
-Imagination, Problem Solving
-Walking
-Logical mind, even though one tracked & at times absent

Fresh nutritious salad

-Fine Doctors to keep me ticking … and walking … along with access to great health care
-The Internet, Computers, Printers
-Universities, Colleges, and Libraries
-Telephone calls, and long conversations with loved ones and friends
-Cell phones.  What ever did I do without one?
-Television, especially PBS, and Radio
-Relatively good hearing
-My Prius automobile, and my husband’s Highlander 4WD ( we usually keep cars for 15 years)
-The dogs, King & Buddy (Yellow & Chocolate Labs)
-Gasoline
-Food, fresh, organic when available, Good well water
-Vegetable garden provided by husband in the summer
-The 24 minute drive through beauty to get to the outdoor swimming pool
-Pain medication, Vitamins
-Minimally invasive Surgical techniques to solve many problems
-Memories, Bird songs, Breezes, Boat rides
-The present moments
-Large bodies of water, lakes, oceans, rushing streams
-Photographs that quick start memories

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau AK

-Mountains, Glaciers, rain forests
-Trees, bushes, berries, flowers, grasses
-Autumn colors, Sunsets, Clouds, Blue sky, Rain, Snow
-Crocuses signaling the arrival of spring, and Pussy Willows
-Change that challenges
-All the senses, taste, smell, touch, see, hear and the 6^th sense, intuition
-Compassion given and received
-Love, given and received
-Hope, Faith, Trust, Destiny and believing there is a purpose to all things, as in order in the chaos
-Freedom from practicing religion and respect for those who do

-Struggles.  Ouch.  Hate to mention this one, but all internal change, spurred by struggles, provided learning, an increased capacity to feel, to love, to reach out.  Didn’t learn much while having fun.  The hard times had a purpose.  They did pass.  Often understanding followed. But didn’t understand when in the midst of a struggle so eventually learned to wait it out.

The entire gratitude list is woven into the evolution of my soul.
Would love your comments and additions to the list.  Have a good week all.