How Much Stuff Do You Have To Get Rid Of Before You're Done!

March 29, 2011

I have been sorting through things in cupboards, on shelves, and in drawers for several weeks now...and I am trying to decide how much stuff I have to get rid of before I am done getting rid of stuff.  We have taken 4 vanloads of stuff to Goodwill, and I am still collecting stuff.  Obviously I should have been cleaning stuff out of here long before now, but with running a dance studio, and sewing costumes, and everything else I like to do, I just never got around to it. 

So when Dad decided to get new carpet in the entire downstairs, I have just taken the chance to clean out everything that we are not using.  Some of this stuff has been hanging around since the three big kids lived here....not a good sign for my Spring Cleaning abilities over the years you could say.  However, this year, the rooms are getting a good clean from top to bottom and everything in between.

The people at Goodwill now come out when I pull up to see how full I am, and then they decide whether to have me pull around to the back door.

Gone are the clothes we have outgrown, the dance stuff that is too little, some craft things that I will never use again.  Stuff has been mailed to the kids that we thought they could use with their babies.  Dad's tigers in his office are finally tolerating me again after I made them all get tumbled in the dryer to get the dust off them.  Every baseboard in the rooms that are done have been washed, the walls dusted, all the books dusted (although I have gotten rid of a lot of the books).  The old Ensigns, New Eras, and Children's Friend have found a new home in the recycle bins at the school, and the scrapbooking stuff that was cluttering my closet is now living upstairs in the scrapbook room.  Makes sense to me!  I even cleaned out the desk drawers here in the office.  I got all those run away paperclips confined back in their little box, threw away all the overstretched rubber bands, and did away with all the broken crayons in the drawer.  I now have a big collection of keys which I am afraid to get rid off since I don't know what half of them go to.  Neither does Dad....so I guess when we die, the kids will have to decide what to do with them, or maybe we will know what they go to someday.

Windows have been washed, and blinds have been dusted.  The only thing left in the office is to clean out the file cabinet, and get the piano tuned. I am going to work on the files when I am skyping the grandbabies because I can throw away papers and talk at the same time.

I have filled up and taken the paper recycling 4 times this week.....can you guess what I have been getting rid of?  Old school papers, books we don't use anymore, all the coding books I've had all these years, and the english size paper that we never seem to use for scrap paper.

The 72 hour kit is sitting in my kitchen as I need to rotate the food, and the medicine again....and the girls clothes probably don't fit them anymore.  If I leave it in the kitchen I will do it faster than if I have Dad put it away again.

I am scared to start sorting thru the sewing room, but it will be the next room to do.  Our bedroom is just about done....worked on some of the last little things last night...just have to do the blinds, and wash some glass doors, and get rid of pub papers and magazines, and hang up some pictures.  Then I need to clean up the shelves in Dad's closet with all my FHE lesson making books.   I am going to get rid of some of them too as I don't make to many lessons anymore.

I've decided when I put the sewing patterns back in the drawer, I am getting rid of anything that I wouldn't make for the grandbabies in the smaller sizes, and keeping only stuff that I would use for costumes for the girls....that will still be a lot of patterns because in the girls sizes, I will probably save most of what I have....I use a sleeve from one and a skirt from another, and a bodice from still another.

Visiting teachers are here....I write more later.

First Night No Dance Run!

March 21, 2011

Can you actually believe it?  I didn't have to make the late dance run tonight.....that little mini cooper car managed to get them to the studio and home without Mom even having to take off my slippers!  Dad didn't have to go either....he's on a plane to Norway.  I managed to sit in the bath for a good hour and read my book....wonders will never cease!  I have just a bit of a problem grasping the concept of after 13 years....13 very LONG and BORING years of sitting at that studio, I FINALLY don't have to do it anymore....what freedom!  What will Dad and I do with all our extra time now?  Will we have anything to talk about to fill the extra hours?   Think of the sewing I may be able to get done whenever I manage to get my sewing room put back together and functioning again!  Think of the time I could skype the Grandbabies!  I can even sit and watch a show with Dad...but not Bones....I don't like that one.  And no sports!  Maybe a good chick flick!  Maybe I will find some time to dust my pubs, or get the piano tuned, and clean out the frig.....or make the visual aids for my Sunday School lesson before Saturday night....or just sit on the couch and hold Dad's hand!  Maybe I can finally organize the costume closet again, and catch all the dust bunnies that are floating around plotting against me somewhere....or clean the upstairs blinds, or heck....maybe I could scrapbook the Disneyland vacation from a 100 years ago!  Maybe Dad and I can play Mille Bournes like we used to, but he still has to add the miles up for me...and let me win sometimes.  Maybe I can get my blog published in a book, and finish catching up our family history story, and the kids baby books....I think Britni is about 10, and Cymbre is probably not even 1!  I can go through all those old calendars with the baby book stuff written on, and find the info, fill up the books, and get rid of the calendars....I can organize the dance resumes for these two dancers....If I buy the Christmas  cards now, I might manage to get them signed before Dad wants to mail them.  I can organize all the DVDS in the little files that I bought at the Container store.  Maybe I could figure out how to make my Ipod work.....or take my sewing machine in for a tune up....although that induces trauma somewhat comparable to leaving my wedding ring at the jewelers for cleaning and repairs.  I don't know that my heart can stand that......I could restock my Grandma box...I have just reduced the inventory with all these new grandbabies that have shown up.....I could make the sewing room curtains, but I have to be sure they aren't the last ones needing done in the house because I don't want to move right now....getting new carpet was enough of a mess for me!  I can finish putting my closet back together.....and clean up all my lesson making books in Dad's closet.....I still need to make the chokers to go with the duet costume for competition in two weeks....guess that should move to the head of this list, right after turn on the dishwasher, and do the laundry.  I am going to find the time to get some extra kisses from Dad, to hang all the pictures that need hanging, and to clean out the coat closet..we don't need snow playing stuff in the closet anymore!  AND TAKE A NAP!

AND find someone to do something for who needs it....there was a homeless man sitting outside the gas station we stopped at on the way home....I just wanted to bring him home and let him shower and feed him....instead I smiled at him and kept walking ....to which he said thanks for the smile....no one has smiled at me for days......guess he needed that worse than I thought!  I should have given him the cold drink I had in my hand....what was I thinking?

Maybe the Savior noticed my smile and will cancel out something wrong I did....we could hope!

Get out there and do something!

Love you,

Mom

It's NOT Funny!

March 4, 2011

With the oil prices going up yet again, we are AGAIN dealing with people making fun of men who work in the oil industry, and how much money they are making....GET OVER IT PEOPLE!  The men who work in the oil industry pay just as much for gas and other products as you do....we don't bring home more money just because the oil price goes up....we don't want to hear about it from you, and it's not funny to hear you all laughing at men who go to work every day and work hard to support their families.  It's not our fault that people in other nations are being stupid, or that all the wonderful enviornmentalists won't let us drill the oil that is here in the USA.  SO STOP THE TEASING!  Why don't you all try to be a little supportive of those men who work hard to provide you with the comforts of life?  And maybe take a little time for some compassion for their families who spend many nights alone while those men are out of town working hard for the rest of you who just love to laugh at them...maybe instead of laughing, you could take the time to just say thanks, and that you appreciate the things their jobs provide for you.  After all, oil provides your transportation, and most of the things inside your oh, so comfortable home!  And maybe you should stop and consider how your laughing at those men affects their families....how the kids have to listen to people laughing at their father...how would you like for your dad to be the one being laughed about?  And how would you feel if the general public were teasing you and laughing at you just because one aspect of your profession was going up in price and you absolutely had no control over it?  Maybe it's time to stop and think before we all find entertainment at someone else's expense!  I hardly think that the Savior would be treating the men in the oil professions this way.

Some days I just can't handle the way people treat others.....