Friday, May 24, 2019

Overcast Thursday

It's been another cloudy, overcast day.  There was a slight drizzle in the morning when I went outside to pick some curry leaves, but, no real rain.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night because I was excited about cleaning my spare room!  It was past 4:30 a.m. when I finally fell asleep.  As a result, I slept till after 11:00 a.m., this morning.  I spent a relaxed rest of the morning and early afternoon, replying to blog comments, visiting a couple of other blogs, having cream of wheat for brunch, and playing a few games of sudoku online.

Later in the afternoon, I returned to clearing the spare room.  I went through the rest of the desk drawers.  I put the box of scrapbooking/card making supplies into one of the empty drawers.  I put some files to be sorted through in the same drawer as the old bank files.  As a result, I now have a total of three empty drawers in that desk, and one drawer that is only half full.  I have plans for those empty drawers, though, so they won't remain empty for long!

Then, I took a break and had a cup of tea and some food.  I watched the evening news and decluttered another magazine (I look through the magazines one last time before decluttering them).

I returned to the spare room and cleared the top of the chest of drawers/dresser where I store the fabric stash.  It was piled with sewing stuff and the box of scrapbooking/card making supplies.

Dresser - Before
What a mess!  I moved the scrapbooking/card making stuff to the desk.  The half finished quilt went into the linen closet for the time being.  Then, I put everything else on the bed and dusted the top.  I put back the baskets of fabric scraps - these are the smaller pieces that I am trying to use up in quilts and other projects.  Then, I put all the reels of thread and other sewing notions from a smaller plastic shoe box type container into a larger pink plastic basket that I had freed up, earlier, when I filed all the papers that were in that basket:


Blurry "After" Picture
One of the items I had stored on top of the dresser was this box of sewing patterns:


Sewing Patterns
I only have about 7 sewing patterns and some of them are for various craft items, not clothes, and they were all mixed up with some patterns my mother had.  Sorting through the patterns and putting them in this plastic shoe box was a first step in organizing them, several years ago.  Today, I put them all in some page protectors I had and put them in a binder:

Organized in a Binder


The binder of sewing patterns is now being stored in the bookcase next to the desk.  I cleaned and tidied that a bit, too.  


Bookcase
I am thinking of replacing this bookcase (bought for my daughter, when she was a little girl, for her books) with a taller one (more storage space!), but, for now, this is what I have.

I also reorganized one of my own dresser drawers, as I found a sturdier box than what I had been using to sort my socks.  I also decluttered four unopened packages of pantyhose from that drawer, as I no longer wear them.  Plus, I "decluttered" one lone sock by turning it into a catnip toy for Dancer.

Among the items that I decluttered, today, are:

Message Board
This message board has a magnet so that it can be mounted on a fridge.  It came with a calendar in the upper half.  I couldn't find a replacement calendar, so we just wrote messages on the plastic board!  The message written on it that you see, written by my daughter, reminding me to eat, was from the time I was undergoing chemo and would forget to eat!  No wonder I lost weight!  LOL!   I took it down when I bought the new fridge - when was that?  September 2017!  Almost two years ago!    

I also decluttered this binder organizer that my daughter had when she was in high school:

Binder Organizer
I love anything with pockets and pouches!  But, I am not using it, so, it needs to go.

So must this small sewing machine:

"Tiny Tailor"

I bought it for my daughter, when she was still a little girl, because she wanted a real sewing machine.  But, she has a regular sewing machine now (well, I am using it, as mine doesn't work) and this was just sitting on the dresser, gathering dust.  I put it into a bag and set aside with the rest of the bags of donations.

By the time I sorted through all that, I was too tired to do anything else.  There's a little bit more to do in the spare room, and, as I told one of my friends, today, the closet in that room is still a scary place (even though I sorted through it, once), but, it is no longer The Dump!

Today, I am grateful for:
- No call from the doctor's office, again!
- Being able to sleep in
- All what I was able to accomplish
- Phone calls and emails from friends
- Chatting with my daughter


Thursday's To Do List:
- Clean my bathroom 
- Clean the kitchen 
- Paperwork/filing - DONE
- Do one decluttering/organizing task in the spare room - DONE (did more than one task!)

I didn't clean my bathroom or the kitchen, as I didn't want to lose my momentum in the spare room.

Friday's To Do List:
- Clean my bathroom
- Clean the kitchen
- Paperwork/shredding
- Start the car (at the very least)/drive it around a bit

How was your Thursday? 



6 comments:

  1. Well done Bless ... achieving a room you no longer have to call 'the dump' is a fantastic achievement. If you do a 30 day book declutter in June, I'd like to join in please.

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. I'm looking forward to being able to call it the "Crafts Room" or, even, simply the 3rd room. I think a book declutter in June will be a good idea, don't you?

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  2. You're making great progress in your extra bedroom. The closet will be easier to attack now that you've cleared up space that you can work in. Go, Bless, Go!

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    1. Thank you, Live and Learn. Yay, I have my own cheering squad! :D

      I sorted through the spare room closet in April - a lot of what was out in the room needed to go into the closet, but the closet was full, so had to be organized, first, to make some space. But, it was a bit like a game of tetris, trying to fit it all in! It would be better if I had less stuff to store, of course, but, it might look slightly better if I had some proper storage containers!

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  3. You've done a great job tackling this problem spot - which it is no more!
    You must be so pleased every time you look through the doorway and see your lovely quilt on the bed and the organization you brought to the room.
    Great job!
    Debra

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    1. Thank you, Debra. I am so happy that I have sorted out this room! Today, I pulled out the desk and the dresser to sweep behind them and to plug in the small radio I had in another room and an extension cord so I can have a desk lamp (need to buy one) or plug in my sewing machine, if I decide to sew in there. I also wiped the window sill, again, and went over the floor with a damp mop. I used to keep the door to this room closed all the time in order not to see how messy it was! Now, the door is kept open and I keep going in there, just to stand and look around! :D

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