Productive Sunday

It was another relatively cool day, today.  It started out cloudy and overcast, but, the afternoon was sunny.

In the morning, daughter went to feed her friend's cat one more time.  Her friend will be home in time to give the cat his dinner.

I spent the day doing a bit of this and a bit of that.  First, I took over some of the zucchini bread that daughter had made last night to neighbor S.  It was my turn to share something with her! 

Then, I altered daughter's dress and sewed up the area above the zipper that had been gaping open.  As I suspected, I had to undo the binding on the armhole and take up some of the extra fabric and resew the binding, again.   

Later, I tidied two shelves in the linen closet - the shelf with the bed sheets and the shelf with the towels.  As I organized them, I wondered if anything needed to be decluttered.  And, I returned to the question of how much is enough?  How much is too much?   How many bed sheets do I need/should I have?  How many towels?  The conventional wisdom seems to be two to three sets of sheets per bed and two to three sets of towels per person.  Which is what I have.  So, then, why do I feel I have too much?

Sheets:  I have three beds in my house, one queen sized and two twin sized; but, daughter's bed can be pulled out to make two twin beds, so four mattresses.  Which means that, at a minimum, I need four sets of sheets (each set consisting of one fitted sheet and one flat sheet) plus as many pillowcases as the number of pillows per bed; each set would be washed and put back on the bed.  I am not that much of a minimalist, though!  The next level up would be two sets of sheets per bed - one on the bed and one either in the wash or in the linen cupboard.  That would mean eight sets of sheets.

Currently, I have seven sets of sheets.  I have three sets of sheets (one flannel set for the winter and two cotton blend sets for the summer) for my bed, three sets (again, one flannel and two cotton blend) for daughter's bed(s), and one set of sheets for the guest bed.  One of my fitted sheets, however, is very worn and threadbare; I will need to replace it in the near future (or have only one set of summer sheets). I do have an assortment of pillowcases!  The guest bed has two pillows, but, both my daughter and I have more than two pillows on our beds.  I also use pillowcases to protect quilts that are not in use, so, I have several extra pillowcases.

In addition to the sheet sets, I have several extra flat sheets (usually, the fitted sheets wear out before the flat sheets do), the majority of which are stored on the bottom shelf of the linen closet.  I use them as dust covers on the family room sofas.  In any case, I didn't tidy the bottom shelf, yet, so sorting through them is for another day.  

Towels: I have two sets of towels for myself and two sets for my daughter, plus, one set of holiday towels and one set of guest towels.  What I do have extra are wash cloths!  I seem to have a stack of about ten wash cloths!  Not quite sure how that happened!

Then, there are some old towels that I use as sofa arm covers to try to keep cat fur off the sofas, but, those are not stored on the same shelf as my regular towels.  Occasionally, those towels are pressed into service when needed to mop up spills, etc.

After I tidied those two shelves, I dusted and tidied my bedside table/night stand.  I figured that was enough housework for the day!  Later in the evening, I played the piano for a little bit, put in an order for groceries to be picked up, tomorrow, and then, cooked a chicken curry and rice for dinner.  I also ran the dishwasher and washed a few other dishes by hand.  

I also chatted with neighbor T (she said she was tempted to walk over to my party neighbors in her nightdress, last night, and ask them to turn down the music, which finally ended at 12:50 a.m.).  I also chatted with friend R who was very concerned because a fully vaccinated family member in Sri Lanka has been diagnosed with Covid.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Daughter had a safe drive to and from feeding A's cat
- Two tidy shelves in the linen closet
- Sewing skills
- The cooler weather and sunny afternoon
- What I was able to accomplish

Today's joyful activity was sharing some zucchini bread with S and family.

Monday's To Do List:

- Call the doctor's office to confirm Tuesday's appointment
- Put gas to the car
- Pick up groceries
- Take the trash cans to the curb
- Water the garden

How was your Sunday?  What are your plans for Monday?

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August Decluttering Challenge: 

8/1 - 1 pair gardening gloves

8/2 - non-working heating pad

8/3 - old purse/handbag

8/4 - 1 computer CD containing a report

8/5 - 1 plastic lid that cracked and broke in two

8/6 - 1 hooded sweatshirt (received a new one to replace it)

8/7 - old make-up I no longer use

8/8 - 6 plastic laundry detergent scoops (I use powdered laundry detergent; each new box comes with its own scoop; I don't need to keep the old ones, but, it seems such a waste to toss them in the recycling bin)

8/9 - 1 sponge paint brush (unused, but, so old, the sponge is no longer spongey!)
         1 plastic food container

8/10 - 1 blouse (given to daughter); will be donated as she decided it didn't fit her properly

8/11 - 1 broken clothes hanger
          3 bras

8/12 - 2 Zucchini!  LOL!  Eileen informed me that the zucchini don't count!

8/13 - Daughter's old artwork: A poster 

8/14 - Daughter's old artwork: A painting

8/15 - 1 long dress (given to daughter) - she had urged me to buy it for myself one year for all of $1, but, I didn't wear it.  She, on the other hand, loves it!  It looks much better on her than on me! 

8/16 - 1 coffee mug 

8/17 - A book on cake decorating

8/18 - 1 bottle of perfume spray (an "our version of a famous perfume" that someone gave which doesn't smell good to me)

8/19  - 1 blouse (to be donated)

8/20 - 1 pair of slippers/flip flops (unworn; to be donated)

8/21 - an old digital camera that I could never figure out how to use!

8/22 - 1 small plastic bucket