And one thing led to another…

I am joining my family for a few days in the mountains soon and needed to pack my suitcase. Said suitcase lives on a luggage rack in my bedroom and as I to and fro, sometimes only needing a night’s affairs, sometimes 2 and very seldom more, things end up in it instead of getting put away. The suitcase is never empty and of course each trip being slightly different, there can be many mundane items, none of which are needed for the upcoming trip.  Such was the case this time, I will not have the occasion to need my swimsuit or bonnet so took them downstairs to rejoin the “swim sack” in the front closet.

 

Talk about opening up a can of worms: that led to emptying out the closet as the swim sack was in the far corner, which in turn led to the discovery of a sack full of stuff for the car, along with many other collected sacks, both paper and plastic. That meant sorting those, half to join the plastic bags in the cellar, half to be given to the local mini grocer who can use them for customers.

 

The later thus needed to go in the car…

Open trunk, see mess, decided that it too needs sorting, well that led to not only sorting, but having to vacuum, which in turn meant that the windows were too dirty. You get the picture.

 

Fortunately at about that point, with the suitcase emptied and ready to re-pack, with the hall cupboard clean, the car as well, my younger son needed a lift to the bus stop (I had proposed it in the interests of his not having to take two hours to get to his point of departure) and I was able to stop. Such a productive morning happens rarely, but then such is life that one thing leads to another and if one is lucky many more. Making progress.

 

I wish that this last were true!
 

The myth, or letting go...

Of clothes, of possessions.

We have had a spate of rainy, cold weather and I have been trying to gear up to take advantage of it, other than simply checking emails, reading magazines, talking to friends, eating out and the like.

I have meant to do a serious sort, clean, toss and then something, or more likely someone, interferes.

With my blessings as it is so much more fun to go out with friends or drink coffee than it is to sort and toss, especially when there is no one to pat my on my back for what little I might accomplish.

Today, however, I opened the cupboard doors and said to myself: it is time.

Time to try on those trousers that I never wear, but shove to the back of the cupboard; time to try on those blouses that stay on the hangers day in and day out, time to take a look at the shelves and perhaps finally divest myself of the multiple single socks.

One always thinks that one will a) loose weight, b) find that missing sock or 3) get the top that perfectly matches the skirt one hasn't had on in years. All MYTHS!

And with age I have finally realized that if I don't wear it today, I am not likely to wear it 10 years from now when maybe I will have lost the weight, but also it will be out of date or moth-ridden. That being said, it takes a certain amount of energy to let go of anything and I am no better than the average person when it comes to doing so!

I DID let go of 17 items today - that just finishes off one of the spring months - remember my goal to dispose of one item a day for every day of the year? Far behind this year, but a few more rainy days and I might have a chance, that is if I don't get side-tracked sorting photos, writing letters or by better weather. Still what was done today, is done and I will celebrate a small step in the right direction.

From Megapixel.com

 

PCS

It seems to me that some days ago – I am currently living my life instead of just blogging it – I mentioned PCS would follow WPS the next day: well if the activities did, the recounting of them didn’t!

PCS = Plumbing Cleaning and Sorting

The first involved looking for a wrench (a specific one, which seems to have disappeared into that wide world known as sons), then not finding said item, buying a new one.

Then it was turn off the water mains, which led to showing my housemate where they were and how to turn them off, just in case it were ever necessary (she’s only shared my house part-time for 8 years now, but it’s never too late to learn the essentials).

Finally I could get down to business, i.e. taking apart the water faucet up in the attic to see why the hot water was not coming in properly: couldn’t find anything, but did learn that if one turned it on full force – and only towards the hot – that it actually was plenty warm for a bath – now to communicate that to all visitors.

Cleaning, kind of didn’t get very far: does one shelf and one drawer in the kitchen count?

Sorting, more or less the same as cleaning although I have a great system. When I feel like I am drowning in paper and “things”, I get out a piece of white paper and write on it several columns: 20 pieces of paper to be thrown out; 10 pieces of paper to be filed; 5 objects to sort, toss or put away; a twenty-minute walk; 5 documents, newspaper articles, etc. to be scanned.  If I do that every day for a week it actually does make a difference and sometimes I even do more than the required.

Do I still need to have a real plumber look at the bathtub? Do I still have a ton of things to clean and sort? Yes, but just writing about them may motivate me to do them…

Then again, tomorrow is another day so think I'll go take that walk instead!

Swans on Lac Leman