Keepin’ It Real Here, Folks…

Computer is still acting pretty wonky. I couldn’t get it to load up correctly yesterday morning, but Steve couldn’t do much since he had to go to work. I ended up leaving it completely alone all day (and it didn’t shut itself off like it has been). I used the girls’ computer in our spare room to check emails and blogs. It’s so not fun, but when you are hooked on having access, you do what you gotta do. He checked it when he got home and lo and behold, it had loaded up and was ready to go. Hmmmmm…He fiddled with it during the evening and it appeared to have decided to work. Then a little after 9, it shut itself off. I ended up going to bed, so I don’t know what he did after that, but it was working this morning. Yay!

Anyway, I worked in my craft room again yesterday and when I took a break to eat lunch and check emails, Erin G popped in on Chat. We had a nice chat and she told me I NEEDED to take pictures of the state of my room to Keep It Real. So, I did. And I’m going to show you. Maybe some readers will feel better knowing I definitely don’t have it all together. In the midst of this purge, I’m feeling overwhelmed and maybe you can see why. I’m definitely going to work through it though and get it done.

On a related note, I had a coupon for a book at Borders, so I went last night to just browse around and see if anything caught my fancy (I’ll show my space in a minute, promise). I’m enamored of the special edition of The Family Handyman’s newest issue, appropriately titled, Get Organized. I almost bought it, but at $10.99 and being a magazine and not a book, I didn’t think I’d get the discount. And I wasn’t sure I would actually DO some of the fabulous things/projects they share in it. So, I looked through the WHOLE thing to get what ideas I could and kept looking around. I always look at the organizing books, the knitting and crochet books and then the self help books. Sometimes I go for the cookbooks, but my aspirations are often loftier than my ability to utilize them. Tucked on a bottom shelf in the self-help area was a book called Clutter Busting by Brooks Palmer. What struck me and convinced me to buy it, was a comment that appealed to me. You are sacred, not things. What a great way to keep things in perspective, huh? And that leads me to my pictures.

First, up, I cleared out just about ALL of the wire shelf unit…yay! I went through the rest of my CTMH paper and took out all the pattern paper I didn’t want, adding to my growing stack. I went through the books that were housed there and the books on the bookshelf directly below this shelf and took out the ones I no longer loved. This is where I was getting overwhelmed and had to talk to myself about not having used it for over a year and it needed to go so someone else can use it NOW. When I read that line in the book, that spoke to me because of how overwhelming this process can be. When I think of it that way, it becomes a little easier.

So here’s what the floor and my table currently look like:

This is stuff I’m thinking of keeping

This stuff, too. I forgot I had a bunch of this stuff! How sad is that?

And here is the pile of stuff I am considering getting rid of.

The books are hard to get rid of. I love my books, but realistically, if I am not using them they are clutter and taking up space I could better utilize.

And this is the state of my tabletop at the moment. Kind of scary, huh? I found that luscious felt at the thrift store! I hope to make some flowers with it. I just plopped stuff from the house there and haven’t gotten to put it away yet. I’m hoping to make some good progress in here this weekend. Wish me luck!

Happy Weekend to you!

Jeanne