Sabbatical

Well, not a real sabbatical ... I just got involved in a big project and everything else went by the wayside!

I have been barely knitting, but I did at least start a second sock:

I just haven't been sitting enough to be knitting!

So what was my big project? Well, right after Tour de Fleece ended, I started feeling the urge to go through my house and de-clutter. REALLY de-clutter, not just put things away. I don't know what triggered this urge, but I am very, very grateful for it! I've made 3 trips to Salvation Army donation locations and put out 5 big bags of trash. I donated almost all of my CD collection, and half of my books (I'm a big fan of libraries, so it's no biggie). I've gone through every closet except one (and that one isn't too bad), and I feel so much better it's unbelievable. You know how clutter gets out of hand? Maybe you have a spare room and you just keep shutting the door so you don't see the mess? That's how I've been for years. I suddenly just couldn't stand it any longer! The clutter was controlling me, and it was winning!

I shredded a mountain of old papers, recycled another mountain, rearranged my living room, and went through my yarn stash. I got rid of silly stuff from college (just 10 years ago, I was a late starter) that I was hanging on to for no reason.

I emptied all the random bags of yarn and fiber, and now I can see how much I have. The stash is down to this:

The bottom is excess yarn or acrylic that will be made into cat mats for the winter. The top (it's a bit messy, I know) is the Tour de Fleece I just finished. I'm just going to make a big messy throw with the TdF yarn, to lay on the couch.

And here's the rest (excuse the odd angle, the bedroom walls are only about 5 feet apart), just the basket and the tall bureau. That's it! I feel so much better now that I have been through the whole house (1,000 sq ft) and I know what is in every drawer, and on every shelf. I even went through 9 photo albums and ruthlessly trashed most of the nonessential photos (random stuff I really didn't treasure--again, no biggie). I was just holding on to things out of habit, not need.





I still have to sort and file important papers for the file drawer and clean out the back porch, but other than that and a couple cupboards, I'm just about done! Next, I go shopping for new living room furniture. I have to get rid of my storage-capable coffee table, because that's just asking for clutter accumulation!

So that's been what has kept me busy since right after TdF ended. It was like a madness that just grabbed me and consumed me, and I am SO happy I did it. I was just feeling so pressured, and couldn't relax at home. I hated going into the "clutter" bedroom for anything. Now it's all tidy and neat! As pleased as I am that I decluttered, I'm irked that I let it get so far out of hand. I must be more vigilant about what I bring into the house, so that this doesn't happen again.

Molly Cat doesn't really care if it's cluttered or not, so long as she has a nice warm lamp to lay under.












I hope to catch up with what you all have been up to -- I've missed the blogs.

I'll leave you with a super-dorky picture of me running.

If I had a super power, it would be dorkiness

Of course, I kept up my exercise during the 'sabbatical.' This is a woman's 5k, for which I managed to set a personal record of 29:03. Right before my 45th birthday. The woman who won? 43 years old, came in at 19 minutes. WOW. 

Thanks for stopping by! I'm going to go right now and visit a bunch of blogs to catch up!