reading

I have been trying to catch up on my reading. I belong to Goodreads and joined the 2011 reading challenge. I challenged myself to read 52 books this year. Fifty two books which I will admit to reading.

I finished one tonight, Watch Your Mouth by Daniel Handler. I have had this book since 2002. I am also trying to read the physical books before I buy anymore eBooks. I really enjoyed Handler's other books, the ones he wrote as Lemony Snicket. But Watch Your Mouth left me confused and perplexed. I just didn't see the humor. I did not enjoy it.

17 september 2011

Progress continued but a bit slower as I started having back pain. I felt a bit better after going to the chiropractor but the pain started coming back at the end of the week.

I worked in the office about 3 hours. I got more supplies yesterday so I can continue next week.

I scanned and filed about an hour. I did this in 15 minute sessions.

I uncovered the shredder and started shredding. I did not do an hour of shredding, it doesn't take that long to shred an hour's worth of scanning. I did shredding some very old files without scanning.

Goals this week:

• Organize one shelving unit of embellishments. (I completed two half shelves.)

• One hour of scanning documents

• One hour of shredding documents (Completed about 45 minutes of shredding.)

• One hour of filing documents

The boys have school photos on Wednesday and I am going to try to volunteer.

There might be a CBI for Andy on Thursday. Andy finally got info about a school dance after school on Thursday.

My goals for next week:

• Two hours of organizing in the "store."

• One hour of scanning documents

• One hour of shredding documents

• One hour of filing documents

As of today, there are 99 days until Christmas. I spent some time working on my gift list. If you want to play along, here are three sites:

100 Days to Christmas

Organized Home Christmas Countdown

Real Simple Ultimate Christmas Countdown

14 september 2011

1. Happy Birthday Arlyn!

2. Andy went bowling today for special Olympics. This is the first event of the school year. Most of his class went to a local bowling alley, play two games, eat lunch, and go back to school. In the past, it has been crazy and chaotic as there are loads of schools coming and going. This year, things seemed less crowded and ran more smoothly. Andy had only one other boy in his lane so the games did not drag on. And once we learned that Andy needed 30 points in each game to qualify for the next round, he had incentivtive to do well. Andy finished with 44 points in the first game, and 57 points in the second game. We were done before noon. Andy got a second place ribbon.

The one part that did not get better was the food line. The small grill can not handle all of the kids. It was taking 20-30 minutes to get a personal pizza. Andy did not want to eat at the bowling alley. He wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A. We stopped at the produce stand on the way.

11 september 2011

I made a small dent in my scrap goods. I managed to package 300 paper packs this week. Now I am out of clear bags and will have to order more. Until I can get more bags, I will have to concentrate on the embellishments. I have avoided them as there are so many and such a variety. How much should I charge? How should I organize them. Paper is standard and easy.

I also want to work more on my office space. I need to start working on the paper clutter. Years of receipts need to filed or scanned or shredded. Another overwhelming task that I tend to avoid.

Goals this week:
• Organize one shelving unit of embellishments.
• One hour of scanning documents
• One hour of shredding documents
• One hour of filing documents

07 september 2011

Another grey day and I wasn't feeling the motivation. But I still got some stuff done.

• Loaded the van with boxes to donate

• Dropped off the majority of the boxes at Goodwill. I had towels for the animal shelter but didn't feel like making the drive. Goodwill took the towels. I still have the 2 boxes of books in my van because the library was not open. I will drop them off another day.

• Worked for an hour making paper packs for the garage sale.

06 september 2011

Clearing out the clutter.

I used to be organized. I used to pay my bills on time and file everything right away.

I had kids and my priorities changed daily. I paid my bills but filing did not get done often. I discovered message boards and scrap booking and more of my routines fell away.

I opened an online store and just about everything non-essential got shoved aside. Things and crap and clutter accumulated.

Three years ago, I cleaned up the house and boxed a lot of crap I didn't have time to deal with.

I have time now and I want to get rid of it. But it is time consuming. And overwhelming.

I tried an online workshop to get me started. It was helpful in that it gave me small tasks to accomplish daily. This fueled my desire to do more and I did do more.

I would love to sign up for another workshop, one more in depth, but the money is just not available. Other workshops I would like to take are Organize Your Paper Clutter & Simplify Your Life With Habits & Routines

I purchased Unclutter Your Life in One Week. It had been in my wish list since it first came out. I started reading it while taking the workshop. I had decided to start doing those tasks when I finished the workshop. The workshop ends today and I have changed my mind. As much as I want to clean out my closet, I think I need to work on my office/living room. I need to have a garage sale so this takes priority over an area only I see.

This blog will be the journey as I get rid of the crap and find my house underneath it all.

I was productive today. I worked for about an hour laking paper collections. I cleaned up most of the laundry area and part of the pantry. I have 3 more boxes to give away.

03 september 2011

The boys had colds earlier in the week. They successfully got over them by giving them to me. Thursday was a icky throat, Friday was coughing. I am still coughing today and will probably sleep in the chair tonight.

I drove the boys to school Monday through Thursday. The bus showed up Friday morning at 7:55. They even made it to school on time.

I spent my week playing with Lego for my photo of the day. I also did more uncluttering. I took a few boxes to Goodwill and have started more. I like the accountability of the online workshop but realized that I don't need to spend money I don't have and can do this on my own.

I have also been working through 2009 photos. With the larger hard drives, this isn't as urgent but it is a good habit to purge those photos I will never use.

The boys got haircuts on Wednesday. Andy picked out One Fish Two Fish. Ryan brought 2 books. I checked the prices on amazon and told him he could only get one book. He would get the other book for his birthday. He was OK with that and put one book back.

I waited for the boys and Ryan came with a third book. "I just found this!" I could see it was a Peanuts book. One that I had preordered and was sitting at home. That series is much cheaper through amazon. I told him to put it back that he could wait until his birthday. He went back muttering that he could not wait.

When he came back, I told him he could choose which book he got today. He picked the Peanuts book and was OK to wait until he got home. Then in the car, he went to pick up the book he had chosen first. He thought he could "preview" it. But I told him he had to have patience and wait.

When we got home, he had forgotten about it until I was telling poppa about it. Then he went looking for the package. He was happy and spent the rest of the evening in his room giggling.

I had lunch with Doyle yesterday at Tijuana Flats. I love Mexican food.

Andy finally started eating again. He ate 4 full bagels for breakfast this morning.

30 august 2011

The boys are back in school and it is time to unlcutter this house. I am taking a workshop at simplify 101. It is not that I need the help, I need the accountability. If I pay for a workshop, they I will guilt if I don't participate. It is working OK. Each day, Aby gives us a daily challenge. The problem is that some of these I cannot so just yet, or some I have already completed. I still try to do something decluttering for about 15 minutes or more. I cleared off a shelf in my bedroom to house a Lego set. I threw away the letters from Jim Allen.

While waiting for the bus, I filled my van full of boxes for Goodwill.

I finally purchased Unclutter Your Life in One Week. Now I just have to do those tasks. The author says to start in the closet. My problem with the closet is some of the crap I am keeping that was Gail's. I wish I could get rid of the baseball cards. They are not worth much at all. But there are other items I can decide on like my old ski gear. I am not going skiing anytime soon.

I do not expect to get done in just week. I just need to push to tell me where to start first.

26 august 2011

This week went by quickly. I only got done about half of what I wanted to do. I never even touched Andy's computer to upgrade the OS. He doesn't seem to mind.

I ended up driving the boys to school every morning. The bus driver was so late. On Wednesday afternoon, she asked if the boys were riding the bus. I explained that if she was later than 8 am, that I would be driving them. So she doesn't even need to come into in the village if she is that late.

Ryan had his schedule changed twice. He is now in advanced math. He says math is his favorite class.

Andy has the same classes, PE and art. No art until they work out the schedule.

I stopped at Starbuck's each day for breakfast. It was a big indulgence so I felt I should stay home for lunch. I did make it out a couple times, once to Panera, and once to Five Guys.

Savi came over and helped me move the shelves in the office. I cleared one off for her. I need to organize paper packs and such for a garage sale.

I got a haircut on Wednesday. I needed it. The boys were supposed to go tomorrow but it was change to next week. Andy is excited that I will pick him up from school.

I participated in the Big Idea Festival. Each day was another prompt for a 6x6 page. I made mine all similar. I am not sure about making it into a mini book or printing out the pages. Now I can get back to Design Your Life class.

I am also working on Quick & Simple Clutter Control. But sometimes I forget to check in for the daily challenge. I need to make this a routine but I am super lazy.

The Lego minifigures Series 5 are out. I went to Toys R Us today and found a box of them. I felt through the packages and hope I got all 16. I did place an order from Lego on Wednesday so I will have some repeats.

I started reading Street Gang. It is full of tedium about children's television programming.

Other than the POTD, I did no photography. Doyle cancelled on me twice. I should set up a photo walk for next week but the weather is still kind of hot and it is a holiday weekend.

day 81

Sunday.

The LAST day of summer break. We made it through 81 days without a major breakdown. I will miss sleeping in to 6:30 and Ryan "waking me up" with a kiss. I won't miss feeling guilty leaving the house without the boys.

Last night I put in one of the yankz in my sneakers. I am trying it out before I put in the second one.

I had hoped the backup would have completed overnight. But I forgot about the computer going to sleep at 11. It started again this morning. It should be done by lunch.

My iPad hung again during the backup. I force quit and deleted the backup. It took awhile but I got it backed up again. I have been using zinio more. I wonder if that has a connection.

Breakfast: waffles.

POTD prompt was favorite fruit. I gave only apples and bananas. Easy set up.

Lunch: panini, vanilla cone.

All backups done and scheduled. It was easy enough to redirect Lightroom to the new drive.

Ryan got his stuff ready for school. He was disappointed that I only had 5 colors of folders and he has 6 classes. I forgot that we had to go look for a purple folder last year.

I ordered another hard drive for me and one for dad. I need a larger drive for Time Machine. What I have is only 500gb and I have to restart it every few months.

Layout for Words to Live By. I skipped the journaling. I didn't want to cover up any of the photo and I think it is not needed.

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Card of the day. I really like how this turned out.

I finished watching two television series recommended by Doyle, Breaking In and Mr Sunshine. Breaking In had been cancelled. I don't know about Mr Sunshine.

Dinner: salad, kiwi

I watched an episode of Dr Who. Then I watch the first episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I doubt I will watch Curb again. George was my least favorite character on Seinfeld and Curb is like a whole show about George.

Shaved Andy's face. I am not very good at it. I go too fast. But at least I don't nick him.

Andy thinks I should go to bed early since he has to. He is probably right. I wrote in my gratitude journal early.

Thus ends my daily posts. I will go back to posting every third day or so. When there is something to actually post about.