Cleaning Out Closets

Last week, my sister and I met at our parents' house for the better part of a week to work on cleaning out closets, cabinets, drawers, and what not. Our mom is still living, but we decided to start the challenging task of weeding. There's so much stuff, and we processed a lot of emotions while doing this. We left determined to start the decluttering process on our own homes, while we're still able. I'm trying to back some progress most every day, even if it's going through a stack of junk mail and tossing or shredding everything I can.

My Dad in College

One of my favorite discoveries last week was this photo of Dad from his college days. He played football in college, and I guess that was his varsity letter. We think the photo was taken in front of his home. I was delighted to find this picture, but it made me miss him even more. He'd probably forgotten this picture, which we found in the "Christmas closet." Who knew?!

In Cleaning Mode

I've been in "spring cleaning" mode this week, at least some of the time, both at work or at home. Since it's still spring, I'm good! :-) I feel like I'm back in college, when I cleaned more dorm room to
procrastinate doing other things. But getting better organized, cleaning out some of the clutter, is a good thing.

What are your favorite cleaning websites? One website I check periodically for inspiration is A Bowl Full of Lemons. (It's a cheerful title, isn't it?!)

Fun Way to Improve Time Management!

George and I had a small get-together Saturday night, a few friends over to play board games. It was pretty amazing how much we got done around the apartment, between getting things clean, buying groceries and cooking snacks, and taking care of other things (like cleaning the carpet with a machine from the grocery store and replacing burned out lightbulbs), knowing people were coming over. A lot of that we got done after our 10-mile long run Saturday morning! We were pretty exhausted yesterday, but loved recuperating in a clean apartment, with the post-party "glow" of having friends over. We've decided we'd like to have more get-togethers, and hope to have another one next month.

Old Habits, New Habits

A few weeks ago, I started posting weekly goals here, and then reporting on my progress. I haven't done that in a while, but some of those weekly goals have continued to become habits. Some of the other items have fallen by the wayside, for some reason or another, so perhaps it's time to reassess.

On the plus side, I've continued to finish at least one book a week. If I push a little, I'll complete more than one. I've continued to have fun tracking my reads on the site Goodreads.com, which has helped me to keep on going with this goal. Since it's a social networking site as well as a book-tracking site, I've "friended" several friends on Goodreads, and it's been fun to see what they're reading as well. When I go to others' homes, I'm often drawn to their bookcases--to me, the books on someone's bookshelves tell me something about them.

I've also continued to increase my running mileage as I train for the Coach Bubba 20K in Durham in February.

I'm keeping up with my family tree data input on a weekly basis, even if it's just a few names a week. I know I'll never totally be done with my family tree, but making progress brings me satisfaction.

Meanwhile, my weight loss plans have plateaued, and I haven't kept up with trying a new dish (cooked by yours truly) each week. I've also unsubscribed from the FlyLady emails (for apartment cleaning), which got to be too much to keep up with. So, these are things I'd like to concentrate on in the future. Maybe the trick is to integrate things more slowly, or to try different approaches.

More cleaning

This weekend I did more cleaning and purging as I think about this summer's move. It's a great feeling to clear things out, and in the mean time it's a walk down Memory Lane. Yesterday I came across a bunch of pictures that need to do in photo albums at some point, pictures that included my years of teaching 1st and 2nd grades, my cross country trip with Lisa, Mom, Laura, and Emily, trips that my friend Donna and I took to Wilmington and Savannah, beach trips to Pine Knoll Shores with my family, my friend Anne's wedding in High Point, a trip to Maine for my cousin Christina's wedding, and a trip George and I made to the North Carolina mountains. It was a lot of fun to look through all those photographs, eventhough it slowed down my cleaning a little!

Beautiful Weekend!

It's been a beautiful weekend, weather-wise, here in Durham. The temperatures have been mild, the humidity relatively low. Ahhh! I think I'll open up my windows this evening--why has it taken me all weekend to think of that?!

George and I participated in the community walk portion of the Great Human Race 5K in Durham yesterday. It was nice to get out and walk together outside in the great weather yesterday. I was glad I decided not to run the 5K, just wasn't ready after last weekend's breakthrough (for me) run in Raleigh.

This morning at ERUUF, the new class of us Pastoral Listeners was installed. I'm looking forward to being part of that program. I've gotten to know a number of people better already through it.

After my Sunday afternoon nap, I started working on cleaning out my dresser drawers. Feels good to be making progress on clearing out and getting better organized.

My Apartment

It dawned on me over the weekend that part of my stress about moving this summer is that I haven't spent the time I need to to get my apartment cleaner and more organized. Part of the stress, too, is that moving will fall at the end of the fiscal year at work! Yikes! But there are many things I can do now to get ready for moving AND the end of the fiscal year, SOOOO time to get going! I made good progress on my apartment yesterday afternoon, which felt good. The I met George at the laundromat to visit for a bit while he did his laundry, and we ended up meeting anc chatting with a nice couple. That was a pleasant surprise. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday!

Working on my apartment

Lately, I've been wanting to make my apartment a more comfortable place to be, both for myself and for entertaining. What I'm mainly working on now is cleaning and decluttering. Since time is short these days, especially with the Rice Diet and the extra exercise time, I'm doing what I can, knowing that every little bit helps. Sometimes, before I start, I try to look at my place through different eyes, try to get a different perspective.

Weekend

Had a pretty busy weekend, but a pretty good one. Saturday, George and I went to visit Papa and Bubby, and ended up having dinner with them. (Bubby cooked yummy salmon!) We dropped by to see Tina and Barry before going home.

Last night, I went to the Duke-Columbia basketball game, Duke's first of the season. They played well, and won pretty handily. It was fun to see the young Duke team in action!

I may some progress on cleaning my place, but didn't get as much reading done as I'd hoped.

Weekend plans

Mom dropped off 2 extra tickets to the Duke-UVA football game that she and Dad won't be using tomorrow. I'd planned to stay close to home and clean tomorrow, but going to the game, for a while anyway, sounds like a nice way to spend part of the afternoon. The weather forecast looks great! Dad says that while the University of Virginia is expected to win, the spread is only 6 points, so we'll see how Duke does.

George and I will probably explore apartments in the area Sunday afternoon, after going to church at ERUUF in the morning.

Meanwhile, I need to continue working on my own apartment. I'm on a mission to clear the clutter, seen and unseen. (I must include clutter in the closets and drawers....that counts too! If I have to pack or toss it come next June when I move, I'm wanting to get a head start on it now.)