I'm Now Officially In Love With...

On Saturday night, Hubs and I were so excited.

We had a date night.

The boys were at my parents for a sleepover, and we had tickets.

Tickets to the theatre.

Tickets to Nevermore.

By Catalyst Theatre out of Edmonton.

Presented jointly by Vertigo Theatre and High Performance Rodeo.

I was blown away. We were blown away. It was dark, lovely, intense, overwhelming, fantastic, breathtaking.

Heartbreaking.

It was indescribable.

Decluttering - Day 9

Last night was a night of decluttering the already decluttered. Heehee.

Last week I managed to walk into a store that did not contain yarn and needles (although I did walk into one of those, too) and purchased a couple of portable files for the boys' school work. They each have 14 dividers, so they're perfect for everything from preschool up to Grade 12. Unless they turn out to be interested in art or architecture or drafting, at which point I will probably have to purchase a portfolio.

Anyway, those drawers I cleaned out last week? Well, those got tackled...again...and everything that was a keeper was put into the appropriate place in the file. With those drawers now empty, I was able to organize all their books and workbooks.

Which brings me to a question...do you keep all your childrens' books as they grow up? Do you sell some, pass some on, donate some? How do you decide? Do you let them help you clear them out?

I'm not sure I'm ready to get rid of any of their books yet, even though I know they've grown past some of them. The thing is...they're books. And lots of books is never a bad thing, right?

Oh yeah, and I cleaned out my inbox on my computer. Not quite the chore I thought it would be.

Decluttering - Days 5 through 8

This was pretty much a non-event, unfortunately. It was a pretty busy weekend, and I feel like a dropped the ball a bit. Every time I had a free moment, my knitting got picked up instead of clutter.

However, I did manage to get the socks that I knit for my Godmother blocked. Now I just need to write the note and buy the envelope and put the stamp on and stick it in the mail. Whew. When it's -23C outside, I don't really want to do any of that! But, that is my goal for this week, to get those socks into the mail!

We did pass along some ski equipment and a Christmas present we were storing for my brother-in-law. So, there is not longer a giant box in our living room, and no more pink and white skis in the garage.

I'm picking it up tonight though. The plan is for some electronic filing to be done. I've got my business files back from my accountant, so I will probably be doing some books tonight, which involves paper filing too. Decluttering my e-mails after that. And if possible, to get our Paris pictures uploaded so that we can share them with the family.

Wish me luck!

Decluttering - Day 4

See yesterday's post.

No, really, last night, another of the shallow drawers was cleaned out. There are 4 of them, one was pretty empty to begin with, just a couple owners manuals for things in that room. The other 3 hold my boys' work. Two are now done, the 4th just needs a quick pass through, but it's stuffed so full, I want to wait until I actually have a sufficient filing system in place before I tackle it. Hopefully that will be this weekend. Friday's the first day I will be able to hit the stores.

So, while last night was not crazy productive in the decluttering department, I did get a bit done.

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And then I knit on my latest shawl (see the New Year Shawl pic on the sidebar). one hour to do 4 (short) rows from the chart. Hubs came into the room as I was finishing the last row, saw me squinting at it, and said "what are you doing to yourself?!" To look at the finished shawl (scroll down, it's the green one), it doesn't seem that complicated, but I've never worked with this fine of yarn before, and the needles I'm using have quite a bit of grab. That will be another shopping trip tomorrow.

It's my first time working with a lace chart, and some rows take quite a bit of concentration. So, it only gets worked on about once a week. Luckily there's no deadline for this one. Maybe Jan 1, 2012?

Decluttering - Day 3

Last night was a small accomplishment. One (very) shallow drawer that held a pile of the boys' colouring and school work. I kept a few pieces, and the rest went into recycling.

Then I decluttered a bit of the candy container into my tummy. Yummy sour skittles. Then my tongue hurt.

So, my question is, how do you store your children's school work, once you've decided what to keep? I'm looking for a consistent system that will (hopefully) keep everything for each boy organized in one place from now until high school. The only thing I can think of is one of those portable files.

Socks for Me!

Check 'em out...

Bohemian Monkeys

 I made these. Yep, me. And they fit my feet. Whoot!

The yarn is by Sweet Georgia, it's her Tough Love Sock in Boheme, and the pattern is Monkey. The yarn was absolutely a dream to work with, and it was fun to watch the pattern and colours play and interact as the pattern went along.

Too much fun.

Decluttering - Day 2

I actually got a picture of this one!

In the middle of trying to clean at least a couple of rooms in our house, I started to work on the boy's cabinet in our front room. We have this little room off the kitchen. Enough room for a chair, footstool, side table, and a pint-sized armchair for one of the boys, and a nice, long cabinet for all their books and art supplies.

I opened one cupboard (well, it was really, not closed to begin with due to a 5- and 3-year old being the last ones to put anything away). Out fell a pile of construction paper and colouring books. I brought the box of markers and crayons out from its usual home underneath the cabinet.

It took almost an hour, but by the end, I had a nice pile of paper that still could be used, a nice pile of colouring books and workbooks, and a nice box of markers that still have ink in them.

On the opposite side of the ring, a pile for recycling of papers and colouring books that could not possible have any more written or drawn on to them, and a pile of markers whose ink was now on all that paper.

The Rejects

And now, the keepers are all stacked neatly in the cabinet, and the marker box even fits!

Sweet.

Decluttering - Day 1

Two garbage bags full of old Christmas decorations. Decorations we haven't used in at least four or five years. Decorations with cat hair woven into them as the beast found sleeping on the cardboard box they were kept in to be, oh, so comfortable. Decorations that looked exactly like the cheap, fake wreaths they were. Decorations that were broken. Decorations that have lived in boxes in the storage room for the past 8 years.

Normally I would have tried to take these to a thrift store or something. One man's trash and all that. But, when I looked in the bags, I thought "how insulting", and promptly tied them up and put them in the trash bin.

Next year, when it comes time to decorate the house for Christmas, I will not be plowing through unused items to get to the really good, really memorable, decorations. It feels good already.

30 Days of Decluttering

I am excited to be joining my friends Paula on her latest project, 30 Days of Decluttering. Starting January 9th, the challenge is to declutter one item from our home every day. Since one of our goals this year is to put our house up for sale in the spring, and find a new home to live in, this is a perfect fit. And to be doing it with a dear friend makes me that much more accountable. I've followed Paula's journeys before, and she has such a thoughtful way about her that makes them so enjoyable, and allows for so much growth.

My plan is to share the journey with you as well. Look forward to stories! artistic photos! poetry! OK, maybe not poetry, but I do hope to make this a creative process as well.

So, here's to Sunday! A fresh start!

Welcome 2011. Come On In.

Wow. Have you ever experienced a whole year passing and you feel as though you did absolutely nothing? That's how I was feeling this morning as I drove to work. I know, looking back, that there were accomplishments this year: a trip to Europe, a new skill learned. And yet, there's this feeling...this emptiness...

I'm usually not enthusiastic about the roll over into a new year. I've tried to be. I've made the effort. But it lasts a couple days, weeks if I'm lucky, and old habits, cynicisms (is that a word?) creep back in.

I would like 2011 to be a year of accomplishments. I don't know what those will be. I actually need to sit down and draw out some goals. Find some focus. Put some effort into it (maybe that's always been my issue!) They don't need to be big, but I definitely need to see the importance in them.

Christmas this year felt like it came and went, and I was not ready for it at all. A tree was thrown up, ornaments were tossed on, hardly any other of the preparations that I normally delight in and love took place. No baking, no cards, no decorating. Even wrapping gifts was a last minute dash on Christmas Eve (thank goodness for Hubs, or it would have been even worse).

I don't like that. I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't Christmas. Even family visits felt rushed. Christmas Eve and Day came and went in a flash.

I would like 2011 to be different. I would like it to be...well, just more than 2010 was.