Month / April 2014

by clumpaday

Time, Patience, and Compounding Clumps

Clump #183:  Clear four items from son’s bedroom.  Day eight of the 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge.

An easy clump, as clumps go.  I had to tell myself that the goal is not always quantity, but consistency — keeping the momentum going. The windshield protector went into a car, the weights into the basement with similar exercise equipment, and the toolbox with other things to save for our son’s collection … it will join the bag ‘o office supplies from yesterday’s clump.

Note to self: get in shape!  Those weights made my arms feel like rubber.

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Each clump seems so small individually …

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but joined with many more, they might really amount to something! (Taking another shot of the ribbon of crocuses today before it disappears.)

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We expect quick results in this super-charged world.  I opened a box of stationery to write an overdue note to a friend, and this quote was on the inside of the box.  It was just what I needed.

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Follow Your Heart and Plant Pansies

 

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Clump #182:  Sort through two bags in son’s bedroom.

I enjoyed a Skype session with all three of our kids yesterday.  Toward the end of the conversation, when it was just our overseas son and younger daughter, I said, “I don’t have a clump for you to look through right now.”  Our younger daughter said, “There are two small bags near the door [of son’s room] that would be easy.”

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Take Out the Papers and the Trash

Clump #181: Remove trash from son’s bedroom.

So this was obviously an easy and straightforward clump … call it a mini vacation in my 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge.  Our younger daughter kindly — and willingly — devoted some of her college break to shoveling through the accumulated rubble in her brother’s room while he’s studying in Norway for a year.  She left labels on the sorted-out piles. This one made me smile:

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The trash basket on the left, above, was from our son’s college days. The one on the right stayed in his bedroom at home … fascinating, right?  The truth is, that one does have its fascinating aspects.  It was a relic from my husband’s youth.  He says he might have gotten it in middle school, or junior high, as we called it way back then. Little did he know that it would turn out to be a time capsule. Remember the old computer punch cards that couldn’t be folded, spindled, or mutilated?

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When this trash can was made, the war in “Make Love Not War” was the Vietnam war.  And I guess everyone in every time period thinks they are living through “nervous times,” but …

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the phrase: “Draft The White Knight But NOT Me” (below) makes clear that those truly were nervous times for young people.

“Chairman Mao Is A Fink” is so dated in terms of history and linguistics. When did the word “fink” go out of fashion?

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It was the 60’s, man, even the trash cans were radical!

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A Mixed Bag: Books, Bravo, and Bulbs

Clump #180:  Send son second list of book titles.  Day five of the 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge … moving clutter and chi.

The second box of books included 33 titles.  I have a dream that one day this basket will be used for laundry again:

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The journal on top has the quote below on its cover.  Pretty nice to consider while assessing a load of books; we tend to look outside ourselves for wisdom.

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On another note, I’ve mentioned a few times my guilty pleasure of watching The Voice.  Last night my fellow Voice enthusiast neighbor and I went to see former contestant Matthew Schuler perform locally.  He was known as having the fastest four-chair-turn in the history of the show, and his rendition of the song “Hallelujah” made it to the top of the iTunes charts.  The photo below was taken when he sang “Hallelujah” at the show.  Amazing!

Such a fine young man, and great to hear that his experience on the show was positive.  I even got to talk to his parents who were manning the merch table.  I knew them, too, from the show.  They are both ministers and were super nice.  I asked his mother how she handled the experience of her son going through the incredible ride of the show. Her answer was, “I just said, God, have your way … cover him.”  The concert benefited The Peacemaker Center, a non-profit mental health counseling organization.  Bravo Matthew!

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And today I passed a chorus of crocuses on my way to my mom’s.

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It was difficult to adequately capture how gorgeous they were.

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Each little grouping was more beautiful than the next.

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Hallelujah!

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Weighty Books and Horsey Looks

Clump #179:  Send son list of book titles.  Day four of the 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge. Mission: clear out our son’s bedroom before he returns home and deposits more stuff in there.

I sent our son an email listing all 44 titles from the box below so that he can decide what to keep and what to give away.  I added that I would not mind a bit if he wanted to let go of any I had given him.

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Supergood Films

Clump #177: Sort through son’s DVD collection.  Day two of the 30-day Bedroom Blast Challenge.

We split it into three piles: on the left, music performance videos of some of our son’s favorite groups; on the right, regular movies to keep; and the small pile on top to give away (not much).  You might wonder why George Foreman’s LEAN MEAN FAT GRILLING MACHINE is on the musical video pile.  I wondered, too, and our son said he had been considering projecting it in the background during one of his band’s performances.  Oh … of course … I should have guessed!

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Another Challenge Takes Flight

Clump #176:  Start Bedroom Blast Challenge; sort out electronics.

This is a post about stuck-ness in various forms.  Some readers might remember the goose with the rotating wardrobe I drive past in Strasburg, PA on visits to my mom.  During the end of winter, and what should have been spring, I had begun to worry about the goose’s clothier … the outfit hadn’t changed in weeks … maybe months?  This photo was taken a week ago, at the beginning of our last (LAST) snow.

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