December 6, 2013December 6, 2013 by clumpaday

This Shelf’s a Wrap

Clump #108: Clear off fourth shelf in pantry.

“I just want to say one word to you. One word … plastics.”* Ah, chapter four in the scintillating story of the pantry purge.

My mom taught me to keep a back-up of certain items on hand, like plastic wrap and aluminum foil, but I guess my plastic collection got a little out of control.

Look what was hidden in there. A desiccated hermit crab? No, a common, oddly non-malodorous, kind-of-beautiful-in-its-shriveled-state onion.

Also, Christmas napkins bought on sale, ready to go for this holiday season. And last year’s candy canes Santa used to adorn the tree; I’ll use these again, since no one seems to want to eat them anymore.

This is a lesson I need to highlight for myself, especially in the season of running around and buying more, more, more: We often have what we need, if only we can find it.

The happily, wrappily after … with the floor left to go. Just looking at the floor makes me want to run screaming. All the more reason to take it clump by clump.

*If you’re like me, and would enjoy a little trip down memory lane to revisit this line in the movie The Graduate, then click here. Classic.

December 4, 2013December 5, 2013 by clumpaday

Kitchen Curating and Cures

Clump #107: Clear off third shelf in pantry.

I found it! I’ve been thinking of a cartoon I enjoyed years ago in The New Yorker magazine by the wonderful Roz Chast: The Museum of One’s Kitchen. Hurray! Oh internet, is there nothing you can’t find? I wish I knew how to make this bigger, but I’m just thrilled to be able to paste it in.

I’ve already documented cleaning “The Refrigerator Door Gallery / Don’t try to absorb it all in one visit.”

For years my husband has invoked the memory of “The Cabinet of Too Many Teas / Not even the curator knows why there are so many.” Here’s the shelf, emptied (whoops, note to self: clean spills on back wall):

And the too-many teas that had clogged it:

Of course there were items from “The Shelf of Antiquity / Products from before the dawn of time.” And, I’m sure, our very own “Impulse Buy Collection.” Here is the culled shelf:

I discovered some rose tea I had bought after reading an article on Dr. Oz’s blog called Finding Balance During the Holidays by Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary, M.D. Here is an excerpt:

Roses are used as medicine for emotional stress in ayurveda. In the West, we tend to associate the gift of roses with love and romance, and this stems from the concept that roses can “open” the heart by bringing it back into balance. There are 3 easy ways to incorporate the power of roses into your daily routine to balance your emotions:

1. Make a tasty drink before bed by adding rose petal preserves to warm milk. Drinking it before bedtime helps you get a deeper, more rejuvenating sleep in addition to balancing the heart.

2. Drink a tea combining dried holy basil leaves (tulsi tea) with dried rose petals. Put the tea in a thermos and take small sips throughout the day.

3. Wear rose essential oil on your skin throughout the day as aromatherapy.

Ah … I feel more balanced already.

December 4, 2013December 4, 2013 by clumpaday

Buying Green, Seeing Red

Clump #106: Clear off second shelf in pantry.

I was too much in a hurry when I took this photo, clearing the pantry one shelf-clump at a time:

I stood, peering at this tea box for too long trying to read the expiration date before opening it up to find it was empty! D’oh!

It’s been an education in how wasteful a disorganized food closet can be. So often we’ve bought multiples of the same item because we haven’t known, or have been able to see, what’s there.

Okay, time to get out of the closet, so to speak! I needed to buy a birthday present, and felt like I was honoring the spirit of Giving Tuesday by shopping at Ten Thousand Villages, a Fair Trade Retailer, “Gifts That Give Twice.” Fifteen percent of all sales today were going to a local charity that had set up a table in the store.

Feeling a bit color-starved when outdoors, I’ve been appreciating berries: one of the last swatches of bright color in the landscape. The other day I was thinking about the fact that I’m like a bird seeking out color, when a bright red cardinal flew right in front of me.

December 1, 2013 by clumpaday

Lightening Shelves and Shrubs

Clump #104: Clean out refrigerator; clear top shelf of pantry.

My husband had the good idea of making a shepherd’s pie with our leftover turkey and mashed potatoes. I googled “turkey shepherd’s pie” and came up with a recipe that also called for (and cleared out) our leftover chicken stock, carrots, celery, frozen peas, and some of the fresh sage and thyme. The site’s creator is a woman named Kathy Lee, who obviously has the same Thanksgiving dinner menu we do. The only thing I needed to buy was a cup of fresh mushrooms. Here’s a link to the recipe.

Kathy Lee recommends this for the day after Thanksgiving, but I was happy to have a few days in between. The recipe makes enough for an army … and our troops have left for their other lives. It’s just the two of us again. We both thought it was good, but we’ll have to invite friends over to finish it.

Cleaning out a bunch of food in the refrigerator inspired me to clear out the top shelf of the pantry. The whole closet was overwhelming. Baby steps. It doesn’t look too bad from a distance …

But out on the counter, I couldn’t believe all the things that had been hidden there. How many times have I bought dish soap, not realizing a bottle was waiting patiently out of sight?

I had to laugh when I uncovered a few of these things. There was the lone, ancient cracker left in a box…

and soda bottles that used to be cylindrical, but had become angular:

I know this doesn’t look too much different, but many things were trashed, containers recycled, and a bag of donations for the local food pantry started. More sorting to come when the other shelves are done.

Meanwhile, my dear husband worked on getting Christmas lights tested and put on trees and bushes outside,

so that every time I went into the garage to fill and fill the recycling container, I was delighted by the sight of newly hung lights!

P.S. I just realized the subliminal urging at the top of Katie Lee’s recipe! I was standing on a chair just as she is in this header, only my shelves don’t look nearly as artistically perfect … yet … er … never.

November 30, 2013November 30, 2013 by clumpaday

Small Wonders

Clump #103: Take “give-away” items from yesterday’s clump to Goodwill.

A clump like yesterday’s out-of-control cabinet consists of two phases. First, clearing and sorting into keep, throw away, and give-away piles. Then, getting the give-aways out of the house. All the items pictured below are now at the Goodwill, and with any luck, will be of good use to someone else.

Kind of a dreary picture for the last day of my 30-day, 30-clump, 30-post challenge. Mission accomplished! Heartfelt thanks to everyone following along … your support has kept me going. I must commemorate the occasion with some prettier photos.

Today is Small Business Saturday, a day to shop at local, independent businesses. I learned that by patronizing locally owned businesses, “52 percent of what you spend stays right in your community, supporting local organizations and services.”

I became enchanted with this florist shop while walking in Chicago one night (not our local store, but a Chicagoan’s):

The city lights glittered and shone on the containers in the windows.

A car and street lights reflected in one planter was dreamlike.

I was spellbound.

Ah-ha … little elves creating the magic!

Could they please come to my house?

November 30, 2013November 30, 2013 by clumpaday

Strike While The Griddle Is Hot

Clump #102: Clean out avalanching pan cabinet.

My youngest niece and I have a Black Friday tradition we almost wimped out on this morning. Deep, well-earned sleep after a long day almost did us in. But at around 8:00 am, we stumbled into Target, got hot chocolate, and commenced the annual ritual. Here’s my niece modeling a hat in the dollar section:

One year we experienced the full-on, get-up-in-the-dark insanity to buy my father a widescreen TV. I was questioning my own sanity for having brought a young girl with me. Scary! Since then we’ve stuck to Target at a more civilized hour. It wasn’t crowded today, and we had fun picking up CDs and DVDs for five dollars. My niece found a Christmas ornament in her favorite color for less than three dollars.

Back at home we dug out the griddle for pancakes. When I say dug out, I mean it. The photo below was taken after we put the griddle back. Time for a clump!

Ancient lunch bags, too grody to give away, bound for the trash:

Even older, a popsicle mold …

We found all four sticks!

And the glorious after:

Last year my niece gave me an incredible Christmas gift: a poem she had written for me.

Two excerpts: “When I was nine/ Or was it ten?/ I used to slide down/those slippery stairs/you never got mad,/ Just a little concerned.” and, “Black Friday shopping/ I always adore/ And you seem determined / Even if it’s 6 am at the door.”

Just goes to show that the best presents can’t be found in any store.

November 23, 2013November 24, 2013 by clumpaday

Bags and Sags

Clump #96: Give away catalogs; buy natural skin product gifts.

A dear friend told me she wished she had some of the catalogs I was describing as the scourge of our mailbox. I curated a bunch for her (on the right), recycled the rest (left), and dropped the nice ones off at her house today. I’m glad they have a new home with someone who will appreciate them.

My husband has taught me to rip off and shred our names, address, and all the codes on the backs of catalogs before recycling:

Another good friend, who started the business Only NatCHeryl Body Cremes, was selling her products at a local craft and gift sale today.

Her brochure begins, “I first started making lotion about 10 years ago after my son was born with a hormone related birth defect. After researching the possible causes, I discovered one of the contributing factors could have been exposure to BPA and Phthalates, common hormone disruptors that are found in products used daily in many households.” Her products are homemade, contain only the good stuff, and can be ordered here.

Deodorants are a very popular item in the line, formulated because she couldn’t find, for herself, a natural product that really worked. She also sells lip balms, bath salts, sugar scrubs, sunblock, and seriously dry skin balm. I went crazy over her mojito (lime and coconut) scented balm and lotion. You can tell how excited I was by the blurry photo:

Yesterday I wrote about our youth-obsessed world, with a hope that we will evolve into a culture that values, and finds beauty in, age and life experience. At lunch I drank a bottle of Honest Tea, and this was my message in the bottle:

The six words Elle McPherson chose to sum up her memoir: “I want to be Tina Fey.”

I feel renewed hope for the world and woman-kind that a super model, who built her fame and fortune on a Sports-Illustrated-Swimsuit-Issue-Worthy body, wants to be someone known for intelligence, talent, and great, sharp wit. Poor Elle is now a fading flower in an industry that values only youthful exteriors.

We’re all flowers bound for fading, but why not delay the process with a good moisturizer?

November 16, 2013 by clumpaday

Short/Long-Term Solutions

Clump #89: Place some online gift orders; clear garage doorsteps.

I really hope I can learn the lessons of this 30-day, 30-clump, 30-post challenge: Project Enjoy Christmas. Ordering Christmas gifts in November is much easier than in December. The likelihood that an item will be in stock is so much higher. And if there’s a glitch that adds a little more time, no problem. Wow.

Of course, Christmas is not the only holiday to be mindful of in November. Thanksgiving is coming! I love Thanksgiving. Every year the holiday gets pushed farther and farther out of the public sphere by earlier and earlier ads and decorations for Christmas … where the big money is. The introspective holiday for gathering and giving thanks gets short shrift.

In the spirit of welcoming guests, I took a hard look at the doorway to our house from the garage (sorry for the fuzziness of the photo; hands shaking with sudden awareness):

My long-deceased sister once gave me sage advice about moving into a new house: “Be careful of short-term solutions … they so easily become long-term solutions.” How many times do I need to live that lesson before it sticks?

New home for boots on a tray I’ve been meaning to make into the “boot home” for ages:

Old, old kids’ video games on left (aww, The Jolly Post Office — loved that), to Goodwill; pile on the right, recycle.

This is the container where they were stored in the garage. Looks like it was trying to set down roots. Almost!

The whole garage could use a cleaning, but that’s a clump for another day. Just getting the entrance swept and the door mats shaken out was a big improvement. Aiming for better, not perfect.

My husband helped with the sorting. I told him that in Feng Shui the entrance to the house is very important. He replied, “We were all Fenged-Up.”

Three things I’m thankful for: my husband’s help and sense of humor, light rain on red berries,

and color in trees, even though devoid of leaves:

November 14, 2013November 15, 2013 by clumpaday

Just Say Go

Clump #87: Empty metal filing box … again.

The box, below, was cleared out in a previous clump, but I recently filled it again in a quick-pick-up-and-stash when company was coming. Nature, and this metal mesh box, abhor/s a vacuum.

Comically ironic: two of the items in the pile were a magazine and a newspaper article on transforming clutter in one month! The magazine article, though very seductive, was disappointing. It offered a piece of advice for each of 30 days. Day 17 was De-Junk Drawers; Day 19: Paper Purge. As if! This was obviously written by an uber-organized person who has no idea what it’s like to struggle with massive clutter build-up.

The newspaper article, written by Lona O’Connor for The Philadelphia Inquirer, was much more useful. For instance, she wrote, “The on-off switch. Another component of those piles are matters you won’t make a decision about and therefore don’t handle. (‘Well, I might go to that convention, so I’ll just hang on to these registration forms for a while.’) Stop. Think. Then either register for the convention or throw the darn paperwork out. Most decision-making is as simple as an on-off switch — yes or no, stay or go — simple alternatives. What makes it hard is you, adding all those irrelevant ‘maybes’ and ‘what-ifs.’ Make this your mantra: ‘On-off, yes-no, stay or go.’ At least half your decisions will suddenly become simple to make. Paperwork follows decision-making.”

I said “Go” to most of the things in the box. I also took the “yes or no” advice and signed up (right away!) for a class I had wanted to take last year at Longwood Gardens. I had been too slow, not due to “maybes and what-ifs,” just garden variety procrastination. The class, Fearless Watercolor, had been sold-out before I’d gotten to it. But not this time.

After:

Longwood Gardens has an indoor plant conservatory which will be beautiful in February. Maybe by then I will be celebrating better decision making without so much paperwork dogging me. Here are two pictures from the iphone photography class I took at Longwood this fall:

When I was taking this photo, a woman nearby told me the flower was poisonous. Seductive yet poisonous, like articles on how to get rid of clutter that become clutter.

November 11, 2013 by clumpaday

Seasonal Journey

Uncategorized
Decluttering, Fall, Life, Photos, Spring, Trees
6 Comments

Clump #84: Mail card; recycle paper from study.

The greeting card, below, was one I’ve had for quite a while. I bought it to send to two dear people we know from our Quaker Meeting who have been trying to sell their house and move. The drawn-out process has allowed us to slip into denial that they would really leave. But yesterday was officially their last Sunday at Meeting before taking off. The card is made by a company called quotable cards.

My sense of loss was echoed by a great weeping cherry tree that stands outside our meeting house:

The few leaves left seemed like teardrops.

From the study, where I had recently let clutter creep back in, I pulled out a big pile of papers. Exhibit “A” of “always some object in the way” from the greeting card quote.

Life’s journey seems easier in the Spring (the same tree earlier this year).

But even in my sad state of mind, I thrilled to the sensation of rustling through fall leaves. “Happiness is the way.”

Clump A Day

postcards from the clogosphere

Tag / Decluttering