August 16, 2014 by clumpaday

A Mean Paper Pile Subdued

Uncategorized
Life, Mean Girls, Mo'ne Davis, Paper Clutter, Photos, Tina Fey
2 Comments

Clump #210: Power through paper pile — part two.

I figured I’d put a photo of a tree on this page to commemorate the trees who gave their lives to make the newspapers I scanned through today. I started timing myself to keep up the pace and sense of urgency. The photo, below, was a misfire, but it’s actually a good impression of the way the process felt: scan, scan, skim, and toss:

I dutifully cut out the sudokus for my husband …

and bagged the whole lot for recycling. Four of the bags already contained shredded paper. With any luck, the piles on top will stabilize the shreds and prevent them from escaping and turning our street into a ticker tape parade on trash day.

Oh, Mo’ne, I hope you have your head screwed on tight! Front page of The Inquirer? At age 13?

The urgency part of getting through the clump quickly was the need to get out to a screening of the movie “Mean Girls” tonight. It was a benefit for the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, with a live interview with Tina Fey by TVGuide Magazine Writer and fellow Summer Stage Alum Damian Holbrook. Tina Fey was just as funny and down-to-earth as you would hope.

Another great female role model and Philly girl setting the bar high.

August 15, 2014 by clumpaday

Throw Out Like a Girl

Clump #209: Rake through and recycle newspaper pile — part one. Day five of 30-day challenge.

Okay, enough with the basement clumps … for now. While we were staring down monsters from the depths, our actual living space has become atrocious.

I’ve experienced a surprising behavior change since my surgery in May: a decrease in television watching (to almost none) and in newspaper reading. For anyone who knows me well, this is shocking. I find I don’t want to get wrapped up in all the negativity and brought down by the junk. I really don’t want to hear about Iraq, Gaza, the President, Congress, or any of the other cast of characters I used to closely follow as my favorite soap opera. You might accuse me of being superficial or not caring about the world’s problems, and you might be right. I can’t seem to get out of my protective bubble. In the meantime, the pile of newspapers continues to accumulate, like weeds or dust. It has been a clump I never have enough time to take care of in a day, so I started with just one stack. Why not toss them all out, sight unseen? I still have a need to scan through and find those gems that, for me, make the whole enterprise worthwhile.

Here’s a great example: today I read an article that filled me with hope. A team from Philadelphia, the Taney Dragons, is in the Little League World Series, which is exciting enough. And like the lone pansy in a field of petunias, above (sorry, I’ll do anything to include one of my flower photos), their ace pitcher is a girl in a “boy’s field.” Mo’ne Davis, below (next to a dour Meryl Streep in an unflattering wig), certainly gives lie to the taunt, “You throw like a girl.”

Excerpts from the article: “Tai Shanahan, one of the team’s outfielders, said she ‘is one of the guys that just happens to be a girl.’ Davis said her teammates’ acceptance of her as a girl player ‘makes me cry.’ ‘Just kidding,’ said Davis. ‘I don’t really feel anything.'” …

“Mo’ne has to ride an hour and 20 minutes on the bus each way to from her home in South Philadelphia to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Chestnut Hill, where she has been given a generous scholarship and received an award for academic achievement. ‘She is the leader without trying,’ Bandura [her coach] said.'”

Well … the uplifting story does not balance out the one below it about Ferguson, but it helped. Here’s the first clump (looks bigger in person–really):

Late-breaking news:

Mo’ne Davis becomes first girl to throw LLWS shutout

Go Mo’ne!!!

August 14, 2014 by clumpaday

To Put Away Childish Things

Uncategorized
Blazing Saddles, Decluttering, Games, Life, Madeline Kahn, Mel Brooks, Photos, Toys
4 Comments

Clump #208: Clear out basement toys; decide what to keep. Day four of 30-day challenge. No time … no energy? No excuses!

This has been one of those days I found myself wishing I had never declared a 30-day challenge. “Let’s face it, I’m tired.” (Thank you Mel Brooks and Madeline Kahn.) I pushed myself through a pile of toys and games from the basement (I’m barely able to hold the camera steady, I’m so pooped):

All except the two below will be donated to our annual Fall Festival at Meeting.

I couldn’t let go of the Party Bingo. It doesn’t matter that I can’t remember the last time we played this game. I’m just happy (not as happy as the girl on the box on the right, certainly) to own one of those spinny-things (does it have a name?) that randomly selects the number balls.

I also kept the magnet blocks. I’m pretty sure my mother-in-law gave them to us, and I remember thinking they were the greatest thing since sliced bread: somewhat open-ended for creativity, but satisfyingly easy for very little hands to snap together. Oh, yes, and I managed to keep all the pieces through three children and many years. A miracle!

It was a day of fanciful, childlike things, from the goose of Strasburg, PA (at top) looking like Mother Goose, to a tiny fairy home at a garden store:

…to a woman, where my mom lives, who offered to teach me her clay art. I promise to get photos of her amazing creations. This was just a very primitive example:

Oh that nostalgia, the bane of the de-clumper. The framed polaroid photo below stays, also. Our kids made it together when we were in the gigundo Lego store in The Mall of America of Minnesota on a Father’s Day long ago. <Sniff>

Of course, the real issue with this clump was feeling like I was letting go of pieces of our kids’ childhood. Plus, I hope we’ll be lucky enough to have grandchildren someday, probably traveling in by jet pack, and that they might enjoy the old favorite toys. The Magnet Blocks and Bingo game are at the ready.

August 13, 2014August 13, 2014 by clumpaday

Pumpkins and Penance

Clump #207: Clear out kids’ activities container; take basement clump to Goodwill.

I saw this roadside display today!! Not. At. All. Ready.

Here’s one payoff for confronting clumps of long forgotten stuff. I looked into the box below, and — lo and behold — alongside pumpkin-decorating materials, there was the Santana “Supernatural” CD we’ve been missing for years! Hooray! The contents of the box dated from the time I was in charge of kids’ activities for our Quaker Meeting’s Fall Festival. Santana and Rob Thomas’s song “Smooth” was my choice for a cake walk song no one could resist moving to. “Man, it’s a hot one…”

This magazine photo (Martha Stewart Living?) had been my pumpkin decorating inspiration:

I loaded up the car again for another trip to the Goodwill. Along with the non-yard-waste contents of the box were three cleaning devices I had bought in hopes that they’d charm our house into spotlessness. Like Cinderella’s coach after midnight, they ended up, not pumpkins, but more clutter in our house.

I felt so much lighter after depositing this stuff at the Goodwill. It reminded me of my Catholic upbringing and the way I’d feel after going to confession, even though I usually made up my sin list (is that in itself a sin?). “Take these, brother, for I have over-bought. It has been two months since my last donation.”

The grace I seek now is forgiveness of myself … with God’s help.

August 12, 2014August 13, 2014 by clumpaday

Record Setting

Clump #206: Sort basement clumps and take vinyl records to Goodwill.

Today was a day my younger daughter and I switched parent and child roles a few times. Recently she heroically dove into the vast, dark abyss of our basement storage area and sorted out piles. Now my husband and I have to make the tough decisions about what to keep, throw away, or give away. Too hard! She wouldn’t let me off the hook, no matter how many lame reasons I might have had to run back upstairs. We got the vinyl albums sorted and a whole bunch into the car to bring to Goodwill. (Sorry Perry, you didn’t make the cut.)

No matter how bad we might feel about our cluttered basement, this article from The New York Times, about a Brazilian man driven to own all the vinyl records in the world, is proof that it could be much, much, worse. It’s all a matter of perspective.

As I was marveling at the spirit and drive of my daughter, it dawned on me that she might have been avoiding a few important items she needed to cross off her own to-do list to get ready for a year studying abroad. My turn to crack the whip. The Art of Procrastination by John Perry spells out this phenomenon whereby “The procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely, and important tasks … as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.” He calls it “Structured Procrastination.”

As loyal readers know, I often include photos of what I’ve called “the goose of Strasburg, PA,” which I see on the way to visits with my mom. I’m now wondering whether she is actually a duck … a very dapper duck. The most recent of her snappy ensembles was this green and white check, with matching sunglasses. Tucked into her collar was a postcard (has she been on vacation?) from Long Island, with a photo of The Big Duck in Flanders, NY.

Happy tails … er… trails!

August 11, 2014August 11, 2014 by clumpaday

Coming Back to My Senses and a New Challenge

Clump #205: De-clump ironing pile. Again.

Oh dear! I thought I was back over a month ago. Turns out, the hazy, lazy days of summer made it irresistible to take a blogging break. Can I claim busyness and laziness as excuses? The resulting build-up of clutter in areas I had previously vanquished is now annoying and discouraging, not to mention downright embarrassing. Oh, and I forgot: I was really going to try to be more accepting of myself.

It occurred to me this morning that I should start another 30-day challenge. Two of my husband’s sisters will be visiting in September, which is a wonderful thing. I blithely thought, “I’ll just start the challenge a month before their arrival date.” Then I realized … uhhh … that would be TODAY. Nothing like a deadline to snap me out of this rudderless-boat-in-the-middle-of-a-bank-of-fog world I’ve been inhabiting. I’ve had a particularly bad time with calendars ever since my surgery. I’m afraid the surgeon mistakenly took the calendar-awareness part of my brain out by mistake.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words:

I had meant to jot down an appointment, and instead this, above, actually happened. We wouldn’t want to forget that it’s June 11th on June 11th! (Help me!)

For those very precious longtime readers of the blog, you might remember a certain struggle with a very large clump of ironing in days of yore. Well … laundry mountain rose once again:

To get myself moving, I watched a favorite ironing movie while I worked, “Sense and Sensibility,” starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. Nothing like a Jane Austen story to sooth the raging clump devouring our chair, clothing, and peace of mind. Something was wrong with the movie player/television (????) (technophobe alert!), and for some reason I could only get it to play in black and white. I ended up really enjoying it, though. The images of Regency England costumes and countryside were elegant in two colors.

“Judy, dearest, how long has it truly been since you put iron to cloth?”

I’m always tickled by the look of despair on the faces of this family upon first sight of the house that represents their reduced circumstances:

Such a terrible pity! Such a hovel! The inhumanity!

At least they could still employ two servants…

who, presumably, did their ironing.

July 4, 2014 by clumpaday

Life Is Good

Uncategorized
Life, Peonies, Photos, Recovery, Shelf Cleaning, Surgery
4 Comments

Clump #204: Clean out two neglected kitchen shelves.

I guess I have a bit of explaining to do to those dear readers wondering where I’ve been. In my last post I mentioned that a medical condition I was suffering from was “something fixable.” Once again, to avoid over-sharing and the downright gross, I had many tests, and the results and prognoses kept changing. The “fixable” aspect was not as assured as I had understood. The universe works in strange ways: turns out I had internal clumps that needed to be surgically removed. Thankfully, all was deemed benign. I think “benign” might be the most beautiful word in the human language. The light and love of many people reading this blog lifted me through the scary experience. You have my endless gratitude.

Phew, it’s difficult to get back on board after so much time away … the expected two weeks that turned into two months. I took very seriously my doctor’s orders to rest. I amassed a pile of cozy books and gave myself free reign to read them all. Addictive! Usually I have a photo to tell the story, and this one below is about as close as I can get. My beloved soft, fluffy, pink bathrobe (in one of the rare times it was not enfolding me) next to a beautiful arrangement of peonies a dear friend brought over during my recovery. If you don’t own a peony bush, at least know someone who does and who might gift some to you.

And, oh yes, the clump. Ahem. It all started when our younger daughter needed some chocolate chips and had been gently urging me to get back to de-clumping and blogging. This was all she could scrape up from the mess in the cabinets:

She had already set the wheels in motion before I had a chance to take a proper “before” photo of the wayward shelves, but their contents splayed on the counter effectively tell the story:

We set right to work sorting and tossing. The waste is amazing when you can’t see the contents of a shelf. Three bags of shredded coconut!

And the much improved, clean and orderly after:

We then went out to buy some more chocolate chips. Life is good!

April 28, 2014 by clumpaday

Cleaning Product Intervention

Clump #203: Confront cleaning products; sort and disperse.

Recently we had to move our cleaning supplies from under the sink due to a leak, and since then they’ve been schlepped to the dining room, down to the basement, and, finally, of course, now to the study…the overflow room.

I reduced the products to two bins. The items on the left were all I’ve really needed in the past months. On the right, more cleaning products than I really need, but I will store them below the sink again, nonetheless.

These ones I’ll store in the basement, as back-ups to the ones above which, again, is more than I need.

Under the sink, amidst a number of dried-out tea bags that had missed the trash can, I found this Honest Tea bottle cap:

I hereby vow to change one thing: No More Buying of Cleaning Products until I use up all of these. I will remember that buying a cleaning product is not the measure of a good housekeeper. It’s putting them to use.

April 27, 2014May 3, 2014 by clumpaday

A Broken Record

Uncategorized
Decluttering, Flowers, Life, Nostalgia, Photos, Simon and Garfunkel, SNL Shorts
2 Comments

Clump #202: Deposit son’s coins; glue catch-all; keep emotions in check.

I was on the verge of tears several times today. I could blame it on the weeping cherry tree, clinging onto its last flowers today, that grows beside our Quaker Meeting.

Next, I saw an old photo featuring our son when he played a wise man many years ago in the Christmas Nativity (a poor photo of a poor photo). Ahh, with the little impish grin, he bears the gift of sharp nostalgia.

I watched a recording of SNL Shorts, short films aired on Saturday Night Live through the years. The show ended with scenes of people meeting each other at an airport, set to Simon and Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound.” Cue the waterworks. (The only place I could find it was on “BUCKNACKT’S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG. Not sordid or tawdry at all!)

Today’s clump was depositing coins in our son’s bank account … over thirteen dollars!

They were stored in a broken, molded vinyl record he had been using as a catch-all. I thought I’d have to throw it out …

but I got some krazy glue and put it together. The last little piece almost had me in tears … and my fingers have a gluey coating now, but I finally succeeded.

Not perfect, but still useable.

Two dear friends generously gifted us with lovely cut daffodils. The ones below resemble clusters of yellow butterflies. In the corner, looking on, are the remnants of the other, earlier gift.

I know I have a bit of a problem holding on to things, but you have to admit they do possess a different kind of beauty.

My broken record message is: life is fleeting! Told vividly by kids, trees, flowers, even money.

Soak it up while it’s here.

April 26, 2014 by clumpaday

The Gift of Less

Clump #201: What’s in this basket?

Below, a basket of stuff clogging up the study … another instance of the old dash-and-stash before company is about to arrive. It’s the root of clutter-evil for me! In the case of this basket, much of the contents are Christmas (!) (I know) presents that weren’t quite right, needing to be exchanged or returned.

At first it was a case of “out of sight, out of mind,” then eventually, when it did enter my mind, I had the aversion response: “Oh, I’ve left them too long, it’s probably not possible to return them now… bad me!” which, ironically, leads to more procrastination.

So today I dug in. I called TOM’S, where I purchased the “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” tee shirt. I spoke to a very nice young man, and when I mentioned how small the sizing was, he explained they are “California sizes.” “Everyone is smaller in California.” I had never heard that one before! He mentioned that there, he has to buy a 3XL, and so he really can’t find any clothing. Huh! Good experience number one.

Next I returned a pair of slippers for our younger daughter, who had kindly told me she does not wear slippers. Yet another chapter in my life-long quest to get her to put on something warm and her life-long quest to make me understand that she is not cold. When will I learn?

I had bought them at Lands’ End, so I took them to the L.E. department in our local Sears. Piece of cake. No time limits, no problem.

Approaching basket clearness!

Clump A Day

postcards from the clogosphere

Tag / Life