Here it is, New Year's Weekend 2016, and I find myself already four or five posts behind my goal for 2015. I have no excuse for this lack of discipline. I am lazy and there's no sugarcoating it.
I'm going to backpedal to roughly mid-September to re-cap my Amazing Summer Off, before the Job Hunting Blues set in and ruined everything.
As you may recall, my last day at the Salt Mine was April 30th. After a few days of luxuriating in the knowledge that I didn't have to be anywhere for the foreseeable future, I began to tackle my long list of projects that had lain dormant for nearly eleven years.
First off, I sorted through several boxes of old files: bills, bank statements, articles I'd printed that seemed really interesting at the time but not so much anymore. I went through another huge stash of magazine clippings labeled "Design" from the days when I dreamed of changing careers to become an interior designer. 90% of it ended up in the recycling bin.
The whole culling process took almost the entire month of May. It was a sobering lesson in the folly of hoarding paper. An untold number of trees laid waste to indulge my obsessions. Did I ever go back and re-read any of those articles or use those design ideas to any tangible end? Nope! Was that garbage pail-sized pile of rejected paper serving any purpose other than as a colossal fire hazard? Nope!
Take a lesson from me, my friends: if you ever feel the urge to print out that funny Salon article on annoying co-workers, or to cut out that photo of the perfect kitchen from Country Living, resist it with all your being! Believe me when I tell you it will sit in a drawer, unappreciated and taking up space, until you stumble across it ten years from now and you'll wonder what the heck you were thinking. [Same goes, btw, for the bag loads of shoes and clothing that ended up being consigned or donated.]
That major chore out of the way, I moved on to the garden and a few indoor decorating projects. Those were much more fun.
I transformed the area behind the garage from a junk depository into a Provence-inspired patio. Twenty bags of really heavy pea gravel, 36 pieces of edging rock, and a garbage bag full of old car parts later, it was done and I headed forthwith to the Chiropractor. Upshot: we can finally sit outside and enjoy the garden without having to run inside when it rains. Heaven!
Then, I got serious about finding the perfect miniature 'french' chandelier for the guest room (my private hangout space). I've been keeping an eye out for years without luck but hadn't been serious about it. It took a while, and I was on the verge of despairing that I'd never find anything for my budget of under $100, when I at last came across this one online for only $99 + free shipping. YAY!!!
The upstairs hallway:
Now that three tons of paper have been removed, the Library (aka my Shoe Room) is slowly coming together:
My "Miniatures" gallery:
Many more projects still await, but I figure I've got the rest of my life to get through them all. Then, should I meet an untimely demise, my sister and niece will get to dismantle them all and divide the spoils and my husband will be glad to be rid of all my 'junk'.
Up next is the ever-daunting Photo Project: Printing out twelve years of digital photos from the computer and sorting them by year into actual physical photo albums. Not looking forward to that chore AT ALL. Let me know if you have a teenager for rent!
No comments:
Post a Comment