Post Holiday Clean Up

I think everyone starts thinking about cleaning up after the holidays. You look around and see all that great new stuff you got for Christmas, the stuff you have looks sad and scruffy, the old model cannot compare to the new. You can't close the dresser drawers, who needs so many tee shirts? Not me! But one of the dangers of doing a big clean out is overdoing a big clean out leading to regret in February when you could just kick yourself for tossing the More Cowbell tee-shirt, it was your favorite! Was too! But you look around, where do you start? A couple of years ago I purged my books, with the ereader my hardcovers were just collecting dust and as I've mentioned before with all the moving we do it just gets tiresome schlepping stuff around when you're not even sure what's in the boxes. So, we are back to starting to rummage through our stuff. 

We were watching a new show a few days ago, it's a reality show  and the cleaning expert is a petite woman who doesn't even look real she's so cute. She doesn't speak English either so she totes an interpreter around with her. Her method is to get everyone to kneel and ask the house permission and it's assistance to help clean. David was having a hard time with that. Then she had them hold each item and reflect on whether it brought them joy. Hmm.. I had a hard with THAT. Why? Well, for instance, if I'm gently clutching my floor mop I have to tell you, it will not bring me a whole lot of joy. However, if I'm gently holding say...... 8 ounces of hand spun lace weight alpaca yarn dyed a lovely shade of lilac, my joy is boundless. We would end up with a house full of yarn, coffee, and knitting bags. You're probably wondering about Bob the cat - that's a roll of the dice. Sometimes when I hold her she fills me with joy, however last week when I was holding her because I caught her trying to revenge puke in my closet there was no joy to be had. I might have been holding her in a tight joyless way actually. 

We've started moving everything out, I"m going through my knitting books, with Ravelry I can just buy the one pattern I want instead of a whole book with one that I like. Clothes of course are next, stuff in general. I donate it all - it makes me feel good that someone else can use it. I try to do it slowly, we've found in the past doing a fast, ruthless purge proves nothing - a month down the road you end up spending money replacing what you needed - so it's our usual work in progress. 

Happy New Year

So, another year. I did not bother making resolutions, either you're going to do or you won't - and why add more stress? This has been an ......interesting year? On one hand I want to say glad that's over but it wasn't all bad, was it? I did accomplish some things and had a lot of fun, there's more coming too. We had a nice Christmas this year, had a lovely visit with Jackson and crew, I passed my exam and now can put CRRN (Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse) after the RN which I'm very excited about. I got a bunch of new kntting stuff for Christmas - Namaste is back in business so I bought a few new bags, I bought a full set of Lykke straight needles as a reward for passing my test. Knitting wise I am a very happy camper. We didn't do too much for New Years Eve - we just hung out and I watched a scary movie, it works for me. However, in retrospect I would not have had a giant cup of tea while I watched the movie because after I went to bed I had to get up of course. In the dark. Alone - at least I hoped I was alone!! It was pretty quick sprint so nothing got me. 

David has been working on the house steadily, it's been raining and cold lately so whenever he can get anything done, he does. So today, the first of the year he's been out there working on the roof. This makes things a bit annoying with Molly&Reuben. If you looked the word "pantywaist" or "pansy" up in the dictionary and there was a picture , it would be a Vizsla. They are the Casper Milky Toasts of the canine world. They also get scared by different pieces of construction equipment. Molly does not like the nail gun, if I'm in the house she's like glue and everytime I stop moving she tries to climb on me - I get a lot done on those days. Weirdly, saws don't bother her at all. 

Reuben fears the compressor and will collect all of his worldly belongings to huddle on the couch with. He refuses to go outside and if you try to make him he goes completely boneless and limp. So I leave him in the house and take Molly out, that makes him anxious as she is probably eating mice and having a grand time. When we get back he's at the door crying because he needs to go out now, so back out we go. Yay. Despite the dogs the house is moving along very quickly now, David has the master bedroom upstairs almost finished and carpeting is down, it won't be long now!