Addressing Christmas Cards 1974

At least I think that's what I was doing--red envelopes  Look at that lime green and yellow vinyl wall paper!  I think 1974 was the year because that's when I got the "serf" haircut.  I can spot at least 3 things posted next to my desk from my friend Lynne.  Her mother was an artist and used to whip out adorable cards.  See the cabinet and shelves behind me?  Originally, that unpainted pine unit held children's toys; then all my office stuff; now it's in the basement holding light bulbs, vacuum cleaner bags, tools, nails, screws, and general junk.  The desk I'm still using--that might have been the reason for the photo (a polaroid) to show off the desk. Looks like the desk lamp was from the children's nursery. The shelves above my head are still with us somewhere in the basement.

You can de-clutter in 15 minutes a day

That's what Fly Lady says. I thought it was a fifty-fling, but after checking the site, I see it is 27. "Take a garbage bag and walk through your home and throw away 27 items. Do not stop until you have collected all 27 items. Then close the garbage bag and pitch it. DO NOT LOOK IN IT!!! Just do it." But I had an entire box to empty. I pitched 67 things. It took much longer than I anticipated. Some of the forms I'd set aside asked for things like my doctor's name, address and phone number; or my husband's SS; or my daughter's, or the pharmacy's phone number. And the returned Christmas cards. Oh my. I had to fire up the database and change or add addresses. I had to take some things to the basement, like my husband's tools because I never could figure out how to fix the exercycle so it wouldn't sound like a small plane taking off, and last year's calendar that had some great flower photos for when I get inspired to paint again. Then there was the laundry to put in the dryer while I was down there, and yesterday's loads to take upstairs. Yes, de-cluttering takes much more time than you think. Fortunately, the cat hadn't become excited and used the litter box like she usually does when she sees me going to the basement. But with 5" of snow expected today, 2" this evening, and another 5" possibly tomorrow, this is a good day to do de-cluttering.

Thursday Thirteen--Cleaning the desk top

For many years when I was working at the Veterinary Medicine Library at Ohio State, I would have an annual review with my boss, Jay Ladd. He always did this in my office rather than his, because that way he could look around and see how things were progressing in my library (located a mile or so from the Main Library). Of course, you want to make a good impression, so we’d make sure the public areas were neat and dusted. But what to do about the mess in my office? I soon perfected this method. Scoop up everything on the top of my side desk, computer desk and top of the filing cabinets and dump ot into a large box which would then go under my desk (not visible to anyone but me). What I learned from many years of doing this was that if I left the box unpacked for 6-8 weeks or so, most of the “to do” list just disappeared.

Since Christmas (or maybe before) the clutter in my home office has been growing. So this morning, it all went into a box. I need a list of 13 things, so this will just scratch the surface of what's in the box.

1) Garage Slab, vol. 1, no. 1. This goes with my hobby bloggy, In the beginning, but I just got this one last week and haven’t entered the information yet.

2) Three 8 x 10 group photos of class reunions. I do that blog too, MMHS1957 and I think one of them is missing, but although I pulled out the photos, I haven’t checked yet.

3) A recipe for pie pastry and apple pie on a 3 x 6 lined index card found in a library book. Beautiful handwriting. Appears to be exactly the same as what I learned from my mother who was the best pie baker east of the Mississippi River.

4) 4 or 5 returned Christmas cards. Need to change the addresses in my records, but haven’t yet. Computers are not handy that way.

5) My I-Touch that I’ve never learned to use, inside a small plastic case designed for a calendar.

6) My little notebook for new words--one of my 2009 New year’s resolutions.

7) The warranty and instructions for my 1979 lighted make-up mirror, but the lady who wanted to buy it never sent me the money.

8) An empty bottle of Valu-Dryl I was using to look up the ingredients for my husband’s winter cold 4 weeks ago.

9) 215 photographs to put in a new album for our 50th anniversary event. The album is a Martha Stewart (too big for the box so it’s on the couch) on sale for about $7, and Walgreens was having a sale, $.15 per print. That way I don't have to take old albums apart. These were all stored on my computer.

10) A lighted magnifying glass that doesn’t work too great--should probably toss it.

11) A 2010 calendar of daily phrases in German. However, there’s no pronunciation guide, and I don’t know German. Must be why it was for sale at Marc’s for about 88 cents. It could be a note pad if I turn it over.

12) A letter and stack of genealogy information from 2nd cousin once removed Marianne in Iowa who is 93.

13) Several weeks’ worth of church newsletters with names checked of people I need to send cards to, but haven't gotten around to it.

That’s only the top inch or so. I have a ways to go.

This cleaning method only works if you don’t stop to put anything away while you’re filling the box. The original dump only takes a few minutes. Once you begin sorting, shelving and filing, it’s an all day job.
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Cleaning the office

Some dusting and a box of books ready to go out the door. You may remember the cat was inspecting my bookshelves and found them a mess.



It still looks cluttered, but much better.

A few notes on decor. The small chair with the wicker seat was my great-grandmother's, recaned by my mother. I think there are four of them--three here and one at my aunt's. The little writing desk was probably one of the first purchases of my husband's grandparents when they got married about 100 years ago. It has very delicate inlaid wood designs of flowers, but something leaky was set on top, and it's damaged. You might think we are into antiques, but not really. It's just that when you inherit them, what are you going to do? They all have stories!

In the photo of the shelves there's a little hand painted figurine on the middle top shelf. That was done by me in the 1940s in Forreston. There was a woman who had a little craft shop in her home and you could make plaster figurines from her molds and she also had all the paints and finishes. It was a very popular craft as I recall--even my mother made some. It's standing between a stack of Human Life Review, still just as accurate and truthful as when published, and Biblio, a nice journal about books that folded too soon (1999?).

One of the items I tucked away is the photo of my grandmother's grandparents Williford wedding photo (Tennessee, 1868). I didn't have it in a frame and it was starting to curl. They probably never had another photo taken. Need to take care of that. And all those spiral bound pages, 3rd shelf middle? Blogs, printed. Mine.

As technology goes, you can still see a few of the "antiques" like a cordless answering phone that's probably 10-15 years old, and a cd player/radio about 15 years old.

Kitty makes a suggestion

It's time to clean the office shelves! Several months ago I did "before" and "after" photos of my husband cleaning his office. When I uploaded them, I couldn't tell the difference. I don't think that will be the case here; assuming I ever get around to it. When it comes to cleaning, I have drawersful of round tuits.