Friday, March 02, 2018

A Nest Cleaning Weekly Link Round-Up




It must be that time of year. I'm reorganizing things-- especially in my craft room since my focus has shifted from needlepoint to knitting. Yes, I've moved on from my filing cabinets to my craft containers, and somehow I'm determined to make everything fit in an orderly manner. Sometimes that's easier said than done-- know what I mean?

I think there's been a fundamental shift in me. Yes, I still accumulate things (especially books and yarn), but I read the books and pass them on; I use the yarn and pass what I make along to others. When Denis and I married sixteen years ago, he brought all his stuff from the UK with him. I hadn't finished sorting through all my deceased mother's belongings, so I had to hurry up and do that so that we'd have a prayer of fitting all his things in the house. We still wound up renting a large storage unit.

But I'd say at least five years ago, we started moving into smaller units until the only things in it were all my Christmas decorations. Then I started downsizing in a big way with those, and Denis cleared a bunch of his stuff out of the shed here on our property. Now, what Christmas decorations we have are in the shed.

Accumulating stuff doesn't mean much to me anymore. (And did you know that the closet in our guest room is virtually empty so that guests can actually hang up their clothes and put away their suitcases?) Denis and I are both determined that what we have will fit in our present nest; it's just that sometimes it means we have to take a good look around and do a bit of nest cleaning. But before I get started on that again, I'd better mosey on out to the corral. I might have a bit of cleaning to do out there, too! Head 'em up! Mooooooooove 'em out!


►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄


►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
  • Borneo's orangutan population has plummeted by half in just sixteen years.
  • Paleontologists have discovered a never-before-seen ancient fish species.
  • The first video of the baby Dumbo octopus shows they're fully formed from birth.


►The Happy Wanderer◄

►I ♥ Lists◄


That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!



8 comments:

  1. I've actually been having similar thoughts, Cathy. 'Stuff,' even if it's fun and/or useful, does have a way of piling up, doesn't it? Amazing how much we keep without thinking of it... I'll start getting rid of things as soon as I get back from that Greek tomb.

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    1. I don't have quite the problem with accumulating stuff as others who've lived in the house. I'm an almost-minimalist who's lived with pack rats all her life.

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  2. I will say that I am very much a minimalist. My house is pretty spare on 'stuff'. I think that comes from having a mother who was not a minimalist and certainly a mother-in-law who is not one. My mother-in-law has so many clothes that every closet in their house has her clothes in them. So many clothes. She loves to shop though. My mother had papers - lots and lots of papers - I came to realize that she was afraid of throwing something important away and so she kept everything - in bags - in closets. It was awful cleaning out their condo. So, I like books and a very, very select group of pretties from my mother and grandmother. However, I am finally fashionable in my 'stuff'. Ha!

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    1. I'm as close to being a minimalist as I can be without actually being one. My mother was a pack rat all her life. The two of us lived together until she died. I also had to fly back to Illinois to get my grandparents' house ready for sale-- the house where two gold medalist pack rats had lived for sixty years. If that doesn't change a person's way of thinking, nothing will!

      I'm currently living with a reformed pack rat. I say "reformed" because once I showed him how we would be saving money to get rid of "stuff," I got him on board my train! LOL

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  3. I confess that I have a lot of stuff, but papers are in file cabinets. I culled clothes years ago, actually have an empty closet!

    I had to clean out my Dad's house and he was a minimalist. And then I had clean out my mother's 3 1/2 room apartment which had enough stuff for a 10-room house. I couldn't believe that she had every size nail, curtain and S hooks.

    Also, file cabinets and dressers full of papers. It took me months - with help -- to clean out her apartment. And some of it is in my apartment now and I keep planning to give away to charity what I can.

    If I drink iced coffee and eat sugar I get on cleaning and sorting binges, but that's what it takes.

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    1. There was a closet in the family room that was turning into a "Fibber McGee closet" (not everyone is going to get the old radio joke), and one afternoon-- completely out of the blue-- I got the idea to turn it into an entertainment center, which it still is to this day. One of the best ideas I've ever had.

      So you and I both know how to clear out closets. (You could always put shelves in your empty closet and use it for book storage....)

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  4. Closet is dusty, try to not use it except for some shoe boxes on the bottom.

    I have room for books, culled them about five years ago. Two shopping carts full taken to local library. Also, I piled some of my mother's books on a corner outside a busy grocery store for anyone to take.

    But I'm bringing some to Housing Works, a resale thrift shop that helps people with HIV and AIDS get housing.

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