BOTM: 1 down, 11 to go...

This is a slightly-delayed post... the date for showing off this month's quilt block happened during the major moving upheaval...

Finished buck-a-block number 1.  I'm pretty happy with the results.

The pattern & provided fabrics

My fabrics (audition stage)

Finally decided on the brighter turquoise blue.  I think it was the stars that lured me in.  I have a difficult time imagining what a finished block (or quilt) will look like in the fabrics I choose--it's something of a delightful surprise to see how things turn out.

Ooh... pretty!

Perspective: not-so-messy desk

A friend came to my classroom last night to pick me up.  She had not seen my room this school year, since I have been trying so valiantly to keep on top of the endless crashing waves of paperwork. 

(Why does there have to be daily homework in math class?  Oh yeah, that's what I wrote my master's thesis on for the college of ed.  OK, I guess I'll keep assigning daily homework for my students.  And fight the current of daily papers for me to grade.)

"Wow, you moved your desk." 
"Oh wait, is this the same desk you had last year?"

"It's so clean!  I hardly recognized this as your desk."

Oh, that was so good to hear.  No, it's not perfect.

I am annoyed with how messy it seems.

I spend valuable energy fretting over the height of the stacks, and whether they are getting "too tall"

(Actual height of stack today: 3-1/2", including a 2-5/8" three-ring binder)





What a great thing a little perspective is!  Thank you, dear friend, for reminding me how far I've come in my efforts to be visually uncluttered.

Sign in the girls' bathroom

Don't I need this message.  And how lovely that a message meant for high school girls can also apply to me.

Thank you to whoever put up this poster.

Mantras to motivate cleaning/decluttering

Moved my bed, my clothes, and my body to the new place.  It was not cleaned by the previous owner.  Nor was it left empty.  It is my task to clean, declutter, and get the space ready by the weekend for the U-Haul full of furniture and boxes.

I spent 30 minutes buzzing around from area to area, not getting anything accomplished.  Time to take a breath and regroup.

My new favorite mantras:

I can do anything, I just can't do everything.

I can do everything, just not all at once.

 Blather. Cleanse. Repeat.

(Talk through the frustration.  Take a breath or walk away for a minute.  Get back at it.)

Perfection is a myth.  Stop at good enough and move on.

Enjoying the clean

Oct 2nd and counting...

Thirteen days left until we have to be OUT of our place.  The organized roommate is keeping us on track with this schedule.  Me and Mr. Disorganized are following along obediently.  It's going well; our last day should be all about final detail cleaning, nothing frantic or panicked.  Everything is being taken care of, day by day.


I stepped back for a moment today to enjoy all the things that are getting clean.

Yummy laundry: rugs

Clean stuff, boxed up!

 

 The Laundry Fairy has been busy.  Everything gets washed: curtains, throw pillows, dog beds, dust ruffles, comforters, wall hangings, pillow shams, throw rugs.  It's all so clean!  And all the nooks and crannies are getting cleaned to a sparkling shininess.  It makes me feel a sense of new beginnings.  The idea that anything is possible.  Every shelf in the bookcase got dusted; so did all the curtain rods and hardware; ditto with the wine bottles, the wine glasses, and the vases and glass candle-holders: isn't that worth celebrating?

Making progress, and creating clean and order in the world of boxes.  The car is loaded up and ready to go with yet another run to the storage facility. 

The move is on

The landlord gave us 30 days' notice: we must move.  One of my roommates is super-organized (the other one struggles with similar ADD/OCD issues like I do).  So, here are a few things I am learning about moving (a panic-inducing activity for me) from an organized pro:

Make plans.  First thing that happened was the 30 days were marked on all the calendars in the house, countdown style.  Each day is being crossed off as it is completed, and we have a distinct reminder that the move is happening in less than 3 weeks (20 more days, to be precise).

Don't wait.  By the end of the first day, we had rented a storage unit, purchased a lock, packing tape and bubble wrap, and investigated a dozen options for a place to move to.  Ten days into the 30-day window, we have taken all the stuff from the garage to the storage unit.  We have babysitters for our plants (including the tomato plants from the deck), and have sold a couple furniture items on Craigslist.

Goodwill is your friend; visit the drop-off window often.  No matter how much decluttering I think I have done, I am still holding onto things that I am not willing to pay to store or pay someone to move for me.  Moving is a wake-up for a person like me: get rid of it!

Do a little bit every day.  This is a life-lesson for me.  I can do anything for 15 minutes (thank you, Flylady!)  I can pack a box every day.  There are small steps that add up to big results: take down and wash the curtains from one room; tomorrow, spackle over the holes where the curtain hardware used to be.  It's starting to look a bit bare around the house, but we still have much to do.



How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time...

Get organized: clean desk

School has been in session for several weeks, and I feel like I am doing the organization piece differently (and better!) this year.  I know I need structure and routines in my life.  I also need less visual clutter.  If you had seen my classroom last year, you would know that I haven't been able to maintain a sense of visual calm at all in the past.  I resolved to make changes this year that would help keep the space more neat and tidy.

Change 1: move my desk from the back of the classroom to the front.  It's right up front, where everyone can see it daily.  If it becomes an unsightly wreck, I will be more embarrassed; thus, I have more incentive to keep it clutter-free.  (I have found this method effective in the past: leverage your environment to make it help you get to where you want to be.)

What my students see looking forward toward my desk.

Flylady recommends you keep your sink shiny and clean (in your house), knowing that this oasis of cleanliness and calm will carry forward your efforts to keep your house tidy and organized.  I'm sure that my desk at school is the equivalent of a shiny sink.

Look at that desktop: it feels so clean!!!

In-box: a slight paperwork buildup

I have resisted taking these photos for the past week, since my desk and credenza aren't pristine.  You can see piles of papers and notebooks.  My inbox is growing taller (the goal was to keep it 1" or less in height).  I haven't attained perfection.  But it is working for me.  It *is* cleaner, and I feel a definite psychic difference when I work at my desk.  And I am practicing being nice to myself: things don't have to be "perfect" (that unattainable super-human level of perfection that keeps me paralyzed) before I can celebrate what's good enough.