Just a weekend at home

Tidied up a few stacks of my stuff with the weather being damp and dreary, I wasn't much inclined to work around the yard. The two main places I pile papers, magazines, newspaper and assorted mailings are around my computer desk and an area of the kitchen island counter. Nothing life threatening. I took on the kitchen counter version. My mother-in-law Margaret is visiting from up north and had stayed at Lois' Friday night and they came for lunch Saturday before heading with Carol to a holiday craft fair at a nearby high school. That was the incentive to clear my stuff out. After sorting out the trash part and separating the recyclables what remained was moved to the piles on my desk where someday soon it will be re-sorted with what was there before - you know the drill. This happens to coincide with part of what my older sister has been doing lately. On her blog she tells of cleaning house spiritually which includes clearing physical spaces to help unclutter the mind. It's a little more complicated than that to describe but the clearing out and organization of our personal spaces always is good for helping ourselves get our act together no matter what we're trying to accomplish. After being left to my own devices after the visitors and Carol left I moved to the attic over the garage with the low end goal was to create space for the patio furniture but also some general cleanup there as well. Wasn't going to happen. I could clear the space I needed by moving a few things around but cleaning out the junk... It's at least a two day job. The status of the attic has been that way for years. A former neighbor who sold his house and moved away last year said this to me, "start cleaning out your stuff NOW. Take it from my present experience you really have no idea how much stuff you have that you don't need until you move out or if you pass away those that you leave behind will have to deal with." I believe him. To do that - the garage, the attic overhead, all the nooks and crannies in the house, cripes, even my cubical at the office - would take a week of constant work. Carol and I have lived in this house almost 25 years now, that's a lot of collecting. Since coming up with that kind of time for those tasks isn't going to happen I can only hope to take out a little here and there faster than I bring in more stuff. Disposing of things aren't that simple either. You can't (shouldn't) just throw all the stuff away. Some of it can go to thrift shops, some get separated for recycling, somethings could be considered hazardous materials. In spite of it all I think we can someday make progress dealing with it all - hopefully long before I get carted away.