Small, but Successful, Shopping Trip

Yesterday I did a little shopping. I decided to bring home one of the cream-colored lampshades from Zellers (NOT black! Thanks everyone!). I left the cellophane on it until I tried it on the lamp. The cellophane will now come off. I like this very much, just as is. I like the shape of the drum shade MUCH better than the traditional bell shade that had been on the lamp before.

I will be going back to Zellers today to get an identical shade for the matching lamp. A shade for the little pottery lamp still is eluding me. Note -- in this photo you can see a bit of the glass/mirror coffee table that dates from the 1950s (it was a wedding present to Mum & Dad in 1954). I placed the Inspiration Seascape Pottery in front of the lamp to remind me/us of the look and feel we're going for.

While I was in Zellers, I noticed a bin of toss cushions. I'd seen these before and had wondered about one design. They were marked down from $24.97 to $15.00, so I bought two. To my delight, when the price barcode was scanned, they were just $7.50 each. I felt I couldn't lose at that price. (The lampshade also turned out to be on sale!)

Today I got the slipcovers out of the shipment packaging so that I could really see the color. That's the tiny bit of beige you can see leaning against the brown of the chair's original upholstery, just peeking out from behind the cushion. The slipcover fabric has a bit of a brown fleck in the sandy-beige, so instead of being creamy white as I'd expected, it will represent the sand of the beach in my California dream. I think the cushions go well with both the slipcovers and the Inspiration Pottery. They're a bit large, perhaps, but they will serve as a beginning, at least. What do you think? (I hope the color shows true in my photo and on your screen.)

Furniture moving will not be happening this weekend by the look of things, so I'm spinning my wheels a bit, but at least this little shopping trip has made me feel as if some progress has been made!

Dreaming...

California dreaming. Obviously, with the small apartment living room I have to work with, I can't achieve exactly what I'd like to have, but perhaps I can evoke a sense of what one sees in these photos. I prefer to give links rather than to post photos from other sites -- I hope you will follow the links.

From a design blog, lots of windows, lots of light, a clean, airy feel...

White. Glass. Drum shades on the lamps. Blue sky.

Can I pick up the colors in the abstract on the wall for my accent colors?

Cream furniture. Glass. Gorgeous blue in the sky (another accent color?). Large black framed art.

Well, you get the idea. Now to translate the feeling into reality. It will just be a hint, there's no way I can achieve the real thing, short of moving to LA and buying a house there, and that's certainly a total dream, but... I can hint at it.

All that said, here's the "before" that I have to work with. Do I hear the words "SCB, you certainly have your work cut out for you"? I thought I did.

The room is a 15' by 11' rectangle, with most of the east wall being a nearly floor-to-ceiling glass sliding door out to the balcony. The pictures start in the dining area of the room (the west end of the room) and go clockwise around the room. They were taken on Saturday.

The leaves of the table can be slid under the tabletop from either end, resulting in a square table. I plan to snuggle the square table under the corner London photos, and move two of the chairs into my bedroom except when they are needed.

It's quite obvious why slipcovers are needed, isn't it? I like the style and size of these chairs, but their age is showing. I hope the slipcovers are heavy enough fabric to hide the color of the brown chair and the discoloration of the beige chair. The positioning of these chairs will be changed, and the painting above them will be replaced by a black-and-white seascape, approximately the same size, framed in black.

In the furniture rearrangement, the chair on the right of the window will be moved to the corner at the left of the window. I'll be creating a tighter conversation grouping.

Yes, I'm aware that it isn't Christmas. Some things in the living room are awaiting the setup of the shelving units in the storage room/archives so that they can be put away. The blanket that's currently covering that chair will be replaced by a slipcover that will match the other chairs. The TV and its cohorts will be placed on a different stand, and will be moved to the corner the chair is vacating. The china cabinet will be relocated to the storage room, and the beige chair will be moved into its place. This should create the illusion of a separate living area and dining area. (Notice that the words "illusion", "hint", "idea" come up a lot.)

This picture shows you how the living room relates to the kitchen and the entryway. I will be removing the unsightly telephone wire which stretches across the wall above the dining table.

As I said in my previous post, I don't know how much of this will actually happen in Living Room Week, but I have hopes that it will be completed by the end of the Cure.

Week Four, The Living Room

Week Four already?

Living Room Week is upon us. 

I did a search for images that would evoke the feeling I'm wishing for -- lots of white, and windows open to the sky, and touches of color that remind one of the Pacific off the coast of California. I googled the words living room Malibu and found several images such as I was searching for. I also noticed one that included Barbie (tm) and Skipper (tm) and was instantly intrigued, especially since that Skipper was very much like mine of years gone by (and I loved that pink sweater in that outfit!). The source of the image that particularly attracted me? Apartment Therapy. Yes indeed. 

I may or may not be able to get all that I want to do done this week, as my progress is very much dependent on the kindness of others, and when they’re able to help me shift furniture around.

Alana mentioned that she’s finding herself smiling at her home more often than usual – I’m doing the same. As I feel this Home with a capital H taking shape, I’m feeling happier and happier, and more as though this is MY Home. It’s a good feeling.

Well, on to the tasks at hand:

In Apartment Therapy, The Eight Step Cure, by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Week Four deals with the living room and all the stuff that's in it. The following is from p. 131, with my comments in italics following each of M G-R’s instructions.

Bones:

Clean up living room and any related closets. Well, I’m pleased to say there are no related closets. Not even any that are fourteenth cousins twenty times removed. Cleaning the living room is a lovely idea, which is dependent on the Archives shelving units getting set up so that I can put away the things that don’t belong in the living room, but that needed someplace to roost. One domino can’t fall until the one before it has fallen.

Repairs are being taken care of this week. I’m really not focusing on repairs in this Cure. So we won’t worry about this one.

Breath:

Declutter all books and media. In my home, books and media are not a part of the living room area, and they’ve already been decluttered prior to this Cure.

Cancel 75% of all catalogues you receive. What’s 75% of two? I don’t get many catalogues, and the unwanted magazine subscriptions have been dealt with.

Empty Outbox. Here’s where a real 75% comes in – 75% of the Outbox has been taken away. The rest will wait for the convenience of the friend who has the large trash bin (who is super busy for the next couple of weeks).

Heart:

Confirm what you need to increase or decrease colour in each room. Oh gosh. Colour. That’s my downfall in every Cure. The living room definitely needs more colour, working from the pottery seascape I am using for inspiration. The bedroom will get an infusion of color during Bedroom Week when I move the blue drapes from the Writing Room to the Bedroom. The Writing Room is … well, the focus in the Writing Room is to surround myself with things that inspire me. That doesn’t necessarily lead to something that would be published in House Beautiful, but it will, hopefully, lead to more and more writing. The bathroom has all the color it can handle.

Identify what you need to increase or decrease softness in each room. Softness and hardness are supposed to be 50-50. I honestly have no idea how to determine this, nor the 80-20 of the neutral-colour balance. I just do what feels comfortable and makes me happy.

Head:

Cook three meals at home this week. I’m working on this, on cooking real, nutritious meals. Many vegetables were purchased on Saturday. That’s a start.

Send out your invitations. Nope. That’s not going to happen.

Alana posted a wonderful list of cleaning plans. I am not going to be that ambitious.

I hope to be able to vacuum where the chairs were, while the room is being rearranged. (I am not able to move furniture around by myself anymore, so I can’t simply pull the chairs away from their places and vacuum.) Actually, I hope to buy a proper, but lightweight, vacuum sometime soon – that will help greatly. I’ve decided that the carpets will be cleaned in July. That’s what works best for me. During this Cure isn’t an option, unfortunately. (My allergies complicate carpet cleaning.)

I have purchased slipcovers, which will need some adjustment to fit, but I’ll find a way. I’m determined. (Some might call it stubborn.) They need to be washed prior to putting them on the chairs, and I’d like to wait until the chairs are moved before I slipcover them, just to keep the slipcovers clean.

I will be looking into the possibility of covering lampshades to coordinate with the living room, since I’ve been unable to find what I want in SmallCity.

I’ll also be looking for toss cushions and possibly a throw or two to add the requisite color, preferably picking up on the turquoise and blue-ish colours of the seascape pottery piece.

Since I may not be able to get a lot of specifically Living Room things done this week, I will be sorting photographs, and decluttering bits and pieces of other rooms and closets – I will not stand idly by while the rest of you work.

Before pictures, and perhaps inspiration pictures, will be posted/linked to in the next post. Stay tuned!

Easter, sopranos, and dogs (oh my!)

I went to church this morning for the first time since Dad died. It took an email from a friend to get me there, an email saying "Go to church. It's time." I'm glad I went. It was good to be among the people, it was good to hear a challenging sermon... and it was good to sing. I sing at home all the time, I sing in the car, but I really let loose at church.

Which brings us to the third item in this post's title. There's a man at church who brings his little dog to church. It's a miniature Doberman that sits on a cushion on the pew throughout the service, and never makes a sound. Not even when a soprano is singing at the top of her lungs two rows behind him. However, he did turn around and stare at me several times. Yes, I mean the dog. I'm used to children turning and staring at me when I'm singing in church. I'd never had a dog look at me as if to say, "What on earth are you doing, and why are you doing it so loudly?" To give the dog credit, though, it didn't make a sound. Most dogs would have joined me, or would have tried to drown me out. This one just stared. I tried smiling at the dog as I continued to sing. It didn't help. Doesn't usually work with children, either, they just keep staring.

It's not that I have a horrible voice. Although I shouldn't say so myself, I've been blessed with a good singing voice. I guess it's just not the sort of singing voice that children -- and dogs -- expect to hear. I do wish I had a picture of that dog's expression. It was priceless.

Anyway, Happy Easter!

Want me to sing?

Read this

No, that's not an arrogant demand that you read this blogpost (although if you don't, you won't know what I'm talking about!)


Over breakfast this morning, I read an article in the March 2011 issue of "Whole Living" which spoke directly to our current Hybrid Cure, at least to my experience of it. The article, found on page 64 of this issue, is entitled "Cleaning House", by Susanna Sonnenberg.


Like so many of us have been, Susanna was stuck in a kind of clutter inertia (my phrase) which kept her from finding things, kept her from freeing herself from things in the past which had an unhealthy hold on her, kept her from finding who she was now and who she wanted to be. A fortuitous find in a library led to a breakthrough for her. That find was the book "Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui" by Karen Kingston.


Karen's book is one I have read more than once -- I find it both inspiring and challenging as I face the prospect of decluttering. Whether or not one buys into the concepts of Feng Shui, the basic tenets of the book (and of the article cited above) are easy fits, I believe, for those of us who are trying to free our homes from the weight of past clutter, and who are seeking the best way to express our idea of "Home" in our freed-up surroundings. Clutter is stale energy. It depletes us. It blocks us from stepping boldly into the future. It weighs us down.


That's not to say it's always easy to discard those weights. Sometimes there will be a pang of regret, sometimes there will be much vacillation before we can let go, sometimes there will be resistance or judgment from others -- but the freedom, the openness, the ability to figuratively stand tall and breathe again, of finally being on the path to one's intended life, these make the process worthwhile.


A brief quote from the magazine article affirms the feeling of being on the right track, of doing this for the right reason:

Until I read Kingston I'd never decluttered with the goal of opening.  ...  as I transformed clutter into purpose, I felt engaged, hopeful, like starting a diet to boost my body for a marathon rather than to fit into smaller jeans.

Yes. Feeling engaged, hopeful, purposeful -- that's how I've been feeling as I've been jettisoning the stale energy of the past in favor of the present and the future. It's a good feeling.

Shopping List

Even when I begin a Cure with absolutely no intention of buying anything new, when I get "into the thick of things" as Maxwell would say, I start seeing new possibilities, and what I've made do with, possibly for years, suddenly won't do anymore. I'm sure that those of you who've been through a Cure or two (or more) understand exactly what I'm talking about.


So, let's take a look at my shopping list, shall we?


First of all, lampshades. What started as a project to find a new shade for this lamp has morphed into a project to find new shades for two other lamps, as well. The very traditional bell shaped shades are no longer doing anything for me. They're too traditional. One of the lamps is currently in the living room, its sister is in the writing room. In the new configuration of both rooms, they will likely be reunited in the living room. This is an image from the lampmaker's site, the name of which is lost in history, but it's the best image I can come up with (since the shades went to the garage sale yesterday).

Alana's suggestion of a drum shade for the little dining table lamp started me thinking drum shade for these lamps, as well. I've decided the best size would be 16 x 16 x 11 for said shades. I know what I'd like, ideally, but I've been all over the city, and shades such as the ones I particularly crave cannot be found in good ol' SmallCity. Ordering online would be costly. But just to give you an idea of what I would have if I could, click here, or here, or here. Or here or here, for that matter. I like a number of the Giclee shades and the Stacy Garcia shades, but none of them are large enough, so I should stop mooning over them, I suppose.


In real life, where I supposedly live, Zellers has plain drum shades of the size I need for the two large lamps (no one has the right size for the small lamp). Zellers has them in cream or black. I'm leaning toward the more dramatic black. Cream is so ho-hum, and there will be a lot of cream in my living room already. Thoughts?


I plan to find a cheap lamp with the sort of shade I want for the little lamp, and buy it, put the shade on my lamp, and slip the other lamp into my friend's garage sale (or donate it). That seems to be the most rational solution. Even if it isn't particularly rational.


The other item on the shopping list is draperies. The ones hanging in the bedrooms were chosen by the woman who lived here before Mum & Dad moved in. They moved here in May of 1991. These drapes are not to my taste, particularly, nor were they to Mum's & Dad's tastes, but they have been the path of least resistance.


The drapes in what is now the Writing Room, formerly Mum's & Dad's bedroom, are blue, full-length. I may move them into my bedroom for now.

In real life, they're a bit bluer than that. The sunshine (such as it is) was fighting with me. I think they'll work with the bedlinens in my room. They'll necessitate rethinking the lamps, but that's fine.


The drapes in my bedroom must go. They are, well, ugly. They only reach to the bottom of the window. And the sheers are disintegrating, tattered and torn. See?

Over the years of Cures that I've participated in, I've worked hard to make draperies of other than pinch-pleats work on rods intended for pinch-pleats. I'm tired of doing that. I'm just going to live with the pleats.


For the Writing Room, I'm thinking that something of this line from Sears (just to simplify things) might work. Possibly these. I'm leaning toward white, as that would be nice and neutral. There are varying colors of art on the walls, and colored drapes might compete too much. Thoughts?

I have already purchased slipcovers for the chairs in the living room, but haven't yet tried them out. That's one of next week's projects. They are cream. I will discuss possible toss cushions for them during Living Room Week proper.

The Outbox Has (nearly) Left the Building

I've been continuing the decluttering process, eager to get everything into my friend's garage sale. This morning I decluttered behind the chairs, and said goodbye to some things that caused a momentary pang, but if they've been behind those chairs for 2 years, it's time for them to go. Then I dragged out the things that were under my bed, embarrassed myself with the amount of dust that was on them, added some to the garage sale and some to the trash and kept a few (saying to some of them, "So *that's* where you've been!). Then I made a first pass under the bed with the little vacuum. More embarrassing dust. Feng Shui practitioners everywhere are pleased with me. So am I.


Earlier this afternoon, the Outbox looked like this (Outbox proper and Outbox Annex):

My wonderful friend (she of the garage sale and the big trash receptacle behind her house) came over later this afternoon. This is what is left, after she filled her car, backseat, passenger side of the front seat, and trunk:


Nothing in the Outbox proper: (The walker was Mum's. I'm keeping it. The box was just to keep things off the floor.)

Not much left in the Outbox Annex: (my friend will get it another time)

That feels so GOOD!!! This weekend I'll be "decluttering" the harddrive of my old computer, before it, too, goes to a new home.


Progress, real progress, has been made.

Please enter...

I can't believe that the entryway and landing strip are -- dare I say it? -- completed.  On Day ONE of Week Three. Granted, the decluttering was just the first pass, and the papers that need sorting have been stacked with the many other papers that need sorting, but the basics are done.

First of all, as I said in my "Before" post (posted just this morning! I'm amazed!) the end table/magazine rack that had been serving as a Landing Strip left the building on Saturday when my friend took the most recent load of Outbox stuff away. It has been replaced by what was Mum's bedside table back at the farm (and for a while, in the city). So it's 1960s vintage. The top of the table needs refinishing, which is beyond my capabilities due to my allergies, so I have covered it with ivory heavy-weight art paper, and I have done the same to the low shelf, just to make it look balanced. The drawer holds containers for loose change. The shelf can hold several reusable grocery bags -- just one is there at the moment, as an illustration. There is also a trash can next to it, so that as mail is opened, envelopes can go straight into the trash without further ado. The calendar was already on the door -- that's where I write all my appointments.

Note -- it was very difficult to get the colors true in photographs taken this evening. If the wood of the table was anywhere close to correct, the floor looked exceedingly odd, and if the floor was correct (sandy beige) then the table looked dark. At the end of the Cure, I'll try to remember to take photos of everything in the daylight.

And that is not all that was accomplished this morning. Remember the "Before" picture of the closet?

Tonight it looks just a bit different:

Yes, those are MY jackets hanging in the closet. Yes, the closet has a floor, and those are my boots and shoes in the boot tray. Currently I've put some LPs on the shelf, and some videotapes will go up there for now as well. Once the Archives is done, if there is space on the shelves in there, the records and videotapes will be shelved in there, and the shelf in the closet will be used for hats, gloves, purses. Logical things. Not 3 or 4 tire-pressure gauges that looked as though they didn't work anymore. Not seven or eight baseball-style caps that had seen better days. Not an empty binoculars case. Not two bottles of wood glue that had nearly turned to wood themselves. (However, I *did* find Dad's Royal Canadian Legion beret. I'd been wondering if he still had it. It was in a hat box, under a very nice wool fedora.)

So -- this is now what you see as you walk in my door:

Tomorrow I'll do laundry, then start decluttering the area behind the living room chairs.

These projects had me stuck in neutral, or rather in worry-mode, for so long... and now, when I get at them, they're not difficult at all. There's a message there somewhere.

Week Three, the Entryway

As the title of this post says, we're dealing with the Entryway this week. Alana has posted an excellent overview of the tasks of Week Three over on Prairie Home Therapy, so I'm not going to replicate it in detail. I have to say I am SO grateful I don't have as ambitious a task list as she does.

For future reference, here are my Before pictures.

The Landing Strip area:

The Entryway closet:

The coats in the closet were Mum's and Dad's. The stuff on the shelf was mostly Dad's. My stuff is on the boot rack. I am itching to get at it all!


Now, rather than quoting the tasks set out by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan in the book, Apartment Therapy, I will just mention the ones I will be doing.

Bones:

Vacuuming -- I'll be continuing my search for a lightweight but effective vacuum this week. I hope I'm soon successful in this search!

Wet mop -- I *must* get the entry, kitchen, and bathroom floors done this week!

Breath:

I'll be both decluttering and cleaning the entryway closet this week. I don't anticipate that will take long -- nearly everything will be going into the Outbox or into the trash.

Unlike Alana, who has a lot to consider when fashioning a landing strip and entryway area, I have limited space, and a ready-made solution. The old landing strip end table/magazine rack (seen in the Before picture above) has left the building and has already been replaced with something more in keeping with the style I'm going for, which I already had on hand. It will be revealed in due course.

Magazine subscriptions have finally been dealt with -- the problem for me was first the magazines, and then the repeated requests for renewal, that came for Dad's subscriptions. Returning the renewal requests (and charity requests) with the words "Return to sender, addressee deceased" was not effective -- I have now emailed various places, including charities Dad used to donate to, and I think I'll have less coming in the mail now. My own magazines will be dealt with in one of two ways. Mags I don't want to keep are taken down to the Lounge here, for other tenants to enjoy. For the ones I do want to keep, I've purchased magazine files (Staples was having a sale!) and once the shelving units are up in the storage room, the magazines will be archived there. (Hmmm... there's a candidate for the new name for the storage room! "The Archives")

Heart:

I don't think mathematically, so "applying the 80/20 rule" to the color in my apartment doesn't work easily for me. I'm thinking about color, and know what I want to do. It's more an organic experience for me than a calculated one. Let's hope it works.

Head:

For reasons other than the Cure, I'll be cooking differently this week. I am trying to lose a bit of weight, and the scale has been stubbornly stuck at the same number for a few weeks now. I'll be changing my meals to see if I can joggle the scale a bit. (Let me make clear to the scale -- it's a downward direction that is desired!)

A Housewarming is not in the cards.


Other Tasks planned for this week:

In anticipation of my friend's Garage Sale (which is at the end of this month) I want to get as much decluttering done as possible, so I will also be decluttering the storage boxes in the Writing Room closet, and at least some of the stuff behind the chairs in the Living Room.

SCB, start your engine...

Week Two, the report

Things have been accomplished this week, I'm pleased to say. Perhaps not quite all I'd planned for the kitchen actually happened, but so much more happened in the storage room that it's a happy trade-off.


First, the kitchen. Return with me to those less-than-thrilling days of yesteryear (two weeks ago), when the kitchen looked like this:

It now looks like this:

I hope you can see the difference (I apologize for the lack of light -- the fluorescent tubes in the kitchen gave up the ghost yesterday, after years of sterling service). Although you can't see it, most of the grout has been given a first pass with a soapy toothbrush (it needs more work, but it's way better than it was), the counter has been scrubbed with Blackie Brushhead (Reddy is just for dishes, Blackie's for sinks and counters), and although it, too, needs more work, it's better than it was. The extra "stuff" that was cluttering the counterspace has been either trashed, Outboxed, or put away. The water filter has at least made it out of the cupboard, and to a spot next to the sink, awaiting the day when I actually remember to buy new filters for it. The dishtowels (both the clock one visible in one of the pictures linked below, and the key one visible here, are not my optimal choices, but they'll do for now.)


To see the After pictures of the inside of the cupboards, please click here and here.


Now, what else has happened during this week? Yesterday, my amazing friend C, who deserves a medal, or perhaps a knighthood (okay, make that dame-hood, since she's a she), came and carted away all of the Outbox and Adjunct Outbox (the interior stuff). Some things have already made their way into the Outbox since she left at 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon:

The Outbox Annex was heftily depleted (although the trash remains for another day -- everything was covered with water after the snow melted, so we left the drippy trash bags to another, hopefully drier, day):

AND (dramatic drum roll, please) we dealt with the stuff on top of the trunk, and the trunk itself! If you will recall, in my original plan I thought I *might* get to the trunk by the last week of the Hybrid Cure. Scroll way down in that linked post for a clear appreciation of my dread of dealing with the trunk.


We finished the task in a little over an hour, and that's including several stops while I exclaimed with delight over things I found in the process (for example, my favorite childhood picture books, long lamented as lost -- I didn't know Mum had kept them!) More trash, more Outbox, some keepers, some things that were immediately designated as things a friend or family member would love. There's much more work to be done on the storage room, of course. In the following picture, the trunk has been dragged to the center of the room, to make it easier for the guys to take it out when they come over to do that and to put up the shelving units, and I need to deal with the things that came out of the trunk and the suitcases that were on top of it, but -- after that, the rest of the storage room work will be PUTTING THINGS AWAY!!!! (Can you see me pumping my fist in the air? This is going much easier than I'd anticipated. I am so relieved.)

As a reminder, here's the Before picture of that end of the Storage Room:

And here's an Interim (not an After, as yet) picture of the Storage Room (which needs a new name):

I'm eager to post the Before pic of the entryway closet and get on with that work, but that's a task for tomorrow. Enough is as good as a feast. Or something.

Apparently this isn't Camelot (OutBox edition)...

In the title song from Lerner and Loewe's wonderful musical, "Camelot", (based on the even more wonderful book The Once and Future King by T.H. White) we are told that

The winter is forbidden till December,

And exits March the second on the dot...

Apparently I do not live in Camelot (I had long suspected this, but one keeps hoping...)

The song also says

and there's a legal limit to the snow here

in Camelot...

That is not the case where I live. This is what the OutBox Annex on the balcony looked like this morning:

Sigh. Merlyn, where are you?

Looking for Shade...

...not from the sun.


I've decided I'd like to have this little lamp on my dining table. It's by the same potter as the inspiration piece for the colors of the living room, and picks up on the sand and the dark brown of the living room area's planned colors.


However, its shade is worn, and too large, and doesn't let the light shine through. The shade is now in the Outbox, and the lamp is standing shyly, shadeless, on the table (hiding behind bags of things that have been packed up to be taken away tomorrow).


I'm thinking a creamy color for the shade. Other thoughts? Thoughts on shape?

The Outbox, Week Two

The Outbox is flourishing this week. It did not too badly last week, as well. Unlike Maxwell's intention that the Outbox be a place for consideration, with the possibility that things may be retrieved at any time, the things I'm putting in the Outbox are definitely destined to go OUT.


Here's a picture of the main Outbox. All that's in the picture (except the walker and the small stool behind it) is on its way out the door. A friend will come on Saturday and take everything away (so that I can start all over again!)

That picture includes things that were removed from the kitchen last week as I prepared for the visit of my friend that didn't happen.


The following picture is of the Outbox Annex, on the balcony. What you can't see is the many black garbage bags of trash that are stacked up behind the storage boxes. All this will go away on Saturday, as well.

Finally, the Adjunct Outbox. (Or should that be Ad-Junked?) I walked into my apartment one day this week, looked at the table that's in the entryway as a landing strip, and decided it was time for it to bless someone else. It was given to me by the sister of a lady who used to live down the hall from Mum & Dad. The sister wanted me to have something to remember her sister by (the one had just died). It was sweet to be thought of in this way, and I have thought of both ladies while I've used it over the years (must be over 10 years now), but it is not my style, and it's not as useful as it might be, so it's time to send it on to someone else. The basket on top of it came with fruit & goodies from a friend at the time of Mum's death, and it was perfect for keeping the two stacks of sympathy cards as they came in, but it's time to bid farewell to it, as well. The Sears bag is filled with blouses of Mum's (and one or two of mine) that are going to the nursing home where Mum lived for the last year of her life. Nursing homes appreciate donations of clothing, as some people arrive with very little.

Two thirds of the messy end of the storage room have now been cleared. The final third will await Saturday, and my friend's help, as there are a couple of things in that final bit that I need assistance with. Saturday's work will garner much, much more for the Outbox, which likely won't get photographed, you'll just have to take my word for it.


Tomorrow, I'll get the little bits and pieces in the Outbox packed up in a transportable manner, take a whole bunch of unused but expired hearing aid batteries to be recycled, and take the clothing donation to the nursing home.


I'm getting there. Stay tuned.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the To-Do List

Day Two didn't quite perform as advertised. Not that I'm not happy. I'm very happy indeed. But it didn't go quite the way I'd planned it.


Hmmm... where to start? *scb taps her chin, looks around thoughtfully... wonders if she should begin by telling about the kitchen* Oh, all right, all you anxious people, I'll tell you about the storage room first!


As you know, the storage room has been causing me considerable angst. It's been an area like one on an ancient map, on which the uncharted places are marked "Here be dragons". I was tempted to make excuses and not tackle the room yet again today, but if I don't get that room done, the rest of the apartment can't get back to normal. So, I gathered up what courage I could find amidst the piles of stuff, and went in.


My spring coat was lying on top of the sewing machine (which is on a tv-table smack dab in the middle of the room, in the way of everything, but I can't lift it easily, so there it will stay for the nonce). I decided the coat needed laundering, so took it down to the washing machine. This is what is known in most circles as stalling.


Coat safely in the washer, I put my cotton gloves on (to guard against dust on my skin) and started picking up stuff, throwing out stuff, putting stuff in the OutBox, setting stuff aside to be put back when the shelving units are up. Among other things, I took 6 plastic storage bins to the OutBox.


Before you get too impressed, note that I *didn't* say I emptied 6 plastic storage bins. In the stack of storage bins/boxes that has been causing me such trepidation for the past two years, as I imagined all the work it would take to go through everything in them, there were six EMPTY storage bins. Empty storage bins have been taunting me for two whole years. They swiftly found themselves in the OutBox annex (on the balcony). Another couple of bins/boxes joined them after being emptied. The northeast corner of the storage room is empty, and here is the evidence.

That took quite a good chunk of the morning, but oh! it was nice to see that floor!


This evening, when I started working on the designated cupboard of the day, I realized that some things in it needed to go in one of the other sections of the cupboards, and some things elsewhere needed to go into today's cupboard... so I did 'em all. Unless I get very ambitious and decide to do extra work on the lower cabinets, the kitchen cabinets are DONE. (The sink, however, will have to wait for another day, as will the counter. Enough is as good as a feast.) Things are organized, like is with like, the dishes I use every day are on the lowest shelf, instead of the middle shelf, and the Emma Bridgewater dishes which I love but rarely use are on the middle shelf. That makes so much more sense.  Note: it's amazing how much better things fit into a storage space when there is less stuff to store. Voila!

Day Three will be less of a Cure day, and more of a Literary day, as I will do some writing (which didn't get done today), some research reading, and will attend a Poetry Month Gala in the evening.


So, although the Day Two plan got changed, I think you'll see why I'm happy with the results.

Kitchen Week, Day Two

In her comment on my previous post, Alana suggested a quick "before and after" post -- and since that coincided with what I'd been thinking, here's a bit of proof that I did some work yesterday!


The food cupboard is tidy. Although you can't see it, the dishes on the top shelf have all been washed, and the stack of saucers and the stack of small plates are now enrobed in cling-wrap to keep that dust from returning (at least to them. The cups are still exposed to the elements.) The shelf was also washed, not an easy feat for a vertically-challenged person such as myself. Much expired food was dealt with, leaving just a few things to be going on with. Mostly cans of salmon. There were not one, not two, not even three -- there were SEVEN cans of salmon in that cupboard, all with best-before dates of July 2015. I do *not* need to buy salmon for a while.

The gold-color cream and sugar thingies were on the counter. It's nice to have them up out of the way. They're ones that I don't remember at all. I found them in the large particle-board cupboard that Mum and Dad kept extra dishes etc in (I cleared that out last fall). I'm using them to keep the dollar coins and quarters I need for laundry money! The kleenex box is where I store used grocery bags that I then re-use for garbage bags. It, too, was on the counter.


The flatware drawer has had quite a make-over. I put most of the mismatched flatware into the OutBox, because when I was at the Bay on Saturday, I discovered that they were having a half-price sale on Oneida flatware, and I bought two place settings and ordered two more, of a lovely pattern called "Easton". The drawer has been cleaned, and looks so much nicer now. (I kept some spoons and dessert forks from Mum's and Dad's old every-day flatware.)

Then the recipe drawer, which I discovered was mainly filled with user manuals for appliances, many of which have left the building. By the time I got rid of all that detritus, there were just two neat stacks of cookbooks left, and a rolling pin. The best "find" in the drawer is seen on the top of the nearest pile of cookbooks -- I put it together when I was about 8, and it includes a few recipes gleaned from the sort of cookbook where people contribute their prize recipes, since in the midst of the ingredients list I've also written "Mrs. Sarah Jhonston" or whatever other name. There's an "ad" on one page that says "Be sure to buy more of these cookbooks soon!" -- but I obviously decided that writing out recipes was too much work, because after 3 or 4, I've written in large black marker letters "Now you write suggestions". I was delighted to discover Mum had kept it all these years.

I have to report that nothing was done in the storage room yesterday. However, today is another day. And here are the tasks for today (although today needs to include some writing time, as well. I received a manuscript evaluation from my writing coach yesterday, and I'm eager to get to work on editing my picture book manuscript!)


The cupboard over the sink (mostly just rearranging the "deck chairs", the things to be donated have already been removed, yesterday):

The sink. Wouldn't you think that a person who has made it successfully to the age of 54 would know how to re-fold towels before putting them up on the rack? (I'd like to replace those towels, as well. I love them, they're the right color scheme, they're creative -- but they are the music and lyrics to "The First Noel" and perhaps it's time to put them away until next Christmas.)

And, *something* needs to be done in the storage room today. This whole project hinges on the clearing of the storage room, so no matter how much I'm not looking forward to doing that part of the project, it MUST be done. 


*SCB waves gallantly as she walks toward the mess in the south end of the storage room*

Here's to Kitchen Week!

Alana has posted an excellent overview of Kitchen Week on her blog (including an incredibly ambitious to-do list). My "to-do" isn't going to be quite as much of a to-do, so to speak.

In this post, I'll take a look at the traditional tasks of Week Two in a Cure, and then let you know what will (and will not) happen in my Hybrid Cure.

As set out in Alana's post, from the book:

According to Apartment Therapy, The Eight Step Cure, by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Week Two is all about the kitchen. The following is from p.p. 72-73.

Bones:
Fix one thing in your home
Clean your kitchen from top to bottom and throw out old food
Buy a water filter and use it.

Breath:
Run your hands over every wall of your apartment.
Clear Space for an Outbox

Heart:
Buy fresh flowers
Determine your style

Head:
Find one new recipe and cook one meal at home
Choose the date for your housewarming.


Bones:  My major focus in the Kitchen will be to clean out the cupboards and decide what stays and what goes. I have a water filter, stored neatly in the cupboard. I have a feeling that's not what Maxwell meant when he said "Buy a water filter and USE IT" (upper case shouting is mine, all mine).


Breath:  Running my hands over the walls has never been a meaningful exercise for me, so that will not happen this Cure. Clearing space for an OutBox will entail emptying the full OutBox so that more things can be added.


Heart:  Flowers and I have a difficult relationship. I love the way they look, my allergies aren't keen on the fragrance. I may occasionally buy flowers, but I don't intend to do so on a regular, weekly basis.  I've determined my style to be spare, clean, California-modern. Sort of.


Head:  Cooking. An idea whose time has come. Housewarming? Not sure about that. I may have a few friends in to celebrate the clean, decluttered space, but I doubt I'll call it a housewarming. And invitations will *not* be sent out in the preferred M G-R manner.


I intend to do a Planning Post every morning, to let you know what I'll be working on that day. On Sunday I'll do a summary post to see if I achieved what I wanted to achieve.

So -- for today, Day One of Week Two, I plan to work on the food cupboard, and a couple of the drawers below the counter:

Now -- true confessions time: I was in need of something to do yesterday, as once I get into Curing mode, it's very difficult not to just keep going at things, so after I took the before pictures, I brought all the dusty dishes down from the top shelf, washed them, decided which to keep and which to bless others with; then dealt with the expired food. So today's part of the cupboard project is half done!

Of course, there's also the Storage Room:

The plan for that is just to wade in and start dealing with stuff.


So -- on to the day! (But first, breakfast...)

Living Room inspiration

 To read my summary/evaluation of Week One, click here.

While I'm busy doing other things, I'm also thinking about the Living Room. It needs a bit of a change, both in arrangement of furniture and in color scheme -- not that much can be done in terms of color scheme as the walls and carpet are not negotiable, but I'm thinking slipcovers on the chairs and new toss cushions.

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I'm going for a California vibe, lots of white, a feeling of ocean (but not seashells all over the place), a Zenlike feeling.

I know Maxwell says that the Living Room should be decorated in warm colors, and I pondered orange/yellow/sand as accent colors, but that's too earthy, or sunny, for the feeling I want to achieve. Then I remembered something I want to display in my Living Room.

The colors I'm thinking of as accent colors can be seen in this piece of pottery. I don't know if this is what my potter/artist friend intended, but I see this as an abstract seascape. I'd like to pick up on these colors in the cushions, and possibly in a bit of art. I'm thinking either white or cream for the slipcovers -- I photographed the pottery against my white jeans, and my cream dress pants. Yes, there is a subtle difference in those background colors. I apologize for the light splash from the flash, but the non-flash pictures didn't show the colors truly. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions as we move forward toward Living Room week, please let me know.