Junk in the Trunk

Dropped off a fountain, porcelain doll Christmas tree topper, wine rack, and box of miscelleneous goodies at the Humane Society for their big rummage sale next weekend.  But they had so much stuff already that they were loading up cars for St. Vinnie's.  Just clothes maybe?  Was going to try to get more stuff over there, but if they are just going to bring it back to town, I'll save my gas and just drop it off at the St Vincent de Paul's myself.

Broken comforter and broken laundry basket in the dumpster

I can't be donating comforters that have all the stuffing balled up into weird areas and then stuffing-less in others.  Throw it away.  I also threw away a broken blind that has finally been replaced.

Status Update, Goals for May

So I have been failing to complete challenges...

Never finished the Oprah meditation challenge, and free access has disappeared.  I liked the Oprah & Deepak insights at the beginning of each day's meditation-- I was even moved to tears by a few of them.  In the end though, I don't really enjoy them because they are really not guided meditations which I feel like I need at this stage in my meditation journey-- otherwise I am just listening to soft music for fifteen minutes while thinking about boys.  I have a lot of resistance surrounding meditation, so I know it's something I need to try to get into, but I have other challenges set up

Did not get to 40Bagsin40days before the end of lent, but I think I will continue with this challenge at my own pace.  I know that I got rid of some things in the last month without counting them-- but too bad, so sad.  I shall power on.

FMSphotoaday is going swimmingly (see my instagram feed/link).  I caught up on a bunch that I had missed this weekend.  I want to start a shutterfly book of my photos to publish at the end of the year-- wouldn't it be great to have yearbooks again?  But it needs to be put together throughout the year or it will never happen.

I did not post about it, but April was National Poetry Month.  I challenged myself to write a poem a day, and I didn't make it every day, but I wrote more than I had probably all last year.  Now this month the challenge is to work those scribblings into finished products and to submit those for publication.  I just sent one in to The Hal Prize -- this month I challenge myself to submit one per week.

Quitting smoking had been going great up until last week when I drank a bottle of wine and walked my chubby ass down to the gas station and bought a pack.  Took me all week to smoke them, tried to throw them away but didn't take the bag out, so ended up digging them out.  Bought another pack on Saturday.  Why?  Why, why?  Because I felt cocky and confident after a month or two?  Because I haven't been checking in with the work nurse?  Because this neighbor situation is stressing me out and I've been spending more time in the office to avoid the TV noise and the anger/stress that comes along with it and the office has historically been my smoking parlor?  I need to get back on the wagon.

I also need to get back on my Weight Watchers bandwagon.  I've missed two meetings now, I'm having trouble with the timing.  It's kind of a stretch to get to one of the meetings by 5:30 when I work until five--and the one I did make it to was extremely crowded.  The Saturday morning one is more laid back, but then there's getting up on Saturday mornings which can be rough.  I had one week where I lost three pounds. And then I gained them back the next week.  Why can't I just be consistent?  As I am writing down my monthly priorities in my little planner, I just crossed off "lose ten pounds" and replaced it with "Track."  Let's start with the action instead of the result.

Okay May:  ready, set, go!

#40Bagsin40Days

I have gotten side tracked on this project (and all the others) thanks to sort of meeting a guy but it's been 99% over text.  I need to stop putting all my focus on him, because I sense it's going downhill and I don't want to be in that break up rut when we've never actually gone out.

So when it was sunny last Saturday and I was filled with my solar powered energy, I filled my car with crap ready to go to Vinnie's, and dropped off Sunday when it was raining.

#40BagsIn40Days (5-9)

Took this bag of bags to Walmart to be recycled today.  And there was a lady emptying out the box of bags, so I tossed this one in her little dumpster quick when she wasn't looking.

I also took out these two bags from cleaning my closet

Also cleaned out purses & blank journals (had a toteful of each)

#40Bagsin40Days (4)

 I don't have any desk drawers or a filing cabinet, I have this little nightstand thingie.

Before

After

I had about four or five wireless mice that I had bought and decided I didn't like, mostly because they take triple A batteries or they don't go to sleep if you forget to turn them off and just burn up batteries all the time.  Put those in the donation box.

#40BagsIn40Days post 3

I have really been slacking on posting these and I haven't been doing a dedicated decluttering every day, some of it has just been here and there.  But I am bound & determined to get caught up and DO THIS.

Today I tackled my medicine cabinet.  I have been hanging on to those Arbonne products for what.... five and a half years since I sold that shit?  I never wanted to use it because it was so expensive.  And now it's expired.  And I'm throwing it in the garbage.  Oh shit, I hope I'm not talking myself out of it.  It's already too deep.

Not only did I throw stuff away, I also added stuff that I use daily so that it's easily accessible. And medicine!  It is a medicine cabinet after all. I took the shelves out and washed them down, as well as scrubbing the inside -- the bottom had quite a build up of funky stuff from wet dripping through the years.  I can't remember the last time I did this.

More might get added once I get to the bathroom cabinet that is next to the sink.

#40BagsIn40Days: Day Two

This tote full of CD cases needs to go.  What I managed to do tonight was get the cds out of the storage book and back into cases.... Then I stacked them neatly so I can go through and verify that I have them ripped on my computer.

But why worry about all that digital clutter?  I very rarely listen to music, and the only time I play a cd is in the car.  Because I still have this cd/dvd storage furniture (it folds up so everything is neatly hidden away), I should pick out only my absolute favorites and/or collectibles that I might want to play in the future. If I want a song later, I can just buy the digital version. The rest I was thinking I would just throw in a box and offer it up on facebook --$10 for the whole box.  I need to start selling things and then saving that money for my baby emergency fund.

#40BagsIn40Days

As a baptized but non-practicing Catholic, I didn't really start participating in the whole "give something up for Lent" thing until a few years ago, and it rarely lasts.  This year I am going to give another go at the 40 Days of Decluttering Challenge.  Not sure if I'm going to get to a bag a day, for example, all I had the time and energy to do tonight was tackle my messy counter and sink overflowing with dishes.  I feel like I'm always doing dishes.

So my before kitchen counter:

And after:

ahhh, much better