My dear friend, CreativeLittleDaisy, has been working her way through the alphabet lately.
And as always, I am inspired by her.
And also, as always, I don't have even a fraction of the energy and dedication which she gives to her projects - so, I give to you an abbreviated alphabet.
I think I'll go with "I"…
As in "I is for irony".
Because how ironic is it that I whinged and moaned for three whole weeks about not having internet access – only to get my access restored and then take a break from it all???
I'd say that's fairly ironical.
But that's just because I've got a slightly better grasp on irony than Alanis Morissette.*
Anyhow – I don't have any big exciting reasons for being AWOL – aside from the fact that I just needed to do it. However, some of the smaller, not-so-exciting reasons are listed below:
- As I've (also) whined, it's been hot, Hot, HOT! around here lately – and I've found it difficult to commit to anything, or even to get anything started.
Face it, it's hard to accomplish much when you're lying on the floor right next to the A/C vent and muttering "It's hot! I'm hot! Sweet Cracker Sandwich, Georgia is a hellhole…"
- Also – I really wanted to spend the last week or so of summer just hanging with my boy, Schecky. And even though we didn't do anything particular cute, or fun, or "blog-worthy" – I did get to spend some good quality time, just me and a boy, hanging quietly together.
There was a WHOLE LOT of lying on the floor, in front of the A/C vent, reading time. We've fallen in love with Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books…
- And, I'll confess – there was a period of introspective navel-gazing. Sigh. You all know that I just can't help it, right?
I think a lot of it has to do with the time of year – the "Back to School" season, with all the promises of a whole new year? It gets me every time…
There was a lot of the same old, same old: too much self-examination; too much doubt and questioning… "Am I good wife/mother/friend/person" / "What do I want to be when I grow up" / "Am I living a purposeful life" /blah blah blah
Nothing unusual there. And, I decided exactly nothing on any of those fronts. Except for the fact that I am tired of introspective navel-gazing for a while… And that's all I'm going to say about it because it's boring.
- And lastly, the great decluttering project is still ongoing.
Sigh.
I've been working on this, pretty steadily, for the entire year. I just don't talk about it much, because honestly – how freaking boring is that?
It's a little frustrating that I've been working on this for 8 months now, and I'm around halfway done. I have to keep reminding myself that it took me 15 years of living in this same house to get to this point, I'm not shoveling it all out in a week. (Although, how fab would that be if I could?) Plus, I lived in this house for 15 years with MrPackrat, and now MrPackratJr. And, at some point, much to my chagrin, I adopted a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality.
Ah well, the good fight continues. I'm feeling good about the half that I have gotten done. And I'm feeling good about just how many wagon-loads** of still-good stuff that has gotten donated to Goodwill and the Salvation Army. So, even though the progress is slower than I would like – it's all good…
So – that where I've been.
Schecky started school on Monday – fourth grade! Yikes! – and I thought things would settle down somewhat, but I'm been shockingly busy with a barrage of PTA-stuff. I've got to admit, didn't see that one coming.
Hopefully, things will settle down soon, and I can get back to business. I've got lots of pictures from Tennessee that I still have hopes of sharing!
Y'all don't care that they're a month old, do you???
Kisses!
lla
Updated to Add: I've always kind of wanted to do a give-away sort of thing. And as I was doing yet-some-more decluttering, I found a really pretty necklace that the mother of one of my old preschool students made for me (she was a wicked talented jewelry designer!) It's a pretty strand of multi-colored beads knotted on grey silk cord. It's lovely - very feminine and light - and I've never worn it. I'm just ungrateful like that, I guess.
But my ingratitude could be your reward: as a reward for wading through this long post – that didn't even have a single picture! – I'm putting the necklace up for grabs. Just leave me a comment of some sort below, and I'll do a drawing this weekend for it (and perhaps a few other little goodies, to make up for the "regifting" nature of the necklace…)
Leave your comment before the end of the day Saturday, and I'll announce the winner on Monday!
*But don't get me started on that one. Seriously? That stupid song – there are lots of things she sings about which are disappointing, or inconvenient, or even just a humiliating kick in the crotch… but ironic they ain't. That song's a bazillion years old, and it still bugs me...
**Something funny? Apartment Therapy: San Francisco used my "going to the Salvation Army" picture to illustrate an entry on "How Do You Get Rid of Stuff?" Some more irony there – me, the poster child for getting rid of stuff! Delicious, delicious irony!
24 comments:
Oooh oooh oooh!
Can I have it?
Puh-leaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase?
There are no comments and it's WEDNESDAY!!! (or did you just post, I never read the date!)
Anyway! Count me in!
I hear you with the heat sapping the motivation. Even our cats just lay around the house. I guess that's not much different from normal, but they're closer to the AC vents...
Please throw my name in for the necklace, too. Sorry, lightning!
Yup, the heat has pretty much robbed me every single shred of motivation! Add menopausal hot flashes on top of that and I could put Blance DuBois to shame!
My oldest is a senior this year. It has already caused many a moments worth of chin quivering and eye tearing.
LLA, you crack me up! I can just picture you lying by the a/c vent chuntering about the heat.
I've been a bit awol on my blog too. My DS starts Kindergarten (wah!) on Monday. I've been trying to cram all the fun of summer into this last two weeks!
The heat really can make you feel blah. It's about this time of the summer when I'm really glad fall is around the corner!
So you have a Mr. Packrat too? Like I told ya, I have 3 jr. packrats but I have made big progress is turning them away from the dark side. Farmer packrat is pretty hopeless though. I think it's a badge of honor among farmers to have entire barns full of clutter.
It may seem like slow going, but I'll bet you feel better with every pile that goes out the door. I know I always do!
ps. I want that necklace!
Me! me! (Please?)
I've missed you my dear. Navel gazing and keeping cool are all admirable. Just imagine if AT:SF had gotten ahold of one of your wicked spreadsheets. ;)
you've been gone so long. i admire your tenacity with this decluttering project. i with i could do something similar in my home.
When you are done, please come and declutter my house.
Another House of Multiple Pack Rats here. My fondest dream is that someone comes in the middle of the night and Steals. It. All.
The necklace sounds wonderful. Please don't give it to me!
Haha, this post made me laugh.
And I just have to say that "sweet cracker sandwich, MO is also a hellhole" right now. Good god, it burns my eyeballs out there.
Decluttering, I've just started that journey. A week all to yourself in a clean, clutter free hotel room will make you do that. When I got home I realized what a hellhole I was living in.
if only you knew how often I use the term hellhole - I laughed when I read it here!!
Atlanta is a very intensely hot hellhole isn't it?! It is a strange sensation when you walk outside and your skin gets all prickly from the heat.
Good for you on working to declutter your home! Came to a realization that I really did not need to keep items just because they were important to my parents or someone I really cared about gave me something. I've been moving around all these things that aren't really me for so many years. It has been so freeing passing these items along to a quality charity. I swear I get a head rush with every bag I take out of the house.
Welcome back! Hope the heat abates soon so you can pick up your needles and show us some cool projects.
I think we'll have to move before we can make a dent in the clutter of our home. It's truly depressing, but I've totally gone down the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" path in the past 4 years.
Except for the living room. I wield all power over the living room and like to keep it neat.
isn't it ironic, both our husbands somehow turned us into pack rats.
alanis can SUCK IT. now that's irony.
HA! I've always thought that about that Alanis Morisette song...its like nails on chalboard to me!
Oh, oh pick me! :)
We have slightly the opposite problem in our household... I am not quite a packrat, but definitely have more stuff than my husband and he is the one always trying to get rid of things. Although I have actually become more like him over time and try to declutter more often now than I use to.
Hey, I have a brand new fourth-grader too! Depressing, isn't it?
Free necklace, I say 'throw me something mista'.
Delurking at the prospects of free STUFF! Though I'm not prone to pack-rat syndrome and my husband gets rid of a shirt every time he buys one because he is "at equilibrium" (what is that?) I love me some shiny beads.
P.S. I recently ate my first sweet cracker sandwich... a moon pie, I found at the local 7-11 on a 3pm work break. It was like speed - with a big ole crash 2 hrs later, but delicious.
Soo, um, if I turned up my A/C and gave you sweet cracker sandwiches...would you come and shovel out my house?? PLEASE. Come on, what's one more house? :)
I, too, have been decluttering over this past month! Something must be in the air! I have to post my before and after photos of my yarn room as one example. I'm too embarrassed to show what my garage and basement looked like before we cleaned and organized!
I can so totally relate to your heat issues =] I live in Tampa...the humidity is ridiculous. And the air is broken in my car.
XOXO
I've been decluttering for three years. :0) Good luck.
My PackRat husband and I keep talking about the need to declutter our home. We just need to get started! Good for you for getting on it!
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I'll post the winner on Monday!
thank you for playing....
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