One Party Later

After all the work I put into the office, it became the storage room all over again in the space of about half an hour.  Is this what Amy Winehouse meant by "back to black"?

I had a party last night and stayed up late watching a movie with the friends who stayed late.  I woke up way too early so I got up and did a bunch of dishes.  The stuff I had placed in the office room yesterday was to get it out of the way of the party people, so it will be coming out again soon and going into its proper places, if there really are any.

I did give away a box of canning jars on the Buy Nothing page, and bagged some dolly clothes and furniture for a friend who runs a Montessori school.  So, I did my part for clearing space.  But, I bought two new turntables for future DJ enterprises today from a Craigslist ad.  Those won't be living upstairs with me the whole time though.

I'm so busy with great things in the next few weeks!  Short Run, Frankenstein's Comic Book Swap, Comix Thing, Twilight Rummage Sale, and planning an art party and doing a page for Vision Quest.  Wow, busy and a little stressful but also my favorite things in life.  I'll need to do some extra self-care, as much as I kind of dislike that phrase, while I get these things accomplished.

Happy Halloween!!

Flake News

Now the drawing table says goodbye.  I'm still not sure I should, but I don't really use it for drawing anymore.  I have another table that might be a good fit in that location, which was one of the first things that my mom refinished.  But I'm going to pause while I figure out if I'm taking out carpet again this fall.

Aaaaaand...not sure if I want to keep my desk or not.  I built the thing, and it's the sturdiest piece of furniture I own, so I kind of want to hold onto it. But I don't use it for a whole lot except keeping the desktop computer on top.  Needs paint too.

Last Saturday's Twilight Rummage Sale was bananas!  I had a lot of cute tchotchkes and I've got even more to bring next month. I traded and sold some of my load away. 

I've been bringing more books these last couple times. I have another Frankenstein's Comic Book Swap coming up fast on 11/11 and a lot of things to sort out for that one.  Books of course, as well as posters and random related things.  Oh dear, so many things.  I'm also gonna DJ for Comix Thing again that night!!

I'm taking advantage of one of those big bins for confidential things you want to have shredded, which is in my workplace.  Now at last I no longer have the business records from when I ran Sparkplug!  I'm keeping the tax returns, of course, but all the other papers have to go.  I donated a pile of magazines to a local cafe with a reading section too.

 

Endless Bummer

I had a brilliant thought while observing the mess my "tidying" is creating.  I should keep the activity in the room where the work needs to happen.  I can watch movies on the laptop in the office while shredding, instead of dragging it out in front of the telly.  Another win!

I'm getting rid of this thing on the Buy Nothing page:

And all of this stuff on the table needs to go somewhere:

I have a file crate coming from one of my friends to help me condense the things I removed from the big file cabinet.

Well, this is going really slowly.  But at least the floor has stayed relatively clear. 

All Right So Far

In which we ask the question, if you toss warranties and manuals and other official-looking pamphlets, none of which you've looked at in six years or more, will you come to regret it once they have been taken by the recycling truck?  This is what I will be wondering in the near future.

I was too tired to do much but cook food and sit on the sofa, so I recycled the above materials and shredded a lot of old paperwork.  It was the kind that is hard not to keep reading, the kind that is painful to read, and at the same time hard to dispose of.  I did manage to but it's hard not to think about it.

It's cold out finally, so I think I'm going to borrow my neighbors' fire pit while they're away on vacation and burn some things.  I don't have any wood but it's an opportunity that's too good to miss.  Don't worry, these are the neighbors in my duplex, so I'm not sneaking into anyone's back yard.

I've been making more food for myself to take to work so I am working on my goals for the month.  I've been sleeping pretty well too.  I'm part of an online sleep study so I'm more motivated this week to work on that too.

Nice to Be Nice

I surprised myself by getting my full list of things done this week already!  On the list for the coming few days, I wanna put a couple more things up on Buy Nothing Portland, donate a couple things to Goodwill, maybe list some things on Craigslist as well.  All whilst continuing the office clean-out project.

I have a small list of habits I want to work on, while I'm getting all of these other things taken care of:

1. Arriving on time for things
2. Making my lunch each day (plus snacks)
3. Get better sleep.  This is really hard because of my sleep disorder(s) but I'm going to go to be earlier to at least have more time to get back to sleep when I do wake up. 

I'll have a new list in a day or two.  I'm planning to be away for part of the weekend so there might not be enough time at home to get lots done. 

I guess one thing that will help is just to get the things that I don't want out of the office.  I'd like to get the carpet out of there so the less that is in there, the better.    

Sometimes a Great Notion

I did pretty well with my Monday night planned chores except that I did not get the curtains hung until last night.  But I did change the sheets on the bed and work on my #inktober drawing for Instagram so it evens out.  I did a whole lot of shredding.  And the person who is taking the file cabinet is coming this afternoon!

Here's an updated corner pic of the office:

And the chair with the "to be shredded" stack: 

Here's a tip for people with the same amount of papers to dispose of: just do it as fast as you can and look at them as little as possible.  I found myself glancing at medical records and notes from collections people and feeling anxious and glum.  Googly, googly, googly, begone!

From The Fall, great movie

I've taken a lot of art downstairs.  I'm trying to frame some pieces so they don't stay hidden.  I have a lot of salvaged frames for that purpose.  I never have to buy new frames, as far too many have fallen into my possession completely by accident.

Since I'm here, let's admire my newly hung bedroom draperies on double rods, like the living room has:

My blackout curtains are no longer weighing down a handful of thumbtacks.  Winning!!

Stop Your Messing Around

Tonight's activities include: changing lightbulbs, laundry, dishes, and practicing the drums.  Also, putting up a double curtain rod in the bedroom at last.  It's high time I stopped relying on thumb tacks to hold up my window coverings. 

Yesterday I cleaned up the porch for a fast spiritual lift.  There was a giant alien plant growing over half the walkway. I wish I took a picture but I cut it away bit by bit before I thought to do that.  I used paper scissors because I was too lazy to head to the basement and get some proper plant shears.

Of course, I also plan to chip away at the office cleanup job.  I don't have new pics yet but there should be some tomorrow.  There are a number of things going to storage in the basement.  I have to get in touch with my file cabinet person, who has not reached out over the weekend, so it might have to go up on Craigslist.