Cut the Clutter

Clutter is something I struggle with.  I have a cluttered house, especially upstairs in the bedrooms and bathrooms.  Downstairs isn't as bad, but it isn't ideal, either.  I constantly think, "Oh, I can use that later!" and then I stow it away somewhere: in a drawer, on a shelf, in a file.  The "it" that I hoard can be anything from a cross-stitch pattern to the bottom of the celery stalk that I chopped off for my children's next art project.  The reality is that I very rarely get to those "saved" things.  They end up occupying valuable space, and I have no idea what to do about it.

This article sheds a little light on a few things for me.  I am a self-defeating procrastinator whom everyone has told -repeatedly my life long- that I have fantastic potential if only I could tap it... realize it... but when I get home and look at my house I think of a dozen different reasons to defer greatness: I can't possibly finish my novel until the bathroom is organized; I can't possibly sew those cute summer dresses for Megan until I clean my horribly messy bedroom.  This list can go on and on. Truthfully, though, I could do those things if I would just let myself, because the bathroom and the bedroom never get cleaned anyway.

So, today I'm going to try something new.  I'm going to clean/organize/declutter a room or area, and then give myself permission to do a fun thing like get started on that pink polka dotted sun dress Megan has been begging me for.  Why not?  My time is valuable, my clutter is not.  I need to cut the clutter.  Then I might feel better.  :)    

I'm back!

Goodness!  Has it really been three months since I posted on my blog?  It HAS!  Sorry about that.  I really didn’t have the bandwidth to update my blog since I’ve been so busy with work.  When I was done with work each day, I was pretty much DONE with everything.  I didn’t even want to look at a computer, much less post an entry here.  My poor children got the bare minimum attention, because my brain would literally shut down.  Not good.  My poor husband did his best to weather the storm.  I really do love that man.  He’s far from perfect, but the stuff he puts up with… O.M.G. 

That being said, I still love my job.  It has its harrowing moments, but it’s a pretty sweet gig.  We get bagels every morning.  I have awesome benefits; aside from the normal medical, dental, eye stuff, I also get regular training on the company’s dime.  I get to work from home on snowy days… or when I’m sick (shouldn’t be doing that.  I should cut out that crap)… or if I have the cable guy coming over.  I work with brilliant people, and I get to work on way cool stuff to educate present and future generations of students.  Can you say OpenClass?  Have a look.  It’s pretty dang cool.   So even though I’ve had some pretty demanding projects lately, I’m not cutting out my job.  It just isn’t crappy.  Or cut-worthy. 

So how have I cut the crap over the past 3+ months?  Not as much as I’d like.  The Paleo Diet has waxed and waned; Rob is finally on board, though, as he’s reading 4 Hour Body.  We’re going for a BMI test next week.  My quest to weed out my email inbox is still ongoing, but my company gave me an ADDITIONAL, corporate-wide account that had 5000+ emails already waiting for me in it.  I deleted those.  I’ve been weeding out friends and causes and likes on Facebook.  My kids have a box of toys to be donated (or sold at a yard sale), so that’s pretty good.  Recycling efforts were reinforced at Christmas.  I made reusable sandwich wraps for all the nieces and nephews to use in their daily school lunches.  I also tried to wrap as many presents in either recycled paper or reusable bags.  That was cool. 

So, I have been keeping with the spirit of cutting the crap.  I just haven’t been blogging about it or stepping it up as much as I wanted for 2012… at least not so far.  I want to get my reader counts up this year.  I want to write more.  Quite frankly, it’s like therapy to me.  I need it.  And I want to find more ways to cut out the crap from my life.  There is plenty of it!  Help me stay accountable, People! 

Cut the Crap Days 6 and 7

I’ve lost more days. I need to write more than this… because I liken this blog to a pressure relief valve. If I don’t write, the pressure builds. What kind of pressure, you ask? ALL kinds of pressure. Writing makes that all easier to deal with.

As a side note, I’m not sure if it’s the eating better or the writing, but I seem to have much more clarity recently. I have a focus I didn’t have before. Don’t know what that means, but I’m embracing it.

So… How did I cut the crap these past few days? Well, my family and I are eating better. For desert the other night we had fresh mangoes. For dinner we had homemade turkey burgers will real cheese. In fact, the bread on which we placed said burger patties was the only thing that wasn’t “fresh”. Store-bought bread usually lasts longer than the bread I make in the bread machine at home… and I rarely bake in the summer.

AND that brings me to my next idea. Should I bake my own bread every few days? I love homemade bread, but I’m not sure how much time I really have for this. The ingredients are simple, and the recipe is easy for basic white bread. This would get rid of the preservatives, most certainly. AND it would taste better… but I estimate I’d have to bake at least twice a week. If not more.

Now I’m off to eat steak and potatoes for lunch. Not too shabby, eh?