That was an ordeal

But the tree is down and put away,  the ornaments and other decorations are packed up,  and the plants are watered.  I've moved a little fountain over by the plants.  My back is hurting;  I'm going to put up my feet for awhile and give it a rest before vacuuming or any of the other things I'd like to get done tonight (mainly the dishes). It was nice while it lasted,  but I'm glad to have some square footage back in the living room,  which is pretty small and has a loveseat, hourglass table, round end table, computer desk with printer stand,  TV table,  seven bookshelves, and an antique steamer trunk in it,  plus the blocks and boards the plants are on. Really. Plus six works of art by YKWIA, a bulletin board,  two college diplomas, a small curio shelf,  and my family coat of arms on the walls. I really do have a lot of stuff crammed in a small space.  That's just the living room.

Oh,  well, it looks roomier now, although in actuality there's barely enough room to do yoga. :)

With the exception of a few dishes to do

unloading the dishwasher, and going through the refrigerator, I did a pretty decent job of cleaning up the kitchen today. I also am making some bread in the bread machine, as I am out and have all the ingredients and no money to just buy bread. Besides, it tastes better when homemade anyway, even if I'm not doing the kneading myself. :) I don't want to work anymore in there tonight because the bread will be rising, so it's time to move to other parts of the apartment and get things that were in the walk-in closet that leaked back in (they're mostly plastic, so they should be okay if it should happen again). I also want to wash the couple of clothes baskets I have (they got wet, and stained with rusty water), so that I can use them to corral the clothes in the bedroom, which have become a problem.

I just read a book I got out of the library called Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD : Tips and Tools to help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized by Sarah Pinsky. While I'm not going to take all of her suggestions (I think my apartment leasing agent would be less than thrilled if I took all the cabinet doors off their hinges in the kitchen), a lot makes sense, and I'm going to try to put some of them into action. Her theory is that the best system for someone with attention-deficit disorder is to make things convenient, fast, easy, and efficient, so no beautiful baskets for magazines to languish in or using staging areas such as the main kitchen table for craft projects. Storage should be open and so easy to use it takes less effort to throw a sock into a hamper rather than on the floor. The book is organised by room of the house. Some areas don't apply to me, like the garage, or the playroom, but a lot did. And once I have money again, I really need to get a bigger trash can (not the tiny ones you see in bathrooms) for the bedroom, and one for the living room (not for food, obviously) and maybe a small recycling bin for both, as I tend to strew packaging and papers around in both places. I think that will cut down on a lot of that.

I also want to go through the many boxes (both plastic and cardboard) of paper that I have here and there in the closets and some behind the couch. Most of that stuff can probably go. They're old bills I wanted to shred, or school material copies, or stuff to do with my accident three years ago--that sort of thing. She argues that really, very little needs to be shredded these days, as account numbers are masked, etc. Simply tearing them in half and putting them in different bags is probably enough. So that's a goal to finish by the end of the year. First I have to get things passable in the bedroom. At sometime in the next month, the fire department is supposed to come check our fire alarms, smoke detectors, and that our windows open. The bedroom is very cluttered, and while, yes, I can get to the window, it's not exactly clear and easy, either. Plus, I may need to rethink my plants and try to come up with a better solution for them. They effectively block the windows. The living room has several on some blocks and boards, and the bedroom has a end table with two rows of plants on it. The living room isn't so much a concern--the door is there, so I'd likely not go out the window there anyway. But the bedroom is definitely an issue. I am going to try to consolidate my plants and move things around, use the space better. Hmmm...maybe I'll do that now.

One last thing, did you know 'Bloom County' is back???? I loved that comic strip when I was in college. You can get the new strips by liking Berkeley Breathed on Facebook. So far, Opus has awakened 25 years later and discovered the Internet. There have been three strips so far, released as Breathed feels like, rather than a daily schedule. But I'm happy it's back!

An article on how clutter happens, what it does to us, and how to let it go

How Clutter Affects Your Brain (and What You Can Do About It)

A few years ago, I worked at a web design agency as a product manager. The part of the job I loved the most was working on product with our design team and clients. Unfortunately, this was only about 10 percent of the work that I actually got to do. The majority of the time, I was trying to control the constant flow of stuff–keeping track of meeting notes, searching for files, and trying to stay up-to-date with the latest technology news.

I was mentally exhausted. I’d get home feeling that I hadn’t really accomplished anything.

Thanks to Alexandra Bond for sharing this on Facebook. I like how it talks about digital clutter as well as the physical type, such as cluttered PC desktops or multiple notifications when you get e-mails or texts. Each thing is one more thing your mind has to deal with, and then either let go or hoard. No wonder I am so scattered all the time. A friend of mine has long described my brain (and he was being honest, not putting me down) as organised the same way I do my closet, in shifting piles that have no real categorisation or boundaries. He's right. Yet, I can organise other people's stuff. As a librarian, that's pretty much what I do all day. The difference? I have no emotional attachment to other people's things. But for me, a broken piece of my great-grandmother's china, a six-month old unopened bill, a favourite top (even stained), sometimes simple recyclables--all become difficulties to face. Before they put in recycling containers in our apartment complex, I hoarded lots of stuff that was recyclable with the idea that I would take it somewhere to be recycled, even when I didn't have a car or any way of getting them there. I tend to even hoard e-mail and e-books.

I also do a pretty decent job of keeping my desk at work straightened and organised. Even if my journals haven't been shelved, they're at least in a pile in an out of way spot. I have a hard time working with clutter. But I do admit, I sometimes hoard books that should have been weeded ages ago, and indeed, have been from the general collection but not actually from storage. I'll have to deal with that eventually, as the library is not going to the new building (nor am I, unfortunately, although I have a bit of time before that happens), and I'll have to oversee its release into the wild, as it were, either by finding new homes for old books and journals or recycling them.

And of course, one of the occupational hazards of being a librarian is that you tend to collect and buy books. I have lots of books. I'm not even sure how many. I have two new ones sitting on my desk at work that were delivered today, Gary Corby's Sacred Games, a mystery set in ancient Greece, and a collection of several Pippi Longstocking tales. I should probably stop getting books, but I don't foresee that happening. And like I said, I get them on the Kindle, too, mostly free ones, but some I've bought, and I probably have more than I can read reasonably. Bibliophilic hoarding is a special subcategory, I suppose. But at least it's better than hoarding animals. My books aren't going to get me in trouble with the law, are enlightening when read, and are generally well-cared for. :) I have come to the conclusion that at some point I will have to actually weed them and take those to the library for the Friends of the Lexington Public Library to sell or do with as they please. That day is coming, but not tonight. Anyway, it's an interesting article. Check it out.

I've got to stop for a bit (pant, pant)

I've been excavating my living area (it's not a proper living room, as there is no wall between it and the dining area, although I do have shelves with the loveseat against one side and books on the other, with just an entry space left) for one and a half hours. I've filled two bags of recyclables (mostly paper no longer needed), about a quarter of a bag of stuff that isn't recyclable, and I've gotten it to just needing to go through a small pile of paper, putting up some things, and finding places for others. I have quite a few books that I have no idea what to do with. I still want to work on the dining room and kitchen, too. I was hoping to make the apartment a two-day project, but I'm going over to a friend's house tomorrow, so I'll probably be working throughout next week, too--maybe the week after, but I very much want to de-clutter my home, so the idea is to work a bit each day, maybe for an hour or two. That seems my limit, unless I'm really on a de-hoarding schedule, like when I'm moving, etc. I've just really reached a point where I need to stop and catch my breath and get a drink. Things are at least in discrete piles, and I have four empty copy paper boxes if I need them, although the point is to get rid of as much as possible. I've almost gotten rid of all the detritus and I'm down to books and magazines I want to keep and finding places for those.

So the plan is to get the living area in order tonight if at all possible. The rest will have to wait. I need to do the game notes tonight as well.

My arm and neck hurt now. I think I'll go rest a bit (I can't in the comfy chair, it's full of various types of totes and my backpack, a recyclables bag, and the trash bag). I wonder if it's too soon for ibuprofen?