Dapper and Dreamy: Cleaning Up

Cleaning is one thing, but one can never have
too much glitter!

It's only Wednesday and it's already been a busy week! I've just published my first magazine article, my first newspaper article and seen my first book published (self-published, I feel compelled to add...). A few months ago, when I decided to take a drastically new direction in life, none of these things were anywhere near completion. Nor was a blog with 78 posts (I know, it's small potatoes compared to many, but to me, it's a miracle). While I have a long way to go in reaching my ultimate destination, I am just thankful for the wonderful things that have happened in the last months. It reminds me that following out intuition is often the best choice, even if it seems a bit frightening and ever counter to what we "know" is right. The world is a great big place and there are many ways to experience it.

And, to that end, it's easier to move about in the world, and in your house, if you've spent some time taking stock of what you have, what you want and what you need. We've found that there are huge differences between those three categories. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we've been having a huge clean-out, and how therapeutic it's been! Bags and bags of books, movies, crafting supplies, clothing, linens and who knows what else have gone to the local thrift store. Hopefully, in a few months, I won't visit one of these shops and find something that I have to have, only to realize later that it was something I'd donated! It actually has happened!

While all the rooms are better for this "bottoming out", as such cleaning is called in the Miss Read books, there still seems to be so much more than we really "need". Of course, there's nothing wrong with having the luxury of being surrounded by things that you simply love for their own sake, but it's hard to really enjoy anything - life, people, possessions - when you have too much. As an example, we've cut our movie collection drastically, perhaps by half. We had so many videos and DVD's that were bought with the idea that we "might" like to see them. In most cases, they were good for one viewing, if that, but just weren't cast off. Now that we have so much less, we can enjoy the really good films we have so much more. We can see what we have! The same is true of books, clothes and everything else. In fact, I have come to realize that "things" are often more trouble than they are worth. At some point it seems like they own us, rather than the reverse.

My favorite of all our rooms is currently the studio. It's so clean and tidy, so much roomier with the unnecessary things taken out, and I love to work there. I think it's one of my favorite places ever! Below are a few pictures to brighten the page. Note my two favorites... Max's little play area and his tiny, brown, fuzzy bear coat hanging on the door knob...

This is my creative spot... I could
spend all day here.

This is where Melissa works... it
usually doesn't look like this! Imagine
heaps of crafting supplies and papers...

Max's play station...

Hmm, lighting issues? This is what happens
when you take pictures in the middle of the night...
Note the little furry bear coat on the door
knob. Every house needs one of these!