Pocketful of Memory Cards

I recently read an article about writing and procrastination.  Coincidentally,  I'd also just finished a long session of procrastination, watching the first couple of seasons of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee , so naturally my eye was drawn to a link within the article referencing Jerry Seinfeld .  In that  article, Seinfeld described how he posts a year long calendar on his wall, and every day that he writes, he puts an "X" on the calendar.   "After a few days you'll have a chain.  Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day.  You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt.  Your only job is to not break the chain," the article quotes. A couple of days later I found myself discussing the "Seinfeld Strategy" with my artist friend  Laura , while procrastinating with her on a dog walk. Turns out she does something similar to motivate herself, but with a monthly calendar, usi...

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at my Dad's.  Despite the fact that the Salvation Army picked up 40 boxes from us last year, I've managed to pack another twenty so far.  It's been interesting going through so many things that bring back wonderful family memories.  I'm sad to say the shelves in the buffet contained no trace of the "Mad Men" cocktail glasses I remember my parents drinking from the 60's. I've culled the photos in eight photo albums, two dresser drawers, and yesterday I happened to look in the large box that turned out to be filled with photos.  I think I come by my love of photography through nature and nurture. We've been working on decluttering and "home staging" for the time when the house will be up for sale.  Today after I boxed up all the extra stuff in the linen closet I was so pleased with the result I had to take a photo. Unfortunately I didn't take a before photo.  It was crammed pretty f...

Over the past 30 or so years of cooking for myself, I've collected quite a mess of spices and spice jars.  Today I picked up some dill and paprika from Abby's Spice and Tea Store and when I got home I was frustrated by how difficult it was to find the jar I was looking for.  Quite frankly, I was embarrassed by the sloppy collection I've amassed.  It's a shameful way for a Virgo to behave.   Of course this is tongue in cheek, but I am in home organization mode these days, so it's the perfect time to do some culling, while trying to come up with a thrifty and creative way to make my spices accessible and fresh.  Thanks to Pinterest I have a few different ideas bobbing around in my brain.  Think of these as the before shots and I'll look forward to sharing my results with you.

After spending several days in July, cleaning out my mother's basement and closets I'm starting to freak out a little at the amount of stuff I have.   It's not that I have a lot of nick-nacks and gee-gaws sitting on top of side tables and in curio cabinets in fact I hardly have anything on the flat surfaces of my home...more because I don't know how to decorate and I don't like to shop, than any concerted effort at  minimalism .  What I do have is piles of papers, boxes in closets, too many kitchen cupboards and rubbermaid containers under desks and in store rooms...all with too much stuff in them.   As the online house organizing guru Flylady says "You can't organize clutter, you can only get rid of it."  So I decided to start going through some of these boxes.  The photo above shows a collection of journals, sketchpads and notebooks I've filled over the years.  Most of them are purse size books that I thought would be handy to have in...

This is Oliver our rescue kitty, doing his favourite thing. Today it was also my favourite thing and I slept the entire afternoon away. I think it was a combination of it being day three of the caffeine wean,  and the fact that I'm feeling a bit stressed with all projects, ideas, and attempts to help the people around me.  This thought also came up as the result of a dream I had this morning.  I was sitting in the front of a plane that was nosediving into the ocean. I saw the water rising along the windows and I turned to my husband and said "We're going to drown." Everyone around me seem surprisingly calm however.  Then someone stood up and opened a small hatch in the ceiling, and just as people rose to join him,  and I wondered how we would all get out in time,  I woke up with a start.  I'm sure you know that feeling of relief when you realize it was only a dream. Being Jungian at heart, I knew my subconscious was trying to tell me I've taken ...