Thou gorbellied folly-fallen giglet

Last week was supposed to be a fun adventure-filled trip to Cedar City, Utah - where I would attend the yearly Shakespeare Festival. The tickets were purchased back in April in high anticipation of attending this event - yet alas twas not to be.

Instead I spent my week of vacation at home - a "staycation" if you will. Not a bad way to spend time off work, but I did feel badly about backing out of the trip and making family members take the journey without me. But please don't think of me as a roguish pottle-deep moldwarp (or some other Shakespeare-ish type of unpleasant being). They had fun even if not graced with my scintillating presence. There were a multitude of reasons why I did a staycation this year - and it was actually not all that bad.

I spent most of the week in a productive way. I obtained multiple bids from various companies to put a roof and siding on my new back porch. The roof is now in place - and photos will be posted when the siding is finally installed in a few weeks from now.

I also spent an entire 11-hour day sorting through all the paperwork and accumulated items in my Dad's den. It's been three years now since he passed away - so it was about time I did something about it. I filled the recycle garbage can with shredded papers and such - then organized or disposed of the rest. It was amazing some of the things I discovered - among the clutter were many treasured items (which of course I kept).

Tasks like this make one step back and consider all the clutter we accumulate in our own lives and homes. If I were to die tomorrow - I do not envy the person who must go through all of my possessions. Perhaps it is time to make my home a "house of order" - to scale down to the necessities and eliminate clutter from my life. Wish me luck!!

Who's coming to visit?

As a kid, when Mom would ask my brother and I to help clean up the house – our first question would inevitably be… “who’s coming to visit?”.

I rarely get visitors to my home these days – which has allowed me to often take the lazy road of procrastination when it comes to clutter control. I can be very “house blind” if you will – not noticing how stuff can quickly stack up on tables, chairs, and even the floor at times.

But, all that clutter has a purpose – or so I lazily lead myself to believe.

• That pile of stuff is to be given away to charity so why has it been sitting there for three months now?

• I just haven’t had time to sort through all the junk mail this week
  I believe everyone can relate to this one

• A little dust on the flat surfaces isn’t the end of the world
  that is if I notice it before it gets too thick -- besides, the lawn needs to be mowed (and more people can see that than dust on the end table)

• The full laundry basket provides a wonderful justification to go purchase new clothes I am getting much better at not doing this – due to financial constraints and full closets

• Oh, are there dirty dishes in the sink? Maybe I’ll find time to wash them tomorrow
  there are just too many books to read, movies to see, and sleep to catch up on first

Instead of following Scarlet O'Hara's attitude of, "Fiddle dee dee, I shall think of that tomorrow" -- perhaps I should take more to heart my Mom’s response to the question of who is coming for a visit. More often than not she would reply… “We Are!!”