Monday 10 January 2011

My Tombstone Won't Say 'She Was Good At Being Tidy' :)

Kerry's blog post on Saturday 8th January about her struggles with the 21 Day Getting Organised Challenge initially made me laugh out loud! It was her comment
"I have decided why I don't know many organized people - I think they die off before they get to be my age! This organizational challenge is killing me!"
that made me chuckle!

Kerry ..... if only you could appreciate that you are doing so much better than me :)

The Challenge about cleaning out your junk drawer ..... well, the unit in my living room has four(!) of those, so just doing one didn't seem right somehow. You may recall how my cats were helping with drawers two and three? I didn't show an 'after' photo because I found 'stuff' that I just didn't know what to do with so I wasn't sure if I actually got to an 'after' point!!


See what I mean? The left one now holds lots of school photos, both of James and also Teacher group photos from when I used to work in a school. There are also extra copies of my Open University graduation photo from 2006. I don't want to throw any of them away but they are not things I look at often and I don't have anywhere else to put them.

The right one .......... I had got fed up by then and just shoved the rest in it :(     And drawer four didn't even get a look-in!

Mind you, I did clear some odd bits from the bottom section of the cupboard!

This is where I keep my 'best' dinner service that only comes out on High Days and Holidays :)
By the criteria described on a Bowlful of Lemons, I should probably ditch it as we don't use it very often ..... but I won't be doing that!! In sorting this cupboard out, I found some things that really belonged in our Christmas boxes plus a completed cross stitch that I had forgotten about!!
There are one or two other 'odd' things in there ..... like the small boxes in the left hand corner that will 'one day come in useful' for craft ideas!! ..... but they are going to have to stay there until I sort the room where I keep my craft stuff.

By now, I should have also cleared my computer desk and sorted various areas in the kitchen. Sigh!! I haven't even gone there!!


OK .... I don't actually have a computer desk as I use my laptop sitting here :)
Believe it or not, the coffee table on the right was kept clear over ALL of the Christmas period because that is where we put our little Christmas tree. Now ....... Friday night and Saturday morning, I suddenly realised that I had various things to do for my church that I had to do before Sunday ......... so organising anything else went straight out the window and all my papers and other necessary things went on the coffee table! It still looks like that at the moment ..... well, I still have some finishing up to do!

And the kitchen cupboards? Ummm ..... have quite a lot of those! All stupidly made of white wood with a downwards running grain that show every mark and splash! They weren't designed with cleaning in mind, I can tell you!


Yep! The one under the sink is messy!! Even though a number of products are in little grey baskets! No action so far in there!

As for some of the others? Well .....

I don't happen to think this one is too bad. If I tried to throw anything out that we only use once in a while, I would come across another problem ...... my husband John does an awlful lot of the cooking and he just might complain if I got rid of things :)



OK ..... the last one also happens to be where mult bags of crisps get shoved which can make accessing this cupboard awkward. So yes ..... this also needs sorting ...... but I haven't yet :)

And ..... wasn't clearing clothes drawers on the list of things to do and make by now :(

So Kerry ...... keep you chin up lass :)


You are doing famously! I am a struggling 'also -ran'!

By the way, Saturday evening/night I just could have done some organising, but I didn't! We spent the evening listening to my Gerry Rafferty albums as our tribute to him as he passed away last week at the shockingly early age of 63 ...... whilst I continued with sewing 'The Rug'. A far more pleasant way of spending some time :)

However, I'm not completely 'knocking' the aim of Getting More Organised despite my flippancy :)
It needs to be done, but I think I can only manage small nibbles at it! Still ..... one good outcome from clearing the cupboard section of the unit in my living room ..... finding the completed cross stitch picture I'd forgotten all about.


That was worth the organising :)     Perhaps I'll do a separate blog post at some point about this :)

6 comments:

joy said...

what a gorgeous cross stitch picture, really looking forward to the blog about it. I have to admit that my kitchen cupboards are fairly well organised, but that is because a) its a large kitchen with lots of cupboards, b) we moved house 2 years ago and got rid of surplus to requirements items then, c) I have a cleaning cupboard under the stairs (heaven) and a utility room (double heaven) and finally d) a neat and tidy husband who often opens a cupboard, sighs audibly and sorts it out for me!

Elaine said...

Joy ..... Cherish him :)

We moved into this house eight years ago and, like you, I got rid of quite a lot of things before the move.

When John's Mum passed away a year ago, we found a lot of good quality kitchen things which 'would come in useful'. So I really do need to go through our cupboards thoroughly and weed out what we don't need!

Just need more time!!

Elaine said...

Thank you for you compliment on the cross stitch picture. I am a sucker for anything to do with cats! I'm not entirely sure when I finished this but it must be since moving into this house but before I got stuck into doing 'The Rug'.

This photo was a quick one last night using flash. Under natural light would be much better

kerrykatiecakes2 said...

I love your cross stitch you rediscovered Elaine! I am also a sucker for anything feline. This is a very pretty one.
Organizing, I am beginning to realize, is something we need to do at your own speed in our own time. I'll keep plodding along but I'm not in any hurry to catch up anymore!
Hugs,
Kerry

Elaine said...

Thank you Kerry :)

I thoroughly agree with you.

However, it has been nice to know I am not the only one who struggles with keeping things organised. In truth, I DO prefer things organised and it is an underlying stress when they are not!

Still ..... I have found the humour in your posts wonderful! Also, it has encouraged me to find the humour in trying to sort things out a little, where in the past I would probably have just ended up very grumpy!!

NCPat said...

Elaine, I love the cats! I am always cleaning and organizing all my stuff! My husband is even worse and as we are planning on moving this year, we just keeping sorting, and tossing, and organizing. By the way, should you want a canvas that we can get state side, do let me know and I can try and help you get one!

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