What I should have been when I grew up

Um, does that even make sense to anyone but me? Because maybe I'm still not grown up?

I'm working on a project at work that involved a bunch of research about some stuff that happened here years ago. This is the kind of work I really like. To access some of the files for this project, I had to do some digging in the archives. I did my initial research online - you can access lists of the contents of the various fonds, but you can't actually access most of the documents (yet?). Then I contacted the archivist and she pulled the boxes I needed and then I had to go down to the archives to look through the documents.

I spent over three hours in the archives yesterday, taking notes and photographs of the things I was digging through.

The reading room down in the archives is lovely with lots of lights and it's warm and it's relatively quiet.I loved it. I didn't want to leave.

While I was flipping through all the bits and pieces (I had three boxes of files to go through), I realized that I should have become an archivist. That might satisfy my pack-rat tendencies in an appropriate environment and then I could come home and feel good about being a semi-minimalist.

Yeah.

Note to self: for your next life, archivist is an appropriate career path.

Progression: Pack Rat ---> Wanna be sort of minimalist

Okay, AndreaClaire is the inspiration for this post. I'd been tossing it around in my brain for a while and yesterday's post was the first part of that thought process. AndreaClaire said:

I need you to come over and teach me to toss sh!t out. Seriously. I could toss everything in my storage room right now without looking at it and I'd have no idea what I was missing! 

I was wondering how I went from needing to keep everything to feeling like I could let a whole lot of stuff go.





There were a few things that helped...Laura's week 4 post gave me a bunch of questions that I find very helpful (they also showed up in this week's post! Imagine that!).

1.  Can I afford, in terms of space, to keep this item?
2.  Could the space that this item takes up be put to better use?
3.  What am I saying NO to in order to say YES to this item?
4.  What’s the worst thing that’s going to happen if I get rid of this item?

I also thought about why I was keeping things, but I didn't really come up with anything. I have a list of questions from somewhere else (maybe FlyLady?) and one of them is something along the lines does this item make me feel guilty or unhappy. I'm better at identifying what I feel about things which has led me to feel better about getting rid of things.

Oh, and my little daydream that didn't go away for a few months about moving away to a far away land, that helps me decide...I ask myself if it's something I'd have to take with me if we moved and could only take a few things and if the answer is no, well, then it's gone.

And thinking that maybe everything in our storage unit was garbage and realizing that I don't care about much of it made me think that I might feel the same way about our other stuff. I've gotten rid of as much stuff this week as I usually do in about six weeks...it's unbelievable.

Maybe in a few weeks we'll notice a significant difference in our house...

Fingers crossed!

Out, damned stuff

I am a pack rat.

That isn't a secret I keep from anyone in real life or on this blog.

I keep stuff.

I keep too much stuff.

I know it. I'm trying to get better about getting rid of stuff, but it's a work in progress. That's why I decided to do the 52 Weeks of Organizing Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie is hosting and you'll also notice some organizing and purging items in my 101 in 1001 list.

I'm getting better at getting rid of stuff. I'm slowly teaching myself not to feel guilty about getting rid of things we never use or don't like. Because we're never going to use them. Really.

This weekend we discovered that we will be getting rid of a bunch of our stuff, whether we like it or not (it's a long, on-going story...everything is fine, nothing bad happened) and you know what, I've discovered I'm actually okay with that.

I did a quick mental survey of our house earlier and the only things I'd be sad to lose, that I felt were irreplaceable are some photos, my Pax Lodge books, and our Christmas decorations, but really, if something happened to our stuff and all I could take away was Alex and J, well, that would be fine too.

Somewhere in the past ten months something inside me has shifted. I'm not attached to stuff anymore. I've figured out that it's just stuff. Sure, I have a lovely blue-glass, mouth-blown vase that I got in Camden market and a handmade pottery water jug we received as a wedding gift and a Swarovski crystal butterfly Alex gave me years ago, but we can replace that stuff if we need to. Maybe not with identical things, but with something.

We've tossed a lot in the last few weeks (it will soon be showing up on the tossed out stuff website) and there is more to come. And I'm good with it.

I've noticed it's extending to other areas of my life too. I was horrible for archiving 90% of what came into my gmail and filing 95% of my work emails I received. I know what I need to keep for future reference and what I don't. Just because I have tons of space doesn't mean I need to keep every single email I get. I can delete the ones that say "thanks" or have the directions to a meeting that happened a month ago.

It's totally liberating. And I love it. I feel lighter. Hopefully there will be a marked improvement in our apartment soon too!

And so far, I haven't regretted a single things I've tossed or deleted. I haven't even missed them!

Burn the candles

My mom sent me one of those inspirational PowerPoint-set-to-music things.

I don't normally open them, but then, I don't normally get them from my MOM either.

And this one was quite good.

There were lots of little reminders that I needed reminding of. (If that makes sense. And yes, I'm going to end that sentence with a preposition. There's nothing wrong with that.)

This is the one that's been dancing in my head all morning:

Burn the candles; use the nice sheets. Don't save it for a special day. Today is special.

I need to remember that. I'm a pack rat. I've mentioned that a few times I think. I'm not as bad as I used to be though - I'm even using the shower gel I got for Christmas this year.

When we were kids, we used to get small, novelty soaps (shaped like animals and flowers and even once I got a Cabbage Patch Kid!) in goody bags at birthday and other events. I stashed all of mine away in a box because if I used them, they wouldn't be special anymore. I remember finding the box when we moved when I was fifteen. The soaps were all stinky and dusty and sticky. I threw them away even though it pained me deeply. That's not an exaggeration.

So sometimes I need reminding that if we don't use something, it will actually become worthless because it will spoil or go bad or spill or get lost. So there are nice soaps in the bathrooms. We have lovely sheets on our bed. When our towels get old, we get to use the new ones (I have about 20 bath towels that we received as wedding gifts stashed in a storage box) instead of cycling the guest towels to us and giving the guests brand new towels. Because we deserve to use the nice stuff too. And really, we rarely have overnight guests, so the current guest towels ARE like new!

Tonight, I'm going to get out a lovely candle that my grandma gave me. That I'm pretty sure she had since the seventies. And after J goes to bed, I'm going to work by candlelight instead of electricity. Well, sort of. The computer still need electricity...

Thanks for the reminders, Mom! I saved the PowerPoint on my desktop so that when things get hairy at work, I have something to remind me of what life is really about!

Week 13: Purge Magazine Backlogs

Yay! Something that's not too scary for me...I don't have to address my pack rat tendencies or make a decision about something (that may not be) sentimental. Magazines are pretty easy for me to keep under control!




Week thirteen questions:

1. How far back does your magazine backlog go?
A year. That's it. We only get Macleans and Real Simple.

2. Will you be able to part with some of them? What is the hardest part of doing this for you?
Macleans goes as soon as we’re done with it. I’m trying to get rid of them weekly, but often we get rid of two or three at a time. I figure if we haven’t read them before the next issue comes, we’re not interested.

As for Real Simple, I keep them for a year. So I have 12 issues hanging around. In theory when the new issue comes, I toss the old one…but I go through it first. The reason I tend to keep them for a year is that I actually do use them and after a year I just pull out anything useful. I go to their website if I need something I’ve accidentally tossed and so far I’ve found everything I was looking for. My exception is the Christmas issues – I don’t keep them all, but the one from 2008 had so many things I’ve used that I just kept it – it’s easier to have it all in one place. It’s put away with the Christmas stuff though and it only comes out at Christmas.

I do have random other magazines floating around – ones that I’ve usually picked up at the check out at the grocery store. I came across a Canadian Living from the fall the other night and spent some time pulling out a few recipes, but it’s gone now.

3. What area(s) are on your list for next week?
This week I’m trying to finish up the desk area in our bedroom…so far it’s taken much less time than I thought it would…and that’s a good thing! Embarrassing pictures to come...

4. For fun…do you do your laundry folding standing up at a table or sitting down?
I fold laundry either sitting in the living room (on the couch or the floor depending on how much there is) or standing beside the bed. I like Sarah’s squat idea though!

Oh 52 week challenge, you are so wonderful and you don't know how much you've changed our house! Thank you Laura!

Twenty-five random things about me

As posted on Facebook

25 Random Things About Me

1. I ignored this note thing until Minda harassed (okay, gently prodded) me about it!

2. I love staying at home with Baby J and would like to be able to do it all the time and never go back to work, but part of me is actually looking forward to going back to work...I may not feel the same way in September, but we'll see.

3. I have a serious book addiction. I have put myself on a book diet which means I am not allowed to buy books for myself unless someone gives me a gift card to the bookstore. I've been borrowing books from my aunt and uncle's collection instead. I tried to pare down my collection when we unpacked this time, but I only managed to find three books I could bear to part with.

4. I have a love-hate relationship with our new place. I'm hoping the hate part will go away once we paint and maybe get a couple of pieces of new furniture...

5. The smiles I get first thing in the morning from Baby J make getting out of bed worth it and bearable...even when she decides to wake up before 6:00 am.

6. I only lived in London for just over 1.5 years total. I've lived in Vancouver for 10+ of the last 13 years. London feels more like a second home than Vancouver. I still feel a bit transient in Vancouver. I have good friends and family in Vancouver, but I feel like many of the special people in my life are scattered around the world...probably because of the time I spent living in Hawaii, London and Switzerland!

7. When I'm working, I only get to see Alex for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half everyday - it's hard and we try to make up for it on weekends. That's part of the reason I'm enjoying maternity leave so much - now I get to see him for four or five hours a day and we even get to eat together!

8. I love going to bed early and getting up early, but I also like staying up late and sleeping in. I need 8-9 hours of sleep to function...unfortunately it usually works out that on the days I stay up late, I need to get up early. Not so good for the sleep quota.

9. I worked in an industry that required talent and skills that I know I don't possess. Thank goodness I was in administration not production, because I have those skills. When I told people where I worked, the looks of disbelief I got from the people who knew me were great. The looks of relief when they heard I was in administration were even better! They made me smile every time!

10. I have an irrational fear of birds. All birds. Alive birds, dead birds, stuffed birds, photographs of birds in books.

11. When I was a kid I thought there was a monster/bad guy/bird living under my bed. I'd turn the light off and take a running leap from the door to my bed so the monster/bad guy/bird couldn't grab my ankle. Good thing my bedroom was tiny.

12. We shared the Blue House with at least two ghosts.

13. I learned more about the Bible from my AP Lit class than I did from Sunday School.

14. When I was in high school, I used to go camping at least once a month. I miss it and I'm trying to convince Alex that camping is fun.

15. I don't like condiments, but our fridge is full of them because I married a condiment fiend.

16. I love that my family is large and that we enjoy spending time together.

17. I had my first migraine when I was ten or eleven. At the worst, they were coming every seven to ten days. My usual trigger is abrupt changes in barometric pressure or altitude. Sometimes lack of sleep, too much sleep, dehydration or food can also trigger them. They have varied in severity and frequency since I started getting them. One of the best side effects of being pregnant was the complete absence of migraines, even when the Vancouver weather was crazy!

18. When I was admitted to the hospital three weeks early to have Baby J, our coworkers knew, but we didn't tell our families until she had arrived safely.

19. I'm a pack rat. Really and truly a pack rat. It's mostly organized, but I know I don't need all that stuff. I'm trying to be more ruthless at getting rid of stuff. It's working better in some areas of my life than others (see #3 above and #20 below).

20. I also have an addiction to stationery and all things related to it. I have three drawers and a bread box full of stationery. I have more pens than I could possibly ever use. But certain types of paper demand certain types of pens. Too bad we're no longer a society that uses the postal service much. I'm kind of on a stationery diet too, but it's not working so well.

21. I have a big postcard collection that started when I was seven.

22. When I was at boarding school I got so much mail that they were surprised at the bookstore when there was nothing for me to pick up from my mailbox. Even when I lived in London I got lots of mail. Not so much now...but that's okay!

23. Maybe my addiction is to all things paper - books, stationery, postcards, letters? Hmmmm...

24. I love having an empty laundry basket but I hate doing laundry, in particular the folding, hanging and putting away part. I never iron, but when I lived in London, I found ironing sheets to be very relaxing and a good time to think!

25. Everyday I look at Alex and Baby J and I can't believe they're my family or how happy they make me! I think I'm pretty lucky to have both of them!