Not such a freak...

Hey!  Look here!  Becoming a 15-minute person does not, in fact, make me a freak.  Apparently, doing so is actually recommended!  Only, well, in the article, taking some time at the end of each day to straighten up is called "resetting."  I do find that label a tad weird.  After all, in all the searching of my person, I have never found a reset button!

Point No. 4 in the article also shows that my frenzied spate of Craig's List/Amazon/eBay selling was not so odd either.  A great way to reduce the clutter ... or ... in my case, a great way to upgrade your technology and glasses and such.

Point No. 3 is two points, really:  1) give everything a place (feel free to ignore the "zone" label) and 2) use vertical space.  The former makes keeping things straight much, much, much easier, especially if you are having little helpers do the straightening.

Back when I was babysitting, I always had the children clean up their rooms before bed.  Often, that meant organizing their rooms so that they were a part of choosing all the "places."  Once they understood the reason for "a place for everything and everything in its place," the children were well able to clean up their rooms on their own.  I was a very popular babysitter, because when the parents came home, the children were fed, bathed, and asleep in clean rooms.  Surprisingly, I was equally popular with the children.  I enjoy playing games, reading, and singing just as much as I enjoyed cleaning up!

As to the latter, if you are short on storage, the place where you will most likely find more room is in vertical space.  In Alexandria, I built upper shelves into all of my closets, using the space all the way up to the ceiling.  In two closets, which were deep, I added shelves from floor to ceiling that were "covered" by the things that hung in front of them.

Of course, if you are short on storage, reducing (recycling and donating where possible) really is your best option.  I believe most people would be surprised at how much stuff they have that they actually do not use even from year to year, much less month to month or day to day.

As to Point No. 1, there was a very specific moment in my life when I was in an antique store in Alexandria, holding a wonderful old bit of the past and I suddenly asked myself if I wanted to live with it for the next 40 years.  I did not yet know how my life was to change, but when I thought of that question, the appeal of the really cool antique whatnot faded.  I never bought another whatnot/nicknack/thingumajigs again.

Well, there, I just lied.  I have bought garden whatnot/nicknack/thingumajigs because it is completely necessary to have small birds sitting on a slab of slate in your flower bed.  And certainly having stone frogs, toads, and turtles in your rock river is crucial!

The more I have given away, the more I have realized just how much I have moved around from state to state my entire life that I really did not need or much want, given that all it did is exist with me.

In any case,  I liked the article because, once again, it shows simple steps that one can do to declutter and keep a straight house.  The one thing that I have learned is that I am not the only one who takes comfort in visual rest and finds a boost from walking out of your bedroom in the morning to find a straighten up room. If not downright peaceful, it is at least a less stressful way to start your day.

Less stressful is especially helpful when you are still plumb tuckered out.  I've been doing lots and lots of sleeping and lots and lots of napping.  I made the executive decision that I would not go fetch my glasses until after Cookin' with Marie on the morrow.  That way, I will already be up and dressed in real clothing and can pop over and get them.  That way, too, I can continue to lounge my life away in recovery mode.

Becky and her mother would have been perfectly content if I never left the GREEN chair during their visit and put upon them all the cooking duties.  But I wanted to cook for them, wanted for them to have a bit of a pampered visit.  I do not mind the extra overwhelming exhaustion ... I just have to get through it.


I am Yours, Lord.  Save me!