new year, new cleanup

starting the year off right. 1 bag of books off to Friends of the Kensington Library. 1 bag of fancy towels and linens in the car for Turnabout Thrift Shop. 2 bags of artsy/craftsy stuff in the car for Creative Re-use. Yay!

summer purge...

took an overflowing box of old tax papers and financial stuff to the shredders. plus a box full of old hard drives - 16 to be exact. what????  all shredded and gone. yay!
also took yet another bag of book to the friends of the library. how did we get so many books?
started on the desk - creative reuse will get a bonanza of greeting cards!

music to my ears...

finally tackled the boxes of music in the basement.... 
- 2 bags of vocal music to son's former voice teacher
- 1 bag of piano music to son's former piano teacher
- 1 bag of miscellaneous choir stuff off to church

also 1 huge bag of books heading off to Friends of the Library
and 6 huge bags of clothing, etc. off to CARH.

woohoo!

pajama parties - not just for kids!

Last night my friends and I had a pajama party! We've been getting together to watch Masterpiece Theater - saw all the Jane Austen series, watched Tess of the d'Urbervilles and are now on to Wuthering Heights. Having joked about this a couple of weeks ago, last night was PJs required. S0, there we were, a group of women in our 50s, drinking wine and having lovely snacks, watching Heathcliff and Cathy - in our PJs. Lovely! Why should all the fun be wasted on kids!

The Library

I just have to say that I love our public library! For awhile I got into the habit of buying books I wanted to read and now have shelves of books that I'll never read again taking up all that space. We have books everywhere, in every room, many on shelves but many in bags and boxes and stacked on furniture! I've been sorting through them and taking bags of books - to the library! The Friends of the Library has big sales several times a year and now has an on-going sale just inside the door of the library on a big bookshelf. They raise a decent amount of money that they use for programs and to buy books and other things the library budget can't provide.

While carting yet another bag of books to the library for their sale I realized that continually buying more books was kind of dumb. Now I only buy books that I want to have on my shelf, books that I might want to read more than once, books that I want to own for whatever reason. The rest - I check out of the library. I love that I can sit at home and look at the catalog (though there are times when I love to browse the shelves and hold books in my hand and leaf through them) and put books on hold. I finally realized that if I want to read the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series in order, all I have to do is put them on hold. Miraculously, I get emails saying my book is ready for pickup at my local library, 2 blocks away. Usually it's quick, but right now I'm #84 in line for Revolutionary Road so we'll see how long that one takes.

Saves time, saves money, saves gas, saves paper - what more could I want?

resolutions/habits

Resolutions for the new year always seem kind of artificial and lame. This time I'm going to try to develop new habits, one or two per month. January - eat my vegetables first and use my calendar. I'm calendar-challenged - just ask my husband! This will help me be more organized and will help the rest of the family so there are no surprises. In an effort to develop healthier habits, eating my vegetables first seems like a good idea. Fill up on broccoli and asparagus and then the pasta won't be calling my name. Well, it'll still be calling my name, but maybe it'll be whispering...

potterheads unite!

Harry Potter! Need I say more?