Decluttering and a Book Recommendation...

Quote for the Day:

My second favorite household chore is ironing.  My first being 

hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.  

~Erma Bombeck

TLC was running a "Hoarding:  Buried Alive: marathon today.  I like their show better than A & E's "Hoarders".  TLC's program actually shows the progress the person has made several weeks down the road even though things may still not be perfect.  With A & E's program, they rush to get EVERYTHING done in 3 days and when you are dealing with compulsions, there is no way the behavior is going to be corrected in 3 days.  

Also, when watching A & E's program, "mistakes" are always being made by someone throwing something out that upsets the hoarder.  It is so predictable that it almost seems like they do it to make the show more interesting.  However, it upsets me to watch them upsetting the person instead of helping them psychologically to deal with their compulsion.


Overall, it seems that TLC's participants actually get psychological help and actually make some improvement, albeit over a longer space of time.


Anyway...so this afternoon I was hand quilting on my whole cloth quilt and watching TLC's "Hoarding:  Buried Alive" marathon and just generally trying to rest and recuperate from this cold and laryngitis.   


But you can only watch this kind of show so long before you feel the need to get up and do some decluttering/cleaning of your own... just on the off-side that your house might start looking like what they are showing on TV and the next thing you know it is YOU that is on TV telling people "I don't know how it got this way"!!!  LOL


Thusly, I arose and made my way to my desk to do some decluttering.

My desk has two drawers on the right-hand side...the top is a shallow drawer that holds pens, pencils, etc., and the lower drawer is the size to hold hanging file folders.  However, since I have another file cabinet, I use this drawer to hold miscellaneous office supplies.  Since it is deep, it holds a LOT and things tend to get lost in it... it's like the Bermuda triangle of office supplies!  LOL

You can see the drawer here...looks innocent enough from the outside, right???

Don't be fooled!  Here is what it looked like opened...

All sorts of things just thrown in there.  :(   Just keepin' it real, Folks.


I'm the kind of person that has to remove EVERYTHING and then sort, etc., as I go through each item and decide what to do with it.


So it get WORSE before it gets better!  

I learned a helpful trick a LONG time ago about organizing drawers...


It's best to divide and conquer.  The more dividers you have in the drawer the neater it will stay because things won't roll around and will remain "corralled".   It's not rocket science!  LOL


So for this drawer I took 3 shipping boxes and cut the top flaps off of them and then fitted them down into the drawer...the smallest box sets inside the corner of one of the other boxes.  Then there was a narrow area off to the side between the bigger boxes and the side of the drawer...perfect to stand narrow items up in.


Here are some finished pictures...

Things fit in fairly snugly so as not to allow much movement when the drawer is opened. 


These items were put aside for the summer yardsale...

These were deemed broken and tossed in the trash...

And these items were taken to where they belong and will be stored with like items.  You remember my mantra..."Like items with like items."  :)

And, of course, Lady is never far from where I am...

The gratuitous pet picture...just because I CAN...it is my blog, after all!  LOL  She's like Andy...doesn't like to look at the camera...always looks away just as the picture is taken!  LOL


If you are interested in some good books, let me tell you about what I just finished reading and am currently reading. 


People who know me know that I rarely read fiction.  I like memoirs and biographies.  Real life is so much more interesting than fiction!  However, I ignored my own rule and read "The Help", by Kathryn Stockett.  

EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT book!  I highly recommend it!


I am now listening to "At Home:  a Short History of Private Life" by Bill Bryson.  

If you have never read any of Bryson's books, I highly recommend them!  He is a hilarious author!  He can make anything funny!  


I like to listen to audiobooks while quilting, but at night I like to read after I go to bed.  So on my nightstand right now is "Shattered Silence:  The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter", by Melissa G. Moore. 

I'm only about 1/4 of the way through this book.  So far it is a little "dry", but the subject matter is interesting.  I really haven't gotten to the "meat" of the book, yet.  I'll give you an update when I finish it.


Well...that's all for today, Folks.


Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Please leave a comment to let me know you were here!


Loretta