WW - Photo Op at the Zoo

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

And a special "CONGRATULATIONS!" goes out to my youngest brother & his wife on the birth of their first child, my parents' first grandson! And we hear he's even got red hair! Congrats!

WW - Stylishly Getting Ready for St. Patrick's Day

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Thoughts on decluttering a bookshelf

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

You know, one of the hardest thing about decluttering is not so much getting rid of the items themselves.

It's getting rid of the idea of them, or their potential, or what they meant to you.

I say this as I work on (gradually, a crate at a time, a few crates a day) taking all the books off the bookshelves in our office, in preparation of repainting the room. Since they were shelved all willy-nilly, I've been pulling them in groups so that when we REshelve them (reshelf? reshelve? bwah?) it'll be easier.

(Can I just mention now, for the record, that we've got a REALLY LARGE number of house design books, garden design books, and gardening books... 90% of which I've never (yet) read?)

(Also, "Practical Beekeeping." Pusher, you start with your chickens and we'll follow with bees!)

As I go through, I'm seeing college textbooks from my theatre minor, or Mr. Kluges's German major, or random cool college classes. I'll probably never ever look at "Stages of Drama" again, but the thought of getting rid of it makes me nostalgic for the dusty smell of the Black Box curtains and the bustle of the scene shop.

No, actually, that's not true.

It's makes me lonely for the person I was then.

(Not that I don't enjoy my life now, and the person I've become, you know, mostly and in general... it's just different. Two forks diverged and all that, you know?)

I guess that's really it. By getting rid of the books, it almost feels like I'm discarding that life experience (though that's obviously impossible). Or that I'm finally forever closing the door on following any dreams I may have had tied up with it all. Not that I've GOT any dreams of the theatrical life, but it was such an interesting, cool part of my life for a while.

(Also, writing introspective posts is just NOT enhanced by periodic interruptions from the wee ones or annoying scrape-scrape-saw of my husband, who is apparently cutting some sort of metal pipe in the basement exactly 4 feet to my right and just below the floor. *sigh*)

Not to imply it's only college and/or theatre books I'm torn over. There are books I read when I was younger, or that were useful at a different time, or that I've always MEANT to read, but just haven't yet. They sit on the bookshelves, mute, but with potential or guilt or dreams or memories permeating the pages.

I'm thinking (hoping) that thinking it through out loud, so to speak, will help me look at them a little more dispassionately. To consider each one on its own merits. Because we've got a heck of a lot of books, and I'd love to reclaim some space on the shelf for books in more active use.

But why does it sometimes feel like thinning down my books is casting them off adrift as orphans?

WW - The "hop hop" Penguin found

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

The Kluges/Huis B&B has begun its spring season!

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

In a fit of "isn't winter over YET?" - "the weather won't be so bad" - "spring fever" - "cabin fever" - "we miss the grandkids," we've had several of our MN friends and relatives contact us about coming out for visits. This past weekend, my BIL, SIL, and their two middle-school-aged daughters came to visit. (What a blast! The little girls especially loved playing with their cousins!) The weekend before, my parents had been up. Next weekend, Mr. Kluges has to work Saturday afternoon/evening/night, so no visitors then, but the following week will bring our friends Nectarine, Doughnut, and their kids. The weekend after THAT, I've got my community ed dance class recitals (Sat afternoon & evening & Sun afternoon). Plus, I think Mr. Kluges's parents are coming out one of those last two weekends in March.

The plus side to having so many visitors so close together is that the guest room doesn't get cluttery with stuff in between. Well, that's in addition to all the fun we get to have with all of them, of course. Yay!

One very small downside is that I'm a little busier with getting ready for, and then cleaning up after, our guests, so I might be posting a little less this month with all that. Plus, of course, keeping up my Flylady tasks so that the house stays (mostly) company-ready! In fact, I'm jotting this down quickly as I take a break from my Weekly Home Blessing! Off I go to vacuum. Toodle-oo!

WW -Enjoying a Good Book with Paahpah

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Progress

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

I'm sure you're all just dying to know how I'm doing on my 365 Less Things Resolution. Well, you might notice down a ways on the sidebar over there to the right that I've got a running tally. I'm ahead right now, but that's because I sent some neutral baby stuff home with my folks to bring to my youngest brother & his wife who are expecting a new baby in early March.

Today, because I felt ahead of the game since I'd done all my Flylady Weekly Home Blessing tasks yesterday, I pulled a box of knick-knacks out of the basement. It doesn't reflect in the tally yet, but I'd wrapped a lot of the breakables in clothes that I wasn't sure I wanted to keep in the first place, so I'm expecting to put most to all of those into the Goodwill bag once it's all washed & I've made sure I can live without them. :)

But my bonus category on there will definitely go up, since I've now pulled out of storage our glass boots (for beer drinking), a couple of shot glasses, some pottery I'd made (in a class) that can replace the empty tin can I was using on top of the frig to hold scissors, pencils, etc., and some other odds and ends.

It's so nice to feel a little more caught up. So far, I'm finding that I like the balance in the Flylady system - just do stuff for a while (set a timer!) then go ahead and be done for a while. You really can get more done in 5 or 10 or 15 minutes than you'd think!

I'm putting some of the photos & knick-knacks in the built-in display case in the living room for now. It had looked kind of funny ever since Mr. Kluges relocated the photos in matching frames from there to the mantle. So, while those are technically "bonus" items, I'm not counting them because they're not useful. Which makes sense to me, even if it doesn't really. :)


In other 365 Less Things business, I think we've now gotten rid of one of the the ickiest things in the entire house. You see, when we moved in, the previous owner had left a LOT of stuff, aka "treasures" behind. Some were useful, like the really tall ladder or the gorgeous big antique mirror that happened to match our dresser. Others, not so much. They'd left the LR and DR rugs behind. Since they're plain and match the stairway carpet exactly, I think they were just plain carpet cut and bound to size.

Well, the PO had at least one dog. And the previous renters had a least one cat. And the LR rug had been peed on at least one time.

We tried to clean it with Gramma Yori's help and carpet cleaner. We spread it out on the driveway and cleaned it three times. Didn't matter. Yuck.

So, for some unknown, incomprehensible reason that made sense at the time, we rolled it up, tied it up, and stuck it in the attic.

Yesterday, we hauled it out (which involved removing the storm window from the upstairs hallway window so we could bring the cumbersomely long and heavy thing down the attic stairs, out the window, and toss it over the back balcony, before carrying it all the way to the curb).

Today, the garbage men came and took it away. Yay!

Cute kid singing alert

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Also, possibly slow-loading video alert. This is the longest one I've ever put up here at about 40 seconds.

P.S. My kid is so cute.

So.... pictures...

(c) 2008 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Slight problem with the "What did I just do to her hair?!" pictures...

Last night she wasn't real keen on getting her photo taken.

See?
















And this morning I don't think it's the bangs that are the main problem.