23 June 2010

Letting Go

There's nothing like a flooded basement and its subsequent reorganizing to help one sift through the accumulated crap on one's life.

The entire storage/laundry/husband office area has been in need of cleaning up and cleaning out. Today was the day. Please note the vital statistics:

80 - dollars spent on plastic storage
3 - hours spent on project

Hot Spot #1: Craft Shelving Unit. We had used various items to complete art projects throughout the year...we'd put none of it back in the right spot. Puff balls, styrofoam balls, and paintbrushes were scattered, willy-nilly. The CSU looked as if it had thrown up yarn, pipe cleaners, and glue sticks. Within forty-five minutes, this area was sifted, cleaned, separated and labeled.

Hot Spot #2: Another free-standing shelving unit that could only be described as "Household Potpourri". Light bulbs, painting equipment, the Kirby vacuum attachments, soapmaking items, etc. Again, a half-hour later rendered a much neater, nicer multi-purpose unit. Significant changes here include disposing of the soapmaking materials (a phase I went through about six years ago) and rearranging of the paint roller skeletons/drop cloths/painter's tape.

Hot Spot #3: The huge free-standing, hand-built (by previous owners) shelves which contained most of the crap that had survived the move from Minnesota to Iowa nearly five years ago. Items of interest include:

* Relics from high school and college times (both Brent and I)
* Our wedding unity candle
* Iowa State butt cushions
* Luggage
* Newspapers from significant events like our children's birthdays, September 11, and January 1, 2000.
* Diaries
* Baby books
* Educational materials from student teaching

Now, I am a keeper to a certain extent, but mostly I'm a pitcher. My husband, on the other hand, will keep nearly everything.

He insisted on keeping the entire newspaper from each of our children's births (not a local, small-town rag, I might add here). In the end, I threw out everything but the City/Region section, which included the kids' birth announcement as well as a sampling of the top stories in the area - for posterity's sakes. Then, he disdained the newspapers we'd kept the three or so days after the WTC bombing. Now, these I fought for...and won. I mean, from a journalistic standpoint, the front page headlines were "DISBELIEF" and "TERROR FROM THE SKIES" with tremendous photos of the bombing aftermath...when in history have we ever seen headlines like this?

Eventually, Brent sought refuge elsewhere, especially after I asked (implored/impelled) him to relocate his high school artifacts to a plastic tote (previously stored in a damp cardboard box). I also might have suggested he go through the box and get rid of unnecessaries...I mean, I was just trying to help, why be so touchy?

However, events were in motion; I was on the trash warpath. Math tests I'd kept since college found a new home in the garbage, as did several graduate school booklets. Folders containing schoolwork from high school were pitched. Old picture frames, too. Still, a significant amount of mementos remain, which were then packed into clear plastic totes and labeled appropriately.

In the end, three totally full black garbage made it to the garage, along with roughly ten cardboxes of various size on its way to recycling.

At the end of this very satisfying day, I am reminded of Albert Einstein's Three Rules of Work:

1. Out of clutter find simplicity.
2. From discord find harmony.
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

So, so, so, so, so true.

Letting Go

There's nothing like a flooded basement and its subsequent reorganizing to help one sift through the accumulated crap on one's life.

The entire storage/laundry/husband office area has been in need of cleaning up and cleaning out. Today was the day. Please note the vital statistics:

80 - dollars spent on plastic storage
3 - hours spent on project

Hot Spot #1: Craft Shelving Unit. We had used various items to complete art projects throughout the year...we'd put none of it back in the right spot. Puff balls, styrofoam balls, and paintbrushes were scattered, willy-nilly. The CSU looked as if it had thrown up yarn, pipe cleaners, and glue sticks. Within forty-five minutes, this area was sifted, cleaned, separated and labeled.

Hot Spot #2: Another free-standing shelving unit that could only be described as "Household Potpourri". Light bulbs, painting equipment, the Kirby vacuum attachments, soapmaking items, etc. Again, a half-hour later rendered a much neater, nicer multi-purpose unit. Significant changes here include disposing of the soapmaking materials (a phase I went through about six years ago) and rearranging of the paint roller skeletons/drop cloths/painter's tape.

Hot Spot #3: The huge free-standing, hand-built (by previous owners) shelves which contained most of the crap that had survived the move from Minnesota to Iowa nearly five years ago. Items of interest include:

* Relics from high school and college times (both Brent and I)
* Our wedding unity candle
* Iowa State butt cushions
* Luggage
* Newspapers from significant events like our children's birthdays, September 11, and January 1, 2000.
* Diaries
* Baby books
* Educational materials from student teaching

Now, I am a keeper to a certain extent, but mostly I'm a pitcher. My husband, on the other hand, will keep nearly everything.

He insisted on keeping the entire newspaper from each of our children's births (not a local, small-town rag, I might add here). In the end, I threw out everything but the City/Region section, which included the kids' birth announcement as well as a sampling of the top stories in the area - for posterity's sakes. Then, he disdained the newspapers we'd kept the three or so days after the WTC bombing. Now, these I fought for...and won. I mean, from a journalistic standpoint, the front page headlines were "DISBELIEF" and "TERROR FROM THE SKIES" with tremendous photos of the bombing aftermath...when in history have we ever seen headlines like this?

Eventually, Brent sought refuge elsewhere, especially after I asked (implored/impelled) him to relocate his high school artifacts to a plastic tote (previously stored in a damp cardboard box). I also might have suggested he go through the box and get rid of unnecessaries...I mean, I was just trying to help, why be so touchy?

However, events were in motion; I was on the trash warpath. Math tests I'd kept since college found a new home in the garbage, as did several graduate school booklets. Folders containing schoolwork from high school were pitched. Old picture frames, too. Still, a significant amount of mementos remain, which were then packed into clear plastic totes and labeled appropriately.

In the end, three totally full black garbage made it to the garage, along with roughly ten cardboxes of various size on its way to recycling.

At the end of this very satisfying day, I am reminded of Albert Einstein's Three Rules of Work:

1. Out of clutter find simplicity.
2. From discord find harmony.
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

So, so, so, so, so true.

19 June 2010

Summer Fashion Trends!

Today was the first day in awhile that a.) the kids and I happened to have NOTHING to do and b.) the weather was hot and sunny.

And when these two things transpire at the same time, you all know what that means - it's time to hit the local swimming hole!

I always welcome the first pool day of the year. I look forward to observing the latest swimsuit trends, as well as the unveiling of exotic tattoos. In addition to this, I get a kick out of the social interactions between young men and ladies, who are engaged in their delicate and complicated dances of courtship.

1. The hot swimsuit trend this year is the string bikini. We're talking the old-school string bikini - the two triangle-shaped pieces of fabric that just cover the boobs and the briefs that tie at the sides. The colors this year are bright....turquoises, chartreuses, and fuchsias. I'm no slave to fashion, and so I did NOT turn out in my neon-colored two-piece.

And the world breathes a collective sigh of hidden-stretch-mark relief.

While I'm on this topic, I also noticed how easy it how to tell which girls were wearing their first two-piece ever...they kept their arms permanently crossed across their stomachs and breasts. I thank the stars that Kirby still prefers wearing one-pieces (although I'd have no problem lowering the parental hammer should she express a desire to wear a string bikini in the near future).

2. Being the tattoo admirer I am, I always enjoy pool season for this very reason. The hot new trend in this area appears to be tattoos alongside the rib cage, as I noticed at least one bikini-wearer sporting a line of stars along her side. I've also noticed that the number of tats a person has is directly proportional to the number of times they walk around the pool. The more tattoos, the more laps...

3. Nothing is new in the world of young people's interactions with the opposite sex. There are no current new trends, no new fashions. Every way that young people interact today resembles ways of roughly twenty years ago...except instead of string bikinis, girls then wore an early 90s version of a monokini. Otherwise, please note:

Similarity A: Girls then and now come to the pool in full makeup. But: 2010 girls go heavy on the black eyeliner. 1990 girls go heavy on the blue mascara.

Similarty B: Girls then and now come to the pool with their hair done.
But: 2010 girls have sleek, flat-ironed locks. 1990 girls have high bangs and sprayed wings.

Similarity C: Girls then and now slowly walk the poolside. Many times. So that 2010 and 1990 boys will notice them. Many times.

Similarity D: A, B, and C are done so that boys will pay attention. They usually show this by splashing the girls with chlorinated water. Both 2010 and 1990 girls are torn because a.) they want boys to pay attention to them, but b.) they don't want to spoil the hair and makeup that's gotten them that attention.

Similarity E: After much cajoling from the boys, 2010 and 1990 girls will finally enter the water...only to either be a.) abandoned for belly flops off the diving board or b.) dunked underwater. At this point, both 2010 and 1990 girls realize the futility of the whole experience and either a.) sigh with disgust and return to the safe haven of their girlfriends or b.) don't care about looking like idiots and follow the boys to the diving board/deep end/concession stand, etc.

So, to recap, here are your swimming pool dos and don'ts:

1. Don't wear bikinis.
2. Get tattoos so I can look at them.
3. Don't do your hair and makeup to come to a SWIMMING POOL.
4. Stay away from boys - they're icky.