Still...

...madly cleaning... Another room half done... I don't think there was a box, drawer or cupboard I left unturned in the junk room study today... P took to the outdoors and weeded one side of the garden bed on the corner of the house while I went mad turning out cupboards - every so often we would break for a cuppa... I am now starting to make some sense of the mess I have created. We are having a council collection so what isn't going to the op-shop is going out on the naturestrip.

I have had to giggle as people cruise passed looking at your rubbish to see if there is anything worthwhile taking. Although this morning we did have the neighbours asking if they could have something of ours... I said to P - that we will probably see it turn up outside their place next council collection day...

I am looking forward to the day when I can say I am finished this obsessive house clearing cleaning... Unfortunately I haven't had much of a chance to do anything else but I know that I am going to feel so much better when it is all done. Though to look at the place it looks like the bomb has just hit. Once I make a start I become quite driven - my mind races onto the next thing... P says very littlebut I think he is hopeful that one day soon things will return to normal - but tonight I started talking about moving the furniture around - so I think he has resigned himself to 'it won't be over until it's over'.

I have thrown away things I have had for in some cases 20 plus years and two shifts. I went through my sewing patterns - really how many shirt patterns did I have to have - the op-shop ladies will probably groan when they see them come in.

I did the Knitwit (stretch fabric) course in the late 70's early 80's - as did many, many women- and until today I had the certificate to prove it. Knitwit stores and sewing with stretch fabric was the BIG thing in those days as it boasted that you could make a skirt in under an hour (which I did - and wore it out to lunch a couple of hours later). Sewing the Knitwit way broke all the conventional sewing rules as you used stretch fabric and therre was very little finishing as in other more conventional fabrics such as cottons, linens etc. Overlockers also broke into the retail market and became the 'must have' for stretch sewing - I never quite went that far - I bought a new Janome sewing machine with a stretch stitch instead...

Time fell away as I looked at the patterns but I realised that if this was the first time I had looked at them in six years - and I hadn't sewn them in the last 20 years then what was the point in keeping them - so into the op-shop box they went. The box runneth over...

I still have quite a stash of mainly tracksuit material which I have had since my girls were little - guess what is going next????Although I did see a pair of fleecy track pants on the new season rack in one of the shops - perhaps I should just hang onto the fabric I have a little longer. But who would wear eye shattering lollypop pink I would never know - but someone must be going to if the multiple pairs I saw hanging there were any indication... Does my b*m look big in this????

Back to the work week tomorrow and perhaps another room next weekend...

Today...

... I found this and have added it to my New Year's word - 'release'...

Thank God...

...for the blessed cool... I can sleep tonight :)

I can't think...

...let alone write - it's just too hot!!!!

Just to say...

I am writing this from my nearly new - very own - computer... No longer do I have to negotiate time with my daughter E... I am free to do my own thing for as long as I like... Yipee!!!!!! Thanks P for getting the whole thing operational... I came home from work to find the whole thing all set up for me ready to push the start button... I am loving this.... I am sure E is too - no longer am I hanging around waiting my turn... I look forward to really getting more involved... I better head off to bed before I fall asleep over the keyboard...

Well... It's over...

... I shook the last of the sand out of the cozzie and today I resumed the identity of a Angus & Robertson bookseller...

It was unexpected - I wasn't starting back until tomorrow but apparently even the casual casuals had had enough and had revolted... The boss rang - 'would it be possible, could it be possible that I might think about working a few hours today'...

It wasn't too bad - only three and a half hours - just enough to break me in gently... So I am back and the year has truely begun...

But on a brighter note only 32 weeks until my next break :)))

2008

I have been very remiss in 2007 and have just not caught up with anyone who may have left comments on my blog - I will try to make amends in 2008!!!! At the moment I am busy cleaning the house and throwing - giving to op-shop :)- stuff that I no longer have use for - I am hoping that someone out there (like your good selves) will find them and give them new and useful homes... I am slowly making my way through the house and have made myself a promise that by my next birthday in Sept. I will be well on the way to a less cluttered and more peaceful home.

Since watching the Abbey I have come to realise how much 'stuff' we gather around ourselves in order to fill/feed the void in our lives... Whilst I still have a long way to go I am more determined this year to recycle what I already have rather than go and and buy more "stuff" I am also trying very hard to see my glass as half full rather than half empty... I am wanting to embrace a 'slow' life and be more fruitful in my endeavours and begin to 'live and enjoy' rather than 'going through the motions' at a neck breaking speed and certainly missing the scenery. I want to create some space in all levels of my life, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The need to de clutter - again on all levels - has been beating like a tattoo in my mind these last few months. Having these two weeks off work has given me a window of opportunity to at least make a start. I have gone through boxes of bits and pieces I have had packed away for the last six years since E and I moved here - some things I have held back not yet ready to let them go - but a lot has gone with more still to be sorted. I have considered selling bits on Ebay but mostly I just wanted them gone and I know that for most they will be received into some other home and be recycled.

I believe that there is a direct relationship to the way I have been feeling these last few months - a feeling of not being able to breathe, feeling stifled, congested and constricted - to the way the house has become. I do take heed of the adage of 'so above so below - so within so without'. In other words each state of being is reflected - if our internal world is in chaos chances our external world will mirror that chaos. There are aspects in my life that I am not altogether happy about but I have let them slide, let them mount up and like my external world they have got get out of hand - it is now well past time to make amends and get things back on track...

I came across an interesting blog in my blog hopping in which the blogger was saying that rather than making new years resolutions she chooses a word as her mantra for the year or as long as she feels the need for it. She warns against choosing too many and suggests a limit of two or three at the most.

As I continued reading the word release 'popped off' the page and I knew in that instant that it was going to be my word for 2008 or for as long as I need it. Perhaps its side kick could be 'useful' as I am feeling the need to bring into my life only the things that are immediately of some use. I can sense that using this as a strategy I will be able to bring my internal and external worlds s back into harmony...

2008 will be my year to explore, experience and express rather than to purchase, have and possess. I am going to spend more time with my family and friends - taking pleasure in 'simple' and be in the 'present' not galloping forward in my mind to some future time or event. No wonder I feel exhausted all of the time!!!!!

On a lighter note - I am looking forward to starting one of the quilt projectsI have tucked away waiting for that 'perfect day' when the time is right. The time I believe is right - right now!!!! There is a spot on the wall just inside my front door and in my mind's eye it is already hanging there.

There is an urge to return to a cross stitch which I put down earlier this year - it wants to be finished and go to the person it was destine for.

I want to return to my writing and amidst all this cleaning I have begun to create a quiet place - in the bedroom - to do just that - a spot where I can go and play soft music and write until my heart is content.

I am thinking about a girls' day - perhaps stitching or afternoon tea - where we can get together and enjoy each others company for a couple of hours once a month.

Welcome 2008 - I am so looking forward to spending time in your company...