De javu?

Hmm.... spell check says that's spelled correctly but it doesn't look right.

Well anyway, it seems I've done this all before.

Where on earth does it all come from?

How does it seem to pile up when I'm not looking?

Golly gee!! I can't stand it anymore! This stuff has got to be organized or pitched!

What am I talking about? Well... take a look for yourself.


This is the first room. The room is 6 by 7 feet. This picture is taken from just at the door.



Here, I've stepped just inside the door and looking left.

This is looking right. Oops! You weren't supposed to see the new cardboard cabinet yet. (smile)

This is the other room. This room is 10 by 12 feet. Again, I'm standing just at the door.

This is inside the room looking left.

Looking center and down.

This is looking center and up.

This is looking right.

A closer look at center going toward my closet office.

If a stranger were to walk through my house they would probably be ready to call the adult protective services to report me as a hoarder. Or maybe say that I need serious mental help. So... where did all this stuff come from anyway? Why does it look like I'm a terrible housekeeper?

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1. I get a lot of donations. I take out what I believe I will use.... someday..... and bag or box up the rest. The rest is given to charity groups or set out on junk day.

2. Junk day happens for only one day..... 4 times a year. February, May, August, and November.

3. I don't have any storage space. I don't have a garage, storage shed, attic, or basement. Anything that will be set out for junk day MUST remain in the house until the next one.

4. During the winter I'm much, much too busy with quilts to stop and set things out on junk day. I'm also too busy to stop and sort through any donations. So they get placed wherever I can find a clean spot to set it.

5. I don't have a car so I can't take stuff to a thrift store each time I sort and bag donations up..... like other people do.

6. Oh heck.... I could go on and on about the reasons it piles up on me.

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Usually I get a quilting break during January to sort and perge a lot of things that were set aside during the Christmas rush. Christmas rush is between July and December. This year I didn't get the usual break in quilting because of the illnesses I suffered before Christmas. After was taken up with catching up as much quilting as I could.... which I'm still trying to do.

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By the way; do you have any idea how spooky it is to hear a stack of stuff decide to tumble over in the middle of the night? Let me tell ya... it's really scary! I wake from a sound sleep when I hear a crash and the furkid starts barking. I wonder... is someone breaking in? Which room did the sound come from? Should I grab the phone to call 911 or be brave enough go see what fell? I grab the purse dog furkid to protect me.... all two pound of him. We go to investigate. A mental picture for you.... spooky movie music as the woman reaches slowly for the door handle to open the door. A monster on the other side of the door? Nope... no dopey high pitched screams.... it's only a stack of boxes, full of fabrics, that are now laying in a heap on the floor. I go back to bed and tell myself I'll pick them up.... later. Later might be in a week or a month or when the next junk day draws near..... depending on how far behind schedule I am.

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So this weekend looking at all the stuff really got to me! I missed the February junk day. That plus being so very busy for the last couple of months. I decided it just HAD to be cleaned up! If I didn't do something it was going to drive me bonkers. So, I started sorting and purging. I sweet talked my brother into letting me use his car to take a bunch to the thrift store and a bunch to the landfill. My brother was happy with me paying for him a meal out and the landfill charged me seventy five dollars.

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I'm a much happier person now! I don't think I'll have any middle of the night noises for awhile. Here's what it looks like now.

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First room.

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The cardboard I will be using for the cardboard furniture is sorted and stored in these boxes. What I didn't feel was worth keeping was taken to the landfill. Mostly it was boxes my daughter had given me. Lots of dings in them. What I kept was given to me by a friend. Her boxes are really good sturdy ones. There's a whole lot of furniture in there just waiting to be created.

I kept a few boxes uncut that will be used for mailing customer quilts back to them.

The rolley carts that were in the other room are now in here for awhile. You can't see it but my fabrics are behind the rolley carts.

The other room.

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Toward my closet office. The newspaper is still on the windows from last year. I had started fixing up this room but didn't get finished before the rush started. Now it's time to think about getting it finished.

This is looking left in the room. I need an electrician to put up my new overhead lights and install the stove hood. This will have to wait until I save enough to pay him/her.

This is looking right. Gosh, how long has it been since I started that rug? A year? Two years?

I got a lot accomplished but there is still a lot to be sorted and purged. Mostly it's books and nick nacks that I need to decide whether to.... keep? give to family? donate? I'll decide later.

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There's just something about a job well done that makes a person feel better. Tonight I will go to bed aching in muscles I had forgotten I had.... but soooo much happier that its somewhat cleared out.