Cleaning Up!

Chinese Tree Peony
Chinese Tree Peony

So, I came to the end of the latest novel last Thursday. Which is not the same as finishing it. Much cleaning up left to do before I send it to my first readers.

But that sort of ending hit at just the right time.

I had planned a busy three day social/running errands weekend. And had to wrap up the triple threat that happens every year at this time. Within two weeks there’s the daughter’s birthday, our anniversary and then Mother’s Day.

Holidays are wonderful fun, but I’m so grateful there’s a month’s respite till the spouse’s birthday!

And I foolishly picked up a book I’d been curious about for some time. ‘The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up; the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing’ by Marie Kondo. It’s been hitting best seller lists and caught my interest. I put it on all my library reserve lists and it had huge waiting lists everywhere, but it finally came in. So, I had to read it quickly!

Rosa 'Madame Alfred Carriere'
Rosa ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’

I’m a sucker for organizing and feng shui books. And this is quite good and very simple. I liked her focus on taking each item and asking if one really loves it.

So Sunday, after two days of madly running around getting errands done and going to social things, I was whupped. Way too whupped to go out again. And I didn’t really want to mess around in the garden. I wanted to tackle that bulging clothes closet that I could no longer cram anything into.

Four hours later, I’d held every piece of clothing and asked if I loved it. And if I didn’t, but wanted to keep it – then why was that? So, the closet contents got cut in half and I took out bags and bags of things to the car to donate. Now, I can actually put things away in the closet. I was so invigorated I managed to vacuum the whole house!

The down side is there’s the rest of the house to tackle. And we won’t talk about the hoard of art supplies out in the tack room. Or what’s out in the garden sheds. Or the barn. Or the store room off the deck.

Sigh.

Rosa serratipetala
Rosa serratipetala

And this morning I did all the weekend’s dishes and even cleaned the microwave! Can’t remember the last time I did that. Housekeeping is so not my thing, although I love having a clean house.

So, I’ll give myself a couple more days of trying to put my life back together and finding flat surfaces. And try to do a few publishing things – I’ve got stories and novels that need to be published stacking up. And I need to get a few of the plants that are collecting outside into their waiting containers.

Then, it’s back to writing. I can only clean for so long.

The photos above are some of what’s happening out in the garden. Tree peonies are done, herbaceous peonies, roses and iris are beginning. Plus hundreds of other tiny things that don’t photograph as well.

Life is happening out there in the garden!



2 thoughts on “Cleaning Up!”

Leave a Reply to Linda JordanCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.