Mary Louise Eklund

Tag: cleaning

  • Tuesday Thoughts – KonMari Method

    konmari
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    I like organization and being able to find everything. It was easy when we moved often. I have found living in one place more then three years means we tend to collect junk. We’ve been in Wisconsin fifteen years the longest I have ever lived in one place. Ohhh- wheee, have we collected! Our aspiration is to retire to a Winnebago, or move about to series of small places. That means we need to shed 80%+ of our stuff. That is why I picked up The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kona.

    (more…)

  • The Black Cord Tangle Has ME!

    The Black Cord Tangle Has ME!

    tangle of black cords to chargers, headphones, and such

    You might remember I’m on a mission to clear out my office to make room to think. Today I am tackling the built in drawers/credenza thingy in my office.  Already have a large bag of school supplies going to good will from Aaron’s various school projects through the years.  Found where the double AA batteries I kept buying went.  I swear I’d buy a box of like a bajillion and put them in battery drawer.  Two days later Mike would come and say nope no AAs in the drawer get some.  I’d go look and damned if they were gone so I’d buy more.  Clean out the drawer I found AAs hiding in every stack, nook, cranny, pencil box, etc.  Damn Bamfs!

    Entering my office
    See the built in drawers – that’s where I’ve been working today.
    If you click on the image and go to Flickr you can run your mouse over the image and see comments about that side of my office

    Also because I was always the one quizzed on where is there an available headphone I purchased a box, labelled it head phones, put reusable ties in there for bundling up cords, and placed all headphones I found into this box on the shelf.  Seemed a good answer to me.  Well now we were down to one set of headphones.  I thought maybe for some bizarre reason Aaron took headphones to like stock the library’s audio room in Madison or at least every housemate.  Nooo, they’ve been tossed in the bottom drawer of the built-in drawers, cords unbound, all now in a big black spidery mess.

    So my dear readers I am untangling changers from long gone phones, headphones that had a safe place to live but went slumming in a dangerous drawer and got tangled, with chargers of unknown origin.  That is where my day has been spent – in my drawers untangling things.  NOOoo! not those drawers get your mind out of the gutter – the drawers in the picture above with messes like the one featured.

    I hope to return soon as I have lots of pictures and tours and stuff to tell you about from previous weekends and more coming up this weekend!

    Until next time when I’m not so tangled up!

  • Organization is Job #1 in 2012

    Organization is Job #1 in 2012

    Sorry for the interruption but I’m now back from the stomach virus of 2012. Yes it was so bad I’m only doing it once and got it done the first week of the year. Get the unpleasantness over with first you see. Now I can turn my attention to the new year and what I’d like to do with it.

    File drawer packed with files

    I’ve always liked a new year because it’s time to start new files.  My filing drawer in my desk looks so neat and organized.  I vow it will stay that way I will unfold and neatly file things ALL YEAR LONG.  Then rush sets in about mid year and it goes downhill until January’s fresh start.  Rinse and repeat for decades.  Still I enjoy the look of neat files until expediency out weighs a pretty file drawer.

    So the joy of starting anew with neat files has inspired me to consider other areas that need the same organization. Trust me I could summarize and say MY LIFE but well that’s not a realistic task sheet for me.  Instead I decided to come up with top 5 things that need organization.  Honestly I think that’s a bit excessive but I’ve got a year and I like things in 5s or 10s and ten was WAY too much for just a year.

      • Genealogy – I’ve got a wealth of material that I’ve not entered.  I know the first rule of genealogy is start with what you have, organize it, enter it, then identify areas that need more research.  I’ve got two two-drawer filing cabinets full of un-entered material, several large plastic totes of papers, photos, and such.  Add to that multiple boxes of loose pictures from 1910 on and shelves of photo albums from decades of family portraits, snapshots, and such.   Then I jumped ahead into research trips when the opportunities presented themselves in my travels and much of that hasn’t been entered.  Now you get the picture of the mess I’ve got that needs to be organized, scanned, filed, and entered into my genealogy software.  First step is for 2012 – organize it beyond sticking it in a folder that’s got the letter of alphabet that starts that branch of the family’s last name.  I want to organize my to-do stuff in genealogy to look like my files at the start of the year.
      • Outline that urban fiction novel – I’ve got a few scenes, notes on the plot, and research for an urban (really rural setting) fiction novel set in the town I grew up in – Greeneville, Tennessee.  I need to organize this into an outline.  I write better when I set down to do a chapter (about 3,000 words) and I’ve got plot points to hit.  So all these jottings need to be made into a plot line then converted to a chapter outline.  Now I’m not one that doesn’t think outlines can flex they can, they do as I get into the story but then I make the change, make a not there is where the change started and continue with the first draft re-writes deal with the changes.
      • Rewrites – speaking of rewrites I need to rewrite my steampunk novel draft that’s now cooling on the shelf.  I have a few issues made by changes I need to figure out before I jump into it completely.  I’ve got notes on the outline so I need to stop and think how the changes go throughout the whole piece.  That’s organizing the outline to help guide rewrite.
      • Comics – My old ones are organized but I’m getting monthly shipments and those need to be set up in short boxes with dividers.  Also I’m behind on my reading & reviewing.  Need to set up a system for that so I’m doing it regularly.  It all really depends on SOPA passing.  If it passes doing scans to illustrate reviews is out and I’ll need to delete all the scans from previous reviews.  I also need to plan how I’m going to do reviews without scans. However if SOPA fails then I’ll do reviews as usual but the new twist is they’ll be here instead of on Google+.
      • Jewelry – no not my personal stuff though that could use some organization but more organization of my jewelry for sale.  We’re  (the Three Gems & Friends) setting up an esty store this month.  I need to do some research on that for drafting store policies.  Also need to organize a system for the items I list.  I need to make pictures, name pieces, and do descriptive text for each one.  Then I need to organize how I’m keeping them while posted so I can ship them out quickly when sold.  I also need to stage replacements for those sold.  Yes I’m actually planning on selling some of it.  So organizing that is on the to-do list.
    Same file drawer with right side now containing new empty files
    File transfer finished – Okay those on the left are still shabby but those are just PART of my to be entered/cataloged genealogy research material. Yes a new year’s resolution on those is to get more organization to them so I can use them.

    By far the biggest job is the genealogical stuff.  I love doing the research but really some answers may very well be there in the material I’ve got squirreled away in various containers or files.  Wouldn’t it be grand to welcome in 2013 (Mayans be damned) a bit more organized than I was when I welcomed 2012?  Oh yeah!  I can dream can’t I?

    As always I’d love to hear from you.  I’m always available here just comment and when I get it your comment will appear and I’ll even answer you!  If that’s not your style you can find me on Twitter as @marylouiseklund or on Google+ as +Mary Louise Eklund.  If those are too public you can email me at marylouiseeklund at either gmail.com or yahoo.com!

    Until next time!

  • We will return to our regular post after a good pick-up

    We will return to our regular post after a good pick-up

    I'll be back one I put the mess away. The clutter is getting to me.
    I’ll be back one I put the mess away. The clutter is getting to me.

    Just a quick nod to let you know I’ve not forgotten ya’ll. It’s just the holiday clutter has gotten to critical mass. So today I’m picking up and doing a bit of swish & swipe cleaning. I don’t know if you are like me but when things get too cluttered I don’t have room to think. Well it’s that bad now.

    So yeah I know next post what we learned craft fairing. I promise I know and I’ve got some lessons to share.

    In the mean time I’m making room to think in here. See ya soon. As always love to hear from you at all the my usual places.