A Belated Progress Pic & Meanderings

I realized this morning that I hadn't posted my progress on LHN's Heart of America since I spent my week of vacation stitching on it. Here's what I got accomplished between planting my flowers from the plant swap, helping to build and then plant the veggie garden, and catching up on some much needed rest and down time. I'm enjoying this piece immensely. The fabric is wonderful and the colors really stand out nicely on it.

Because it's garden planting time in Texas, I've not put one stitch on this or any project for the past two weeks. In addition, my husband has gone back east (to Tennessee, not very east but east of Texas) to visit family this week, so I've been doing some extensive de-cluttering, cleaning, and reorganizing of his junk. I've made significant progress and I think he'll be happy with the results when he comes back home, mother in tow. Between work, gardening, the extensive cleaning, listing items on Freecycle , and managing the household all by myself, I've been too pooped to stitch.

Let me tell you about Freecycle. It's an awesome way to get rid of your junk and/or stuff you no longer need. Click on the link above and see if there's a group in your area. If so, you'll need to join the Yahoo! group for your area and wait for approval. Freecycle is truly the epitome of the phrase, "One man's junk is another man's treasure." You list the items that you have to give away and then people email you and request it. You can then pick whoever you want to "gift" it to. Then, and this is the awesome part, they come pick it up!! No lugging it to the car to take to Goodwill or the thrift store or some other organization. No carting it to the curb for an organization to come pick up. You can either arrange to leave the item on your porch for the individual to pick up, agree on a time for the individual to come pick it up at your door when you're at home, or you can agree to meet in a neutral location (preferably a public place) to exchange the goods. It's awesome! I've gotten rid of several boxes of miscellaneous items by simply listing them as "OFFER: Box of Misc. Garage Sale Wannabes, ZIP CODE". Those things go like hotcakes! Of course, you have some people who will email you and ask for everything you've offered. I ignore those greedy people. I click the little "delete" button in my inbox when I see the list of 15 things they want. I mean, really people!! Get a clue! While it is frustrating to know that greedy people haunt the site, it's nice to be able to get rid of things and not be filling the dump with our junk.

Here's what I accomplished yesterday in approximately 2 hours of cleaning before I had to leave for work. All of the contents of these 4 bins plus a trashcan, a paper sack for papers to be gone through, and a small box for paper recyclables got sorted into appropriate places.



This is where the above contents came from. The dresser, which had 2 boxes of crapola in them plus a plastic green expandable folder blocking access to the drawers, and part of the corner desk which will be going SOON if I have any say-so in the matter. This thing is hideously huge and doesn't belong in this room. DH just "had to have someplace to put my stuff." Uh huh.



The rest of the corner desk area. Please note there is one disassembled CPU on the floor under the desk, one computer (no idea if it's working or not) on the floor, and one partially disassembled, but working CPU on the desk. Really!! Do we NEED all these computers?!? Most of the stuff in those totes is computer parts, pieces, tools, and software disks. Seriously.



This is where I will begin today.


Hubby tells me last night, "Those boxes in the corner are semi-organized." Right! I'll get 'em organized alright! LOL

Then I'll move on to this:



See those boxes? Mostly DH's books from school that he probably hasn't looked at in TWENTY YEARS!!!

And I'll finally tackle this, though it might not be today:


Aren't those computer parts boxes on top lovely? They are just so.....decorative!!

Wish me well. I'm goin' in!! But first...first, I go to the chiropractor for an adjustment and then to the massage therapist for a soothing, relaxing massage. Priorities. It's all about priorities. Who cares that my mother in law will be here next week?!?

Please visit my gardening blog, The Haphazard Gardener , to see what's cookin' in the garden.