Mini-progress

So over the last three days I've spent several hours culling books, dusting them off, and packing them into boxes. We will deliver them to the Urbana Free Library, which my friend Barb informed me has three book sales a year. They accept donations any time they are open. It feels so good to have a place to give our books where they might have a chance of being reused.

Ready for the Urbana Free Library!

Progress, even if it is only 6 shelves

Bill and I are both bookaholics. Included in the books going to the UFL are collections from three ex-University of Illinois professors, two of whom I know are deceased. Being graduate students at the time, we just could not resist acquiring their collections. Some of the books date back to the early 1900s, and may be worth something. If so, more power to the people who purchase them. Some of them had collected so much dust I think I could have planted small seeds on top of them and had them germinate.

About these wonderful bookshelves: When we moved into this old farmhouse almost 30 years ago, we already had a couple of hundred books and knew we'd be acquiring many more as the years went on. So we decided to install bookshelves all along the north "library" wall, 13 feet from floor to ceiling. It was a big job that we did ourselves, and we did a very nice job of it. A year or so later, though, we noticed the shelves sagging, and that meant putting reinforcement blocks of wood under the vertical braces. That also was a big job, as of course we had to take all the books and tchotchkes off the shelves for the shoring up process. No problems since then.

Before we had children (back in our hippie days), we found in a recycle bin in Urbana a complete collection of National Geographic magazines dating back to the early 1940s. We dug them all out, loaded them into our little Datsun truck, and took them home. They made the trip from Champaign to Mahomet with us in 1983, and every month we'd add the current issue. It was a heart-rending decision to finally part with them (thank you, C-U Freecycle!), but it did free up three entire shelves. (Though I did notice recently that about three dozen had escaped our detection--they will be joining the donations to the Urbana Free Library very soon.)

Easily discouraged!

So it's been over a month. I tried to figure out how to upload photos here and couldn't, so I got disgusted and gave up. I'm going to try again. I really want to upload "before" and "after" photos, as it will give me a good visual of my progress in clearing our clutter.

Billy's room

Billy's room

Above is Billy's old room. It's also the guest room. (Really cozy and comfortable if you can get to the bed.) A lot of the stuff is his, but most of it is ours. See the flowery wall paper? It was here when we moved in 29 years ago. I picked out a nice muted blue and pink wallpaper about 25 years ago, put some of it up, and it fell off the wall after a day. So I gave up. (I haven't even removed the "new" wallpaper."

Steve's room

Steve's room

 Above is Steve's old room. The boxes are from my office when I retired back in '07. Believe it or not, I really have made some progress, and have reduced the number of boxes by about five.

Library

Library

Library

  Above is our library. It is virtually (no, in reality) filled with clutter. My chair with my Mom's patchwork knit is in the background in the top photo, and that's where my computer and I reside. At least I got rid of the Bowflex machine about three years ago, and don't have to do nearly the contortions I used to to get to my chair.

Pantry

Pantry

 Above is the pantry. What a wonderful thing to have: a pantry! And we do use it for food and kitchen appliances (including the very expensive juicer I bought five years ago and have used twice), but it has so many other things as well, from boxes of unknown stuff to motorcycle helmets. I really want to set up seed-starting lights for this year's gardens, and can't do that until I make some room.

A Blog For Myself

As 2012 begins and the world seems to be spinning out of control, I realize how important it is for me to begin to take control of the aspects of my life that I can. Recognizing those parts will not be a simple task. Even at the age of 61 (almost 62!), I've not made much progress in identifying them. But I have become more acutely aware of how much my happiness and (to a lesser extent, of course) that of those I love depends on accepting the responsibility for that control. I intend to use this year to learn to take advantage of my passions and talents in a more positive manner.

Knowing how important accountability is to the success of any project I undertake, I've started this blog. Probably I'm the only one who will ever read it, but that's OK--it's sort of an entity unto itself, even though created by me, and I feel I will hold myself accountable to it. I have so much more to offer the world and myself than I've given it so far!

So to get started, here's a list of some of the things I intend to use this blog for. Their roles in my obtaining joy by taking charge of my life aren't immediately apparent, but I know in my gut that they all play a role. Also, I've not prioritized them according to importance, because I'm pretty sure that will change, as will the list itself. 

• How much do we really need, indeed? Our house is filled filled filled with stuff. I'm not a candidate for Hoarders yet, but I can see myself becoming one.
• My health. Two years ago I lost one of my sisters to cancer. Ellen was only 53. Last September my brother Jim had surgery to repair 5 aneurysms, and lost his lower right leg in the process. My sister Eileen had a heart valve replacement about five years ago. So what excuse do I have for weighing 199.5 pounds and "taking" virtually no regular exercise?
• Creation. I remember many years ago talking with my brother Jim about the happiness I find in drawing, writing, fixing and building. Yet I rarely do any of these things. Why I forbid myself doing things that make me happy is, I know, rooted in my religious upbringing: the old Roman Catholic rule that if you're experiencing joy, you must be doing something sinful. So why is it, even after over 40 years of atheism, I still can't feel happiness without guilt?

What am I waiting for? I think 61 years is long enough!