Clutter: The Movie

Y'all need to run right over to http://www.storyofstuff.com/ and watch this very cool 20-minute video on how all of our "stuff" is effecting us and our world.  It's been watched by over 8 million people since December 2007 if that tells you anything.

The woman behind it is Annie Leonard, the author of the book The Story of Stuff:  How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities and Our Health -- and a Vision for Change.  (Whew......long title for a big subject.)  Miss Leonard is definitely a dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist, but she also isn't anti-stuff.  She just wishes everybody would acquire MINDFULLY.  You know the question:  do I really need this?  In other words, don't let those Mad Men ad men control your buying:  you control it.

One of Annie's main tips for corralling your "work-watch-spend" treadmill (as she calls it) is to watch less TV.  I would add to that to stop buying and reading lifestyle magazines.  Not that I am able to do that you understand.  But it is good advice and maybe I will give it a stab.  Sometime.  In the future.  Maybe.

I better go look at this video again.

Sidetracked AGAIN

I'd like to say that I've finished with that attic thing. But you know the answer to that already. Isn't it amazing how you can lose focus so quickly and so completely when it comes to "cleaning out"?

In my defense, I have made a marvelous start. And it IS just the 9th of January. But somehow the days of this week have just slipped by without me even opening the door to The Black Hole.....well, maybe I could just say The Dark Gray Hole; some progress has been made after all.

Tomorrow is already committed to something else (a knitting class; thank God it's not grooming dogs or cleaning up anything!). Sunday, I know at least one little black dog that requires a "re-bath". So, it looks like the week of the 11th will have to be designated as Resume Organization Week. Sigh. Keep your fingers crossed that I can say "all done" at the end of the week.

Let the Clean Sweep Begin

There are still a few odds and ends of Christmas decorations laying about. Those need to find their hibernation niche today. I hesitate to return to The Black Hole at the top of the house however. (This is better known to most as "the attic".)

Once I step inside the door, I feel a swirling vortex sucking me in; boxes, debris, litter of days gone by calling my name insistently. Yes, it's time to tackle the JUNK that has lived above my head for the past several years. I'm ready for new beginnings, fresh perspectives. The best way to get that is to cart off all the old I'm thinkin'.

Wishful thinking has me thinking maybe a week ought to do it. Who am I kidding? It took years to accumulate it. I doubt a week will make it magically disappear. What's that old saying: a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. So let me just step over the threshold and see what happens.