Hello, Future Me. Maybe.

Now that I've finished the Swedish Death Cleaning, the house sometimes feels a bit empty. There's no more clutter anywhere, even in the closets. Everything is neatly binned and organized. I have accomplished all my house cleaning goals for this year and then some. While doing so I've also posted a ton of things to the blog to publish in the future.

As I write this, the date is June 24th. This post isn't scheduled to publish until August 16th. Between now and then I have a family gathering to host, a birthday, a new work project to begin, and lots of summer art projects to do. I didn't mean to get so far ahead of myself, because it's always possible my health situation will take a sudden turn and I really won't be here anymore.

I'm not indifferent to my health situation. I'm having some blood tests this week, and seeing my doctor next month. My diabetes appears to be improving a little. My arthritis is getting worse. I have two new issues that may or may not be problems; I'm trying to decide if I want to bring them up during the exam. I'm already not happy with this doctor, and I probably should change to another before I report the new issues -- unless they get a lot worse before my appointment.

So, am I still here? Hope so. I can't see my future. I also can't live my life in dread of leaving this place. If I do, I won't enjoy the time I have left here. Fingers crossed.

Comments

Maria Zannini said…

I have more trouble picking dentists. They're all good, but when they start upselling me on mouth guards and whitening, it annoys me. Just clean my teeth and let me know if there are any problems.

It's so hard finding a doctor you like. I was lucky in my last choice. She's empathetic and a good listener. Maybe you should cast your net again and see if you can find someone better.

August 16, 2024 at 6:09 AM

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

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