Purging the house

So this year I was supposed to hold the extended family Christmas party.  I haven't done this in several years.  I used to do it regularly and it meant that I would thoroughly clean and declutter my house from Thanksgiving to the Sunday before Christmas. Then for a while there, I would hire my oldest daughter, Hannah and her friend Katie to organize and declutter for the summer.  Even with all this, I still had stashes in areas of the house that were terrible, but it kept things going with a surface impression of being fairly organized.  Well, the family party moved to my sister Ronnie's house for a couple of years and then to my nephew's house for the last three years (maybe 4).

Anyway, I was gearing up to do a heavy, get-the-junk-out declutter project, but things kept getting delayed because of poor Steve.  So the party was moved from Dec. 21st to Jan. 4th.  Therefore I have been trying to get things under control but I tell you, it is dreadful!  Absolutely horrid.  Just the sheer amount of school stuff built up over the last 7 years or so plus all the Aquinas Learning debris. . . . plus we've still got dregs of aunt Jackie stuff, lots of Peter and Hannah stuff and then just stuff-stuff that I and I alone am responsible for.  And then there's Rick.  I swear we must have hundreds of electronic debris - all kinds of cables and wires and doohickeys.  It is truly frightening!

So I did get rid of a few bags of old clothes for the Thanksgiving clothing drive at Church.

I got a couple of big boxes of books that I gave away to the book donation bin.

Neither of the above looked like much had been accomplished though.  At all.

I gathered all papers and mail, etc and dumped them in a big box which Rick went through.  But somehow I still have several places that have stacks of paper still to go through. . . .

And this is just the main floor!

I gave away two boxes of toys/school supplies back before Thanksgiving.

I cleaned through the basement and got rid of tons of junk.  But it still needs going through and there is still tons of stuff to be sorted.  It's like I just did the top layer and I need to do a couple more layers of clutter before I truly have accomplished anything.  And this isn't even getting to the storage area or the stage/closet!!!!

It is really hard not to lose heart.

But I will not give up!

Today is New Year's Eve.  I have cleaned a good amount of the study.  Including cleaning up cat messes that must have been under the desk but out of sight for at least a year.  Let me tell you how fun that was!  And I still don't know what to do with various computer junk and some papers but maybe Rick will go through that tonight while we are trying to keep our eyes open until midnight.

I did clean out the laundry/mud room.  Our dryer died, so we are getting a new one on Friday.  We've already had this repaired for the same problem before so Rick thinks it is worth it to just get a new one.  So I did clean out a huge pile of clothes, etc.  I mean we are talking about 8 of those big green trash bags worth of stuff.  And I still need to go through old shoes, boots and roller blades.  I have two bags of clothes in the back of my van that I need to drop at a donation site.  Then I have another big bag to wash and then sort to either give away or keep.  I have dozens of mismatched gloves/mitten and scores of mismatched socks.  It really is unbelievable to me!

But still, now you can walk through the laundry room!

I have recently cleaned out my pantries and I am trying to keep up on keeping my fridge clean.  I do need to desperately clean out both freezers.

New Year's Day - I am going to keep chipping away to making the main level clean and suitable for the party.

Friday - Honeybaked ham, grocery run for table clothes, plates, plastic utensils, napkins, apple cider, ice.  Need to rent tables and chairs.   Start to deal with messy areas in basement.  Get new dryer!!!

Saturday - Finish cleaning basement.  Set up tables and chairs.  Get last minute stuff ready.

Sunday - mass, breakfast, party!!!!!   Then collapse.  And then Monday morning hit the new day running with the math tutor coming at 9:00 a.m.

Anyway, I plan to try to do 15 minutes of decluttering a day.  I am taking the 365 Declutter challenge on facebook.  I feel like since I am frontloading a lot of decluttering now, I will feel like decluttering 15 minutes a day will actually accomplish something.  It didn't get this bad overnight so I should realize that it will not be fixed overnight or even in 1 month.  Also, we still have junk coming into the house!  So I need to monitor that and deal with it accordingly.

Anyway, happy new year!  It feels tough now, but I really think I can see a tiny, tiny light at the end of the tunnel!

No Wind of Blame - Book 54

Gee, I guess I shouldn't have made that statement about Sylvester being my last Georgette Heyer book of 2014.  I didn't realize how much I'd like her mysteries and how much quicker they are for me to read.  I just seem to blaze right through them!

No Wind of Blame is the first Inspector Hemingway mystery.  I think I have figured out Heyer's modus operandi.    She spends the first quarter of the book developing the scenario and introducing all the characters who will be suspects.  We see the murder happen.  We see the local police try to take on the case only to decide that Scotland Yard must be called.  Then enters Inspector Hemingway and his sergeant Yates.  And somehow they turn up some surprising twist by realizing the very important significance of a clue otherwise overlooked.

I enjoyed all the characters, the humor, the little romance going on, but I have to say the technical aspects were rather lost on me.  Of course I was sleepy and kept nodding off over that part!

But all in all, a very enjoyable quick mystery read, no sex, no grittiness or edginess or what=have=you  Just a good ole whodunit.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Envious Casca - Book 53

Never mind that the last book is numbered 51!  I miscounted and have two 37s. Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer is a 1930s detective novel featuring her sleuth Inspector Hemingway.

Of course being a British mystery it revolves around a family gathering at their estate for Christmas.  The cast of characters:    Uncle Nat is the landowner, Uncle Joe is the jovial host of the party, Aunt Maud, Joe's wife, is mysteriously placid and passive, the nephew, Stephen, is rude and uncompromising and brings along his fiancee Valerie, the pretty and obvious gold-digger.  Then there's the niece Paula, loud, angry and obsessed with her acting career, with her friend Roydon, the playwright wannabe.  They want uncle Nat to back their play but he's too much of a curmudgeon to do so without a nasty confrontation.  Then there's the arctic-mannered butler who disdains everything and everybody, and the valet who is fairly new and awfully nervous.  We also have a distant cousin Matilda, who everyone seems to get along with.  We see much of the family through her eyes when we aren't seeing things through the eyes of Inspector Hemingway or the local policeman.

So who would want to knock off mean old Uncle Nathaniel?  And how did they do it when the room was locked and there was no way in?

This story is in a very different style from Heyer's Regency romances.  I found it highly engrossing, well written and paced.   I look forward to reading more Inspector Hemingway books.  Two thumbs up!

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Sylvester - Book 51

This is my last Georgette Heyer of 2014!  Sylvester is another great read.  It really reminded me of Pride and Prejudice a lot, since it is based on the heroine's first impression of Sylvester, the Duke of Salford.  Phoebe did not get a marriage match her first season out in London.  She isn't beautiful and not good at social niceties.  Instead she went home and wrote a novel based on the various characters she met in London.  And she based the villain of the novel on the character of Sylvester, never knowing that 1) the novel would actually get published and become an instant best seller and 2) the Duke of Salford would actually think about proposing marriage to her!

All kind of scrapes and hilarious situations happen much to the undoing of the arrogant duke.  We meet a wonderful cast of characters including the duke's mama, Miss Battery who is Phoebe's governess, Phoebe's childhood friend Tom, Lady Ianthe, Sir Nugent Fotherby, and six year old Edmund, Sylvester's nephew, along with some spirited servants who add to the laughs.  It is a rollicking good time, very wittily written, with lots of laugh out loud moments and of course a sweet but understated romantic ending.  Thoroughly enjoyable!

NB:  With this book, I have actually completed my 52 books this year.  My numbering is off though because I forgot to include Surprised by Joy so I actually have two books that are numbered 37!  What can I say.  I can't count!

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Strange Gods - Book 50

Read this book!

I read this book in a rush.  I am now going back and rereading some chapters more slowly, so I can take in their wisdom more carefully.  I already commented on how absolutely perfect it was in delivering a message I needed to hear right at that moment.  It now actually has me contemplating changing my life in a radical way (well, a small radical way).

Strange Gods; Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life by Elizabeth Scalia is not a long book but it is a profoundly wise one that speaks to our American modern situation, with its temptations and illusory attempts at control in a very forthright and humane manner.  I am so very grateful to the author for her honesty, clarity and compassion.  It is a wake up call for me.  It is also a dose of good medicine that I hope will begin some healing changes in my life.

I recognized myself and my world in every line of this book.  I really thank God for putting this book in hands.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

I am not usually like this

I don't usually see God working directly in my life.  I tend to be more abstract and theoretical.  I think this makes me feel spiritually dry a lot of times.  Anyway, it has been a humbling sort of week for me in several little ways that all combined together to make it upsetting.  So last night I was trying to find something to read and feeling restless and unhappy.  Sitting on my bedside table for about a year now, unread, was Strange Gods, a book by Elizabeth Scalia.  I had bought it on impulse and then decided it wasn't really appealing.  But for some reason last night I picked it up, blew the dust off it and started reading.   And it was like she was talking directly to me.  It was so clear and on point that I started laughing.  So I just want to thank Jesus for being there when I really needed him (in my small, First World way) via Scalia's penetrating honesty and good common sense.