Piles and Piles

 

Two days ago, we had yet another all-day March snowstorm resulting in about 8 inches of snow accumulation.  Fortunately, the day before we had an all-day rain which melted a good portion of the 18” of snow , already on the ground, from an earlier March snowstorm.

  

Sammy does not mind the snow - he looks comfortable taking a nap on top of the cold stuff.

 

My usual view of winter...from inside the house.

 

The upside is that we are starting the growing season with adequate moisture. 

 

As I write this blog, the current temperature is 1.  Folks…it is March in the south…the daffodils are usually in bloom at this time!  And, to make the situation a bit worse,  I left my winter chore coat over at my daughter’s house  a few days ago when I went to see the orphan puppies  (Avalanche died, which was unexpected, two days after giving birth) that she is caring for like a trooper.  I could not do it.  Did you know that you have to massage the puppies rear ends, for several weeks, in order to stimulate them to pee and poop?  That, in itself, takes great patience and that is certainly not in my nature.

 

So, I have been spending much of the past few months , hunkered inside, rummaging through my stash that I have been amassing over my lifetime, that is 60 years, to date.  Remember…I am a packrat and as such I have/had quite an enormous stash.

 

Yes, I indicated had.  I am quite proud of myself for actually reducing my cache of boxes and boxes of unnecessary ‘valuable stuff’.  I am nearing the end of the mountain of boxes warehoused in what was formally my bedroom soon to become my ‘woman cave’.  But, I had to organize and downsize in order to make room for what is to become a workable space for ALL my interests.

 

It has not been easy.  I had to completely change my way of thinking from one of saving for that proverbial rainy day to saving only what is necessary for my future.  Part of my life, literally, is now in ‘to burn’ bags or in mixed paper recycle boxes.

 

I even  amazed myself with all the paperwork I actually saved over the years…piles and piles of old newspapers that I wanted to review (I am still working on those piles daily, but I am pleased that I have perused and recycled over half - I am down to a 5’ tall stack),  my schoolwork, my kids schoolwork, files and files of notes from the many quilt shows and quilt exhibits that I coordinated some 20 years ago, thousands of magazines from  over ten different subscriptions, old mail that got boxed up from time to time in order to clear my desk, etc…whew! 

 

Now, being realistic, I could not throw away or recycle everything, but I made quite a dent.  After all, I am still a packrat at heart.

 

I am closing in on the end.  I have about 10 more boxes to go through before I can make the next move to set-up my work station and to get back to creating and having my kind of fun.

 

Well… there is still the task of organizing and downsizing all my supplies in my sewing room…maybe that will be a good chore for next year. 

 

As for the snow in my schedule, it was perfectly timed.