Getting Psyched!

I’ve sort of been cheating, since I’ve started working on my list of projects that I plan to tackle in order to make 2013 “A Year of Less.”

I attacked my bathroom counter and drawers.  I tossed all the old or questionable make-up and toiletries including duplicate items or things I just flat out don’t use.  I reduced my make-up stash to a few Bare Minerals items, one blush, one bronzer, one mascara, two primers and a handful of lipsticks.  I reluctantly tossed all the foundations from my stage make-up kit; our Performing Arts Center canceled the spring musical (big frowny face here from me!!!) so I figured all those items would be over a year old by the time I’d need them for the summer musical, IF we still are having a summer musical.  :/  In fact, I may just go back in and toss the lipsticks and blushes too…not sure when I’ll need them again and everything I’ve read says they should be replaced every 6-12 months!   We tend to buy inexpensive brands for everything but foundation, so it won’t cost an arm and a leg to replace.

I did keep my huge eye pencil collection simply because it takes up very little space and pencils can be refreshed easily by sharpening.

I sent all my nail polishes to my 17yo daughter’s bathroom…I don’t use them much and when I do, I can just “borrow” from her.  I have a small supply of nail strips, which are my preferred nail embellishment.  I plan to add one bottle of a nice, nude shade to keep in my bathroom.

All this clean up allowed me room to get my essential oils into a drawer and off the counter.  I also cleaned out and replenished our first aid kit, since we were completely out of gauze and a few other key items I missed having last Friday when my 13yo scraped up his arm really badly.

Then, I joined the Mister in his office and helped re-arrange and set up my sewing table.  Yes, the ever-so-generous Mister is letting me have a corner of his office for my sewing.  This set up was to be in the schoolroom (which is also a craftroom) but after buying Katie’s piano and having it parked under the window, I no longer had room for a sewing table in that room.  We could have put the piano in the entry way or on the tile in the family room, but the people we bought it from warned us that the sound would carry in a really bad way through our mostly-stone floored, open floorplan.  I’m glad the piano is on carpet, cause it’s darned loud already!!  Back to my sewing table in the office; there’s room under the table to store my fabric stash and I’m going to put of some shelves for notions and other supplies.  We cleared several boxes out of there…some were sent to the school room and some to the master bedroom, which has sadly become my dumping ground for about two dozen “miscellaneous” boxes and tubs that contain hundreds of odds and ends that are difficult to find homes.  Back in the office, we’ve got everything ready to get our files really organized, once we buy some file frames for the used file cabinet I bought second-hand.  I still think $40 was a great deal for a heavy-duty three drawer lateral cabinet BUT I do wish the seller hadn’t hidden the fact that enough components are missing that we can’t hang any folders!

Even with all this progress, I’ve got many areas still to tackle, including my closet, my photography studio, the hot mess in my bedroom (all those tubs and boxes…) and then the school room.  Plus smaller projects like the kids’ rooms and our shed and garage.  I’ve got time…thankfully…I’ve got time.