Muttering...

(This is my worktable. The old kitchen table moved down here during the Fall Cure 07. I spy things that should be in the outbox in this picture.)

I hope you don't mind if I just talk to myself here a minute.

A long time ago, I talked about "curing" the basement. I mentioned wanting to put a sewing area and a small crafting area down here so I could leave things permanently set out if needed (it is awkward to leave sewing and scrapping out upstairs as I leave other things permanently set out--like school stuff).

For the last two evenings, I've spent about an hour working on the picture frame project. It's been quite enjoyable. It's very quiet. Right now the temperature is fine. (From November to February it can be too cold to even do laundry!)

The area is cleared out, for the most part. If I wasn't doing the "Cure" I wouldn't be doing anything more down there. But I am doing the Cure--and that makes it different--why, I'm not sure. Is it because the Cure is a fixed amount of time, and I feel I have to work for that amount of time? Maybe. Is it because the Cure is all about making your space more enjoyable, more livable--and so with my thoughts, turning that way, I can find more to do? Maybe. Or is it because there are things I promised myself I would do--and by making the process part of a public Cure--I won't let myself off the hook? I think that's it.

So the things I must do are these:
1) sort the five foot pile of children's artwork.
2) sort through the kids' schoolwork now piling up. Keep one thing per subject per year?
3) finish sorting through my old schoolwork.
4) I wonder how much of the business paper work my husband would be willing to let go of? He closed the business in 2000. The seven year tax "rule" has been dutifully observed.
5) how much of our past tax paperwork can I consolidate? Each year is in a bankers box (mostly because that's what we needed for the business).
6) I have two filing cabinets: One two, one four drawer. What can I do with these? Can they be emptied? If they are emptied, will they still be useful? (For example, school work and taxes can be filed in manila folders and put in here. I love filing cabinets!)
7) my miniature house project box. No clue what to do with this. It's huge.
8) scrapping and art supplies. These have been piled into one area. I need to organize this so it's a) functional and b) presentable.
9) sort fabric

Most of this I had classed as "paperwork" and had slotted it for Week 5. It's too massive a task to tackle in just one week, though. I'm pretty much done wrapping the cords, and I have one small thing to do to finish the picture frame project (other than arrange and hang the frames, of course) and I'm just about finished washing and sorting the winter outdoor clothing, so I think it may be time to clear off the table down there and get to work on this stuff.

As most of this stuff is in this area, you could consider this (and the one above) a "before" photo: