Eating An Elephant.....

I have been busy the last few days.  No, not making delicious, smokey food.  If I keep trying these new recipes, I will be a much more seriously large person.  Besides, I have several leftovers in the fridge that I need to consume first.

Instead, I have started eating an elephant.

Those of you who know me, understand that my artistic talents make me more prone to clutter and gathering stuff for my projects which some would say borders on hoarding.  Quilters call it a stash!  It also has something to do with trying to combine the stuff from 20 years at Indian Acres with the stuff from 30 plus years of being here in this little house.  And all while mourning the loss of my husband who was my inspiration for doing things and being motivated.

After getting back from Fancy Gap, things got unloaded from the van and just tossed into corners and wherever things would go.  Then I had obligations to get into such as the PABA dinner silent auction, the Downton Abbey Tea Party, a dental appointment and prep time for my baked beans followed by attending the first Memorial Day Bash at Indian Acres since the one after Rudy died.

In between those things, I got clothes unpacked, sorted through the boxes that are packed for the week plus trips I take a couple for times a year with things to have just in case the house I/we rent do not have those items.  But the rest of the boxes, totes and space bags are all over the place and I have really, really, really got to get a handle on all of the clutter.

BUT, when you sit and look at everything around that needs to be dealt with, it is OVERWHELMING... to say the least.  Somewhere along in my life I learned how to eat an elephant.  Being told to eat an elephant can be very overwhelming.  It is a BIG project!  It is how we all feel when we try to be all to everyone, try to do too many things at one time, think we are superwomen or men when we are only human.  But you can eat an elephant by taking one bite at a time.  You chew the one bite, chew it well and swallow.  The you take one more bite.... chew it well and swallow, etc.

So, I have started in the bedroom.  I start in one tiny area, make it look the way I want, throw things out, find homes for other things and decide what might get donated or sold at a yard sale.  Then I move to the next area and repeat.  Progress has been made.  I can see things on my dresser, I have room to get into my closet, I have actually seen carpet that has not seen the light of day since I started moving things from Maryland.  It has taken most of the week, taking time in between to eat and shop or just relax, but that room is almost organized to where my robot vacuum would be able to go all around to keep the carpet cleaned.

Next is the living room/dining room.  I need to get my sewing set up as I have a project I would like to get done in the next week or so.  Shortly, perhaps before or more than likely after I return from Alaska, I will be clearing out the wood working room Rudy had in the basement and making it into my sewing room, which will have me moving my sewing room into that space and allowing me to take the upstairs rooms back into just living room and dining room!

It will take some time... but that is how one eats an elephant.... one little bite at a time.