Beauty

[jeanlake]

Checking In -

Surprised how many unused luggage and travel bags we have stored away in the basement. Thinking about donating to our local foster parent association. It's my understanding many children move their things around in paper sacks. I may even heard this on the Q forums.

Hiring gr-nephews during spring break to move items from basement to garage so we can take to the city dump or donate. This will save our knees!

Enjoy reading your posts, ideas and progress. My closet is looking pretty good since my husband moved his clothes out and now uses a small (unused) sun room off the master bedroom for his things. We both have more room now and were able to scale down during the conversion. Closet's looking good and I have no plans to load up my closet with stuff I don't need.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the week. Weather report is sunny days and 70 degrees this weekend. It was 11 degrees this morning. So, this is why they call the Midwest tornado alley!

[jeanlake]

alicedee - thanks for the cookbook ideas. I'm ready to pass some of mine along, too.

[DrKelli]

I have been in sunny Long Beach on business this week and enjoying every degree of it! I finally got back to read what you have been up to. I had a similar experience with the cookbooks. I have a few that I use and I did a big cookbook cull last year. I probably still have too many, but I pared down from 20 or so to about 8, I think. Mostly, I use the Better Crocker book (the bible!) and a church cookbook that my mom gave me about 30 years ago. It was one of those that everyone contributes a recipe to. I use it pretty frequently. My downfall is cutting recipes out of magazines or the newspaper and shoving them in one of those books so it is a mess. I need to go through there and either scan them or copy them on to a recipe card.

My wardrobe this trip was pretty easy--jeans, clarks shoes (I had to bring my steel toes though) and 3/4 length shirts. It was actually very warm, so I could have gotten away with short sleeved shirts, but I have to go back to a colder climate. I bring a packable down parka from Lands End that I can wad up and shove into my backpack so I don't have to carry it through the airport.

I hope you all have a good weekend!

[DrKelli]

Good morning all, I hope the time change hasn't caught up with you (it did me this morning--mainly because I don't sleep well on Sunday nights!).

How's your Love It Wear It challenge going? I made a slight adjustment for mine. I have shirts and jeans that I don't necessarily hang, so I had an empty storage box and put that in the same area of the closet that I had cleared out for the 30 day challenge. So my non-hanging items are going in there. I'm going to make a concerted effort to wear 30 different tops during this month. One of my personal challenges is the weather. It could be 70 or 10 below, so I may have to make this a 60 or 90 day challenge because the seasons will change. That may be a better approach any way because we all wear different clothes. So this may be my "end of winter" challenge and then I will do a spring/summer one, a fall one and a dead of winter one.

I need to regroup overall. I kind of ran out of steam and when the weather starts getting nice, I will have no desire to declutter. I will want to be outside.

[Jolexi]

DrKelli,

All good points (re: 30 day challenge, end of season, transitional weather, etc). I am also pretty much the same as far as when the weather changes, I'll rarely be indoors. I'm a runner and a walker, and my SO and I love outdoor activities during the warmer weather so once it changes, it'll be hard to get into the mindset of continuing to declutter if it's going to be a particularly nice day outside.

So far this month, I reorganized all of my dresser drawers which were becoming quite untidy. No matter what I do, this area just becomes a mess once I start pulling stuff out to wear. i was actually able to clear out my undergarment drawer and get rid of stuff that was stretched out, was becoming threadbare from washing, or just didn't fit. It's a lot easier to see what I have now and everything is neatly folded. For now lol. I also went into the drawers that had my winter tops and sweaters, and was able to determine the items that I have not worn in a year or two, and just took them out. I won't entertain trying them again because I know I haven't worn them for a valid reason. I did have this really nice button down rolled-tab sleeve cotton shirt that I left in there, but I know that will be the first to go as it is an awkward fit. For a petite person, I have muscular arms and broadish shoulders, and most button down shirts fit tight across the back and the upper arms; why did I get this shirt when I know this? I'm not sure. It's not a new purchase; I've had it for several years now. I know I will end up donating it, though.

My next project is changing up my room decor as soon as Spring arrives. I usually rotate my wardrobe and change up the decor in the room during the transition from Winter into Spring, and then Summer into Fall. I'm looking foward to taking down the darker curtains, the sheets/comforters, and putting up the lighter weight fabric curtains and sheets. It's still early, so I'll wait until after Easter, but I sure am looking foward to that!

Have a great day everyone!

[DrKelli]

Jolexi--I know what you mean about the button shirts! I have linebacker shoulders and most cotton button shirts fit me awkwardly too! (I like that description!) I usually purchase a lot of long sleeved t-shirts for winter and short sleeved shirts for summer. I have a few summer (short sleeved) button shirts, but they are a polyester type fabric and have more give than cotton. I purchased some D&C button front 3/4 length shirts a couple years ago that are not 100% cotton and I like the way they fit. I wore one just the other day! And if I would get to it and iron one, I would probably wear it this week.

[Jolexi]

DrKelli - The "linebacker shoulders" is indeed a great way to describe it LOL. Funny you should mention D&Co tops/shirts. I would occasionally see some I'd wear casually online or when presented during a show, but I hesitate for two reasons: the linebacker issue & the fact that even their smallest sizes are still too large for me. I could take it if they were a little roomy, but they surpass roomy. I can't tell you the last time I'd purchased clothing at the Q. It's been at least 4 or 5 years. And that last purchase was a Mark Zunino dress that fit me like a glove. (Well, obviously I COULD tell you the last time I purchased..)

As a matter of fact, after I'd posted earlier about the button down shirt, I thought about the reason I still hung onto it, and it's because the torso portion fits so nicely. It has just the right seams in the right places along the body. So, I decided when I get home today from the gym, I'm going to pull that shirt out and see if I can alter it a bit. Maybe make it a short sleeve or sleeveless top? It won't hurt to try. And if it doesn't fit any better than way, someone else can still use it if I can't. The wheels are always turning! :-)

(Btw, that's my major gripe with 100% cotton -- the going to the trouble to iron it and then you bend down or stretch to reach for something and you look like you slept in your shirt. It's probably why I only have that one in my drawer LOL)

[alicedee]

Happy Monday, everyone! My granddaughter was home from college last week on spring break, and stopped over to visit on Friday. I sent her home with a bag of shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and deodorant from the infamous "Stash". And that just about depleted my stash....I now only have one extra of each in the cupboard. Guess next time she's home I'll have to take her shopping!

[Snicks1]

Hi ladies, was surprised to realize, upon scanning through this thread, that I had not posted on it so far. I have let de-cluttering sit on the back burner, so to speak, for awhile. I did finish painting my kitchen last week, so there is that. Not much else. Working now on dusting, vacuuming, etc., the upstairs after the taping, mudding, sanding, and painting of the kitchen (you know how that makes a mess), so, once I get that finished, I will be downstairs. Hopefully I won't have too much down there, as I am another who will be outdoors once it gets nice out. That was my main reason for wanting to get this completed while it was cold out. I have also been working on my cook books, going through all those loose leaf recipes, typing them up and making binders for myself, and my 2 daughters of much loved family recipes. Have a great day, everyone.

[alicedee]

For being newly-retired, DH is sure working hard! He's cleaning the garage now. Just called me out to go through the shoe rack next to the door...he held up each pair and I said yea or nay. Kept a couple pair of sneakers, a pair of Birkies, my snow boots and an old pair of loafers I wear when the grass is wet/muddy and I need to be outside. The rest are in the Goodwill box. (my "good" shoes are in my bedroom closet).

I can't procrastinate with that fella here...like Old Man River, he just keeps rollin' along!