Day 50

Something learned:

I am a somewhat judgmental person, but it wasn't until I was on the receiving end that I realized how unpleasant it can be. It's easy to fall into a trap of presuming a person's intentions, or assuming that another person shares my own values. I'm not perfect about it yet, but I try to keep it in mind especially when offering advice, or making observations. Nobody likes to feel judged by others.

Today I was thankful for:

1. Being able to draw up a huge mind map of the kid's activities
2. Kid remembering to bring home the clothes she forgot at school yesterday
3. Discovering a fine on my library account for something I didn't check out and successfully getting it waived
4. Making dinner and having it all eaten up
5. Learning a lot in the Coursera class I'm taking https://www.coursera.org/course/thinkagain

Looking forward to:

Finding 2014 items to purge this year!

Day 48

Something learned:

Thought patterns that make purging hard for me:
1. I might need this.
2. This is still worth something
3. If I throw this out, I'll never remember XYZ.

Some solutions that work for me:
1. It's replaceable, and husband is ok with buying the replacement if I need it. OR I've had this for 10 years now and never needed it. (Sad that it's gone that long for some stuff...)
2. Give it away. I don't need the money, but it's not going to trash.
3. Photograph, scan or document, then toss. Someday I'll have to address the digital hoard though.

Today I was thankful for:

1. The kid enjoying her clean room so much that she spent the day playing with all the different things she's forgotten she had.
2. Dim sum lunch
3. Having the afternoon free to whittle down my todo list to just 1 item.
4. Watching Vikings with the husband. (http://www.history.com/shows/vikings/about)
5. Clean house! Clean house! Purging is pretty amazing when accompanied by mad organization to create open space that you've missed.

Looking forward to:

Long weekend for me and the kid.. unfortunately the husband has to work.

Day 46

Something learned:

I think some of life's broken commitments may be caused by not being honest with oneself. My desk often has a lot of stuff on it. Mostly because those things had no place to be except in that transitory place of "on the desk to be taken care of". During my big purge earlier this month, I faced up to the fact of the nature of the stuff on the desk and gave them all homes. I have baskets for incoming things that I don't want to deal with every day -- kid's art, paperwork to file, and receipts. A envelope for the kid's stuff. A space for stuff that I need to bring to other rooms. Now there's someplace for it all to go and my desk is unbelievably (to me) clear.

To accomplish that took strangely enough, my admission that these are the things I want to keep, so I need to find places for them. I suppose it's another way of phrasing "A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place", but pithy sayings, while true, often are hard to understand and make relevant in one's personal context.

So here's to a desk without clutter and broken commitments.

Today I was thankful for:

1. Having saved my old Livejournal posts offline when I found that the archives now only go back 4 years or so.
2. Violins being light. It cost less than $8 to trade in Audrey's.
3. My employer generally operating on the principle that employees make reasonable choices. It makes me feel respected.
4. The kid enjoying her introduction to the WiiFit
5. Dinner at Benihana with the family

Something I'm looking forward to:

I joined a facebook group that challenges me to purge stuff. Looking forward to seeing how much I can get rid of.