Domestic Bliss

It’s back to school this week for the kids in our area, I should blog about it, but, well…

There is recyclying to think about.  Here in Fargo they’re changing the recycling and garbage program.  There is now motivation for everyone to recycle more, which is good.  It does present organizing challenges however.

Challenge 1:  You have to hang on to your recycling until pick up, so it has to be kept somewhere and sorted.  Where?

There is no pat answer.  Sorry.  Here’s what to consider:

• Where do you have room for recycle tubs?
• How much effort will you put into recycling on a daily basis?
• Who can help?

Since there is no one size fits all solution I’ll tell you what we do. We have two recycling tubs, the first we’ve had for several years and was provided by the city when we signed up for curbside recycling.  (For the record, curbside recycling is the best invention ever!)  The second tub is new to us and came with our revised city program.  For the last several years our recycle tub has lived on the front porch, disguised by a painted trunk.  It hasn’t been a problem to walk stuff out there as I come across it, and very often it all fit in the trunk.  The second tub doesn’t fit in well at all, it’s out of place, messing up my decor, which we simply can’t have.  My solution is to split the recycling tubs, one stays on the porch and I’m using it for the stuff we recycle the most, newspapers and plastic.  The second tub went into the basement, adjacent to my pantry.  There I’ll stash the stuff I have less of, cans and glass.  At the Bliss house we don’t use much glass or metal, it could take weeks for me to get a full paper bag.  Since it’s infrequent, I’ll make the trip to the basement.

Challenge 2:  Isn’t challenge 1 enough?

Life with a cleaner planet is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip:  If your recycling seems to stack up where it doesn’t belong, stash it in an attractive container and incorporate disposal into the recycling bins into someone elses chores.  That’s right, you can delegate!

In other news, the garden house is furnished!  Yay!

This past week is a blur.  I didn’t work that much, I can’t tell you what all I did, but it went by fast.  What’s up with that?

Maybe it was the paint fumes.  For whatever reason I decided to paint our back entry.  The Chief was on board with my color choice, the leftover from our living room/dining room/foyer ceiling very pale blue.  However, once I got going I realized the paint has a flat finish, totally wrong for a tiny entry we use countless times in a day.  After two coats (!) of the flat I went off to the paint store to get a quart of semi gloss.  The guy told me it would dry lighter than the chip, so in my infinite wisdom, I told him to go up a notch on the sample chip. Yeah.  It didn’t dry much lighter, so now instead of very pale blue I got baby blue.

How could I live with the Chief for twenty some years and not know he doesn’t like baby blue?

The good news is the blue is not quite so blue in the daylight so he can live with it.  That’s good news because I don’t have to go to the paint store again for another quart for a fourth coat.

This little entry is my landing spot, in the painting process I had to take down the hooks for my purse, coming and going bag, jackets, and assorted other stuff that I find necessary.  It was all piled in the kitchen, driving me crazy.  It was a happy moment when I could put my hooks back up instead of going to the paint store again.

Here’s the proof!

Before

After

Life with a livable blue is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip:  Keep your paint chips in a file, indicate on each chip where you used the color and the finish. 

and they want their spongeware back.

For this month’s bookclub selection I read "The Anatomy of Peace", and it had the oddest effect on me, it motivated me to reorganize (redecorate?) a couple of spots in my kitchen.

These had been bothering me for a while:

They are the tool crock for my long handled tools, one for shorter gadgets, and the garlic dealie.  I’m not a stickler for matching, but these just don’t compliment my Fiestaware.  I like these better:

The problem I’m having is what to do with the old crocks.  I purchased them from an artisan, they’re hand thrown and decorated.  I’m not ready to let them go, but in order to stay they have to function.  So, they’ll live in the basement for a bit while I prowl around the house, garage and gardens for a way to use them.  If I’m unsuccessful?  They will go to the thrift store. 

While I was rooting around I pulled out my extra big mixing bowl, also purchased from an artisan, hand thrown and decorated, and was very sad to see a big bad crack in the bowl.  I wasn’t ready to get rid of this!  There’s no way I’ll use it again, at least not in the kitchen.  But I still like it and am mulling over ways to keep it in my life.  Right now I’m leaning toward breaking it and tucking the pieces in one of the flower gardens.  Ideas?  Anyone?

I’ll report in detail at a later date.

Life with things that compliment each other is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip:  When torn about getting rid of something, set yourself a deadline for making a decision.  If you can’t come up wth a use by your deadline, let it go.

Today I did something I never, never, ever do.  I rearranged my living room furniture.  I know!  It’s not that me and my furniture are stuck in a rut, (really) we have figured out the perfect way to arrange it and left it that way.  For years.

Frankly, my life has changed a little bit, reading has become more important than watching tv.  In the previous arrangement I was able to comfortably see our television.  But now I want my chair closer to the lamp I read by.  It wasn’t a massive rearranging, just switching two chairs, but what a difference.  See?

Notice my vacum cleaner in the background?  One of the reasons I like cleaning my house is I get great ideas, like rearranging the furniture, while I’m cleaning.  Oh wait, this isn’t quite right.

There.  That’s better.

The beige chair is my chair, note that now the lamp is behind it, instead of literally across the room.  While I won’t be able to watch tv from it, the other chair is perfectly comfortable for when I do want to watch a movie or something.  Look what else I did!

It’s my current books and my "to read" books!  Handy, isn’t it?

There you have it, my cozy reading zone, complete with wrap for my shoulders, blankie, good light and books.  Such a small change, such big rewards!

Life with good light is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip:  Keep a tote bag by your back door for library books you have read.  When they need to be returned just grab the tote and go.

While it seems improbable for a professional organizer to be a collector, I most certainly am both.  Most of the collections that reside at Bliss house are shared by me and the Chief, who is a great collecting enabler, as long as said collection is of the antique variety.  Like my collections of brass hose nozzles he thoughtfully assembled for me. 

However, much to the Chief’s dismay I also collect new Fiesta.  He’s supplied me with beautiful old Fiesta, but the new stuff also calls my name.  The good folks who make Fiesta, the HL China Company, pursue collectors with a vengeance.  New shapes come out, limited editions are issued, colors are dropped, and now they’re producing 75th anniversary pieces in a special 75th anniversary color, Marigold.  I know this because I had to have them!

Yeah, so?  Like anything manufactured to become a collectible, the boxes are the problem.  If you’ve ever watched Antiques Roadshow, you know how much the "original box" can enhance the value of an antique.  Our current day manufacturers of collectibles want us to believe the box their merchandise comes in will provide the same increase in value, if we ever part with our beloved collectible. 

So.  Here we are with our lovely collectibles on display and a basement full of empty boxes.  Not me man.  I initially saved my Fiesta boxes but quickly became overwhelmed and threw them away.  Here’s my epiphany, I do not buy my dishes as an investment.  I buy dishes I love so I am happy every time I see and use them.  I do not believe in saving anything for "good".  Everything in my house is meant to be used, if it can’t be, it must go.  I will get my money out of my dishes by using them, even the Marigold.

Perhaps there is a collectible out there that has enhanced value if, indeed, the box has been kept or it’s never been used.  Fiesta does not fall in that category, judging by what I see on Ebay.  Bottom line? I recommend my clients let their kids play with the dolls and toys, use their baskets and dishes, and throw the boxes away.  LIfe’s too short not to use the good stuff.

Life with pretty things is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip:  If you are unsure about the value boxes add to your collectibles, check an auction site like Ebay to see if original packaging matters.

I love, love, love my calendar.  It’s a midsize Daytimer, scuffed and beat up.  One of the vinyl zipper pulls finally gave out and I replaced it with a very cute one made of beads and stones.  This calendar goes everywhere with me, even though it weighs at least 40 pounds.  Seriously, would I exaggerate?

Recently I was given the opportunity to try a PDA, you know, and electronic calendar.  I had it in my bag for a week and didn’t even charge the battery.  I gave it back and took the guff for being anti-technology.  Which I’m not, by the way.

As much as I wish I wasn’t carrying around an extra 40 pounds every day, I can’t give up writing in my calendar.  Besides it’s more than a schedule.  There are lists, very important lists, in my calendar.  Menus from past dinner parties, Christmas lists going back 5 years, garden plans, notes from volunteer meetings, important stuff!  I can’t see getting all this stuff written with a little stick in an electronic device, so I stubbornly hang on to my very heavy paper calendar.

My point?  Use a calendar!  It doesn’t matter what kind of calendar you use, use what works for you.  If you’re more comfortable with a device, good on you!  As long as important details from our lives are written somewhere to remind us where we need to be, it’s fine. 

Life with a 40 pound calendar is bliss.  But probably only in my world.

Tricky Duck Tip:  Use just one calendar that you can carry around.  Include family, personal and work activities on the same calendar.