Crazy week

It has been very weird around here this week. I have been "cleaning". Well, cleaning as only I can. The nights I've been at home (i.e. not at MS's) I have been going through piles of papers and stuff.

Thankfully when I got home Friday I found a note from the apartment office talking about how they've cleaned the carpets and we need to help keep them clean (duh), but also that they've moved a recycle bin to each floor. YAY! They used to only be on the first floor which was a pain because I'm on a far corner so to walk all the way down to the main floor with all my stuff when i decide to clean was just a pain. Now I can just walk down the hall.

This was so beneficial this weekend. I filled half of the bin with magazines and papers. I filled a 13 gallon garbage bag with shredding. I have a shelf of white elephant gifts (or at least nice gifts that I have no use for anymore). And I have a box ready to go for building my running scrapbook this winter (I had a book, but I think it's too small so I'm going to get a bigger one and actually start this - I ordered a bunch of photos from recent races so I can help document).

I still feel cluttered but not nearly as bad as I did. It's a long process for me to go through stuff. I feel like I need to look at everything just in case I find something important. I know that seems stupid but it actually paid off when I opened my Xmas card from my mother from last year and found the cash she had given me. Yay! So I stick with my rule of going through everything.

It was kind of funny with K and Nika called on Friday night and K said, "You're just recycling all those magazines, right?" And laughed when I told her I was going through each one, tearing out the articles I want to read, and then I'll go through those later. I ended up, the next morning, taking all those articles I was going to read, all the exercises I ripped out of the women's health and old ones I had torn out the last time I did this, all the Runner's World except this year's and all the old O and Real Simple magazines and dumped them in the bin. I was never going to read them and it's just stupid for them to take up space.

So I'm feeling a bit better. Next up (once I get this cleaned up and vacuumed) I'll be going through my books...my boxes and boxes of books. MS thought the only books I was going to be selling are the ones I have in my living room. Um, little does he realize that those books barely crack the stack of books I own. I told him, "This is the bad thing about dating a girl who has a college degree and went to grad school. Lots and lots of books." Not to mention that I was always a reader. I'd like to get these sorted before J-term so I can get them up on the swap meet and maybe get some cash for next spring. If not there then I'll try maybe half.com or something.

I also am going to get all the boxes of Xmas ornaments I bought when I was in high school. I used to buy/collect Disney ornaments, but they are a little heavy to hang on my tiny 3 foot tree, so I've never put them up. I'm thinking eBay will be my best option for those.

So see, I have a plan. And I'm excited about this plan. I just need to stay motivated.