Digging Out the Studio Week 3: Getting Crafty

Week 3 was a whirlwind for me. I had just gotten back from my brother-in-law's wedding and I could feel a cold coming on. Things were going a little "End of the Year" berserk, so I almost cancelled. But the Sisters couldn't come any other day, so I just told them to come anyway and bluffed, like I had actually thought through what they were going to do. 

I walked into the studio and saw the bin of craft supplies that my kids use. You know the pictures that 3 year olds draw of the sun or spiders or octopuses, with 10,000 arms and legs coming off a messy circle? That was what this bin kinda resembled. "Great!" I thought with much relief, "I'll make them clean out the craft stuff," and proceeded to pull out anything remotely crafty that looked like a tornado had hit it.

Sister Kleven is particularly partial to crafts, so I put her in charge of the that crazy bin, as well as my ribbons that looked like they had been fighting amongst themselves since the Christmas onslaught. And can I tell you, this girl does not disappoint. Look at the order she brought to the battling ribbons! It's art, I say. Art!

And this is the former octopus-like bin. Look at the order. Could you die? All those Ziploc bags in their tidy little rows. I never thought I'd consider Ziploc bags a thing of beauty, but there it is. 

As for Sister Merritt, well since she had so much fun with the screws and nuts and bolts the first time, I put her in charge of putting them in their new home. Wasn't that so thoughtful of me? Actually, she wasn't even annoyed. She muttered something about "personal vendetta" and jumped right in.

And I have a confession to make. Last time I totally cheated. Sister Anderson's first week in our area, or even as a missionary, was Week 3. She was not even here for the modeling of the 80's clothes. But she heard about the cow print Guess? jeans and was jealous, so we pulled them out and let her play with the 80's too. Sister Merritt was actually the one trying things on, but we were laughing too hard to remember to take pics. But I ended up giving her the desert camo pants, so if you ask really nicely, she might model them for you. 

Anyway, back to Sister Anderson. New missionaries are called "beans" as in "green beans." At least they were in my mission. I had forgotten what an entertaining blend of spunk, enthusiasm, and insecurity they can be. It was so fun to watch Sister Anderson wrap her brain around the fact the missionary work also included wearing 80's clothes and checking if all the markers worked or not. Yes, I did. I gave her this huge bin of mostly dead markers and made her draw with every single one to see if they still worked or not. Welcome to full time service sweetie!

Sister Merritt finished wrestling with the nuts and bolts once and for all and asked if I had a pencil sharpener so she could tackle the pile of dull, unusable colored pencils next to the bin of mostly dead markers. 

I do, but it is electric and upstairs and prone to overheating. 

After consulting with Sister Anderson, Sister Merritt decided it would be better to stay with her companions and asked for a knife. 

A knife? Why yes, I have several. Take your pick

So a delighted Sister Merritt settled in and happily whittled her way though my stack of dull pencils. She kept telling us how great it was to be whittling again and how it reminded her of camping in the wilds of Wyoming, where she's from. Friends, this girl is the real deal. No Glamping for her. 

They all got so much done so quickly. It was mind boggling. So we had a consult, to decide what to deal with the next week and how to proceed after that. After pursuing the studio again, we unanimously voted to tackle the papers next week. Brave souls, they are. So there we left off, headed into the dark waters of the unknown paperwork ahead. You'll have to come back for the next post to see if we survived. 

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw

 PS: If you want to catch up on our little journey of discovery, 

here are all the previous posts in the series

The Book That Started It All

The Big Picture

Week 1

Week 2

Digging Out the Studio, Week 2: Bin and Bins of Fun

Welcome back to our nifty little series on digging out my art studio/storage room. If you are new here, thanks for clicking over. You can catch up with these posts:

The book that might just change things

The Plan

Week 1: Motivation and Missionaries

In any case, our story continues with me getting a phone call. Normally I hate being called by surveys or businesses selling things or computer scammers, but this call was a little different. It was from the National Children's Center, asking if I had any donations. Donations? Hmm... Let me think...What about the whole studio full of crap I don't want anymore? Can we donate that? We can!? Great! So I booked a pickup in three days. 

Do charities in the West or other parts of the country call you up out of the blue and ask if you want them to come to your house and pick up your stuff? There are a ton of them here that do. I think I am on the calling list of about 5 different charities, who will come and remove my problems...er, unwanted, gently used items about once a month. It's amazing.  You just put it in your driveway, with the name of the charity or "donation" taped to the top of the pile, and when you get back from the grocery store or work or whatever, it has magically vaporized and you are left with a receipt that you can deduct from your taxes. 

Best. Gig. Ever.

Guys I have to be honest. I was feeling like the smartest girl ever. It was such a good feeling. And I have a spoiler for you...Things totally worked out and they took all my stuff and I lived happily ever after.

Well, not all my stuff. There is still plenty of crap in the studio that I haven't got to yet. 

But they did take this pile:

Do you know what a bunch of those bins are filled with? VHS tapes! I know, right? I was so excited that someone can still use them. There was the whole collection of Disney movies like "The Emperor's New Grove" and "Mary Poppins" and "Bug's Life". And the classics from my kid's little days like "Elmo in Grouchland". Not to mention the more grown up classics like "Blast From the Past" (I'm not sure I ever actually watched that one after I bought it, but if you recall, there was a time when Brendan Frasier was actually worth looking at) and "October Sky" that no one remembers, but were fun back in the day. 

How sad to be old enough to really qualify for someone who can use the phrase "back in the day." Sigh.

Anyway, the people came while I was shopping and the VHS collection of my past was on it's way to some other fate than the trash heap! So crazy exciting. Especially since I have this reoccurring image of a world where all the trees are dead and black VHS film wraps around them like strangler vines. "Shudder." I am sure I am the only one who has that particular thought, but I did sleep better that night

But VHS tapes were not the only thing that found a new life. The sisters and I started by taking everything out of those bins, before we filled them with VHS tapes. The tapes were previously taking up half of the drawer space in the giant dresser I have living next to the freezer in the studio. And I had no idea what was living in the bins. It had been a while, like 10 years, since I had opened them. 

Guys, can I just tell you how great these girls are to help me? They actually came back to help again! After I made them sort all those little screws last time. So as a favor, I let them open bins containing who knows what and 80's and 90's ski clothing that mice had discovered. So nice of me. Fortunately, I was the one who opened that bin. I knew we had had mice and had gotten rid of them, so there was no hysterical screaming. 

What the girls got to discover was rabbit pelts (I am an animal fur junkie. I am sorry if you are a card carrying PETA member. I just really like animals and having their fur makes me feel safe and close to them. #justbeinghonest) and all of my Easter decorations that I never use and forgot I had. Some of them were pretty cute, but hello...I FORGOT I had them. Buh bye! I did end up keeping the eggs daughter #1 and #2 got at the White House Easter Egg Rolls when they were each 3. They were so cute and I was so happy to be there. Some things we keep. Even Marie Kondo of The Magic of Tidying Up fame says "Keep the things that bring you joy." So those posters and eggs and pelts stayed. 

The real fun started when they found the bin of 80's clothing I had saved because I totally emote all over material things. There were a pair of military issue desert camo pants I got at Smith and Edwards, a military surplus store in Ogden, UT that my grandpa and father go way back with. There was the designer periwinkle shirt and pant set I bought in a boutique in York, England, when I spent 3 weeks there after I graduated from high school in 1989, that I would still wear if it actually fit me. In the event I ever lose enough weight to get it on and do it justice, I will totally post pics here. There was a olive colored washable silk flight suit-like jump suit, right out of Top Gun that quickly became Sister Merritt's favorite thing. There was a cute pair of red Guess shorts and a few dresses my mom made for me, but the Piece de Resistance was definitely my prized and hoarded pair of cow print Guess jeans. 

I love these jeans as much as the cow skull that hangs above my mantle and that was a gift from my father who bought it at the Phoenix swap meet from a lady who found it in the desert. I know. I know. I am super weird, bordering on creepy, but I love that thing for all i am worth. it says, "home" to me in the best way. The cow print Guess jeans are like that. 

First, they are Guess? and if you were a teenager in the 80's, you know that owning and wearing Guess clothing made you a better person. Misguided perhaps, but when I wore those jeans, I felt like the most popular, magnificent, and cool girl on the planet. 

Second, they are a size 28. And they actually fit me. They are material proof that I was once "hot". Want to see? I knew you would understand. I freaking love this picture. Brace yourself for some seriously big hair:

I cannot express to you how much I miss this version of my butt. Sigh. And yes, I am standing on the counter, right in front of the sink. 

And here are the same pants on Sister Anderson, Sister Missionary extraordinaire!

A nice touch, the "Vote for Pedro" shirt, so you are completely certain that she is Mormon. And look. They are BAGGY on her. Sigh. But nothing will diminish my love for those jeans. Good times, I tell you. Good times. 

So that was this week's edition of "Dig out CM Shaw's Studio". 

How are you guys doing with your projects? Any progress? 

And if you are looking for some meaning in your life, I know a few girls...

Talk to you soon, 

CM Shaw

Dig out the Studio, Week 1: Motivation not required, but Missionaries go a long way towards helping reach your goal.

Warning, this post contains lots of pictures of a dirty basement.  

To prevent you from being overwhelmed, here is a picture of the azaleas blooming at the National Arboretum. It will give your eyes something pretty to look at, if the mess of my studio is just too much. 

Just kidding. I know you all can handle a good mess. We just went to see the flowers the same week I started working on the studio and figured they might be a nice foil to my dirty basement. And just as an aside, If you find yourself in the Nation's Capital with nothing to do on a nice May afternoon, I would highly recommend the National Arboretum. Here's another pic, including me:

So. Many. Blossoms. 

But this post isn't about flowers. It's about whether or not I can get all the garbage out of my studio and make it back into a functional space.

So last post, we were getting motivated, right? Oh yeah. The SORT and Succeed Method says we don't need motivation to get all the stuff out of our hoarder's stash ...er...art studio. Well, the first  week I actually put that theory to the test. I scheduled a time to work on the studio. And I invited a few friends I knew needed service hours over to help me, just to keep me from wimping out and "forgetting" to do it. 

And I figured if I was going to talk about the SORT and Succeed book, I had better actually try following that method. So I started with the first part of the acronym SORT, "Start with a written plan." My "Big Picture" plans are laid out here. 

After I wrote all that out, I went back to the book and realized I had totally missed the point. In Ch. 2, DeMarrow clearly states:

 "A project is an organizing job you can accomplish in one defined 

block of time by applying the SORT and Suceed system.

   If you think you'll need more than about 4 hours to solve your organizing 

problem, then your project is probably too big. You'll need to break that big 

project into some smaller projects." (pg. 22)

Yeah...Apparently "I am going to clean all this crap out and be a completely different person and live happily ever after" does not exactly fit the definition given for "a project". I kept reading, hoping for her to throw me a bone and make this easy. My friends were going to be here in 20 min. 

I found my solution in Ch.3: "Start at the door." 

Brilliant! I'll start at the door! This is what it looked like near my door.

So I quickly wrote out "Throw away any trash near the door. Put away things that have places. Make places or plans for anything that does not have a place. Deal with everything within 3 feet of each side of the door." I finished writing just as the doorbell rang.

(Sorry for the grainy pictures. My iPad doesn't love low light. There may be more than a few of these in this series of posts. Hopefully it just makes you feel like you are that much better a photographer. I am all about empowerment, you know.)

There is something I should tell you about my friends. While they are my friends, they are also serving as sister missionaries for my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know you may be scratching your head and thinking, "Aren't Mormon missionaries boys in suits on bikes?" Yes they are, but missionaries come in "girls with cars" form too! These kids give up 18 mos-2 yrs of their college life, paying their own way, to be volunteers, do service, and teaching about our church to anyone who will listen to them. It is such a good thing to do with yourself in that very self-focused time of your life.You can find out more about what full time missionaries do here) I don't know how exactly we decided it was a good idea for them to help me, but it got approved as "viable service", so they will be around for the next 6 weeks or so. Yay for me!

While I was planning what we were going to do, I realized that if I had help, I needed to have projects for them to work on that didn't require me to make any decisions. So I looked around at what there was to be done. Here is what I found.

What 20 year old girl doesn't want to break down a pallet with a rip saw?

They made short work of that puppy. Now I can finally build that easel I have been thinking about for 5 years. (I swear, Pinterest is the opposite of free time.) 

*Dear Mission President  and concerned parents reading this post: Please notice the protective eye-wear. Sister Kleven and Sister Merritt were very careful, listened attentively to my safety lecture about how not to cut off your leg with a rip saw, and both have previous experience with power tools* In fact, Sister Merritt said she grew up helping her dad do roofing projects in Wyoming. Woot! Some Girl Power there baby!

They also got all my mixed-up bins of screw and nails and bolts sorted by size. True love and devotion, I tell you. And they did it all with those smiles you see there.

And I dealt with the area around the door! Check it out:

Notice the distinct lack of debris, garbage, and things without a home. It worked like magic!

So far so good, I think. I have to say though, as much as I like the SORT and Suceed method, I think my magic ingredient may be the sister missionaries. This is so much more fun with a bunch of well intentioned 20 year olds helping. And this was only week 1. Wait until you see what we got up to in Week 2.

Are you guys de-junking anything?Have you read SORT and Suceed  or any other interesting books on organizing lately? How is your "project" going? 

Let me know. The sisters and I would love to hear your story.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw