Digging Out the Studio, Week 4: The Paper!!

It is so weird to write a post about "Week 4", when actually for me it's Week "Umm, we've been doing this for a really long time now." In fact, it is a different month entirely. But that is how things go in the life of a stay at home mom during the end of the school year. And the Sisters are coming back tomorrow, so let's get going on this post, before more stuff happens and I get even farther behind.

So, Week 4. This week was all about paperwork. 

You know when you are having company come over and you need your dining room table, but you've been using it as a catch all for everything you didn't want to put away for the last 8 months, and so in a feverish cleaning panic, you decide it's a great idea to dump it all in a bag that you'll sort out later? Yeah. 

There were a few of those. Like 6. They had been there since 2006, I kid you not. Well each bag was probably a different year of debris, but we are talking more than 10 years ago. Sigh. I even had a huge box of stuff. On top of the 10 year old bags. So embarrassing. But better to admit there's a problem and get on the stick fixing it, right? And fix it we did.

We busted out the power tools. 

Come on! You know you would so much rather read a story that starts with a rip saw than with piles of papers to be sorted. So we totally did...start the story with a rip saw. And I have the pictures to prove it.

Once upon a time, there were three mild mannered sister missionaries. And they showed up at my house to do service. Little did they know that I would hand them a giant saw, give them a lecture about how not to cut off their own leg, and have them chop a pallet to bits!

Sister Merrit stayed calm, cool, and collected, as always. She grew up with power tools and had developed an immunity to their charms. Hence, she did not go crazy or do anything photo worthy.

Sister Anderson, on the other hand, was super excited to wield the deadly tool! (Guys, she kills me with the cheerful smile. And the comfy dress. And the deadly saw. This kid is so not going to cut your leg off.)

Then there's Sister Kleven. A terror in the back yard! Ahhhhh!!!!!!

The dresses are killing my story. It is so hard to strike fear in the hearts of the readers when you have the three nicest girls in the world who are spending their time acting like Jesus and wearing dresses as your main characters. The dresses did not, however, impede the pallet from being totally cut into little bits. Thanks so much ladies.

Once the pallet was given what for disposed of properly, we all decided we could go settle in and get on with the paper sorting.

Look how eager they are. Such good volunteers.

Everybody got their own sack to work through.

I was so glad my kid ended up with the big box to sort. A ton of it was books and things from her childhood, so she could decide right on the spot what to keep and what to chuck. It would have taken weeks to get her to look through it if she hadn't been there when we did it. #simplegifts 

It was interesting how the right person seemed to wind up with the right bag. My oldest got the box of her own stuff. Sister Merrit got the bag full of family history materials that I had forgotten I even owned. She had such a jolly time looking at various family members and then looking at me and my kid to see who we looked like. 

Sister Kleven got the bag of small child pictures and crafts. She was in heaven and there was a lot of "Oh..so cute!" and "Oh...such a fun idea!" coming from her side of the table. She is all about kids and crafts.

Sister Anderson got the bag of bills and mortgage receipts from 2006. Bummer right? Not for this kid. She buckled right down and started putting things in stacks based on various categories I set up for her. She's all about order and details. Something I have remembered and planned for in the following weeks. 

And you guys are probably curious what bag I ended up with. Well, to be perfectly honest, I had to answer so many questions about what went where and "is this a keep or a chuck?" that they did all the work and I literally just supervised. And yes, I do feel a bit guilty about that. Then again, I had to deal with and put away all the papers once they were sorted, which did take me a week (or may be an on going thing that I haven't totally dealt with yet). So I suppose it's all good. In any case, they totally have my undying true love and devotion forever.

Here's what it looked like at the end:

 Ta Da! So much less paper!!!

And see the glossy blue photo album on the table? That's my photo album from my freshman year of college. My best friend/college roommate/sister-in-law made it for me. They got me telling stories from when I was a freshman. Which led to Sister Anderson telling us all about her posse. And how they found each other, got through a bunch of stuff together, and then decided to go out into the world on missions to make the world a better place.

She even had a scripture about it. (If you are faint-hearted when it comes to scriptures, skip to the end) It's from the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, and describes when a group of friends and brothers decide to go out into the world and see what good they can do individually, seeking and listening to what God asks them to, with little regard for their own preferences or comfort. Pretty brave stuff. Follow the finger to verse 13:

Man, that brings back memories. I am still friends with several of the people from that part of my life...  

Oh, sorry, I drifted back in time there for a sec. 

My mission. That was such a strange and hard and amazing time. So far away...

I bet Sister Anderson never thought for a second when she was talking to those friends and got her call (That's what Mormon's call the location assignment you get from the Church headquarters for your mission) to Turkey - yes she's supposed to be in Turkey, but had VISA issues- that she's be spending Wednesdays cleaning out an art studio and using power tools. How funny to be part of someone else's mission story!

Anyway, we got those papers beaten back. I wish I could tell you that they are all completely dealt with... But if we were done with everything, what would we talk about? And we're not even close to done at week 4. So come back tomorrow to see if I wrote about week 5, kay? We actually go into the studio and attack it directly! So exciting! I know you can't wait, so I'll go get busy so I have time to tell you about it. 

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw

PS. Here are the links to all the other exciting episodes of tackling the studio:

• The book that started things
• The Plan
• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 10- I know. I just couldn't wait to write about it

Week 10: The Whole Hog? Day 1

Ok, I know it's supposed to be "paper week" and I am supposed to write about week 4, But I think we will have a pause in our regularly scheduled chronology, because I really want to post something, and it happens to actually be Week 10. So sorry about the breach in chronological etiquette.  And for all of you here for the Sister Missionaries, have no fear, they will make an appearance on Wednesday. Unless I decide I need to write about week 4 and/or 5 tomorrow. Which I just might. In that case, they will be here tomorrow. But not really, as they only come on Wednesdays.

In any case, this week I am working on the studio everyday because my kids are all having a jolly time at camp. So I figured since I have all this uninterrupted time for the first time in weeks, I'd tackle things with a vengeance.

The goal this week is to take everything out of the studio, bit by bit, to go through it with an eye for seeing what to lose and what to keep, and then to put it all back in a way that makes things easy to use and find. And to make it look cooler. Such a huge goal. 

To be honest, I have been staring at the counters in my studio for weeks now, wondering exactly what to do with all the things scattered on them. There are just so many decisions to be made and so many little things that need dealing with. Combined with the kids being home all day and my spending the last 3 weeks painting a good friend's kitchen cabinet doors in my garage, it has been completely overwhelming. 

After a bit more hand ringing, I decided I better go back to the book, literally. I pulled out my copy of SORT and Succeed again. For those of you just tuning in, this is an organizing book by Darla DeMorrow that I reviewed here, that kind of inspired the current muddle studio project. Nothing like professional help to stave off the panic attack. I read through all the stages again, and for some reason, the idea of a reward stuck in my head. My kids are at camp this week, so I have all day from 8:30 am-3:30 pm to work uninterrupted. At least that was my plan. After perusing the book again, I was reminded that working longer than 4 hours a pop is not recommended. So I decided that my reward for 4 hours of work was writing to you all about it for a couple of hours! 

That may sound totally lame, but I have been dying to post all the stuff we have been doing, but just haven't had time. I have only posted through week 3, and it's really week 10. So I really want to catch up with myself. I may even get crazy and post every day this week. Shocking, I know!

After getting my SORT and Succeed pep talk (Demorrow really is a pleasant, encouraging author and coach) I marched myself back downstairs and got to work. As directed, I set my written goals for the day:

• Deal with the extra shelf se
• Set up sorting tables
• Remove everything that has no home
• Decide if these items stay or go
• Put bills away in bag for shredding
• Put away cooler
• Check paint and find a home for labels, formulas or remove to trash
• Empty trash and replace bag

(And I even made you guys a little video of my good intentions, but it isn't loading well. I will add it later, if I can find someone more technically savvy than me to help. Queue the teenagers. Alas, they are at camp.)

I started out strong with the extra shelves. I had a missing leg in this set, and another broken set of a similar shelving unit, and when I compared the two, the legs seemed like a match! So yay. The shelves are off to another family that just moved and can use them. 

Next I set up my sorting table in the basement family room, so I'd have a little more room to decide what I was gonna do with stuff.

It seemed so spacious. 

After about 45 min, it looked like this:

So depressing. 

I am going to have to set up another table to actually be able to sort anything. Good thing I have another one. I suppose I could also just make my kids clean up their stuff on the craft table in the back ground and use that. Sigh.

The good news is that one corner of the studio looks like this:

Definite progress. Especially when you remember I started here:

I kept taking things out and finding pockets of space on the "sorting" table. 

I also put away the cooler and dealt with the dead paint cans that the Sisters sorted and checked or me during Week 5. Check and check off my goal list!

Eventually, I got down to just the furniture, at least in this little corner. So I did what any normal tired person would do, I started moving the supports for things and lifting the drawing table up on the pallet by myself. Always the best plan when you have no help and the table is heavy and a bit wobbly. 

I also moved the heavy plastic drawer set and turned over the cement board, almost knocking the wires on my gas water heater. Seriously, I think there is something wrong with me. 

This all happened because I started thinking about new ways to organize the space. And I wanted to see what it would look like if I put the "Fine Art" section (I have decided I need a Fine Art section) on the far right, near the hanging racks. I loved it for about 2 seconds and then started seeing problems. 

The biggest problem is that the table is high and the chair is low. I could get rid of the pallet and cement board, but it floods about 1/4 inch in the studio every so often, so I try to keep everything off the floor. Especially anything cardboard. And I really like hanging my works in progress on the "board wall" to dry, not that I've done that for years. But it was great when I did it in 2010. And if my table is there, will I still be able to reach the board wall? And what about the the matte board against the wall and where do I put my fine papers? And? And? And?

This is about the time I turned around and saw this:

And my head blew up. 

So I walked out. And got some ice cream. Because we all know that ice cream solves everything. And while I was enjoying my snack, I looked at the clock my 4 hours were up. I felt magically excused from working any more. Especially since things weren't going anywhere good. 

So we'll see what happens tomorrow. I have big plans to go exercise first, so maybe the endorphins will help me unjumble all this. And just for the record,"Unjumble" is totally a word. I totally did not make it up right now.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw