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
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
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