Monday, July 16, 2018

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

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