The Detritus of My Life

I’ll be starting a new job in a couple of weeks. I’ve begun the to process of cleaning out my office. It’s going to be quite a project since I haven’t exactly kept the place in order, and I’ve been in it for a long time.

Here are some things I’ve thrown out so far:

• A list of doctors on our insurance plan that was many years out of date

• Files from my predecessor that I don’t think I’ve ever looked at

• Wall calendars from 2004 and 2005. One had scary pictures of antique dolls and the other pictures of demented looking fairies (they were gifts). I’ve saved the 2003 and 2006 calendars because I like the pictures. Did I mention that my home is chaos too?

• A flower pot that’s been empty for 3 years, ever since someone took pity on the dead plant in my office and disposed of it (although if you would think they might have disposed of the pot as well. Perhaps they left it behind to remind me of the plant I killed. It didn’t work since I only just realized it’s still here).

• A poster of the 1999-2000 Caps lineup. Adam Oates is like retired now, right?

• A hotel bill and other receipts from a conference I attended. In 1999.

• A 2002 day planner. Flipping through this item revealed that my life used to be a lot more exciting.

• A bottle of conditioner (in case I ever felt the need for some deep conditioning while at work?).

• A list of songs that I was apparently making for a mixed CD. Although the list is so old that it might have been a mixed tape.

I found a shopping bag that I apparently carted down from my previous office when I moved into this one 5 years ago and never looked in. I'm really organized.

Here are some of the other gems that have turned up in my clean-up:

• A Caps water bottle (never used, I think)

• What appears to be a Lego action figure with a sword in one hand and a gun in the other. Totally ready for action

• A knife

• A gift bag with a pink poodle on it.

• An ancient mail scale

• The Sound of Music on VHS

• A slinkee

• A photo album that I think I bought as a gift but never got around to giving

Did I mention that I’m a packrat? I can't wait to start over again in a new office with no crap.

This Is My 300th Post?

When I logged on to Blogger to post this, I realized that this will be my 300th post. Sadly, I don't have a momentous post just for this moment. As you may have noticed if you haven’t given up visiting this blog entirely, there hasn’t been much content lately. I just haven’t had much to write about, and I’ve been extra lazy, so even when I do have something I could possibly wrangle into a blog post, I usually just say “eh” and lay on the couch instead. There is a serious Lady Tiara-shaped depression in said couch these days.

I recently saw a friend I hadn’t seen in over a year. She asked what was new. I had pretty much nothing to say.

I wish I could say that blogging has been light because of my busy involvement in

1. Saving the world.
2. Making macrame plant holders (betcha can’t wait until Christmas, people)
3. My nothing short of brilliant Saved by the Bell fan fiction.

Sadly, or perhaps fortunately for the last two, none of these things are true.

So, having not much going on and feeling a bit out of sorts, this weekend I fell back on an activity that always makes me feel better: getting rid of shit.

I threw out

3 skirts
6 tops
2 dresses
1 pair of pajama pants
5 pairs of old or ill-fitting or just plain ugly shoes

And that was just a start. It’s always very liberating for me to get rid of things. And during the process, I rediscovered a skirt I had forgotten I had (surely a sign that my closet is out of control). Sadly, the shoe progress that I made is mitigated by the three pairs of shoes I’ve purchased since Sunday. And the other two pairs I have my eye on probably won’t help (but surely it’s a sign when a pair of shoes that you’ve been eyeing is now on sale for less than half of the original price?).