clean

One Thing Each Day

Mom wants us to help her with her "One Thing Each Day" challenge where you get rid of one thing each day to help declutter the house. I found this stuffed animal that I've destroyed. I found some junk mail. I have this bag of navy beans I'm giving away. There must be at least 365 in here. Now I'm done for the whole year!

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I heard that! Get back to work, you little crumb!

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Work smarter, not harder, right?

I think he was onto something.

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My aunt told me about this challenge years ago. She said that if you get rid of one thing each day – even if it’s something as small as a paperclip – at the end of the year you will have made significant progress in cleaning up your house.

I thought of this challenge as I was hanging my new calendar. What if, to keep myself honest, I wrote what it was that I got rid of each day on the calendar? So far, this has turned out to be a great motivator. Trying to sort out an entire desk drawer might seem intimidating, but getting rid of that cable from a camera you don’t even have anymore is easy. After a while, these little steps add up.

I wish I could say that the place looks neater already. Instead I can say that the stack of items I have to give to charity is growing steadily. I keep hoping that somehow my donations will make it to areas of the country that have been devastated. Their loss is so great. I want to help, but I have so little. Perhaps this will be a way for me to make a difference.

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Bear Paw Quilt

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Looking for ways to stay warm? Consider this cozy quilt!

This rustic Bear Paw Quilt would fit in nicely at a cabin by the lake or thrown over your couch at home.  The pattern is geometric, and the colors are bold yet earthy.  The overall effect of the quilt is of paw prints in snow.  On sunny days, the colors look so inviting it is hard not to lie down on them and take a nap.

Handmade Bear Paw Quilt and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.

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The Bookshelf

Gosh guys, not being able to see well recently has really made me think about the clutter i have in my life.

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I mean, if I couldn't see, how could I even start to sort through books? Would I still want any of these/ Might someone come read them to me?

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Some of these books were new when I go them. they were cutting edge research. Maybe a histlry major would be interested in the now. Or an archaeologist.

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Some of these books were gifts, so they are very dear to me, yet if I am honest with myself, I will likely never read them again.

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Humans are so ridiculously sentimental. I mean, we dogs destroy our toys all the tme and don't give it a second thought. Hush your mouth! Blue Puppy is a national treasure!

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The thought of my overcrowded bookshelf weighed heavily on my mind, yet it was painful to consider giving away something as significant as a book. Still, I forced myself to start the difficult task and set aside a few volumes that I no longer needed.

Then I woke up.

Crap!!!

So sometimes you dream of the devil, and sometimes you dream about cleaning bookshelves? (Humans are so weird.)

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Dream Our World

A book everyone should have on their shelves is Dream Our World! Inside, Bitey and Toby visit the museum of their dreams as they view the world of art from a canine perspective.

Dream Our World and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.

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What To Do With Old Fabrics?

Various fabric swatches

The question we have to answer is not only “What do we do with a drunken sailor?” but “What do we do with leftover fabric?”.

Over the years, I have acquired a number of different fabrics.  Some are still usable in small amounts for things like patchwork quilts.  Others really aren’t good unless you have enough for a garment.  In my case I have anywhere from 1-2 yds. of different pinstripe wools and suit weight linens that are still nice fabrics, but there isn’t enough for me to make anything for myself.

Since there isn’t enough for me to use, I would like to get them out of the closet, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to simply toss them.  I would like to donate them to some individual or organization, but I haven’t found any that need fabric.  They all seem to need yarn.

I hate that my desire to clean is being stalled by a fear of being wasteful. On the other hand, I hate to burden someone else with that which is useless.  That is, after all, how I ended up with so much fabric…I inherited it from other seamstresses who were cleaning out their closets.

Terrier pups waits next to his tennis ball.

Hey, when you’re done cleaning that closet, can we put more biscuits in there?

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To take your mind off mid-winter closet cleaning, pick up a copy of Poopiter.   Poopiter follows the adventures of my two pups as they spend their first year together.

Bitey Dog and Toby in POOPITER

Poopiter is available from Amazon.

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