Two and a Half Weeks...

That's how long it's taken me to clean my scrapbook room. And when I say 2 and half weeks, I really mean about 4-5 hours a day for 2 and a half weeks. I only work until lunch time. Remember, I'm a creature of routine. I eat lunch while watching a show, then I check my emails. After that, it's reading and nap time. Before you know it, it's time to start dinner. It's a pretty good routine. Ahhh, the life of retirement. Or maybe I should say, "quarantine!" I was pretty much forced to stay home. Turns out it was a good thing.

Anyway, it was the room I had been putting off after the remodel. It looked like this:

I thought I had more pictures, but I don't. You just have to imagine the whole room looked like this. Just stuff piled everywhere from the closets in the other rooms. When it was time to sort all of this, everything had to be cleaned! You know, construction dust and all. 

In this picture, I had already cleaned off the two shelves on the right. I got rid of so much stuff. It looked like the shelves on the left before I thinned it out.

Here's the final results. Every single thing had to be removed and cleaned. So much work! You can see how cleared out the 2 shelves on the left are now. 

This is the view from the door.

Believe it or not, I eliminated quite a few of the antique clocks from my collection.

I still really like the "escape" sign hanging from the window treatment. It reminds me of the time--I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago--Pam and I went to Heidi Swapp's "Creative Escape" in Scottsdale. We even took the hubs so they could play golf. We had such a good time. I wish Heidi still had these creative weekends. So, so much has changed with this hobby. At least we're still trying to keep it alive. Hence our two scrapbook retreats every year. In fact, we're leaving next Wednesday for Kentucky Lake. We're all looking forward to it. When it's cold and gray, it's nice to be inside scrapbooking! 

Those stacking white drawers used to be full of rubber stamps. Most of them are empty now. I might even be able to get rid of them.

I still need to go through all of my paper and those drawers. 

I hauled a carload to SmART where you can donate craft supplies. It's out by the Opryland Hotel which is about 30 minutes from my house. It's a non-profit that employs the handicapped. I like the idea of being able to donate to a place that appreciates what I have to get rid of rather than just giving it to Goodwill. I got rid of tons of stamps, paper pads, pens (OMGosh, the pens), buttons, fibers and so much more. I just figured that if I haven't used it in the 20 years I've been scrapbooking, then most likely I won't be using it for the next 20 years!

And now this. I spent 4 1/2 hours just on my work table. 

Every detail had to be cleaned. Every nook and cranny. It feels so good to have it finished.

I got the table cleared off. In the vintage muffin tin is my collection of rhinestone pins. I do like sparkly things. 

That picture frame is so cute. It's made out of typewriter or old computer keys. Jordan gave it to me one year for Christmas. 

And now for the confession. I did not clean each little thing and compartment in this printers tray. I didn't clean anything that would have required me to get up on a step stool. So, if I couldn't reach it, it didn't get cleaned. You can go back and look at the pictures. Anything beyond my reach is still dusty and cluttered--or at least more cluttered than what I cleaned out. 

You can get an idea of the dust from this picture. Butch is going to help me with the upper shelves. He doesn't have the balance problems that I do. So I'll have him hand things down to me for cleaning. Mostly likely it will be this weekend before we can get to it. I'm actually getting to play bridge twice this week. Yay!! I'm really looking forward to that!

My work is just about done, so I can look forward to play!!

What work have you done lately?