So, this weekend was fantastic!!! The weather was great (though we really could use some more rain, please and thank you!), and I felt energetic and motivated. I accomplished a lot, and have been able to scratch a few things of my list. There's still more to do, but I'm getting closer and closer to my goal of being totally and completely organized.

Saturday morning, mom and I did our walk up to Carlene's for coffee and a carrot muffin. It felt good to walk again. We were able to take The Hill at a brisk pace, and practically race-walked home. Our energy levels seem to have finally returned to normal! Carlene's wasn't as busy as last week when we walked up with my visiting East Coast Uncle. Mom and I were able to sit in the back room this time, and spent about an hour eating our muffin and sipping our coffees. My cup of coffee was particularly delicious! Seattle's Best medium roast. Mmmm! The best coffee ever! Mom said her non-fat latte was quite good as well. I swear, if we didn't have that wonderful coffee waiting for us at the end of that walk, we wouldn't do it!

Later that afternoon, I sorted through the hundreds of CDs I had stacked up in two CD towers, two plastic shoe boxes, and the bottom drawer of my dresser. I wish now that I'd kept count of how many I managed to dump off to Second Spin, but I didn't. It was, however, quite a few - all the CDs I have left are in the two CD towers, and one shoe box. There are several more that can go at a later time, after I make a mix of my favourite songs off them. My goal is to get my collection down to the two CD towers only.

Friday evening my Vestby bedside table from Ikea arrived, and mom assembled yesterday it while I dealt with my CDs. It's cute, but not quite what I thought it would be - I thought it would be solid wood all the way around, but it's not. It's corrugated plastic around a wood frame, with a corrugated plastic banker's box for the drawer. That's what I get for not reading the description! So, that set is not going to work as bedroom furniture for me after all - the plastic, while fairly sturdy, will simply not hold up to the beating I will likely give it on a daily basis. I'm just too hard on stuff. Also, I'd planned on stacking one on top of another, as well as using one for a TV stand, and neither option will work. Still, it's a very nice little storage unit, and mom and I will find use for it somewhere. Currently, I have it filled with my unmentionables, as I cleaned out the two dressers so mom can start bringing in the rubber stamps and other craft supplies from the garage. It will be so nice to have all my crafting stuff at my fingertips! I've been dying to stamp something, but it's hard when my stamps, paper, and stamp pads are stacked in the garage. Having everything in the den will make my stamping life very easy and much more fun!

I'm very much looking forward to continuing our "Clean Sweep"ing this following weekend. It's a 3-day weekend, plus I took a couple extra days so we could get everything done. There's really not that much left to do, and it's all very exciting! I can't really pinpoint what has changed in me. I used to be so overwhelmed by all the clutter and mess, that I just couldn't do anything! Now, I just pick a stack of stuff and go through it. More often than not, I just toss it, or put it in the Goodwill bag. It must be that show my mom is always watching - "Clean Sweep." I usually catch the last half hour of it when I get home, and it's amazing how much stuff people accumulate throughout their lives. Just like I had. Junk people keep because it holds some kind of memory or link to their past, or is some kind of souvenir. Just like all the crap I have. Stuff that sits in boxes in the garage or the closet or under the bed. Stuff you don't even remember you have until you dig it out.

OMG. That was me. That was me, me, me!! But, no more. I'm getting rid of old CDs, video tapes, and even new DVDs I've purchased, but didn't really want. I'm getting rid of all my collections - T-shirts, Beanie Babies, Meanies, rubber stamp magazines, fitness magazines, key chains, and funky miscellaneous crap - except my spoons, because I simply have too much. TOO MUCH! I want less, and yet, I want more. I want less crap, and more space. That's what I want!

Reading: You've Got to Read This ed. by Ron Hansen. For next week we're reading: "Guy de Maupassant" by Isaac Babel, "Wants" by Grace Paley, and "Helping" by Robert Stone, as well as the three short stories submitted by classmates.

Classic Book: Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.

Previously: Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Listening to: Big Daddy Weave, Nate Sallie, Kelly Clarkson, Casting Crowns.

Writing: I've picked up "False Memories" again. I figure it really doesn't matter what I throw together to submit - if it sucks, it sucks, and it's best to find out sooner rather than later. The point of the workshop is to find out what works and what doesn't in fiction, to and to get ideas and suggestions on how to improve our own writing. Regardless of which piece I turn in, it's going to get ripped up one way and down the other. Nicely, of course, but ripped just the same. It's happened to everyone else, so it's my turn now. And, we don't have to submit a finished piece. Many other students have turned in unfinished work. Marc just asked that we say it's unfinished, so the end of the piece doesn't seem so abrupt.

Gratitude: A successful, fun, relaxing, enjoyable weekend.