hey! let's go play over here

Hi, everyone.

My new home is at eringreenster.com. It's going to be a free for all, though I am going to try to keep tabs on a lot of stuff about my school research (which is kinda cool because it is about robots).

So meet me over there and keep in touch! I'll miss you if you don't.

Thanks for 4 years of fun on this blog. I love a good reinvention though. Don't you?

Simplification Sunday: Resolution Complete

It's still New Year's Eve in Toronto. I have a good list of ideas for my resolutions, and a little over 11 hours left to firm them up. This week in simplifying I'm allowing myself to abandon this blog. It's been fun, but I started it about 4 years ago when I was doing different things and interested in other stuff. It's served it's purpose. I am about to go freshen up another blog I've been stalling on and will make that my digital home starting very soon (and will announce here so if you want to join me there you can). Thanks to Emily and Andrea again for inspiring me to take on a year long process of purging, simplifying, destashing, and cleaning things out. It was so eye opening.

Simplification Sunday: Week Fifty One

Yahoo! Only one more week to go and resolution complete just in time to make another resolution.

My apartment is a paradise of clean, organized, decluttered, solitude happiness. This stuff is going to Goodwill tomorrow. I'm seriously running out of things to get rid of. Mission accomplished!

Simplification Sunday: Week Fifty!

Just three more weeks of destashing to go - okay, so this will spill a little into 2013, but I am so happy. I again have my home to myself and have totally scrubbed and redecorated everything. It feels great. I love my house. It's like a palace.

There is some good destashing happening in this bag that got dropped off at Goodwill this morning. Yahooo!

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty Nine

Yahoo! More destashing. I dropped this bag off at Goodwill this morning. My apartment is still pretty messy and untidy, but I can tell that a year of simplifying has really paid off.

Simplification Any Day of the Week: Week Forty Eight

Oh boy! I fell off the wagon! I was so close. Okay - regroup get through this. You can finish this resolution strong. My sister moved out (she was staying with me for a while as she got settled in Toronto), so this prompted a really great cleaning spree and destashing. All these things went to Goodwill this morning!

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty Seven

I destashed these four cups to my work place. They can live there and I can use them and share them. And then they'll eventually disappear and I'll never think of them again. I think the mug population at my house is now almost manageable. Why are there so many gorgeous and happy-making coffee cups in this world? Sigh.

I wish I had a thorough 360 degree inside-out video of my house from the start of the year until now. My parents really remarked on how clean and emptied out things are looking (which is hilarious, because it's still full of clutter).

Right now I'm struggling with destashing and organizing. I've been brutally busy lately and so everything is always a mess in my house it seems. I'm always a mess of unfinished projects and laundry in various states of laundrying.

Recovering from my back injury has left me tired and with eyes always full of tears. A few weeks ago the pain broke itself free from my lower back and exploded. Now I have pain shrapnels everywhere. In my shoulders and hands and hips. I'm not a happy kid.

Must. Plod. Onward. Only five weeks to go!!!

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty Six

Sometimes your friends will help you out in simplifying. I had a beading party and cut down on the stash here . . . just a bit. So that was good, to see some beads get eaten up in groovy projects. 

I also set a picture frame by the side of the road. And my sister got rid of my old mattress a while back. 

Sigh. We're getting there. Must destash more. 

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty Five

This week in simplifying I got rid of my old stereo system. This is not it. But I didn't take a picture of mine. So there you have it. It had a place for cds and cassettes and I have neither. And it was broken. So all around not worth me keeping or fixing, really. 

After all this, my life doesn't really feel any simpler. I think my house looks cleaner, but . . . humh.

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty Four!

This was another good week of simplifying . . . I think all this purging and destashing and the like has just opened the way for a massive redecorating spree in my home.

Eep!

This week I re-tackled my craft supply book shelf and got rid of another heap of ephemera (if I hadn't used it in five years . . . !!), condensed my buttons down to one tin (seriously, do I need to hold onto 457 small plastic black buttons that are just totally boring . . . nooooooooooo), then I got rid of a set of sheets that I didn't like (okay, so they were on sale, but now they just make me sad because they are not so pretty . . . and someone stole my top sheet so it's not even a set), and a vest that I hadn't worn in 8 years, and some other stuff. Gone, gone, gone. 

Just 8 weeks more. What else will I find? Will I finish my (curse words) quilt before 2013??!?!

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty Three

Whoa momma! What a great week of ruthless destashing! My house is like one of those cartoon clown cars in the circus where the clowns keep coming and coming and you're like, "There's no way that small car could fit 18 clowns!!!" But, yeah, that's what my house is like. How, after almost a year of destashing, am I still finding more stuff!! Blech!

This week in simplifying I:
- gave my ink and stamps to Izzy (a very groovey four year old); she's already put them to better use than I was
- put a fake cactus (i.e., plastic dust collecting thing) by the side of the road
- reduced the chair population in my house by one (why do two people and a cat need 19 places to sit . . . well, ask the cat)
- got rid of a shoe rack (I was just throwing all my shoes in a mountain in front of the rack and it was so gross and dusty!)
- dropped off this bag of decent clothing at Goodwill and tossed a few more worn out things

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty Two

I know, I know. It's totally ridiculous how much stuff I have rammed into less than 1000 square feet. Just when I was worried that I was running out of ideas for destashing and simplifying, I had a rush of redecorating energy and went through my kitchen with a fine toothed comb. I just set out all these things by the side of the road and am curious to see how fast they'll disappear. Love the free market economy.

Simplification Sunday: Turkey Edition (Week Forty One)

Sunset fishing at the point. Youghall Beach, Bathurst, NB

All caught up. And hopefully back on track. This week in simplifying I threw away and old quilt I made in undergrad. Yes, that's right. The flannel I had backed it with was thread bare and tattered, it was supposed to be tie-dyed, but I mucked it up ten years ago when I made it and it was all just splotchy pink. It was a comfy blanket, but ugly and worn out. It's departure makes way for my new beautiful quilt to get finished up in time for cold weather here. I also got rid of a few other small things here and there throughout the house.

Today is also the first day I feel like my usual self after my back injury. I am so grateful for this. Though it's only been three weeks, I had forgotten what my full complement of energy normally feels like. I was believing that I was in this permanent state of lazy-out-of-shape-decline. It didn't feel great. My back is still not okay, but at least my energy and my spirits have healed to an extent.

okay. Gotta jet. Schoolwork to be had. Finding stuff to give away/destash/throw out to be had.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Simplification Sunday: Week Forty

Only one week behind in my resolution. That's pretty good. This week was just another miscellaneous week. I am running out of stuff to clean out and destash and the like, which is great. This is a heap o' stuff to take to Goodwill. I also tossed a few things that were too worn out. And destashed a bit of fabric to Andrea, two pieces of clothing to my sister, and a necklace to my Mom.

I hope everyone is having a nice Thanksgiving. The weather here is perfect fall weather, which makes me so happy . . . especially since I can move about a bit more and enjoy it. Hopefully before all the leaves fall I can go for short walks or even an easy, very short jog. We shall see . . .

Simplification Sunday: Week Thirty Nine

Oh boy. We're getting there. Only three months of weeks left in this year. 75% of the way there. My grey matter forgot to store the memory of me mailing some fabric to Andrea, so I dug all through my two overflowing bins looking for that one piece I wanted her to have. After making first a huge mess I thought to text her to see if I already had mailed it. I had, but this made me go through and decide it was time to part ways with a big bag of fabric. (Laura, seriously don't panic, there was nothing interesting or beautiful in here). Now all my fabric fits happily into two bins and I can see all the potential quilts in it! (Post for Sunday, September 23).