Clutter... This is what this whole journey is all about. I’ve had a realisation in my mind just lately, and over the past few weeks, I’ve come to a decision that I now firmly believe that it’s all around us. I’ve discovered that clutter seems to take many different forms in my life – noise, untidiness, busyness, STUFF (you know – that STUFF stuff again...)
The past 2 weeks, and also for this week, I am incredibly busy for my work. The first week, I had Auditors at work, doing our ISO Recertification for Environment and Safety. That’s 2 Auditors for 3.5 days – hard work. It takes a lot of time up when you spend your time with Auditors, and you seem to go from one area of the factory to another, and you go over and over the same stuff. That’s an Auditor’s job – to make sure that your systems are in place, and that everyone is following the same procedures, so it’s actually a good thing when you’re going over and over and over the same things. (Doesn’t stop it from being painful though!)
I was then asked if I would come to our sister factory in Smithtown, NSW, to support the Safety Co-ordinator, as they had their SHE Manager resign and leave about a month ago. No problem. Then they wanted me earlier than the day of the audit. Right – no problem. So, Wednesday morning I’m sitting at my desk looking at flights, when I realised that I would really need to fly to Sydney that afternoon, and then fly up to Port Macquarie on the 8.00 am flight the next morning. Right – no problem. I rang Ken at work and told him I was going (gave him a virtual kiss over the phone!!!), went home, unpacked from the weekend, packed to go to Smithtown, and belted out the door again heading for Brisbane airport. Phew... made it – all was good.
However, in the “making it” – I feel like it allows clutter to invade my mind. That busyness, that untidiness of having things thrown in the suitcase without much thought. I’m not fond of it, but I recognise that sometimes that’s what happens in this wonderful thing called life. I have found that the best way to cope with it is to try and put everything else out of my mind (as best I can!!!) and just get on with what has to be done. Sort the paperwork that I threw into my bag, tidy up the clothes that weren’t really folded right. Clean it up a bit and that makes me feel less cluttered. I must have had a bit of a mind shift since I’ve started this decluttering journey – I managed to remember to throw my ball of cotton and a crochet hook into the bag last week – it came in handy, sitting in airports and on planes and in my room at night. It makes me feel more grounded, and kind of clears my mind from what I’m doing. That quiet time in my mind then makes me feel less cluttered inside.
Last week while I was away, I finished off the pot holder/heat mat that I had been making, and I then started on a dishcloth made from the same cotton. I think I’ll have to make the dishcloths less stitches wide – I used the same number of stitches, but the dishcloth is wider, probably due to the fact that I’ve done trebles on it, and only did doubles on the heat mat. They’re lovely colours – it makes me feel good to be doing something like this towards the environment. I haven’t used any of them yet, I think I seem to have a bit of an aversion to using something that I’ve actually managed to finish!!!
Remember I was also doing a dishcloth for a lady in Canada as part of the DTE Blog swap? I have finished and posted it out to her, and on Saturday evening when I got home, I found that I have received my dishcloth from her!!! It was so exciting – I love it! Its pinks and creams, all mottled, and it’s just lovely. She does knitting, and it’s lovely to see a differently made dishcloth to what I do!!! She has put such a lot of effort into it too, as it has a lovely pattern through it, it’s not just plain knitting. She also sent me a lovely magnet from her home Island – I will put that up on the fridge when I get home... I really hope that she likes the dishcloth that I’ve sent her – at least she’s a new knitter too, so hopefully won’t mind any mistakes in mine!! I popped a couple of little surprises in with the dishcloth too, hope she likes them too!!!
When I travel for work, I’m usually bored at night. Easily bored actually! I’m really loving this trip though – the HR Manager at the Smithtown Factory recommended a B&B in Smithtown – The Old Post Office. It’s really an old Post Office that’s been restored, and it has two rooms. One is just a Queen sized room, with a small ensuite and a kitchenette. The other room is a King room, which has a Dining table for 7 (???) but there’s another chair in the room which could then make 8. It has two huge, very comfy lounges in front of an electric fireplace thing, and a bed at the end. It has a fully appointed kitchen, full sized small fridge, and a laundry – washing machine and dryer. The piece de resistance is the kitchen though – one of the benches is actually the bench at the edge of the kitchen. Most people would think of this bench as the bench that you sit at to eat meals, although with this one you couldn’t do that as it doesn’t have a top that you could put your legs under. However, you could sit there and have drinks/nibbles if someone was working in the kitchen. That bench is actually the original serving counter from the Post Office – and it’s amazing!!! In the kitchen, there’s also a space for a dishwasher but no dishwasher. In that hole is a large safe that would have been used in the Post Office somehow... (doesn’t every kitchen need one???)
What I really love is the opportunity to do my own cooking, rather than head out each night. I headed tonight into Kempsey Woolworths to pick up a few provisions, and am now consuming baked potato’s with chicken schnitzel & a pasta salad, complete with lemon pepper sauce. Total spent for the 5 nights I’ll be here - $62 roughly. Including one magazine. Hmmm – that lemon pepper sauce should perhaps be called Pepper sauce with a touch of lemon??? Actually – it’s quite yummy even though I don’t like pepper too much. They even have Austar, which is lovely for me because I don’t watch TV at home. It’s lovely because it has some different sorts of programs which I’d never see on free to air TV, and because I won’t pay for cable/satellite TV, I’d never see on TV. Oh, and it also has a Wenetex Mattress on the bed. Lots of money (we have one that I have relegated to the spare room, mainly because it’s not thick enough and when I tried it out it was too hard). My back though feels soooooo much better for being on this mattress, so Ken and I have agreed to give our spare bedroom mattress another go. Well, I’ve agreed to it – Ken loves the Wenetex, I was the one who didn’t like it!!! When I told him what it was and that I liked it, he was soooo happy! I’m thinking that by the time I get home on Friday, the mattresses will be swapped on the main/spare bedroom!!!
The only thing I’m not liking is part of the bathroom.... There’s not enough room for the myriad of STUFF that I’ve brought with me to live on day by day, and also it seems to be recently renovated, in a most lovely way. That’s not an issue, but the fact that the windows were obviously some sort of outside window originally is an issue – they are fixed style louvres – glass set in timber, so you can’t close the windows. Given that it’s turned cold, it’s not so pleasant in the bathroom in the morning! Maybe that’s a good thing – I’m not spending long in there!!!
Oh boy... this has been a long blog! I’m sorry if I’ve bored you here – if you’ve made it this far, congratulations!!!
My challenge to you – does anything other than STUFF clutter your life? Do you need whatever it is, or do you need to shed that clutter?
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