Tag Archives: cleaning out

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I know that this title was one of the episodes of Breaking Bad on TV, but my parents were using the term when I was growing up in the dark ages, so I think the TV folks borrowed it. My parents used it to describe frenzied behavior of any type, and I use it here in the same way.

I have definitely been ‘bit by a dead bee,” in that I’ve done more cleaning out and re-organizing around my house than I’ve done in years. I don’t know WHICH dead bee bit me, but I’m thinking of marking this period of behavior totally unlike me on my calendar. it’s so rare.

It started before Thanksgiving, when I was running the bulldozer trying to get the house at least marginally presentable for our friend Nora to come share Thanksgiving dinner with us. I cleaned off the usual really piled up areas, and then I was ‘bit.’ I have been feeling the need to get rid of ‘stuff,’ either by donating it, throwing it away, or deciding where it should live. In each step MORE things that have been sorely neglected pop up to say, “And what have you done for ME lately?”

For the past day or two, the focus has been on my desk. I have a roll top wooden desk that we bought 35 years or so ago. Since having this house built in 1987,  I have put things INTO the drawers, but then they get lost in the shuffle, never to be seen again – until now.

I love my desk. It has a nice flat space for working with a tray type center drawer underneath and then three drawers on either side. Two of the drawers on the sides are small and two are file cabinet type drawers. At the top of each side, right under the flat part of the desk, are two pull-out pieces for extra writing space. Above the flat part of the desk there are two reasonable-sizes drawers, one on each side. Above each of these are three small drawers then between them, going across the desk are slots. Above that, is the roll top which I can pull down, if I’d like. (Usually, there is so much ‘stuff’, it isn’t possible to close it. I just love the roll top for its looks.)

So – 7 drawers under the flat part of the desk, 8 above the flat part, 2 shelves, and 7 slots. That’s a LOT of space for someone like me to squirrel away goodies and stuff for a long time, ignoring the buildup.

I have finished cleaning out the drawers now and am concentrating on the flat part of the desk which has received stuff I’d like to keep, but either put away in the now clean drawers, move somewhere else, or give away. I’ve filled a big trash can, too.

I think it was definitely due some attention. I’ll take pics when it’s finished.