I relish getting a leisurely start to my days when I don't have to run off to work. Today's my last vacation day. It went pretty quickly but I did get a lot done this week.

The biggest things I did this week are related to decluttering: Donating 48 pieces of art to the nonprofit I've blogged about and also getting ready for a big garage sale tomorrow!

Still, if there's stuff left over unsold after the garage sale (and we know that will be the case) I then will have to figure out what to donate to Good Will and what to hold onto for even longer, until I figure out how to sell it. That would be the more valuable stuff like my mother's older cameras, lenses, her mat cutter and so on.

There's a twin-sized comforter I need to push myself to donate. I'm not sure that people ever buy used bedding. It's something that neither my mother or I liked much when I bought it for her new bed at assisted living, but she needed something right away and that was the best we could find at Target. So now I have it, a perfectly good comforter, but I'm not crazy about its appearance. I could turn it over on its back side, which is like a dark teal. Or I could donate because my closets are overflowing and it doesn't even fit in any of my closets anymore. It's sitting on the floor of my spare bedroom. The closet is filled with mom's computer, monitor, printer and all my stuff, etc.

I just have a hard time letting go of things I think/know I could use. Although I already have another queen sized comforter I'd bought for my mother for a recent Christmas, but at least 3 or 4 of my own. So again, closets are over-filled as it is.

Right now (and for foreseeable future), i'm using my mother's twin bed as a sort of daybed in my family room. (I was finally able to sell my 20-year-old couch earlier this year to make room for it.) I have a nice lightweight Indian print on the bed with a bunch of pillows. Using the comforter on it would make it look too bed-like.


I took down about 10 framed botanical fruit and flower prints that hung above the couch (now the daybed) and put up more of my mother's art, solely to get the art off the floors so I can more effectively vacuum. I've lived with the botanical art for years; I think I'm ready to try to sell them at my garage sale for maybe $40 each.

Another problematic item: I have a large rug my mother bought in Morocco or someplace else, possibly. It's like a super shag with fairly bright colors in the orange family that aren't my colors. It's in rough shape and the edges are all frayed, worn off, so I don't think I could sell it. Not sure it would look good if I layered it on top of existing carpeting in the house since there's so much color going on with my mother's art and in any case, the cats would shred it even more. Yet I feel somewhat "attached" to it and am not sure I could throw it away. However, it WOULD cover up some ugly yellow stains on my old wall to wall carpet in the family room.

Can someone talk me into getting rid of it or doing SOMETHING with it? It's also taking up too much space in spare bedroom.

Here's the living room, which still contains some matted art on the floor, which I guess I will also bring up to attic.



Here's the dining room, also looking a bit better than before.



Snafu had suggested putting all my mother's art in ONE room so I'm tripping over it less elsewhere. I can't really do that as none of my rooms were especially "empty" to begin with. Also, you can't just stack the framed items one on top of the other. My mother's work was either behind glass, Plexiglas or on canvas, and each of those materials must be dealt with carefully.

You shouldn't stack anything on top of canvas, or it will stretch it out. You can rest 2 or 3 items at most on top of glass, if you're careful to stack so the item on top rests on the frame of the item underneath, not directly on the glass. And Plexiglas scratches very easily, so you have to be careful with that.

But with the recent art donation, my family room looks pretty good. I also hauled up to attic a number of matted pieces that I think I have to acknowledge out loud I will probably never want to spend the money on framing. I have framed most of my favorite pieces, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

I'm fearful about what the super hot temperatures in the attic will do to matted art, but I need to reclaim my living space.

I took about 5 large pieces on mounted on foam core for sale in my garage sale. These were interesting abstract designs that look like they were done in magic marker or gel pen, and I don't think a lot of people will spend much money on that, since it will fade. So all will be priced at $50 or less. I'm also selling a dozen or so of some of my mom's miniature framed works at very affordable prices. I would never do this with the better art, and I do feel some guilt for trying to sell some of this stuff in a garage sale, but this is definitely an artists'-themed sale which I called out in my Facebook and local paper ads, so hope it will attract crafty people who might like it.

Also selling the twin headboard I'd bought for my mother's twin bed at assisted living last year. At the time i was thinking, choose carefully becus you will likely end up with this, and of course that's what happened. Unfortunately, the furniture place delivered an ugly dark brown headboard instead of the white version I'd ordered, and I took the discount they offered instead of holding out for a corrected order. So now I'm hoping to sell the ugly headboard for $30. I think it cost $80.

So I'm just sitting here sipping tea and trying to organize the day ahead. Trying not to overload my schedule with more than I can accomplish. Here's what I have planned:

1. Trip to Trader Joe's
2. Get Father's Day card.
3. Post signs for garage sale this afternoon.
4. Continue researching sale item prices.
5. Bring down to garage some final pieces for sale, including mat cutter, stick vacuum, botanical prints
6. Squeeze in a walk.

I'll skip the movie matinee as I'm afraid I'll run out of time.