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What’s in your desk drawer?

6 Oct
Right

Right

In this day and age…staplers, tape dispensers, hole punch, paper clips….even flash drives are obsolete.  However, these drawers are my idea of progress have disposed of obsolete chords, phone accessories…well you can imagine…

Left

Left

What else does one do with slide rule artifacts?

The small zip pouch with the elephant emblem was the perfect gift from a friend after I traveled overseas on business and forgot spare flash drives! (That’s a keeper.)

When I gazed on my results, it struck me that I had gone “old school”……Sanity check….

What’s in your desk drawer?

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Mission organization (part 2)

23 Sep

Every so often is it time to clear, sort, clean and reorganize.  This week was one of those times.

This is where I left off in 2012!  The primary goal was to organize a pantry system (in the absence of having a designated pantry).

Mission Organization

That’s more like it!

The pantry would have served us better, if we had stayed home more and eaten out less.

The current mission started when I chose three cans of vegetables to prepare my favorite soup and 1 of 3 cans had a 2012 expiration.  Yikes!  That’s a FILO (first in, last out) not a FIFO (first in, first out) inventory system.  Now, everything has been scrutinized…including freezer and kitchen cabinets.  There were more expiration dates from 2012!

The remedy:  Significant additions to the compost and recycling bins.

Compost bin (wildlife ate thru original plastic lid)

Compost bin (wildlife ate thru original plastic lid)

Recycling bin for curbside pick up

Recycling bin for curbside pick up

Step 2:

Contents of rejected cans, boxes, bottles and packages get added to compost bin.

Step 3:

Packaging is added to recycle bin

Step 4:

Rearrange contents of cabinet for FIFO inventory.

2015 Pantry

2015 Pantry

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The joy of fortune cookies

8 Sep

The joy is not only the sweet, crunchy taste but also the message inside.  I recently found my stash of 34 fortunes.  What was I thinking?  It has been a while.  I started saving them for the vocabulary words.  A dear friend of mine adopted two daughters from China.  They were studying the language.  I prepared to test them with my fortune cookie vocabulary.

Not only does the fortune reveal messages but also the lucky lottery numbers with a vocabulary word.  Now that is a value proposition for a small slip of paper.

My favorite message is “You are one of the people who will go places in life.”  Of the 34 messages there was one duplicate.  “Your heart is pure, your mind is clear and soul devout.”

The most frequent “lucky number” was 35 with 16, 19 and 29 in second place.

I have come to understand that Chinese fortune cookies are more Japanese than Chinese.  The name changed as a consequence of World War II.  Also, this link makes fortunes available with a click.  www.fortunecookiemessage.co

http://foodbeast.com/2013/06/21/today-i-learned-fortune-cookies-originated-in-japan-not-china

The vocabulary words on my fortune collection are:  they, welcome, swim, bank, April, telephone, friends, January, refuel, opportunity, question, spring water, snowflake, supervisor, hurry, son, pen, eggplant, front door, sun, good bye, milk, cassette tape and money.

This list of random words reminds me of the creative writing exercise using the names of paint chips for inspiration.

Good thing that organizing one’s desk doesn’t usually have this many diversions.

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It started when

28 Jul

I put away the recipe for Impossible Vegetable Pie.  Pause.  Ah ha.  Half of my modest cookbook collection is just taking up counter space.  Now those unused cookbooks are headed to a public library book sale.  But not before…I’m on a roll…before scrutinizing the nine shelves behind the couch.  In 2010, the nine shelf solution was progress.  Some of the books I have had 50 years.  The thermodynamics text book…40 years.  Blah, blah, blah.  Since then, I have read dozens of ibooks.

Before

Before

The first sort of about 300 books is complete with everything left in place and hot pink stickers on spines of books to donate.  The subjects range from travel, gardening, fiction, non-fiction, business…even organizing…I stopped to scan that one.  The goal of the 2010 effort was to fill the shelves to keep “Office Assistant” Eve from napping between books.  There is no Dewey decimal system in place.

Sort with Hot pink tags

Sort with Hot pink tags

Donation_first 50, followed by 27

Donation_first 50, followed by 27

 

After

After

A week has come and gone since I started this project.  Results:

  1. Extra foot of countertop space in kitchen
  2. Empty file drawer
  3. Extra shelf available on desk
  4. Bottom three shelves have new purpose
    1. Memorabilia storage
    2. Stationery, cards, Christmas cards
    3. Board games
  5. Book groupings arranged for next phase…

Eve still naps under the potted plant 🙂

Snooooze

Snooooze

I choose to keep the six shelves filled:  (2) for favorites, (1) for travel, (1) for business/government, (1) for youth and finally…..miscellaneous!

What is your story?

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From Houzz(4): Three lovely home offices

12 May

The first design appeals to me for maximum functionality.  I like having a stand up desk and three work stations.  What is missing is….the cat…I mean Eve the office assistant!

Office assistant Eve

Office assistant Eve

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From Houzz 2

29 Mar

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From Houzz

25 Mar

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Recycling solutions from the sewing room

17 Dec

I purchased flannel fabric in one to three yard lengths.  Each Days for Girls International kit includes 8 reversible, tri-fold, flannel pads.  My strategy included sewing pads from 8 different colors and patterns for each kit.  Over the course of 2014, I had over 30 types of remnants.   Variation due to cutting, shrinking from washing and fabric width created a significant amount of remnants in strips and block shapes.  My year-end effort recycles these scraps into light weight blankets.

Stripes

Stripes:  18 fabrics in 18 different widths

I chose to have color transitions across the length for the stripe project.  Due to multiple blocks of bold colors for the patchwork layout, I used a random number table for planning.

Blocks

Blocks:  12 fabrics in various widths

Both pieced blankets will be finished with a border and backing.  Nearly four yards of flannel has been recycled!  Now that these projects nearly completed, it will be time to sew kits again in the New Year.

Bonus finding!  Flannel remnants are great for patching/reinforcing sweat pants.  🙂

From an earlier post:

The reversible, tri-fold, flannel pads for Days for Girls International have four corners removed for ease of insertion in the liner.  The math is (45) kits X (8) pads X (2) sides X (4) corners = 2880 remnants that filled a couple of shopping bags.

Remnant trimmed

Remnant trimmed

My idea for recycling was to make a small rug or seat cushion.

2880 times I trimmed the hypotenuse of the flannel triangles of 16 different colors and patterns of remnants.

The stash

The stash

The finished product…

Much better

Much better

 

Four examples of what happens when your conscience keeps you from hastily throwing scraps away.  My grandmothers and great grandmothers would be proud.

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Treasure chest

24 Nov

My collection of pins had been in a dozen places gathering dust.  Today they are framed.  This is my personal “pin interest”.  My “treasure chest” is a memory jogger from decades of work, vacations, school, pets, hobbies, autos and awards.

Real Pins Framed

Real Pins Framed

Shelby

Shelby, from treasure to “angel”

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Nailed, screwed

26 Oct
Two shelves enough?

Two shelves enough?  No.

Nailing, Screwing:  Methods for mechanically joining similar or dissimilar materials.

Reminiscent of childhood days playing at Hall Lumber Company in Saw Mill Holler, East Tennessee….I have sorted and organized hardware this week.  Specifically, sorting many varieties of nails and screws discarded over decades from carpentry, drywall, masonry, roofing, fencing and flooring projects.

Larger scope

Larger scope

Miscellaneous times three

Miscellaneous times three

The design options and variables are staggering.

  • length
  • diameter
  • size and features of the head
  • material
  • finish
  • coarse or fine thread screws

Observations from various groups

  • Rule that three or more types of nails from a project will be mixed 😦
  • Original cardboard boxes are bad news for long-term storage
  • Designs of nails and screws have improved (some material is functional, but obsolete)
    Lead head for tin roofs, Color coordinated for new steel roofs

    Lead head for tin roofs, Color coördinated for new steel roofs

    For asphalt shingles. New ones have plastic "washers"

    For asphalt shingles. New ones have plastic “washers”

  • One type of hardware remains a mystery
    What is this?

    What is this?

    Mystery

    Mystery

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