Yes I’ve been dealing with the messiness of my life lately. Being creative is often very messy, but life is messy anyway. It’s okay as long as you’re getting somewhere, learning something, improving something, or at least making an effort to deal with the mess. But sometimes it’s overwhelming and seems to have a life of it’s own.

Like my daughter’s room, which doubles as my craft room when she’s away. I started some projects and then found I didn’t really have the time or sufficient materials to finish. So the mess sits there. Every time I go up there it looks worse, like it’s multiplying.

Then there’s the attic. Every time I get one corner cleaned up another corner gets more messy. Then it stays like that for months because the only time it’s tolerable to be up there is on cool days (not cold days) or rainy days. It’s summer right now.

I had to do something to deal with at least one mess in order to feel productive. So I made some earrings in my daughter’s room. Well, I didn’t really deal with the mess, but I sort of justified it by making earrings out of it. That was step one. Monday I’ll start trying to organize it.

Step one gave me some incentive. I decided to take on the long overdue task of cleaning & reorganizing my bedroom. I wanted to move the bed to a different wall and that involved moving my dresser & desk as well. In the process I had to make space in the closet to put some things, which meant cleaning out the closet first. So it turned into a whole day of reorganizing, cleaning (the dust bunnies had been multiplying all winter & spring too) moving, and disposing of unnecessary items. By the time hubby came home I felt I had accomplished a great deal.

The funny thing is, just as making the earrings gave me incentive to do a spring cleaning in my bedroom, the bedroom cleanup helped me figure out where to put the painting that no longer works in our living room (another story). Moving my bedroom desk made a big space on the wall where this treasured painting will fit perfectly. That also helped me solve another problem which was how to alter the color scheme in our bedroom without buying new bed coverings & curtains. Finally, after living in this house for 6 years I know what color to paint my bedroom walls.

One other little perk from this cleaning spree was that I found a quilt I had stored in the closet and forgotten about.

It’s funny how one thing leads to another. You can feel overwhelmed and powerless but if you just take one step in a positive direction things begin to happen. One inspiration leads to another. Someday I may even get the attic clean.