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​​WHAT'S IN YOUR ATTIC?

Welcome to Mine


ORDER IN THE HOUSE

1/14/2021

4 Comments

 
Picture
Did the blog title fool you? Told you I wasn't discussing politics.

But what happened yesterday sent me to clean out my cabinet. Still not being political. My kitchen cabinet. In all the years we've lived here, I've never removed everything from this lower cabinet and cleaned the cabinet floor. Until yesterday. Then I did some reorganization. 

All those baking pans -- square, round, bundt, cheesecake, large and small muffin / cupcake.  Three pie plates, several cooling racks, two cutting boards and several serving trays. Now, I know what I've got, realize what I never use (but there's still possibility), and it's all in order. I stood back and surveyed the scene yesterday and declared it, "a work of art."

I love to organize. If I were a dog, I'd be a border collie. You'd think after all these months of extra home time, everything would be in perfect order, cleaned out, scrubbed tight. But no. Case in point, this cabinet (which has now come to order).

Organizing soothes me. It gives me control over something in life, even when other things are beyond my reach or impact. But the cabinet? It can suit me to a T.

Betty Giboney, who would be 108 this year, and who passed at 100, spent 40 (maybe more) years at The Courier-Times, retiring at 78. This, after a career as a professional dancer in New York City (she was a Roxyette--the name later changed to Rockette. She toured the country and appeared in movie  dance lines. Then she worked at a NYC magazine.

After that, amazingly enough, she spent her career in rural Indiana covering 4-H and features, obits and whatever else needed doing. She famously (and seriously) told me that "New York City paled by comparison." 

She was needed. She was treasured. She did good work. If you've got all that, plus a husband she adored and who adored her back, well, case closed. Who needs The Big Apple?

Betty and her husband traveled the globe. She once told me that much as she loved travel, she wished on occasion that they could have a staycation so she could do things like clean out the closets, which she never had time for. It was something she looked forward to in retirement (along with more travels including to Russia).

For many of us, there's something in our nature that craves putting things in order. Our affairs. Our closets. Our cabinets. Our souls.

I'm two weeks into retirement and I have plenty to do. This is my view at 8 a.m. today when I normally would be pulling into work. Do I miss hustling out the door? No.
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Coming to you live from my favorite morning space, my writing chair. There's my second cup of coffee, daily planner, a couple of notebooks relating to specific projects.

This time of year, there are spectacular sunrises between 7:30-8 a.m. heading east.

But I like the ones from my writing chair.

Here I can quietly study, write, plan, and organize my day and upcoming projects.

How about you? Are you an organizer? Do you find it boring or comforting?
4 Comments
Sandy Beard
1/14/2021 07:40:45 am

You noted you have your planner beside you. Is this a continuation of your work days or really used daily? Recently I shared with someone I am in my "fall" years if life. They asked me what was I doing to prepare. It stumped me. As I still ponder that question. Love reading your blog.

Reply
Donna R Cronk
1/14/2021 08:22:51 am

Sandy,
Well, having a paper planner is for sure a habit from my newspaper days. I bought a beautiful, big planner in October anticipating filling it not with copy deadlines and feature-story interview appointments but with my "new" lifestyle (still ahead) of lunches with friends, "play dates" with still more friends doing fun things like attending library how-to, or make-it-take-it programs or lectures (I'm a nerd), VACATIONS to historical sites and cities, our annual away Colts trip. You get the picture.
So the reality is that due to COVID and to my husband's illness, it's now full of ZOOM meeting dates and times, Brian's appointments, and hair and dental appointments, etc.
But I do enjoy a paper planner. I love to look forward. That day will come. Donna

Reply
Nancy Huntington
1/14/2021 09:27:12 am

Organizing is just another way that we are kindred spirits! Whenever an 'event' is coming up at our house (either in Illinois or Liberty) I get carried away in the preparations, such as organizing/cleaning cabinets, closets, etc. I love to organize. A big problem with this is that the 'organizing' takes precedence over the other preparations for the event. I am trying to break this habit but I fear it will be with me forever.

Reply
Donna R Cronk
1/14/2021 09:42:02 am

Nancy,
I hear you!
True story: I was in labor with Sam but before we left for the hospital, I went through the cupboard and turned all the canned-goods labels the same way!
As if that mattered to a baby! Or to anyone else!
Donna

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    DONNA CRONK

    NEW FOR '22:
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