I can’t believe we’re already a week into June. It’s shaping up to be a very busy month for me, as I’ve shifted several deadlines from July to June so that I can actually take off for a few weeks for a holiday. One thing about being a freelancer is that a real vacation can be tricky if you don’t plan well for it; I’ve learned my lesson after several “holidays” turned into working vacations. Not exactly what I’m aiming for!
The Strain, by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
After reading this review of The Strain at Debbie’s World of Books, and then coming across this interview with The Strain co-author Chuck Hogan at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind I realized The Strain is definitely one book I want to read while I’m away on holidays. We’ve rented a beach house in Nova Scotia, and it seems like it will be a perfect, eerie read for those foggy nights, and out along Nova Scotia’s South Shore, there are many foggy nights.
So I picked up my own copy of The Strain yesterday, and now I have two must-reads on my vacation list: The Strain and The Language of Bees, by Laurie King (which I’ve already started, but I’m deliberately setting aside so I can enjoy it while I’m on holiday). Another tentative addition to my holiday reads list is Holly’s Inbox, by Holly Denham.
Ideally, I’d like to take six “must reads” with me on holidays, so I’m keeping my eyes open. I’d love to hear your recommendations, too!
It’s Dumpster Time
Seven years ago when we began our (still ongoing … sigh) renovations, my husband and I packed up a lot of things in boxes and stuffed the boxes into our crawl space in order to get them out of the way. Seven years later, we’ve just added more stuff to the places where we used to store these things before we packed them up and put them in the crawl space – and we haven’t taken anything OUT of the crawl space, either.
So we recently decided it was time to really do something about all this clutter. We’ve been in a process of de-cluttering for the past two months now, and while we’ve made a small dent in things, we still have a lot of stuff that simply must go. The problem is, no-one else wants them, either (don’t blame them).
Sometimes you just get to a point where you know you’ve got to do something about things. We’ve reached it. We’re renting a dumpster and we’re going to be going through everything over the next few weeks, and sorting them into the following categories: to dump, to recycle, to give away. Hopefully we’ll have an uncluttered house again. Sure, it still needs things like drywall and doors but at least it will be uncluttered! And I was happy and encouraged to read that the rent-a-dumpster route worked exceedingly well for author Holly Lisle.
This Week’s Picture
I was absolutely thrilled to find that the peony I planted last year is filled with buds. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing it in full bloom!
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I may need to rent a dumpster myself. I’ve always been a (sentimental) clutterbug…since my youth. Now, I have a ton of stuff that needs to go. I mean, I literally have a guest bedroom filled with boxes that I haven’t unpacked from when I moved into my home (many, many years ago). And it’s now because of you that I must get my hands on a copy of The Strain. LOL
Ann-Kat’s last blog post..If Movies Were Books…
I love the buds on your peonies. I hope you post more pictures when it blooms. Now that we no longer live in the midwest, no peonies for me unless I see pictures!
rhapsodyinbooks’s last blog post..Review of “Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation & Reconstruction” by Eric Foner
Our peonies started blooming last week, but it’s been raining too much for me to get good pictures of them.
I’ll be moving in August, from a house I’ve lived in for 19 years. I’m thinking a dumpster might come in handy for that…
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How is Nova Scotia so far? I would love to travel. Sigh…I don’t even know where to begin decluttering. I swear our junk multiplies because we had a huge garage sale and multiple donation pick ups and still the house is packed!
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My peony story is the same as Ruth’s!
I absolutely need to declutter. We are both such packrats, I think we need a mansion just to house our stuff! Good luck on filling the Dumpster.
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I will keep everyone posted on our decluttering and the dumpster – I see that the whole idea of decluttering really strikes a chord with everyone!
Before we began renovating, we had a big, beautiful peony bush. It sat right where our addition now sits :( so I’m very glad that I finally got around to planting another peony last year. I’d love to have even more – they are such gorgeous flowers.
One of the good things about moving every few years is getting rid of clutter.
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