Category Archives: Organizing

Make Lemonade

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Sometimes life throws a few lemons our way and we have to decide how to respond. This was what happened last week when the wind kicked up, making the tall fir tree next to the greenhouse shimmy and shake a bit, releasing a large branch.

Look closely at the third panel from the right. Yep. It’s gone.

That’s right. A big branch took out one of the roof panels of safety glass. Tiny squares of glass flew everywhere, landing even inside of my gardening gloves. This is why I do not spend any time in the greenhouse when the wind is up.

Why, you might ask, did we build the greenhouse underneath a giant fir tree? Did we just fall off the turnip truck yesterday? No, we did not. There is no place on our property that is not encumbered by giant trees. Living with this kind of danger has its own kind of beauty. And craziness.

This greenhouse stood for over 5 years with nary a branch falling through fair window. Until last year. We lost the pane next to this one last year during the really big winter storm that also caused us to lose our large picture window in the kitchen while Mike was standing too close for comfort. And they say sailing is dangerous. This whole ‘branch falling’ scenario is why I have plans to be on the boat this winter when the wind starts blowing. I learned my lesson last year. And we’ve decided any glass that gets shattered in the greenhouse will be replaced by polycarbonate or some other clear, strong material that laughs at falling branches.

So to clean up the mess, everything had to come out of the greenhouse because the glass was simply everywhere. You would not believe how much stuff a person can store in an 8 x 10 foot greenhouse. Mike started pulling it all out and I realized this was the perfect opportunity to go through and get rid of a bunch of stuff I don’t need anymore.

What did I tell you? And that’s not all of it.

So yesterday and today, that’s what I’ve been doing while I ruminate on the two boats we’ve seen lately and come to terms with my feelings and thoughts about this whole plan of ours. It’s been time well spent in a number of ways, not the least of which is that I now have a very tidy greenhouse and two big loads of gardening ‘stuff’ that can go on the free section of Craigslist.

I like to come in here during the winter, pet my succulents, and pretend I’m someplace warm. I have a very good imagination.

Time to put the succulents to bed for the winter.

Now you know why I bother overwintering my succulents. This is Epiphyllum oxypetalum.

 

 

 

Post Vacation Projects: Cabinetry

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During our vacation, I started a list of items that I wanted to address on the boat. When I am on the boat for days at time, The unfinished or poorly maintained parts of the boat start to wear on me. I am far from a perfectionist, but there are definitely some items on the boat that could be improved.

My first project involved building a cover for the wiring and antenna cable that runs along the compression post. I seem to recall this being left undone when we installed the table and cabinet on the saloon bulkhead.

Unsightly cables by the compression post and  along the bottom of the bulkhead.  I just never got around to fixing this. After a while we just ignored it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some time ago Melissa found some teak battens by the marina gate. Those turned out to be perfect for this project. I mounted them on a one by four and attached the whole assembly to the compression post via some nifty hinges from Home Depot.

New Cable Covers

The teak battens made great covers for the electrical cable running up to the mast.

With the hinges installed, this is essentially a very skinny door. This allows me to access the cables for maintenance. Maybe I could store some very skinny item inside.

Nifty flush mounted hinges make the panel lay even with the compression post and turn the cover into a small door for access or limited storage.

Besides the hinges, I had all of the materials on hand which greatly appeals to my inner cheapskate. And it feels really good to have that project taken off the list.

Ho Ho……Holy Crap!

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Tis the season, as they say. Sleighbells ring, jingle bells, deck the halls, Santa Claus, and all of that stuff. And the long, dark nights of the year. I’m excited because soon the winter solstice will be upon us and we can celebrate the return of the sun. I’m slighly pagan at this time of year, in spite of my traditional Christian upbringing.

The downside to all this festivity is the decorating. Yes, I certainly DO enjoy beautiful holiday decor, and I enjoy all the pretty lights this time of year. I even smile at the pitiful rooftop santas. But it’s hard to bring a smile to my lips as I’m faced with the sheer number of boxes of Christmas crap that are stored in my attic. I took down 15 boxes of Christmas stuff, collected over the 30 or so years of marriage and two children who loved crafts. I felt like the beast of burden who carried Mary, heavy with child, as I carried each heavy box down the attic stairs and deposited it on the family room floor. At least the donkey could deposit Mary and then rest. At least Mary had Jesus to look forward to after her labors. All I had at the end of my labor was a big mess. And a determination to get rid of half of this stuff.

“Are you getting rid of all your cute little Christmas Village houses?” my neighbor asked. “I don’t know.”, I said. I say this when I am afraid to commit myself to dumping things that I can still visualize being ‘cute’ when set up a certain way. But the ancient and frightening stuffed vintage Santa? Out! The victorian house cookie jar? Gone. I’ve never used a cookie jar in my life. Cookies don’t last long enough in my house to warrant a jar. Any cookie that is going to last that long has to be stuffed into the back of the freezer in a ziploc bag.  Also gone is an entire box of ornaments that I’ve always kept because I bought them when the kids were small, along with a box of ornaments I used when Andrew was too little to be trusted close to a tree with breakable ornaments. I haven’t used them in years, but I always felt like I had to keep them. I’ve decided that rule is silly.

Instead I’ve created a small box for each child to store the precious things they made over the years. Claire’s box will have her little stuffed santa, and the pinecone wise men and wizards. Andrew’s box will have his little clay candle holder, his styrofoam heart with smelly potpourri glued to the outside, and his salt dough dinosaurs in fancy colors.

Those boxes will also contain all of the ornaments I’ve bought the kids over the years so that they would have a box to take with them when they have their own homes. We’ve had a tradition in our family that on Christmas eve each child receives an ornament and a new pair of pajamas. We allowed them to open these two gifts by way of bribing them to sleep late on Christmas morning. Now that they are 19 and 26, I feel sure I can forgo the buying of more ornaments that will mean more to me than to them. I might still consider pajamas, though.

Among the things I’m keeping is my collection of miniature ornaments. I always look forward to these each year. They are made by Hallmark, and I used to buy them every year. I think I can find a place on a sailboat for these little ornaments so that we can have an actual Christmas tree, no matter where we are in the world. I didn’t even consider getting rid of any of them.

The results of my labors are such that I will have maybe 3 or 4 boxes of actual ornaments to go into the attic at the end of the season. Half of my Victorian village made the cut, so I get to have my cake and eat it, too, on that subject. If it’s too much of a pain to set them up and pack them away this year, then they’ll go after the holidays. In all, a fairly rewarding purge, and almost painless.

Update on the furniture situation: thank God for sisters! Between my two sisters, over the Thanksgiving weekend I parted with two chairs, a cabinet, a rug, a desk, a set of china, a silver tea service, and various other bits and pieces, enabling me to move even more stuff into the garage staging area. The great purge continues!