Plus ca change

8.15 am -

 10.45 am -

What you don't see in the deceptively spacious first photo is the countertop, of course - which was invisible under all the papers and supplies that had been moved there from the table. All (all?) that remained was to move the pile in the corner - and the clutter hidden behind it. But there was no room on the other counter for yet another pile of clutter. At that point I set my timer for 15 minutes ("you can do anything for 15 minutes") - and spent some of that first 15 minutes cleaning the window, inside and out. There's nothing quite so soothing to the spirit as a nice clean window, especially if you plan to spend a lot of time looking out of it.

15 minutes of sorting and throwing out - and finding the right place for finished projects, work in progress, supplies needed now, supplies not currently in use ... and lots of paper ... Ding! release! leave it for now...

Reset timer ... 15 minutes "off" - having coffee, doing emails. Ding! reset timer, back to the studio.

So it went. It really helped that my son joined in and moved his toolboxes off the counter! I had to keep reminding myself, as the minutes ticked away, that I was doing the top of the table and would do the area under the table, and the shelves and drawers, another day...

Now I have pens, pencils, inks, binding supplies lined up on the windowsill, along with a tended, trimmed, and less dusty plant in the corner. Also in the corner are (only) the papers and books I'm currently using, as well as "bins" for the scraps.

My son offered to put up some shelves in the corner. And I have emptied the garbage bag.