| March Madness by Anne Fatato |
| I must confess to being a major packrat. Of course I really didn't have much chance. I grew up in a wonderful family. And all six of us lived in the attic apartment upstairs from my grandmother. In fact when I married it really didn't take long before my bedroom was converted into a walk in closet! You might have thought since I moved out of such compact quarters that I would have a fresh start and learn how to be organized. Leave my packrat ways behind me in light of the spaciousness of ur first apartment. Alas it wasn't as easy as all that. We didn't start off totally messy but by the time our third child arrived we were well underway to being the pack rats we currently are. My theory was that my children would always come before "cleaning" and as long as it was restricted to well organized chaos then I could handle it ... after all I had lived in well organized chaos all my life thus far. Here's the really tricky part of my being a pack rat ~ I married one too! Unfortunately he is of the spic and span pack rat lifestyle while I am of the controlled chaos, really the two don't mix very well. In fact we were off to a really shaky start once the children entered on the scene. There were several times I had to go to school to inform the teachers that my husband had accidentally thrown out the homework assignments. It wasn't too bad the first couple of times but by the third or fourth visit to try to explain that he just sweeps everything off of a surface to toss it away without asking first if anything important is in that pile ... well lets just say the teachers were not happy and had a few suggestions of their own. So at that point my sweet wonderful "Felix Unger" gave into my "Oscar Madison" personality. He fought against himself to look the other way and made sure before he threw anything out that it didn't pertain to the children's schoolwork. Fast forward to the time the children are in high school. My clutter has overrun our home and it has become apparent that something must change. Of course that is all in the future! Fast forward to now ... how did it come to this? I look around my home and am so disappointed in myself. I mean the kids are out ... long out and all I've ever said is some day I'm going to have a room for all of my crafts. Some day I'm going to organize all of my stuff and toss everything I can't or won't use. Some day .... some day .... some day ....... Then one day this past February I was shopping with my daughter-in-love (law) and my granddaughter. I was looking for an outfit or two for a baby shower I would be attending the next morning. However what I ended up purchasing wasn't a baby shower gift! As I am rather fussy and I had already made a lovely afghan for the baby in question I wandered the store with my daughter-in-love and as I was walking down one aisle I saw this ottoman on a shelf of clearance priced items. Some day my living room would be clean enough to house such a lovely little item. I could see myself sitting on my loveseat with my feet atop the ottoman while I crocheted the night away. Well I looked at the price and couldn't believe that something originally priced at $49.99 was now marked down to $12.48! I took it off the shelf and saw two small openings on either side (it is round by the way) and I popped the top off to reveal that it was a very nice storage item as well! In my cart it went. Now something sprung up from deep inside of me ~ some day .... some day .... Some Day ... SOME DAY!!!! That some day was coming much faster now and it was going to smack me in the face if I didn't move out of the way! So that is how March Madness came to be at our house. I know I have put off what so desperately needed to be done for so many years that now my "Some Day" has arrived. However I also know me well enough to know that if I start this project it will take me the entire month. It doesn't take much to distract me from cleaning and organizing, especially when there is crocheting to be done! I decided that by confessing to my friends at Crochetlist and anyone who reads my blog of my pack rat ways and that my craft room has been waiting for me to put it in order might help me follow through with my personal challenge. I've called it March Madness for a couple of reasons ... one anyone who really knows me and has seen my mess would call it pure madness to attempt to organize it ... they would suggest a clean sweep by tossing everything and starting fresh. Also March has been called National Crafts Month and with all of the sales happening around me I'd have to be "mad" to undergo this type of major cleaning. And there is the fact that I have been claiming to my family and closest friends for years now that I would "some day" accomplish the impossible and have my craft room in complete order which would in turn make my living room clean and orderly too, which would then spread over to other areas of the house. So you can see it is "Madness" ... March Madness! For all of my family and friends who laugh at me all the time for failing to seriously make good on this "pipe dream" I want to prove them wrong. I want to make good on my "Some day" pipe dream for truly my craft room has been waiting far too long. So in conclusion I invite all of you to look at your stash ... does it invade your home the way mine does? Do you have a closet or room or space that is reserved for your stash? Why not join me this month and organize your stash. Put things in order and if there is anything you know you can't or won't use then remove it from your stash! See if by the end of the month you are able to enjoy your crochet time more since your yarns and patterns are in order or at least altogether? LOL My updates and progress photos will be posted to my blog every so often if you are interested. Anne's Blog |