The Great Clean-Up Continues....

This was last week's pile of stuff to recycle. I decided that I really don't need to save all the nice shopping bags with handles for some future use, especially since I never actually remember that I have any of them, so never use them. Now I have one bag of bags, half of which are actually Christmas/holiday gift bags, which I'm hoping I'll remember to actually use this year. If I don't use them this year, I'll take them over to the GoodWill store for someone else to use.

This week's pile of stuff is from my home office. It's mostly class notes and old research papers. This stuff used to take up six file boxes. Now I have two and a half file boxes and nothing that is school-related in the filing cabinet. I also emptied 1 1/2 filing cabinet drawers of miscellaneous papers that didn't need saving and organized the remaining 1/2 drawer with neatly labeled folders. Once I put all the papers in the recycle pile, I got extremely anxious. You see, I spent a lot of time and money to accumulate this information/knowledge. I don't want to throw it out and suddenly realize that I forgot something that was in it. Then again, I haven't used any of these notes in 8-12 years so it's not terribly likely. And I can always use my Google-fu and other research powers to find whatever information I don't remember.

Have I mentioned lately how happy I am that a paper recycling drop-off dumpster has appeared in the Wal-Mart parking lot?

While tearing up the home office, I also switched the computers between desks so now the Mac is by the window. I discovered that I can't spend hours reading e-mail, blogs and surfing the internet while sitting in the corner. I have to look out the window. Now I just need to finish putting all the stuff back on the desks since I made a huge mess of it, though I'm tempted to leave everything off the desks and in a box for a week, just adding back the things I use and none of the extra bits. I rather like having a minimally cluttered desk. It helps me keep things neat and tidy and uncluttered. Once I start putting stuff where it doesn't belong, it seems to multiply.

Next up: going through all my software and old floppy disks and getting rid of stuff that doesn't work on the existing computers or that I haven't used in at least 2 years.

My reward for all this work? I get to relocate two sweet gum seedlings that sprouted in my front flowerbed. Soon they'll be living happily in the back yard next to one of the other big gum trees. The spots I've chosen are where two trees used to be. That seemed fitting to me.

Next week I'll have to move the two trees that came up in the irises on the south side of the house. Unfortunately one of them is taller than I am, so that could be a bit of a bear to deal with. I think I'll put it about 20 feet away from the house on the west side. Eventually it'll shade the house, but still be far enough away to not hang over it and drop branches on the roof. The smaller of the two trees, I'm not so sure about yet. Maybe I'll plant them near each other and they can keep each other company.

Living Room Spider Update
The LR Spider has not, in fact, left for other locations. I discovered that it's living underneath the floor lamp. This is good. I would hate to overcrowd the bathroom with spiders. There are already two of them living in there--one behind the toilet and one behind the door. I did take the liberty of cleaning up the insect carcasses the LR spider left in its abode. I hope it didn't mind. I must say that I enjoy the company while I knit or watch DVDs. Is it wrong that I keep hoping that I'll find a bug to feed it?