2015 Word of the Year: Finish

I love this wallpaper more than is seemly. 

The new year already is on the verge of un-newness as I write this, but there are still a few loose ends to be tied we fully commit to 2015. In fact, those loose ends have to do with the same topic so we're going to use a Magic Knot and pull it good and tight.

(Incidentally, if you are a knitter and have not yet discovered the Magic Knot, stop right now and go watch that video. It's a much better use of less than two minutes of your time than reading the rest of this would be. For those of us who hate and despise weaving in yarn ends? Life. Changing.)

Anyway, today's topic is Word of the Year. How many of my dear reader(s) remember the word for 2014? That's right! It was De-stuffify! I observed that the House on the Corner, for all its enormous size, was stuffed to the gills with tchotchkes and thingamajigs, as well as sentimental favorites and excess of all kind. Having recently been through the final dispersal of my mother-in-law's earthly belongings, I was determined that in 40 years or so the Boys would not have to paw through boxes and boxes of memorabilia that meant absolutely nothing to them. My pledge was to get rid of 100 boxes/bags of stuff.

Well. That turned out to be somewhat impressively overambitious. The first month, when I ruthlessly disposed of some 25 boxes/bags of beloved items junk, I was convinced I would have no problem lightening the House's foundational load by at least 200. But those 25 boxes/bags turned out to be low-hanging (and large) fruit and I never repeated this enormous total in any month. The final disposal turned out to be in the neighborhood of 50 or 60 boxes/bags. (I forgot to mark some of the outgoing items on the calendar so I can't be certain.)

Am I distraught that I did not meet my goal? Heck, no! I am delighted that so many spots in the house are now accessible rather than being packed with junk. The cabinet over the refrigerator can be opened without having travel cups rain down on my head! The cleaning supplies are all in the cleaning closet rather than in three different locations! The drawers of my dressers actually open and close! The sewing room...well, the sewing room has been de-stuffed three times this year and could still use some work.

De-stuffifying, it appears, is an ongoing process that will be completed by the Boys in 40 years after all. But I started it, and am committed to continue the task.

In fact, that leads Magic Knot-tingly into my word of the year for 2015: Finish. As I was de-stuffying I came to the realization that I am a heck of a self-starter. What I need to work on is self-finishing. I found the sweater I started knitting in the car as I drove with Boy#2 to his new university. All of the pieces have been completed for 3 1/2 years, and it has only needed to be seamed. But have I done that? I have not. Or there's the back entryway that I prepared for painting last October, still unpainted.

Today's photo represents my Finish pledge. Over Christmas break I stripped wallpaper off of Two's room, wallpaper that I put up in the weeks before he was born. And before you comment on the fact that a 26-year-old grown man still had teddy bears driving tractors around the border of his walls, please note that he was almost as sad to see that paper go as I was. (Wouldn't you have been sad? Is that not the cutest wallpaper you've ever seen in your life?) But as we convert this room to Husband's home office, it's probably a good moment to make the bears and barns go away. And then I WILL FINISH the redecoration of the room.

I will finish the sweater, I will finish the back entryway, I will finish what I start.

How did your de-stuffifying go this year? Tune in tomorrow for a special offer to anyone who joined me in the paring down.