Meanwhile, at Larson's Lodge...

 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to plant and a time to uproot...
    a time to search and a time to give up...
    a time to keep and a time to throw away...
    a time to tear and a time to mend...
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 ,6-7

I have enjoyed reading Kathy Lipp's book Clutter Free. This gal talks in Amy terms.  She is funny, real, tells personal stories and those of others to get her point across.  
But what I like the most is how she sprinkles scripture throughout.  
Chapter 17 begins with the above list.

Plants.  I like them. I have house plants and I also bring summer posies in to rescue from the encroaching cold weather. I keep plants for snow birds (the intelligent population that heads south for the winter). Sometimes, though, even with the furnace, water, and winter sunlight there are those that need to be uprooted and thrown out into the snow drift.

Searching. How much time do we spend in our day searching for that lost paper? Lost screwdriver? Lost tooth?  What?? 

Yep, right central incisor of boy number 2.  Poor little guy got hit somehow on this tooth way back when and it eventually abscessed and had to be extracted.  (This dental assistant struggled with that reality!) Anyway...fast forward about 12 years. I dumped out the sock drawer to purge and organize and voila; tooth!  Lord, help me. I give up.


Keep. Keep what you love; throw, donate, or recycle the rest. Period. And yes, this is a tough one.

Mend. 3 items this week were mended. I dug out my sewing supplies from 1988 and sewed 4 buttons on various items; 1 shirt, 1 jacket, and 1 pillow.  Finally!  Some socks however, just need to be torn and tossed.

A season for every activity. 
A beginning and an end. 


Begin.  The 2000 Things Challenge.  This is taken from Chapter 20 of the above mentioned book.
2000 things leave the house by the end of 2015. This makes me squirm.
Yep, we are already nearly at the end of the 2nd month but I am going for it.
49 items Wednesday.
63 items Thursday.(4 items: Thank you Lion's Club for recycling old prescription glasses.)
1 item Friday. (Good news is that I finally delivered old Christmas lights to be recycled!!)
Total 113
1887 to go.
313 days left in 2015.
6.03 items per day.
42.27 items per week.
184.1 items per month.

Okay then.  Let's rock and roll. 

End. End the insanity.  Lord forgive me. Forgive me for my gluttony. Forgiving myself and moving forward. Thank you Lord for the beginnings and the endings.

Tip:  Dig through your jewelry stash. Hang out a few and vow to wear them. Design outfits around the pieces.  Fun!

Blessed freedom,
Amy

Ecclesiastes 3:2a  a time to be born and a time to die...
This is reality. We are all born and we all die.
Beginnings and endings.
It's still hard to say good bye to our dear loved ones.
Yesterday, heaven welcomed a good friend. 
He reminded me so much of my dad. 
I hope the Lord somehow puts those 2 on a mission together.
Smart talking, fishing maybe...
How glorious it will be. 
The best beginning of all!