Bird by Bird

Between me and my summer break: 240 papers,exams, projects. Quite a daunting number. So much to do in under two weeks. As Annie Lamott says--a propos writing or other projects--just do it "bird by bird."

Procrastination can yield some good results. Since Frugal Son is about to graduate from college, has much travel and work planned for the summer, and then will (fingers crossed once more) head over to France to teach English for a year. He will not spend more than a few days in his room. I have already started turning his room into my work area. I asked him if he minded our dismantling his ugly bed. He said no. His ugly bed is now flooring in the attic.

This decluttering/emptying set off a rush of feng shui type energy. His room looks so good and we were able to put a nice table in there--for stacking and organizing the 240 items mentioned above.

Then, we could use his room as a kind of staging area to organize donations for Tuscaloosa tornado relief (Mr. FS will be driving tomorrow).

While filling my donation bags, I found some nice surprises. To wit: a yard of Geoffrey Bennison linen in an oakleaf pattern. Also several yards of a Chinoiserie cotton by Pierre Frey. It never fails: decluttering inevitably allows nice stuff (and empty space) to surface.

Like grading papers, decluttering happens "bird by bird." The title comes from an event in Annie's childhood. Her brother had to do a project on birds, and had, of course, procrastinated. Their father said, "Do it bird by bird."