I didn’t share my decluttering project #2 from our challenge last month.  First things got pretty crazy with our neighbor’s intense need for our help (we love ‘em!).  Then I couldn’t find a used book store that was interested in taking my books.

Well one shop was very interested.  ”Oh we love exchanges!” the man with thick glasses and a scruffy beard gleamed.  ”But only the owner does it.  He’s on vacation.  When he gets back, then you can come!”

“Well when will he be back?”

“Umm.  Two weeks.  Then you can come in from 10 to 2 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Mondays.”

Why YES, all you readers who have lived in Germany!  I sure did think I was talking to a German government office.  Plenty of vacation time, impossible hours…

Needless to say, I still have the books.They’re just sitting in a big box in the car, waiting for Plan B.  I was hoping to swap a few books to take with me to Germany, as my German novel reading skills have not passed the first grade level yet.  English books remain a must!

Plan B is donating them to the library in town.  That will have to wait for the next big drive into town.

The great news is that our bookcase is officially decluttered.  I’ve also got a plan for tackling the books I chose to keep.  It’s a crazy theory:  read the books I already have! Stay tuned for some thoughts on that later this week!

What have you been doing with your no-longer-wanted books?

Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful here.  How about at your home?

I need these quiet moments to keep me from thinking, “If I were in Germany right now…”  There were deer right in front of the windows as I made my breakfast.  At first I thought of crawling across the house below the windows where they wouldn’t see me so that I could grab my camera.

But I didn’t.

Instead sat down with my breakfast.  I just watched them.  And for a fleeting second here and there, they’d watch me – or the brief movements of spoon-to-mouth that they could see of me through the reflective windows.

Instead of my camera, I eventually grabbed my journal instead.  The stillness with these animals inspired me to sit down and journal about all the doings at – dare I admit it? - 7:00 in the morning on Saturday.  I loved the simplicity of this journaling.

Here’s what I wrote.  (I used a simple “today” page in this {She} journal from the shop.)

Try this little exercise to capture your day when you have time.  It’s the kind of documenting where you don’t need a camera.  Think of today and verbs connected to what you’re doing.  Today I am hoping.  Today I am making.  Today I am sharing…

Or try it right here in the comments.  What is a verb in your today?

Last week when faced with the need to fold laundry and put fresh sheets on the bed, I thought about going on strike or putting on a protest.  I didn’t want to do any of that chore business any more.  So I got out a dull pencil and a piece of paper; I was making a protest sign that I could tape to my ruler and parade around the house.  ”I’m withholding from more folding.  I’m withholding…”

That sign never got made.

But I have been doodling ever since.  (We will not discuss the status of that particular load of laundry any more!)

There’s something really invigorating about combining silly stuff with serious things.  So that’s just what this new journal is all about.

{Something Serious with Something Silly}

From now on, lists are going to be really, really fun.  They can tap into parts of ourselves we never knew, not just the lists and lists of all those to-dos.

There are lists for what’s under the bed and passport stamps you’re gonna get.  There are puffy lines for some-day dreams and the sunny things that make every bit of your world better.  Brace yourself for the most casual, exciting 30-word memoir you’ve ever written.

We can add color or doodles or very serious fonts.

And by “we”, I mean you and your {Something Serious with Something Silly} journal and me with mine if you are serious enough or silly enough.

Happy weekend, folks!