What I wanted to do today — make art. What I actually did today — cleaned and organized half the basement art supplies.
It’s okay. It’s a task that needs to be done, every three months or so. Life gets busy, over the holidays, during the semester, entropy starts winning, you chuck things downstairs in a hurry, and order descends into chaos. And eventually you have to head in there with a shovel and start hauling out the muck. I didn’t think to take any ‘before’ pictures, but trust me, it was a disaster. It took six solid hours of effort to get to this.
Eventually I got past the grottier parts and started to have some fun. Pulled out the label maker and labelled a few cupboards and drawers. (What, that’s not your idea of fun? I find it positively thrilling.) I organized about half the room, and then realized it was almost bedtime, so I thought I’d at least mend two things before calling it a day.
A cozy wrap that my in-laws gave me for Christmas one year? The stitching holding it together had almost completely come apart (probably due to children mishandling it during play; Anand in particular likes to steal all my super-soft things). Three minutes to change the bobbin and spool to matching thread, two minutes, if that, to run a seam — done. Good as new.
And that necklace, very nice for pulling a work outfit together? One of the connections had come undone, rendering it unwearable. But at some point I’d picked up a ten dollar set of basic jewelers’ tools at Michael’s, and it was the work of a minute to go to the (labelled!) drawer, pull out the right tool, twist apart a ring, hook it into another, and press it closed again. Done!
In another life, I might’ve been one of those people who specialize in home organizing, because I *love* the efficiency of it, and the way good organization makes it so much easier to live your life with pleasure. I may have read Martha Stewart’s book, _Good Things for Organizing_, cover to cover. Twice!
Tomorrow is a teaching day, but I think this weekend, I should be able to finish the basement off. It’s a little dusty, a little musty, and kind of cold (I had a space heater running) — but y’know, it’s a basement, and a mostly unfinished one at that. We slapped some paint on the concrete floor and called it a day, so you can’t expect it to be too polished. But at least it’s halfway organized now; that makes all the difference.
Side note: that desk my sewing machine sits on was my desk in college. I loaned it to a local friend when I moved out of town; she passed it on to some relatives, but kindly retrieved it for me when I moved back. I love it, and it’s perfect (if a little battered) for holding my sewing machine and a host of supplies. And exactly the right height for me! Waste not, want not!
What I wanted to do today — make art. What I actually did today — cleaned and organized half the basement art supplies. 
With that rug and desk I think it looks like you are in a castle!
It’s really too nice a rug for the basement, but we had it from before, and it didn’t fit anywhere else in our house, so… 🙂