It’s February 1st and that means January 2011 is officially over.

Back at the beginning of the month, Kim inspired me to give away 111 items. I think the challenge was to just get rid of 111 things in 1/11 but I didn’t count things that went in the trash {LOTS!} Getting rid of trash is easy for me. If something isn’t useful anymore or broken or simply gross, out it goes no tears shed.

Getting rid of perfectly good items. . . not so easy. “What if I’ll wish I had this one day in the future?” “But this could come in really handy if…” “I used to use this all the time.” “I remember…”

My challenge was to giveaway 111 useful items that I am no longer using. And it is a challenge for me.

I worry that I’ll regret not saving X, Y, or Z. Or I get caught up in the sentimentality attached to different items. The memories come flooding back – who gave it to us or how I found it, where it was stored or used in previous homes, the good times associated with whatever it is. As you look down the list, you’ll probably notice none of these things are inherently special. Honestly, they’re mostly just crap but there’s still a story or memory I could tell you about each & every one.

But I did it. 114 items I no longer need OR want to store –

• 8 wooden shelves to the entertainment unit I sold on craigslist
• 2 boxes of 4×6 photo paper
• 6 baseball caps
• 2 pairs of bowling shoes
• 2 baseball cap organizers
• Bunch of travel stuff from hotels
• Travel alarm clock
• 4 rubber duckies
• Set of duckie non-slip tub stick things
• Rutgers license plate holder
• 2 sets of 6 window candles
• Sun mirror
• Asian-style soy sauce bowl
• 2 champagne flutes
• Room air purifier
• Storage ottoman thing
• Heavy iron bar sign
• Indo board (which I’m shipping to my brother)
• 4 matted photos
• Wicker basket
• 8 brand new, never used square glass plates
• 2 dog beds
• Large glass jar/vase
• 8×10 canvas
• CD organizer
• Yo Gabba-Gabba hat
• A hard hat
• Clear glass vase
• Small animal cage water bottle
• Large Michigan beer mug
• 4 square framed mirrors
• Random greeting/birthday cards
• 2 packages of water guns
• 2 women’s shirts
• Pair of sweatpants
• Photo collage frame
• 8 glass mugs
• A three section server
• Blue-green glass bowl/planter
• Spiderman bowl
• 2 blue flower lamps
• 2 plastic rolling cabinets/file things
• Outlet adapters
• Earring travel organizer
• 16 pairs of earrings
• 3 bracelets
• 3 necklaces
• Belt
• 2 pairs of black pumps

TOTAL: 114 items

None of it is being used anymore. It’s just junk sitting in boxes taking up space. Perhaps one day I’ll “wish I had. . . ” but – IF that day comes {and that’s a big IF} – I’ll find a new one, when I need it.

For now, I hope all these former possessions can find new homes to be loved and used to create new memories. If you see anything here that you want, just email me {brickcitylove at gmail dot com} and I’ll send you a pic. It’s all free.

I feel lighter.

The beginning of a new year and back in action on the blog. With the extended break still fresh, I’m sure you’re wondering – “So what’s on tap?” {Well I am, at least. And I run this thing.}

Until recently, the main renovation focus was on a part of the house I don’t see everyday. Heck, I don’t see it for months on end now that there’s a tenant. And, honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Especially come the 1st of every month.

But it means the rest of the house that I do see every day {aside from the master bedroom} is still pretty much a jumbled mess of ridiculous colors, boxes, & clutter. 2011 is the year that changes.

What will 2011 hold for this little corner of Brick City?

In a word – Lots

In order of appearance, here’s what I plan to tackle –

1. The guest room & living room walls have been painted but you don’t know that yet. Consider it our little secret. Shhhhhhhh.

2. “The Office”

AKA – the 3rd floor back room that was the impetus to get rid of 111 things. Chock-full-o-crap with a giant hole in the ceiling, this room is all sorts of klassy.

While this room was content just being a box room, needs have changed. This room will transform to be both storage & office. The ceiling will get fixed, everything will be painted {I’m thinking gray with white trim}, and storage needs will be overhauled. Since I believe every room needs a name and “3rd Floor Back Room” was a bit too long and wordy, this will now be called “The Office.”

3. Blog overhaul & redesign

I switched things up from my original layout because I wanted to post larger pictures but I’m just not loving things. I think the font is too big, the organization is sucky, and things could just generally be better.

I’ll be figuring it out as I go along, so if things are looking a little wonky just chalk it up to me messing around with code I know nothing about. {I’m also planning a flickr overhaul & reorganization. Here’s hoping I don’t break too many photo links.}

4. The awful red red hallway

It really is awful. I mean . . . brick red walls {AND TRIM!} with butter yellow ceiling and tri-color crown molding {butter yellow/marigold/red}. Who thought that was a good idea?! Srsly. WHO???

And more importantly – How have I lived with it like this for so long without my eyeballs falling out? It is a biological mystery, I tell ya.

5. Clearing out the 2nd floor front room

This room still needs a name. I’m open to suggestions. “The Room Formerly Known As Soundproofed Front Room” is too long to fit in my “Categories” drop down menu.

This room needs to be cleared out {as it’s currently more chock-full-o-crap than The Office} so I can get to #6.

6. The Guest Room closet

The Guest Room closet shares a wall with “The Room Formerly Known As Soundproofed Front Room.” A wall that is badly damaged and needs to be replaced. Lots of dust & debris will ensue, as things need to basically need to be done from scratch. Here’s what the closet currently looks like –

Here’s hoping it doesn’t look like that in 2012!

7. Wildcard

After the guest room closet, THE PLAN starts to get a little fuzzy. Maybe the 2nd floor bathroom? Maybe finishing the staircase risers & balusters? Maybe take advantage of the summer weather to focus on the front stoop? Maybe do the living room ceiling {so I can actually decorate}? Only time will tell.

So that’s the big stuff happening in 2011 here at Brick City Love. Lots of renovation with little fun projects here & there. Just the way I like it.

Newark got hit with more snow, just like everywhere else along the east coast it seems.

Enough snow to get a snow day. And I don’t even have to work from home. {Thanks, Work!}

I love snow days. I think they are simple perfection. It’s lovely to have an unexpected weekday off {and not be charged a vaca day}.

But still I am conflicted.

Part of me wants to just enjoy the quiet pleasure of a lazy day. Sitting in bed on the heated mattress pad, scrolling through pretty pictures online with a toasty beverage.

But the other part sees today as an opportunity not to be squandered. There’s work to be done! Boxes to sort through. Possessions to be purged. I can hear my grandmother in the back of my head –

Let us now be up & doing!
With a heart for any fate
Still acheiving, still pursusing,
Learn to labor & to wait.

So conflicted, I have done neither.

The plows in the parking lot woke me up at 5:20am. At 8:30 the dog wanted to go out and eat breakfast. I putzed around doing nothing for hours until my stomach couldn’t take it any longer. Fixed myself an egg samich just like Dad used to make us on Sunday mornings growing up.

yum.

Maybe now with a little protein decisions will happen quicker. I’ll be ‘up & doing’ {‘up & doing’, ‘up & doing’, ‘up & doing’} instead of putzing.

Or perhaps I’ll get rid of 20 more items and crawl back into that heated cocoon of wonderfulness with toasty beverage. Yes. That sounds like a fair compromise.

Were you the type of kid who always put their toys away at the end of the day? Or finished one project before buying supplies for a new one?

I wasn’t.

I was the person who

• salvaged windows from the neighbors trash because they’d be “good for something.”
• almost trashed their clutch from popping into reverse too quickly to nab that table from the curb “before someone else does.”
• enlisted their mother & her minivan to haul a rusty metal cabinet with a bunch of little drawers home and stash it in their garage because I “could clean it up and paint it” and “it would be good to put stuff in.”

I rescue unwanted but useable discards. I collect things for imagined projects. I see the potential in seemingly useless items and make things out of them. It’s a point of pride. I mean heck – have you seen my fence-slat-turned-display-board??? {The fact that it is still living at my mother’s house because I have nowhere to put it is only a minor point of concern.}

However, at some point it’s time to clear the decks and put our toys away. Get back to a fresh, clear slate before moving on.

This is where I am now. I cannot work on projects I want to because there is too much stuff in the way.

Part of the problem is that we never moved in. Not really. More than 1.5 years into residence here and moving boxes still dominate 2 of the 4 bedrooms. Most of them have been opened and rummaged through. Some are sitting collecting dust in a corner.

It’s hard because I don’t have a garage or basement or attic. I don’t have the spaces people usually put their stuff or supplies. Where does one keep Christmas decorations? Their tools? The extra drywall? All that other stuff that never got unpacked?

Right now, the Christmas decorations are still up. Not that there were many of them but I do love the lights. There’s something so warm & welcoming about coming home to candles in the windows {big thumbs up to whoever invented timers}. And if I don’t take them down, I don’t have to find a home for them. ~ {No? That’s not the way things work?}

The tools have taken up residence in the pantry. Initially it may seem weird but practically it’s a much better use of space. With the addition of numerous clear plastic bins, it’s the most organized space in the entire house. It does create an interesting situation of where to put things like “food” though.

And all that other “stuff”? It’s still a mess. Spread out between 2 bedrooms in a sea of cardboard and piles. Things that don’t seem to have a home ‘yet’ but were deemed worthy of moving.

It makes me wonder. Yes, the house is a construction zone. Yes, there isn’t much point of hanging art on walls that need to be drywalled or patched. But if something hasn’t been pulled out and used in the past 1.5 YEARS, do we really need it? Is it still worthy of having a home here?

Or would it, perhaps, be better served living elsewhere? Passing it along to someone else who might need it more than me? What the heck is even still in these boxes?

My mother once told me {ok, she’s actually said is several times},

One way to have more room is to have less stuff.

So, I am on a quest for more room via less stuff.

Kim {at NewlyWoodwards} is purging 111 things in 1/11. I think that’s a stellar idea and will be joining her.

Maybe, just maybe, we can condense things down to just one box room.

Hello, friends.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Too long, perhaps.

Maybe not long enough.

I’ve wanted to come back but the timing didn’t feel right.

Like taking those first steps into the diner you used to go to every Tuesday but haven’t been back in months and now things feel awkward. All the “how you been?”s & “where you been?”s and eye-gouging, wrist-slitting, stick-your-head-in-an-oven small talk that goes with it. Because all you really want to do is order a cup of coffee and maybe a grilled cheese samich and get on with it.

{Mmmm…. grilled cheese}

I wanted to get a swanky new design. Something different. Spiff things up. Get things organized. Come back with something NEW! SHINY! BACK WITH A BANG! Ka-POW! Give you a good reason for the absence. {“Surprise! 2-month long blog makeover!”}

But I’ve learned if you wait for everything to be “just right”, you’re just gonna keep waiting. Better to jump right in and work to get it where you want it.

Anyway.

HI!! Greetings & salutations.

In a nutshell, here’s a quick bulletted list to bring you up to speed:

1. I am, in fact, alive & well. Fighting the good fight right here in Brick City.

2. I missed all of you terribly. I still keep up with most everyone from my google reader. Thank you for being such an inspiration. For sharing your projects and inspirations. It made me want to return the favor.

3. I haven’t forgotten I left you hanging with the Garden Apt. kitchen. That was so unfair of me. Apologies. Pictures to come.

4. How the house is used is in flux. Rooms that were going to be one thing are now other things. That sounds cryptic & shady but I will explain. {I am not pregnant, so don’t even let “nursery” flash across your frontal lobe. This house is enough to raise (or raze, depending on my mood & level of frustration).}

5. Blogging may have ceased but projects didn’t. Lets just say, it’s been a productive 2 months.

In fact, from my current vantage point, it’s like looking into the past –

Those with a kick-butt temporal lobe may remember how the living room used to look and realize things are a changing. Finally.

So that’s it. I’m back. It’s going to be a slow rolling start before we get into our 5-day/week routine but eventually we’ll get there. As long as I’ve got you to keep me company. A change gonna come. Oh yes it will.