I don’t know what happened to Days 21 and 22.  I guess I forgot to take pictures those days.  I know I didn’t forget to get dressed.  It was far too cold.

“What has been going on?” you ask.

Well, the boys and I are making plans to visit Mom and Ray in Scottsdale, AZ for spring break. We will attend a baseball game and the Grand Canyon during our visit. The spring training game will be in Tempe and features (I think) the LA Angels and the SF Giants.  We will do other fun things, too, but we don’t know yet what those things are.

I started volunteering at the Kennedy Museum of Art as a gallery host.  So far I’ve volunteered for 2 regular shifts, greeting visitors, and 1 special event, the opening of the newest exhibit, called Phantoms, Shadows and Phenomena.  I didn’t get a chance to actually see the exhibit at the opening last night, so I went back today.  It is cool!  I plan to explore it further during my next shift as volunteer.   I especially want to go back and listen to the first-hand encounters of people with ghosts.

After I saw the exhibit today, I took a short walk around the Ridges.  It felt warm, as it was in the 40s.  The snow is melting!  I took a few photos – see below.

I also discovered a new blog today; Katherine Ziff’s Asylum Notes.

• I forgot to take a picture on Day 18, though I’m certain I didn’t “cheat” and wear something I shouldn’t have.  I am also certain that I dressed that day, because I know I left the house.
• I decided to replace 3 items with 3 other items.

The first two items (from the left) are too short-waisted for me.  The third isn’t as versatile as I hoped.  It’s also the only brown thing among the 33 original items, also making it less versatile.  These items will go into storage with the others.

The three replacement items are new, to me.  I went shopping at Goodwill on Wednesday.  I’ve decided that I like to wear my black pants and a black top, then overlay that with a big shirt or cardigan, hence the sweaters above.  The item in the middle was just fun and colorful and a little dressy.

Day 17

Day 18

???

Day 19

Day 20

Day 13

Day 14

Day 14 – Evening!

Day 15

Day 16

In other news: I am scheduled to substitute tomorrow for a fifth grade class.  And it’s supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow.  I don’t know if it will snow enough, soon enough, for school to be cancelled.  I enjoy substitute teaching, but since it has gotten so cold, I’ve had the increasing urge to hibernate.  I left the house once today, to go to the grocery store.  Then I came straight home again.

A new purchase: Yesterday, Owen and I took a quick trip to Parkersburg.  One of the stops we made was at Gamestop, where Owen spent the last of his Christmas money.  And I succumbed to an impulse to buy a balance board and Wii Fit Plus for our Wii.

Welcome to my new and improved workspace.

1. It’s hard to find a place to take a picture in my house that’s not too close to a window.
2. I’m not very photogenic.
3. Keeping #2 in mind, I look better photographed by a taller person (i.e. John), rather than a shorter person (i.e. Owen).
4. I don’t miss any specific items of clothing or shoes, but I’ve been tempted to wear different earrings.

Day 7

Day 8

For a while I have been following inspiring blogs about living more simply (Zen Habits), about decluttering one’s life (Unclutterer) and one of the major messages in this genre is that having fewer possessions is good.  Less stuff, the theory goes, allows us to focus on things that are more important, such as other people, and having experiences, rather than taking care of our stuff – spending money on it, storing it, transporting it, cleaning it, organizing it, tripping over it.

A google search for the word “clutter” produced 10,300,000 results in .13 seconds. So it appears that this notion of simplifying one’s surroundings appeals to many people, though I guess it’s possible that some of the sites could be in favor of clutter. If you do an image search for the word clutter, a number of truly frightening pictures appear.

Day 5

Day 6

Another, less obvious thing that I’ve noticed is that I’ve been procrastinating less.  When I see something around the house that needs to be done, I’ve been getting to it sooner, rather than later.  This is probably a phase, and will pass, but in the meantime I’m enjoying being more productive.  I’m also able to do this because I’m not working very much at the moment.  I’m not teaching at the university, not doing much substitute teaching, and my short-term gig at the medical school doesn’t start until next month.

This is Day 3.  My ensemble consists of black pants, a black tank top, my blue button down shirt/jacket, my colorful scarf and a pair of earrings.  So far, so good.  I also wore shoes today – my low-heeled black boots.