Spring cleaning

For breakfast, my husband made me his specialty, cheesy scrambled eggs with Penzey's salt & pepper, even though it is his birthday. (Don't worry, tonight, he'll have a martini, wedge salad and steamed lobster, to make up for having to cook this morning.)

This fabulous breakfast is actually my bribe, because we had weekend plans cancel, so we're in town, and I need to make a dent in my "basement clean-up" project. Instead of just moving things around and making them seem more organized (a favorite strategy I've used in the past), it's mandatory purging, recycling, scanning, gifting to others, taking to Little Free Library or other worthy spots. It's LESS STUFF at the end of the day.

Uncovered today:

* The 2023 NCTE Convention Book - with loads of post-its marking sessions to attend. I know the conference might be more environmentally friendly but I love getting the Convention Book and slowly pouring over it, looking for topics, ideas, peoples to push my thinking.

* Not 1, not 2, but 3 unsent cards. Oh, Lisa. I will pop one of these in the mail today, but I need to slide open the other two before sending them off, to see what I wrote and make sure it feels OK to share a few years after the fact.

* A book of stamps! And they are Forever stamps, to I can use them to send the card. What a win!

* Loads of printed presentation decks that would help me stay on track during a Zoom workshop or have more confidence talking about politics in Ohio when Honesty for Ohio Ed was starting up. I skim through them quickly - no time to reminisce or I will find a reason to keep them, instead of relegate each packet to recycling. 

* A colorful math workbook on arrays. I believe this was from coaching in a 3rd grade classroom several years ago, trying to think about some engaging visual morning work for kids who struggled with reading. This is perfect for the Little Free Library, so off it goes.

* Too many post-it notes with a cryptic word or two, others with a longer jot, that was likely a new piece of knowledge, a to-do, a push to follow-up on something. But now, these makes no sense. After reading a dozen of these, I decided to stop and recycle the whole bunch, to prevent the guilt of seeing all the little things I'd wish I'd gotten to but likely hadn't.

I stepped away to Slice but it's time to head back down and tackle another box, another stack of important things no longer important. It can be hard to let go of these once valuable objects, but I'm making room for white space. For calm. For whatever the future holds.