Joy.

Remember this?
This week I've been hammering out some of these projects. I completed one project's finish work today that has been a nagging thorn in my side but crazily only took me an hour to complete. And I actually liked the chore! Progress that was 10 months in the making. Snails pace over here people, snails pace. There are two more projects left to do from this list, one easy peasy little task and one ginormous-I-don't-know-how-to-do/don't-have-the-tools-for types of projects. And I should prolly watch at least one youtube video before I begin. urg.
Remember this book?
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is still haunting me. The author describes the length of time one takes to fully accomplish decluttering/tidying as 3 or more months. At first read I thought this ridiculous. But I am now fully starting to understand because there are things in this house that I pick up and don't feel exact joy about but put back down and keep instead of discarding BUT the item starts haunts me! I cannot get said object out of my mind and each time I enter the room where it lies I feel it staring at me, unjoyfully. In refining this method of decluttering, I have found joy to be a fluid feeling. Here and then gone. Something I loved yesterday I don't love today. Very fickle. Perhaps this is just the way I process tidying and not how other readers are implementing. Mostly my greatest hope as I press on is that I am valuing experiences and memories, time with The Littles and Tim more than being controlled by my possessions. You know, be a genuine example for My Littles. Valuing the good stuff in life.

On Saturday morning I am running my first half marathon. You guys, I am maybe not cut out to be a long distance runner. I'll be glad when it's over and not just because I am nervous but because I want to be excited about running again. When Tim asked me if I was interested in training I said no but then changed my mind and forged ahead. I've had really good days of running and really bad days. We were supposed to run a race in March but because of scheduling/conflicting family stuff we had to hold off and wait until now. Tim stopped training in February, he has too much on his plate right now to worry about getting a long run in once a week. So my training went 2 months longer than I had anticipated, leaving me a tad bit over it. Also, I use running as therapy. I have been running the same 2.5 miles, 4-7 days a week since March 2004. Yep. I could run that route with my eyes closed. Or at least in the dark, which I have a handful of times. I can hardly remember what everything looks like or anything that happens on those early morning runs, my mind is somewhere else. I can't wait to feel that again. I am looking forward to these 13.1 miles to be over so I can get back to the joy of running.