KonMari- Komono 2015

Komono is KonMari's word for miscellaneous items. She breaks it down a little, but really you just have to sort of walk around collecting like items. For the most part, I do keep like stuff together, but I definitely had some spare bath items in the guest room for guests, and I had office stuff in several places.

Before I even read this book I had already cleaned out all the junk in the bathroom. Our junk drawer had mostly stuff we used. But I went back and threw out some more stuff out of the bathroom. My make up is now just the bag I use everyday plus a few extra lipsticks. The extra guest stuff is just a few items people might actually use. Anything that was really old and probably expired I threw out.

Guest basket

On another day I looked for extra items in the kitchen. We still have too many wine and champagne glasses, but we do break them sometimes, so for now we'll keep some extra. The pantry only took like 3 hours although they were a very tiring 3 hours, so that's all I did that day. The pantry was full of surprises and excess! I did most of the office the day I did paper, but I should probably revisit that.

Improved pantry.

Some of the random stuff is not mine, but Kevin's. I tried to just sort of push them together so they looked better, but sometimes, I casually mentioned them to Kevin. I stressed that he did not have to get rid of anything, but sometimes he did reduce a little here and there if it didn't spark joy.

I need to go through each room again looking for the random stuff, but for now, I'm a little bored with komono. I know I have a lot of stuff in the mementos and photos category so I'm working on that now.

In the meanwhile, the next two posts are KonMari- Kids' Clothing and KonMari- Kids' Toys. I know that a lot of you are especially lost with those. Feel free to post questions so I can answer them. Not that I'm an expert obviously, but I've wrestled with the problem and come up with some solutions that work for us.

• Next category: KonMari- Mementos (in progress!)
• KonMari- Kids' Clothes  
• KonMari- Kids Toys!!
• Previous category: KonMari- Paper
• All my other KonMari posts

KonMari- Paper 2015

Paper... I suspect that most people embarking on KonMari do their clothes and then get stuck. I base this theory on the plethora of youtube videos about KonMari and clothing and lack of videos on the other categories. But maybe it's because paper is kind of boring? When I got to paper, I thought: this is easy! I already have a little file box of important papers, and I'll rip through Komono (miscellaneous) easily.

Um no, the box itself was hard because super important papers were mixed with papers I didn't need. And also, boring. Then I went around the house looking for more in the way Kondo advises for clothing. I had a file cabinet full of a mix of papers and mementos. I had work papers on my desk and under my desk. I had desk supplies that were technically "Komono" but since they were right there I couldn't resist. I reduced as much as could but in the end I got tired.

Note: Don't mix up "papers" and "mementos." This was a little tricky for me, but a lot of the paper I was keeping wasn't for the business of life, but rather a keepsake. Move that to the mementos category.

Papers (plus) on the way out

I didn't organize things exactly the way Kondo recommends, but I tried to employ the spirit with fewer file categories. I might yet switch to her system but for now this is working. My home office is not experiencing the level of zen that my bedroom is experiencing, but there's a huge improvement, and I can easily find everything that's actually important in the one file box. We're getting rid of the empty (very old, broken, and heavy) file cabinet too. And I think James will get the large plastic drawers I used for office supplies for his closet when I redo his room.

• Next category: KonMari- Komono (miscellaneous)
• Previous category: KonMari- Books
• Start with KonMari- Clothes
• KonMari- General Solution
• All my other KonMari posts

KonMari- Dad's Books 2015

My other problem was that I had kept about 26 boxes of my dad's books after he passed away. After 4 years, I had still reduced or read very few of them. I had tried just looking through them, getting a friend to help (hi Ash!), and finally doing one author letter at a time. The last strategy was going a little better... but still really slow.

Enter Marie Kondo. In three days, the books I chose to keep are in three bookshelves, and hundreds of books that I would not have ever read were donated. I was shocked how much clarity I had in the book selection after 4 years of being totally confused. When I look at the bookshelves they spark joy! I want to read the books, and the arrangement reminds me of being at home and visiting my dad.

Suddenly I have clarity on my dad's books! Donate! Donate!

 

Less than half the number I started with, but still, admittedly, a lot.

Okay, we still have a lot of books. We probably always will. But when I look at them they make me happy now in a way they did not before. They don't stress me or make me feel guilty. They make me look forward to pulling the next adventure off the shelf.

KonMari- Books 2015

Oh my gosh, we had a major book problem! That's over now!

No, it's not. So let's start with me: I had books from childhood, college, graduate school, and law school. I thought I had gotten rid of most of the books from childhood and college but when my dad passed away I discovered that my parents had actually put a lot of my books in storage. (Storage, by the way, is the world's most evil form of money-waste. I mean you guys have seen those reality shows where people bid on other people's storage lockers right? So very depressing.)

But just to obfuscate my problem a little, Kevin and I had combined our books. Now under the KonMari system, Kevin has a special book dispensation. He's a creative writing professor so books are his job, hobby, and passion. That means that Kondo believes that it is totally legitimate for him to keep more books than the rest of us should keep.

Before: Kevin and I had our combined fiction books here
(not pictured: nonfiction and poetry)

So the first thing I did was un-combine our books. I had him double check before I got rid of anything, and he found a book I didn't know was mine, and he rescued a few that were actually his. There were some books that we both owned but hadn't been reduced when our libraries were combined because there were different translators or notes in the books.

Kevin's fiction books after I took mine out- not a big difference! (Nonfiction equally huge.)

I did my books pretty quickly because I was so excited after clothing. The measurement is still if the book sparks joy. If it's your favorite book and you reread it regularly- keep it! If you just love looking at the cover on your shelf- keep it! If you've been meaning to read for years but haven't, sorry, set the book free so someone else can read it. If you read it, and you're done with it, thank it, and send it on to its next home.

I got my fiction to about 70 and my nonfiction to about 20 books to keep, and 25 to force myself to read before donating. Since my original purge, I've gotten rid of a few more that I realize do not bring me any joy, so it's still a work in progress.  But I'm happy with how little space they take up currently, and that they're all in one place. In a perfect world though, my bookshelf would be closer to a list of my favorite books: We Were Flying to Chicago, The End of the Affair, Gilead, A Brief History of Time, a few others, and of course, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

All my books after (except the to-read pile on my night table)

Confession time: I broke the KonMari rules and kept a bunch of books I have not yet read, but since then I've been actually reading them. They are sitting next to my night table and I read them (or at least confront them) daily.

Books I am currently reading or re-reading before I decide their fate (1 borrowed).

Okay, so then, my other big problem was that I had kept about 26 boxes of my dad's books after he passed away.... but this is a much trickier situation because the books are part "books" category and part "mementos" category. So I'll save that for the next post.

• I did my dad's books separately because they were part book/ part memento. 
• The next category is KonMari- Paper

Previously:

• KonMari- Clothes 2015 
• KonMari- General Solution 2015

• All my other KonMari posts

Mother's Day 2015

I had a super fun Mother's Day. My mom came over Saturday and babysat while Kevin and I went to meet Lionor, and I could tell she and Miranda had really bonded when I came back. Miranda decided that her favorite book is Dinosaur versus the Library (thanks Michele!) because she likes all the roaring and voices we do when we read it, so she carried it over to my mother approximately 500 times so that she would read it to her. Even though the rest of us offered to read it to her (even James who knows it by heart) Miranda kept insisting my mom read it. Poor Nana. Haha.

Outside Swing the Teapot

Sunday, mom and I went to breakfast at the same place we went last year, Swing the Teapot, and it was still good. It's a tea place too, but mom doesn't like tea so I drank an entire teapot of chocolate-mint tea by myself. That might have been an error in judgment because I didn't sleep that night for like 2 hours, but it was so yummy.

Looking pretty as usual.

Action shot!


With Miranda and James and dandelion

James made me a pretty cool card at school too with his hand print as the flower petals. Miranda can't do much beyond say mama and give me kisses but the kisses are super awesome. Kevin made me the comfort food dinner I wanted and watched Mean Girls with me at night. So pretty much a perfect Mother's Day.

The Clous on Mother's Day

• Last Mother's Day 2014
• Mother's Day at home 2013
• First Mother's Day as a mom in New Jersey 2011

Meeting Lio 2015

Baby Lio is just a little snuggle bug. She has red hair and blue eyes, and a proclivity for being held matched only by my own children. Kevin and I were so excited to meet her! Thanks for letting us come over Sarah and Lukas!

My expression is all, "Can I have her?"

Too perfect. Is that a thing? It is now.

Kevin seems to really like her too.

Close-up!

Blissed out beautiful mama Sarah

Lukas and his baby girl- eyes open! Sort of.

Group picture!

• Easter with Lukas and Sarah 2015
• Valentine's Day with Lukas and Sarah 2015

Sibling Night Out- May 2015

David and I thought it would be fun to meet up for happy hour since he works in Brooklyn now. At the same time, I kind of predicted it would be a little disasterous for either us or Brooklyn generally because we're both kind of light-weights, have a poor sense of direction, and ignore both.

Oh boy. We went to Livingston Manor where the bartenders were super nice and made extra delicious drinks. Happy hour turned into about 5 hours, I missed my train, and when I did catch the next train an hour and half later I barely managed to get off at my stop. I had to get Kevin to unlock the door for me at 1 am. Worth it? Totally!

Fun bonding, bad selfie.

Thanks to Kevin and Melanie for rescuing us from ourselves. Next time David promises to cut me off.

Andrew Moves to Japan! 2015

Today Andrew is moving to Japan! He will be teaching conversational English to businessmen, and exploring Japan without a car for the next year... or possibly two!

So last weekend, we went up to the Cape to have some quality bonding time and to have a little family going away party for him. Saturday we had the party with Andrew's favorite meal, his mom's spaghetti and meatballs, Great-grammy's award-winning apple pie, and a cheesecake that said Bon Voyage Andrew!

Six Clouthers and Great-grandma

Uncle Andrew playing bubbles with his niece and nephew

With his beautiful mom

Aunt Mary doing puzzles with the kiddies

Besties

Some of the Rogers at the party

Bonus pictures of James, Miranda, and Harry being cute.

Cute overload.

Party relaxation

Brothers ignoring each other.

Goodbye cake!

On Sunday, we had some more fun playing with the kids by the pond, going on a family hike in Shawme-Crowell State Forest, while Great-grammy and Grand-Aunt Mary babysat Miranda who is not hiking-ready yet.

 

Playing by the pond

Hiking around

Blowing through both of their naptimes together

Practicing baseball

Uncle Andrew helping with James's swing

We also popped over to "church" which is what Kevin's entire family calls the 28 Club. They are quite "religious."

Post-28-Club hilarity #Ineedaselfiestick

Everyone will miss him a great deal which has been evidenced by the outpouring of support and sadness on his Facebook wall from all his friends in Florida. For those of you not friends with Andrew on Facebook, it was seriously epic. Like a Facebook birthday times five million with old pictures and stories about Andrew. But mostly, people are really excited for Andrew. It's an instant win to be going on a huge adventure! I'm super excited he started a blog "Memoirs of Japandrew" so that in a small way, we can go on the adventure with him! Congratulations on doing something super awesome, Andrew!

Saying sayonara to the pond, for now.

• Our last visit with Andrew on the Cape, December 2014
• Andrew's last visit to New York to see us and meet Miranda, May 2014
• Andrew's super awesome 30th birthday in Key West, November 2013

Baby Raymond 2015!

Cheryl and her husband Ryan had a gorgeous baby boy, Raymond. He looks so much like Cheryl! I love him already!

Little Raymond

Baby Lionor 2015!

We have an abundance of wonderful red heads in our life. I am so excited to introduce you to the littlest one, the super beautiful Lio. Sarah and Lukas had her last week, and I'm counting the seconds to meet her. So far she appears to be smiling in all her pictures. This isn't a skill babies ordinarily possess until they're about a month old, so I've decided she's almost certainly a genius. But I might be biased because I love her already.

Smiling Lio

• Recent Lukas and Sarah fun
• The other babies of UVA Brown college