In my continuing effort to reclaim my house, I have named the process the No Clutter Campaign. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. This week the No Clutter Campaign has moved into my office out of necessity. I have to get my tax stuff organized for my accountant. I’ve made good progress. Not enough to take any “after” photos, but enough that I have a clear table top for sorting receipts. I’m drawing inspiration from several friends who have either recently moved or are in the process of moving. If I were moving, would I take this item with me? If the answer is “yes,” the item stays. If the answer is “no,” it gets tossed, put in the flea market/Craig’s List bin, or goes to Good Will. For me, this mindset works better than the old “will I use it/do I love it” question. It’s too easy to think I might have a use for some gadget. I’m too sentimental about too many little inanimate objects. But the idea of packing and moving to a new home is daunting. Do I “love” that chipped coffee ...

One of the things I hope to improve upon in this new year is decluttering. With the demands of deadlines, not to mention the great excuse “I don’t have time to clean. I have to write,” my house has become a series of what I affectionately call “hog holes.” Comfy, but messy. A little TOO lived in. So I’m tackling one hog hole at a time. No, I will not be showing you the before photos. They might result in a film crew from some hoarding reality show appearing on my front porch. However, here is my first tidied corner of my house. Books and DVDs all neat and orderly. Small cabinet’s top cleared of “stuff.” On to the next corner…which sad to say now contains some of the junk I cleared from THIS corner. Sigh. In other homefront news, Skye has developed a new quirk. She no longer wants her food in the kitchen. She now prefers to eat it in the bathtub! If I set the bowl down elsewhere, she snubs it, goes to the bathroom door and looks at me until I follow her. Then ...

First, let me say I’ll be very glad when these year-in-review things go away! 2014 was a rough year for the nation and reliving all the horrific news stories is more than I can handle with my current low stock in tissues. Goal #1: Go to the store and buy Kleenex. Seriously, though, it’s time for my annual post about creating goals. If you don’t know the difference between goals and resolutions by now, go back into my archives and pull up a post from January 1 of any year. Last year, my big goal concerned finding balance. I was more or less successful. I met all my deadlines (okay, I was one day late for ONE of them, but I had permission), so I must have done okay staying focused on writing. I did, however, go off the track where exercise is concerned. And family matters completely derailed me for a while. Hey, life happens. You do your best, and you move on. So for 2015, I’m shooting for a do-over on the finding balance goal. I need to continue to maintain momentum...