February Celebration and Project

A decent haul for the Yedidya Bazaar next week.

As announced at the beginning of the year, I am choosing a celebration and a project for each month. January was celebrating Turning over a new leaf. The project was to organize all my papers, teaching materials, paperwork of every kind, and be up to date with all work assignments, grading and preparing courses. I've necessarily had to extend January's project into February as my students are sitting their mid-semester exam on Feb 6th and I'll have 40 papers to mark before the following weekend. And there are one or two other jobs that need finishing off, as I mentioned yesterday.

I also said that February had to start early. The celebration for February is Spring. The almond trees are beginning to blossom, the weather seems to be getting a bit warmer (though I've not given up hope completely for a late snowfall next Sunday - it's happened before), and the days are getting longer at the evening end.

On Wednesday it's Tu B'shvat (the 15th of the lunar month of Shvat). This is a minor festival celebrating he new year for trees. We eat lots of different fruits, we plant trees, we sing songs about the almond blossoms, and we look forward to the annual pilgrimages to see the hillsides covered in anemones (that's poppies to you and me).

And the  project is Spring Cleaning. It's a sort of extension of getting the paperwork in order but it's also one final declutter towards minimalism, actual cleaning with soap and water, and possibly some new furniture, but only if I get rid of some old furniture first.

I was going to have a more nature orientated project in keeping with the Tu B'Shvat theme and keep the spring cleaning for March when it's warmer. However, they brought the Yedidya Bazaar forward by a month this year so I've got to get all my clutter over to them this week. And DD's school market is on Friday, so she is taking a load of old toys that I had to get down yesterday to sort through.

I am pleased to see that my Yedidya Bazaar haul is nowhere near as big as last year. A sure sign that all this decluttering is having some long term effect. However, what's in the photo is only what I put away in October when I did my 500 Clutters Challenge. I fully intend to get all this stuff over to Yedidya and then spend the weekend going round looking for more clutter as the final drop off is on Saturday night. For the record, I only managed 250 clutters for the challenge but that's because I refused to tackle my wardrobe which still has outfits in it from 30 years ago.

I'm sorry not to be helping at the Yedidya Bazaar this year as for the second year, I'm teaching on Sunday. Give me a few more years and I'll be able to leave DD at home while I go and help in the mighty marathon sorting that takes place all night on Saturday. Or maybe DD will come and help too.