Shred This; File That

There is always so much to do in January. I have started the year determined to get rid of excess, so I am going through every drawer, closet, box, and container to get rid of the unnecessary, unused, and the I forgot where I put it stuff.

 I am throwing way old electronics and technology: cords, floppy disks, cassettes, and devices. I am donating the usable and giving the girls a chance to claim their childhood items. I want only what we use with regularity on the selves and our most treasured items.

When my father-in law-died, I searched all of the usual places for the CD that I had made of him for his 80th birthday to show at his memorial, but I could not find it. I found it yesterday along with other Cd's that hold priceless photos. Now I know where they
are--for the moment.

I started my purging rampage in the office, nearly wearing out the shredder by clearing out a lot of excess paper work that we don't need to keep, so that I can start collecting this year's stash of important documents. Two things struck me as I sorted piles of Important Papers to File,  Don't Know if I Need to Keep this Paper, Papers the HG Needs to Deal With, Papers to Throw Away, and Documents to Shred:

•  First, the amount of useless documentation that Medicare generates for my monthly reports on my health status.whether or not I have had a doctor's appointment that month. The home owners/ auto insurance is just as much of a nuisance. I have tried to go paperless with some of the bill senders, but I haven't make it all the way yet. Then I'd have to spend the same amount of time cleaning up the email. 

• Next, I became annoyed at the fact that I have to shred anything that has our names on it for fear that someone might go through our trash. What a pure waste of time. 

Today I will pack up the Christmas village.  (If the spirit moves me) I am hauling all of the Christmas stuff downstairs where I will sort and purge in the next few weeks. 

We will be getting new flooring this spring, starting with the kitchen in a few weeks. While replacing the kitchen flooring will be a project, it will be a piece of cake compared to the rest of the rooms on the main floor when it comes time to replacing the carpet because all of the furniture will have to moved, so I am clearing clutter to make those projects a little easier.

What else is a girl to do on a snowy day? And we have had plenty. Though the sun shines, it has been very cold. We did reach 40 this week, so some melting took place, but we had more snow on top of old snow. The HG spent an hour with the tractor to clear our driveway and the neighbor's driveway.  With all of the snow and ice melted on the asphalt, I went out to shot some photos for this week's post and Mosaic Monday. Looking south down our road, the landscape sparkles white, catching sunlight that adds a million little prisms.

The snow fall began Christmas Day with temperatures falling to near 0 F. Our neighbor Robb cleared the driveways after the first snow. We love our neighbors. Thank you, Robb. Of course men love to run their equipment. Big boys with big toys.

We had more snow again this week. Now it was the HG's turn to remove snow. He used his tractor to scoop and push. Once the snow is removed from the black top when the sun warms it, what is left will melt.

The pasture sparkles in the late afternoon sun. I tried to catch the dazzle, but didn't. Not even a rabbit track in the snow. I am left wondering if that has anything to do with the big hawk I saw the other day in the neighbor's wind-break? I know. Hawks have to eat, too.

I am always surprised at how Mother Nature piles the snow on even the delicate branches of the Korean Lilac in the court year?

 Thus Monday' mosaic:

I finally removed the glass top to the coffee table on the patio before next snow came. It an inch of ice on. Now it looks a bit like stained glass window, only all white. I rather like it.

There's too much snow to take down the Christmas decorations. Besides they look very pretty and natural in the snow. I love the way the snow has piled up on the angel's halo, but she keeps playing her heavily music anyway.

I'll be linking with Judith for Mosaic Monday. Join us.

Have a great week.