Karen Kelly

We had our Art Walk at Essex Studios this weekend. I sold two paintings and now am inspired to paint more pictures for a local B&B who likes my work and wants more paintings of “Over the Rhine” scenes of Cincinnati. My studio is within the Essex Studios complex. Karen’s Studio 125 (also on Facebook). Will be checking in for progress reports and encouragement, too.

To make sure I “stay on track” I write down my tasks in a small spiral notebook with my “to do’s” and check them off one by one. I also list my tasks over on a Yahoo Groups site called Cleaning_House. I’ve developed some special friendships from the Cleaning_House group. Some of us are also on Facebook. We offer each other encouragement and support as we make progress. My daily list includes: Breakfast, cleanup, emails, make bed, put clothes away, trash to compactor, usually a load of laundry, etc. I often do cleaning in the late afternoon – dust all through the entire house with a feather duster (from Flylady.net) and then the next couple of days I sweep the floors and rugs. To make life even easier I now have a cleaning team that comes in to do the bathrooms and two kitchens (this is a big long ranch – an old and new kitchen – from adding on).

I continue to make good progress with this goal. Today I Freecycled an electric indoor/outdoor grill. Another load of “collectibles” and some Antiques will be in the Clermont Senior Services auction this Sept. 9th. It’s a way to honor my mother who originated CSS 42 years ago – she was Director for more than 25 years. I started Meetup group to motivate myself and others to declutter and reorganize our homes. Watching “Hoarders” also helps me understand how “sentimental attachment” to stuff is hazardous to one’s mental health!