HFM

It's been a very busy month here on Mars! A friend from work, Masha, returned from a trip to Russia, and brought back a new little (about a foot tall) resident for Mars. This is Kuzya:   In Russian homes, Kuzya keeps an eye on things, helping to prevent catastrophes and assorted bad things from happening. Masha thought that Mars could use a little help in this department. Indeed. Thank you, Masha! We also did some more tidying & decluttering this month. I tackled the kitchen Junk Drawer, which really should have been called the Drawer of A Thousand Pens: How did that happen? I would blame Kuzya (who is apparently also responsible for low-level mischief around the house), but I know this happened before he came to stay. We got rid of a medium-sized box of old kitchen utensils and mugs and things, as well. Progress! Our friend Jon has been taking a pottery class, and offered us some of his beautiful work. I have been wanting something to display some marbles and pieces of broken ...

We are on a massive tidying and decluttering rampage. The house isn't overstuffed with junk, but we both have had it in mind for a while to go through our stuff and get rid of things that we aren't using anymore. Recently, we learned about Marie Kondo, a Japanese cleaning consultant, and her method . Essentially, the idea is to only keep things around you that you really like, and instead of going through the house room by room, work through specific categories of items across the whole house because most of us have stuff in each category scattered in various rooms (ex. books, jackets, mice). Pulling everything in a category out into one central room for sorting helps you see just how much you have (she says most people who hire her are surprised to see that they have twice as much as they think they do) and helps you get through the process faster. Her book is short & practical, and is actually a little bit deep -- her method is ultimately about changing your relationship ...