Traveling and blogging that is.

I have the utmost respect for those travel bloggers, lugging laptops and cameras around the world to bring you into their experience.

After five days in beautiful Astoria, Oregon, I’ve fallen behind a bit on my home keeping tips.

Fret not, I’ll be filling in the pieces over the next week, so you’ll get 30 days of home keeping.

(It’s just going to take a hot minute.)

Kisses and butterfly kisses,
HJ

It’s not so much that there’s a whole closet devoted to our guests, but two shelves in a closet.

One shelf holds guest sheets, blankets and towels.
One shelf holds gifts, air mattresses and niceties.

When we have guests, we go to the one place, the guest place and are able to retrieve everything we need for guests all in one shot.

You could keep guest items in a Rubbermaid bin.
You could keep them in an under the bed box.
You could keep them in your pantry.

Just put them in one spot!

They have pickups for giveaways.

Yes, some people like to sell their unwantables in rummage sales. However, one year, after spending nine hours tagging all my goods and four hours dragging it outside to set up, I’d made a measly $32 dollars. Divided by the 13 hours I spent, I received a hearty $2.46 an hour.

I can work in a lot of places for more than $2.46 an hour.

So instead of bothering with selling my old stuff, I resort to giving it away.
(Or as the imitable Flylady refers to it as, “Blessing Others”)

The Salvation Army comes for pickups, which I schedule four times a year. Surprisingly, four times a year, we have giveaways enough to fill up the front porch. They leave a receipt for tax purposes and they help keep things shiny.

We’re also fans of Craigslist’s free section. We’ve gotten rid of a giant George Foreman Rotisserie, two wine barrels and a futon whose time had come within hours, just by posting it online. For me, the relief is in the pick up.

Yes, I know that you can load up your car to bring to other worthy places,
yes I know that using a big truck for pickups probably leads to some environmental doom.
But the alternative is a giant stack of unwantables in my garage, blessing *no one* as mouse bait.

Bravo for pickups!
Bravo for blessing!

I remember when I was in college that a large piece of paper tacked to the wall covered with phone numbers was a key part of the decor.

Cell phones weren’t even marginally part of our communication so this number-filled paper were our only way of keeping in touch with that cute guy from the bar or my new study partner from Organic Chem.

Now that phone numbers are stored in Caller ID
Now that my cell phone address book has removed the need for number memorization
Now that my Bluetooth enabled phone can beam numbers and contact info anywhere
Why would I have need for that piece of paper?

Because, dear pretties, phones get lost and stolen.
Power goes out.
Caller ID can lose its history thirty calls from a psycho ex-girlfriend later.

So we keep our contact information for friends, family and business associates the old-fashioned way.
On paper.
With pencil.
Grouped by letter from last name.

When we get new address and phone number info?
We go to the binder, grab the pencil that we keep inside the binder, erase the old information and carefully print in the new.

The binder is regular sized, the paper is regular three-punched paper.

I know electronic means can be handier, but I don’t always want to fire up the computer to make these changes,
Plus, sometimes I get these changes on the phone and my scribbles can go directly in the address book.

Those extra ten minutes can mean the difference between my numbers and addresses shoved in a drawer and a neat allinoneplace solution.

I’ve been tagged by the talented Salty Miss Jill. Yes, you’ll get a home keeping post tomorrow, but I’ve got some keeping of the home to do first!

Seven facts you may not know about me.

Fact 1:
Taking classes, piano playing and illustrating are my three favorite tasks. I don’t spend nearly enough time on any of them. If I could be a full time student for the rest of my life I would be.

Fact 2:
Back growing up, I used to be very religious. I ceased being religious when at Jesuit college. I questioned my faith so much in all those theology classes, I didn’t come out the other side. This makes my mom sad.

Fact 3:
I didn’t start liking boys until I was well into 15– except for Jack Tripper. I’ve had a crush on him since I was six.

Fact 4:
From the age of five until we discovered boys, my sister and I watched no less than four hours of television a day, and sometimes ten on the weekend. Our brains work great and I still love tv. My favorite running television shows are The 4400, Smallville, Mission Organization and Design Rivals. Sigh.

Fact 5:
As the fourth of five children, I visit home the least. I have three older brothers, a little sister and five nephews and a whole lot of my hometown I try to avoid. Mostly, I like being someone else in California, someone other than who I was in Wisconsin.

Fact 6:
I have wanted to be an obstetrician, a secretary and an artist. However, a few months ago I was hit with a magic wand that allowed me to say what I wanted as my dream job.

I said “Food Network Personality.”
(It surprised me too.)

Fact 7:
I’ve subscribed to Martha Stewart Living since 1993.

Here are the rules for the meme:
1. Link to the person