I’m sure I’ve mentioned at some point that we live in a very small apartment, relative to the mounds of things we possess. Yes, I know others have made due in much (much!) smaller living quarters than us, but I’m pretty sure that said others have not had their very own Tour de Frances in what is supposed to be their dining room, nor have these small-space dwellers had to contend with a summer’s worth of saleable merchandise packed into what used to be a living room.

Portrait of a dining room- slash- studio- slash- bike storage space- slash- home office- slash- pantry. Yes, we actually live here. And yes, we are as horrified by it as you are.

(I should also clarify that, while the seven (yes, 7!) bicycles and the endless stash of art-related supplies are indeed Marty’s, I too take up a sizable portion of our space with my ample yarn stash, decent-sized work wardrobe, and outdated CD collection (once again, R. Kelly anyone?) Just so y’all don’t think I’m singling out a certain male in my household. Ahem.)

Anyway, you could say that we have become experts at organizing our things– what with having so many of them inside such a small space and all– but you would be more correct to say that we are very adept at putting things into piles. We have all sorts of piles: receipt piles, mail piles, piles of dishes, piles of laundry (both dirty and clean), poster piles, piles of boxes, piles of bike parts, piles of knitting works in progress, piles to be sorted, piles of things we have already sorted, piles waiting to be put away– it never ends, really. It’s exhausting, let me tell you, and it doesn’t make for a very feng shui living space. Clutter in the home really does equal clutter in the mind.

So what can we do when we live in a shoe? Well, as part of my birthday resolutions, I will be cleaning up shop, both literally and figuratively. Not only will I be purging the things I have outgrown or no longer use, but I will also be calling a ceasefire on acquiring random new things (aka shopping). I am a sorry-assed sucker when it comes to acquiring random new things (paper goods are my notable weakness), but I’m going to try my very best to tame this woolly tendency of mine and to live a little more simply.

So, with that said… R. Kelly CD, anyone?

P.S.: On a tangential but still related note, our walls are usually packed full of Marty’s artwork. It helps that he has ongoing displays in a number of venues, both in Victoria and in Calgary, because then we can have more empty wall space and feel a little less suffocated in our own home. However, I’d like to say a big thank you to the person who left an anonymous phone call on our machine today, letting us know that one of the venues where Marty displays his art was going to go under… and fast! Even though it means we have 15 more paintings crammed inside our house, it sure beats losing all 15 of those pieces in a bankruptcy claim or other legal red tape. So thank you, THANK YOU, for the timely warning. Marty has retrieved his artwork from that doomed location and the paintings are safe and sound now at home. Phew!!