Growing Up, Growing Old

I've spent a lot of time in my dining room this weekend, trying to get my stuff sorted into groups by tasks so I can make good decisions about how to build the cabinetry. For example, everything that has to do with cutting or punching or sanding in one area, everything related to joinery -- adhesives, fasteners and the like -- in another area. An interesting point (or not!) is that working with paper and working with wood have a lot of parallels, so I should end up with a decent scaleable design for my workshop as well. :-) I just ordered window shades from JCPenney. These will be the first "layer" for the windows, and probably the only layer in the summer months. I am really excited because they are "top-down/bottom up" - so I can adjust them from either direction, which will be nice to let the sunlight in without having my neighbors seeing me move around. Thing is, this seems like a very "grown-up" activity, in my mind. I can say that this is the first time in my entire life that I actually planned and then ordered any window treatment. So, I feel a bit like a lady, as it were.

It's been a really nice long weekend, especially with the beautiful weather we've been having. And of course, after a visit to Joe D, I had a carload of stuff to unpack, sort through, clean up, and store. This is my way -- I go there, I get some things, I bring them here, and I decide whether to keep or purge. This is my "Stealth Organizational Project," a sub-workflow of the "Giant Organizational Project". One of the boxes had another part of the family postage stamp collection. I say "family," because at one point, I think we actually had my grandfather, father, brother and myself collecting stamps. Exciting stuff. I was going through the books and contemplating what I could do to consolidate the collection and how to make sure the stamps are well-preserved and considering going to a local stamp club meeting and it hit me that I'm beyond grown up at this point. I am actually an old man, what with my love of stamps and trains. Of course, I am also a 14-year old girl, with my love of kittens and ponies and the like. And I'm a diva, based on my collection of makeup and hair products (most of which are never used), and a middle-aged man, based on my tool collection and plans for my workshop. So I guess I'm really just a lot of things. Not easily categorized or referenced, to be sure.