Maria, confetti and champagne for a good resolution to the house drama! I echo Strix: You did NOT fail! Life stuff happened and you handled your shit responsibly, that's all anyone can do.

Strix, I feel safe speaking for everyone that we are not at all bored of hearing about this long-overdue triumph over the Beastly Ex! Regular updates, please, and pass the popcorn.

Clearly, we all need to switch houses for a week or two. Everyone cleans up someone else's clutter, because that's so much easier than dealing with one's own! Then we all come home to uncluttered houses.

NoRouz Mobarak

That sounds like a lovely holiday! I wish I could celebrate it today. What do they do when it's raining?

I'm so behind I can't even meara, but Zen, if you're really stuck for a place to say, my parents are just over the MD border and have 5 empty bedrooms right now. (They're moving to a smaller house - just closed today actually! -- but for now they're still living where they raised 4 kids and we're all adults now, so...)

Suffice to say, spent half of last year actively decluttering SOMEONE ELSE'S SHIT and still have yet to make reasonable headway on my own.

You had a lot going on. I don't think you should have to make "reasonable" headway on your own clutter!

I am only making any headway on my own clutter at all because it's easier for me personally to focus on it lately than all the other things causing me major anxiety right now. Also, I am only dealing with my own clutter, so I don't have to get anyone on board or consult them when I get rid of anything.

In other news, I am planning to make a chickpea and Swiss chard curry this weekend even though I'm still eating leftovers from all the cooking I did LAST weekend.

I ran the vacuum, took care of some bank business, and went through three more code academy lessons to refresh some of my skills. There's still clutter hither and yon, but the carpet surrounding it it pristine!

Zen, if you're really stuck for a place to say, my parents are just over the MD border and have 5 empty bedrooms right now.

Jessica, thanks, but I've got a room -- it's the conference attendees who signed up later that we're having trouble accomodating. We have about 40 more people than we planned on, and they all need rooms in the same hotel so we can bus them to the conference hotel. It's rather a nightmare, and I'm glad it's not MY nightmare; I'm not the planner! The planner, alas, is unfamiliar with DC.

That's the holiday where everyone has a picnic in the park, yes?

The tradition is that the first 12 days of the new year are for visiting - starting with the more senior members of the family and any family that lost someone first and then continues through the rest of the family and close friends. The 12th day is picnic day. I'm sure that gets modified to align with weekends and such. I know my father's NoRouz party is on Sunday - he invites friends and family to his house to get it all over in one big swoop. I miss spending NoRouz with him.

I consider sharing this with y'all as my way of visiting good friends. I have my local family with me and I'll be texting other family at 4:45pm which is the actual equinox.

Steph, cedar is good for repelling moths. They sell cedar blocks to tuck into drawers and cedar beads to slide onto the necks of wire hangers. I've used hamster bedding in small muslin drawstring bags--and added in dried roses and lavender because more girly--for my lingerie drawers. And I tuck the bags among my mohair stuffed animals and hand-quilted coverlets, and hand-embroidered linen and cotton dresser scarves and tea towels. The thing you need to remember with cedar is to sand solid pieces every year or so to release the oils, and to keep a layer of fabric between the cedar and what you're protecting. My mom had some moth-damaged items *in her cedar chest*, but she hadn't sanded the interior--ever. The muslin bags you can just crush in your hand a little to release the oils, and if you do that every month or so, it should continue to repel moths and make it unpleasant for them to munch on, or reproduce on, your clothes or belongings.

Maria, given your set of circumstances, you did well. Never doubt it.

Strix, go get 'em. Or, you know, her.

sara, coping ~ma to you, and to your friend.

How did it get to be lunch time already?

Fuck, you guys. My boss has been on vacation this week, and I have not gotten nearly enough stuff done. I have done a bunch of things that came up throughout the week, but I still feel so behind! OK, what I should do is review my list thinking about what she will care about. And then see what I can knock off my list in the next couple of hours.

Zen, years ago the association I worked for had a sudden explosion (metaphorical, not literal) in the number of attendees at a conference. They were doubling up staff, stashing people in B&Bs, even had some staying in RVs. For some reason, that year Billings, Montana, was THE PLACE TO BE.

Then, of course, about three days before the conference, someone called up and said he absolutely HAD to have a suite in the conference hotel.

OK, what I should do is review my list thinking about what she will care about. And then see what I can knock off my list in the next couple of hours.

Prioritize like the wind, Jesse!