The Saturday Seven - #34

This was originally going to be a Tackle It Tuesday post, but for the past two Tuesdays I haven't had time to post it, and since I'm also rather far behind with Saturday Sevens I decided not to wait for another Tuesday (when I probably again won't have the time). I have been thrown off my blogging rhythm by a number of things going on right now; I hope to be back in a groove soon.

In the midst of the chaos, I did grab a little time recently to try to put one small corner of my life in order. Okay, not really a whole corner, just a drawer.

This is my awful chest - drawers filled to bulging, handles coming off, overflow piled on My Old Man's dresser, random items slung around the floor. This is how I live, people. And this isn't even the worst of it. But it's the part I felt up to tackling. Well, not the whole thing. Just the top drawer. A start.

Here are the contents, dumped on my bed. I was startled at the amount of jewerly I found in this tangle of things. Including some stuff that is really precious to me.

Trinkets from my 20s.

I also found a lot of fairly valuable jewelry that is no longer my style but I don't see how I can part with. A couple of class rings, a couple of graduation gifts from my parents, souvenirs from important trips. One thing that struck me was how much I've simplified things jewelry-wise in the last eight years or so. Whereas I used to wear about 5 or 6 rings (incl. a thumb ring and a ring above one of my knuckles), 3 earrings in one ear plus an ear cuff, a toe ring, etc., and I would wear different earrings every day, as well as different necklaces, now I pretty much wear the same thing all the time. On my left hand, my engagement and wedding rings plus a bracelet watch. On my right, a simple silver band with a cross cut-out, and occasionally a bracelet (I have 3 different ones that are special to me that I choose from). I almost always wear only silver hoop earrings (one in each ear, no extras). About half the time, that is it. The other half of the time, I add a necklace (there are only 2 or 3 that I choose from).

I guess this means that I wear maybe 20% (or less?) of the jewelry I own. I have gotten rid of pretty much everything that doesn't have any sentimental value to it, but I really don't know what to do with the rest. I should add that jewelry has a tremendous amount of importance in my family, particularly to my mother who is basically a collector, and so it is fraught with additional complexity and emotion. [My relative simplicity in terms of jewelry, compared with the other women in my family, is looked at with some disappointment and disdain.]

Moving on. Here's something else I found a lot of, that no longer matches my style.


Scrunchies! I had, oh, maybe 15. I probably should've gotten rid of all of them. But I kept 3. You know, just in case I suddenly decide I must wear one. [this used to be my preferred method of pulling back my hair when I got home from work, but now I use a big clip]

And one other interesting find in the mess of my top drawer:

My first ever knitting attempt, from May 2002.

An hour later, this is what the drawer looked like:

I'm still deciding what to put in it and how to organize it. It's nice to be able to shut it all the way. Right now, it feels like my little corner of sanity.

I put together a bag full of scrunchies, belts, bandanas, and other things I no longer need, to give to the church rummage sale.
Total this week: 25.
Total for the year: 335.

Got a Saturday Seven, or a simplicity-related post? Let me know!