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What Are Your Short-Term Unclutter Aspirations?

Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 11:51 pm

Here's what I'm looking forward to:

The coffee table is an unholy mess. The paper piles are becoming paper towers. Once this extra-busy period is done within the next week or so, I get to sort out all the papers and clean it.

- Psii (he/him)

June Theme - Nooks & Crannies

peaceful_sands

bitesizedcleaning

Monday, June 23rd, 2025 11:03 am

It's the last week of June, so our last week of working on those forgotten spaces in our homes, whether we're cleaning or decluttering. Over the last few weeks, we've spent time in the bedroom, main living space and kitchen, so what do you have left to do? Is there a cupboard in a hallway or a garden shed or garage/attic space that would benefit from your efforts? Or is there a bit more needed in one of the spaces that you worked on earlier in the month?

How has the month gone so far, are you feeling like progress was made and was it useful?

We look forward to hearing how things have gone.

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theme: nooks & crannies; forgotten space

Just Create - Wolf Edition

silvercat17

justcreate

Saturday, June 21st, 2025 01:32 pm

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?

Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?

What do you just want to talk about?

What have you been watching or reading?

Chores and other not-fun things count!

Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky

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Latourelle and Coopey Falls

yourlibrarian

common_nature

Saturday, June 21st, 2025 02:27 pm

We drove down the historic 30, a 2 lane road that wound around the hills and which crossed paths with numerous waterfalls. Our first stop was Latourelle, which was just off the road. ( Read more... )

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The high cost of actual free stuff

sisterofbloomerjunior

unclutter

Saturday, June 21st, 2025 01:18 am

It seems I actually exchanged an ottoman for a bunch of books and a book bag. “Arrowsmith” is the only title I remember without opening the bag.

Current Mood: hot
Current Location: Upstairs
Current Music: Fan

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The Pros and Cons of Dishwashing

the_broken_tower

unclutter

Friday, June 20th, 2025 11:42 pm

Pro: It's been a lot easier and faster to do dishes. SO much time and energy has been saved since starting to use the dishwasher.

Con: Not all items are dishwasher safe, and those items still need to be handwashed. When water pools on the dishwashed items, they need to be air dried. Both of those things lead to counter clutter in and around the sink.

I'm celebrating a minor victory that the counter and drying rack are clear right now. Especially since trying to find places to balance drying items led to a lid falling and being re-washed three times, because it's been stressful lately and stress leads to contamination-related OCD moments.

Staying on top of dishes is an achievement with how busy and energy consuming everything else has been lately.

- Bluebell (he/him)

Book review: "The Traitor Baru Cormorant" by Seth Dickinson

rocky41_7

fffriday

Friday, June 20th, 2025 05:40 pm

On Saturday afternoon, on the bus ride home, I finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant, because I couldn't wait until I got home to reach the end, despite a long history of reading-induced car sickness. It was totally worth it.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant is all fantasy politics. There's no magic or fairies or prophecies, just Seth Dickinson's invented world and the titanic machinations of Empire. And it is electric. Tentatively, I'd make a comparison to The Goblin Emperor, except that where TGE is about how Maia, completely unprepared for his role, is thrust into a viper's nest of politics, Baru Cormorant is about how Baru has painstakingly taught herself the ways of the empire and enters into the game fully prepared to rewrite the rules to her liking.

Dickinson creates a wonderfully believable world. The Empire of Masks—popularly known as the Masquerade—is sickeningly plausible, with their soft conquests of money and ideas backed by a highly-trained and well-equipped military. The Masquerade is not content to conquer land—it must conquer minds, people. It is relentless in its push to force its colonies and territories to adopt its ways of thinking, to the point of dictating who may and may not marry based on their bloodlines. With this comes a heaping dose of homophobia, frequently enforced on cultures who had formerly been relaxed or even accepting of queer identities and relationships. This presents a specific problem for Baru, who is the daughter of a mother and two fathers, and who is herself a deeply closeted lesbian.

The story makes use of incredibly mundane tools in its schemes, something that also rings realistic. It's not all backstabbing, murder, and blackmail—at one point, a serious political threat is nullified through currency inflation. Baru, who becomes an imperial accountant, is in a prime position to use these seemingly dull tools to marvelous effect. Many schemes are strangled in the cradle, such that only the plotter and the defeater are even aware that they existed. But the game goes on.

( Read more... )

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Book review: "Even though I Knew the End" by C.L. Polk.

rocky41_7

fffriday

Friday, June 20th, 2025 07:20 am

On Monday's outbound commute I finished the audiobook for Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk. This is a supernatural/fantasy noir romance and it does pack a lot of all three of those things into its brief 4-hour runtime.

This book relies heavily on stock film noir tropes—the veteran down-and-out private (paranormal) investigator (here a lesbian, Helen, our protagonist) who drinks too much and is haunted by past mistakes, a mysterious and sexy female client with a unique case, and "just one last" job before the PI plans to quit and retire with a beloved romantic partner. I didn't find them overused—and seeing them reworked to queer and female characters was fun—but other readers may find them too worn out even here.

Because the book is so short, it moves along at a very rapid pace. The whole thing takes place over the course of two days—the final two days before Helen's soul debt is called due and she finally has to pay the price of her warlock bargain. In this way, any rush felt appropriate, since it fit both the size of the novel and the context of Helen's urgency to get this last job done before she has to pay up.

The characters weren't super developed, but again—4-hour runtime. They're a little stock character-y, but not total cardboard cut-outs. It was disappointing for me to see Helen make the same mistake at the end of the book that she did prior to the start, as if she hadn't really learned anything, but since the novel ends promptly after that, the story never has to reckon much with it.

I was relieved that Edith, Helen's girlfriend, wasn't just the damsel in distress/goal object for Helen, which I was a bit worried about in the beginning. Edith has secrets and goals of her own.

Overall, the book was fine, and it entertained me well enough for a few days. Nothing extraordinary here, but nothing objectionable either. I will say I think keeping it short worked best for this book—I think drawing it out might have only weakened it. A fun little twist on a typical noir novel.

Crossposted to

books and my main

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Photos: Charleston Library Butterfly Gardens

ysabetwordsmith

common_nature

Friday, June 20th, 2025 04:03 am

We visited the butterfly gardens at the Charleston Library, on June 19 although this is dated 20 because it's after midnight. They were filled with birds, although I didn't manage to catch any pictures of them.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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Every Kind of Craft now open!

yourlibrarian

crafty

Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 04:43 pm

Do you make crafts? Do you like to look at crafts? Would you like to get (or give) advice about crafts? All crafts are welcome. Share photos, stories about projects in progress, and connect with other crafty folks.

You are welcome to make your own posts, and this community will also do a monthly call for people to share what they are working on, or what they've seen which may be inspiring them. Images of projects old or new, completed or in progress are welcome, as are questions, tutorials and advice.

If you have any questions, ask them here!

A forest walk

cmcmck

common_nature

Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 08:50 pm

We headed up Lime Kiln Lane and over to New Works then into the forest.

Things are now very green indeed although this is always a green landscape being on the west coast side of things:

( More pics: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ere

Abstract Art on a Northern Lake

jesse_the_k

common_nature

Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 06:39 pm

I’m staying near a northern Wisconsin lake at 45.658965, -89.497625, where I’ll be revelling in 15:45 hours of daylight on the summer solstice. The logged-over forest is mostly red pine, and wow they’re pollinating—creating very abstract art near the dock

Pine pollen forms semi-opaque circles over shallow sandy beach described in entry

( two more pics )

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June Theme - Nooks & Crannies

peaceful_sands

bitesizedcleaning

Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 11:58 pm

We're still focusing on the Nooks and Crannies theme but moving along to your lounge or main living area. Do you have any forgotten shelves, corners, little drawers or cupboards that rarely get opened? This is your chance to visit them, look carefully and see if what needs to happen - maybe some clutter clearing, or cleaning and re-organising, it might even need a little dusting. Let us know how you get along. Good luck everyone!

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theme: nooks & crannies; forgotten space

Dogwood Leaf Beetle

pauraque

common_nature

Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 09:27 am

Getting into my car after a walk, I found this elegantly decorated beetle on my shirt. It has the very appropriate scientific name of Calligrapha philadelphica, also known as the Dogwood Leaf Beetle.

When it opened its wings to fly, I was surprised to see its inner wings were red. I guess that could be the wax seal on the parchment. :)

( photo showing the red wings )

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International Rose Test Garden

yourlibrarian

common_nature

Monday, June 16th, 2025 01:21 pm

We were only in Portland for a day but we had enough time for a few hours in the International Rose Test Garden. In fact we didn't even spend that long because it was smaller than expected and some bushes hadn't even bloomed yet (despite what the website said as mid-May being an ideal viewing time). We took about half the time we were there trying to park. It was also the most overcast morning of the trip -- we had amazing weather the rest of the time.

Nonetheless what was in bloom was lovely. ( Read more... )

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Knock Out Honey Bees

blackcatofmisery

common_nature

Sunday, June 15th, 2025 11:57 am

My mom's garden has a vigorous knock out rosebush just beside it, and various bees adore it. Although I'm severely allergic to bites and stings, I will still follow honey and bumble bees; they're too busy to care about me.

_{Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.}

( Photos beneath the cut. )

Current Mood: relaxed

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Fridge/Meal Prep Edition

the_broken_tower

unclutter

Saturday, June 14th, 2025 11:03 pm

I cleaned the fridge, inside and out.

All the ingredient-produce items from the past couple grocery runs are cut up and ready to go for bibimbap/kimbap/stirfry over the next week or so.

The inside of the fridge looks and feels so much better. ☆

And the kitchen feels so much better. Part of meal prep included clearing out/re-organizing the counter space.

Best of all, doing this means that next week will be MUCH EASIER as far as spending/food/planning. I include all of the logistical, planning, and purchase-related events as intangible de/cluttering.

- Finn Amara (he/him)

say hello to Indiana

lizardjay

common_nature

Saturday, June 14th, 2025 08:28 pm

At the end of last month I visited Indiana for a week, and in that time went on FOUR hikes. There are too many pictures to put here so I'm posting a link to my ~150 picture album: My sister and I are both very into taking pictures so the hikes were very slow :D but I think it really helps in remembering that there's something interesting to see in pretty much every square inch of the outdoors. There is always a bug, or a fungal disease on a leaf, or a shiny drop of water.

The Album

We visited, in order:

Ritchie Woods Nature Preserve
Summit Lake State Park
Shades State Park/Pine Hills Nature Preserve
Southwestway Park

The pictures feature:

many, many insects
a stately gentleman frog, who very kindly let me get within an inch of him
snails
two snakes
cool looking plants/fungi
general landscapes

For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.

( a couple representative photos )

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Just Create - Kaiju Edition

silvercat17

justcreate

Saturday, June 14th, 2025 04:22 pm

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Conwy

cmcmck

common_nature

Saturday, June 14th, 2025 10:00 am

We spent a few days in Conwy in north Wales recently and had wonderful weather for it.

A view across Afon Conwy (the River Conwy) with Conwy castle as a bonus.

( See more: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: ici

⋆⁺₊ fishing on the moon ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

quietly dreaming

October 2024

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What Are Your Short-Term Unclutter Aspirations?

June Theme - Nooks & Crannies

Just Create - Wolf Edition

Latourelle and Coopey Falls

The high cost of actual free stuff

The Pros and Cons of Dishwashing

Book review: "The Traitor Baru Cormorant" by Seth Dickinson

Book review: "Even though I Knew the End" by C.L. Polk.

Photos: Charleston Library Butterfly Gardens

Every Kind of Craft now open!

A forest walk

Abstract Art on a Northern Lake

June Theme - Nooks & Crannies

Dogwood Leaf Beetle

International Rose Test Garden

Knock Out Honey Bees

Fridge/Meal Prep Edition

say hello to Indiana

Just Create - Kaiju Edition

Conwy