#unfucking

It has been a while. Just got back from a festival with the boyfriend. After he left it was time to eliminate the festival damage, inc getting my house completely dust free.

For phase 2 of the kitchen komono, I tackled the other two miscellany cupboards.  The under sink cupboard and the (hopefully titled) baking cupboard.  In the latter, I had tried to combine all of the baking tins and other equipment, but (as you can see below) it wasn’t really working.

After I pulled everything out of the cupboard, and discarding quite a few unused baking tins (I had duplicates, I have a bundt insert I had never used, I had cookie cutters that just didn’t work properly) I realised that they would be better off elsewhere.  Having made space in the pan cupboard for the baking trays last time, I set about making space for the cake tins and other baking paraphernalia in the same cupboard.  This involved removing all of my electrical kitchenware, which it turns out fitted perfectly into the vacated cupboard.

Pans and plates had already been whittled down to the good stuff, when I started Konmari before, so I just needed to rearrange them.  I condensed them all into one cupboard, with our everyday plates on the top, and our special occasion-ware on the bottom.  We use all of our plates on the regular, not just for guests but to make a Sunday Dinner, or a special meal feel a bit more special.  We have everyday plates because a) we’re clumsy and b) I really love all of them, but don’t have full sets of anything.

Next was the under-sink cupboard.  Even with the baking trays removed it was a MESS.  I pulled everything else, threw out all of the almost-but-not quite finished cleaning supplies, the hundreds of damp rags and the cutlery tray which we didn’t use. 

I then sorted the remainder into like-things and put them back in the baskets (which were already there!  Buried and collapsed!).  Laundy liquid, diswasher tablets and everyday cleaning sprays are at the front for ease of access. 

All this took much less time than I thought, so I had time to go through my kitchen drawers.  I was pretty ruthless with them, chucking out excessive duplicate tools, but they actually weren’t in too bad shape.  Our cups I had already been through, and we didn’t have a problem with glasses (they had been naturally whittled down by clumsiness). 

It's the first day back after a holiday, my new meds suck (as discussed), I've already sat through a two hour meeting, I have a headache and a coworker clearly already wants me to murder her just so we can both be free of this place.  

Let's get to it.

So, as many of you know I work in a "challenging" environment.   I've thrown a few things at it but this place has a twenty year old egregore that doesn't really have any effs to give about what a Gen X/Y cusp would want out of a work environment.  Literally, zero effs.  I've tried to adapt, but it really isn't happy until you've fully just submitted your delicious will to it, let it eat it as a late night snack when it gets sad and lonely and abandon all non-work place hopes and dreams. I'm not about that life.  

But I'm sort of a cranky secret optimist, so one particularly crummy day, I started to consider how to make this a better environment for myself through witchcraft.  There are some new influences entering this crypt over the next month or two which is not something that happens often so I thought I'd be pretty foolish not to do something with it.

Get A Girl.  Go through your spirit/ancestor/goddess Roladex.  Who is invested enough in you that you also trust to fix your situation?  If none of your current Roladex is a weapons grade Fixer, can you get an introduction from them to someone who is?  Bring your A game.  If you need weapons grade Fixing, be prepared that a half assed piece of pound cake isn't going to pull you out of the fire.  This is your interview.  What can you offer in this new relationship?  What are you willing to do to get this done?  Can you have a candle holder with a wax electric candle that you keep lit at your desk?

Stop living like a filthy hamster at work, it's disgusting. Keep your work area neat so gross energetic dust bunnies aren't collecting into larger grosser entities and making your life harder.  If you are like me and have people constantly dropping files and crap on your desk like you are their personal garbage dump, take care of it as soon as possible and hand it back.  If you are like me, you probably have very little actual personal space to call your own.  Start thinking small and what you can get away with in as vaguely office appropriate new age that you will obviously work over like it is your literal job at home which is not a toxic cesspool at work.

Bake, bake, bake. You know why.  

To de-gross your work place, consider a salt lamp.  It can actually do something for the air, it's only minorly weird and it's a huge hunk of salt to banish negative crap from your space.

Start working on your positive mojo.  This is a nearly impossible feat in a crap work environment which is why you should take it as a personal challenge to fix your situation.  Time to figure out how to be subversive and live deliciously.  I am going to pull out some real Teen Witch crap for this.  Why?  Because I think it's going to work.  There's no direct sunlight at my desk, right?  Right.  So I bought myself a clear glass ramekin and a Resurrection plant.  I also have a small round mirror and some rough rose quartz.  So the Resurrection plant is going into the bowl with the rose quartz with a round mirror under it to magnify all the fucking positive vibes this place can muster up and when this place inevitable tries to kill them, that's okay!  My plant is coming back to life, what now, crappy egregor?  

Not having sunlight is a great reason to give as to why there's a resurrection plant on your desk.  Plus, anyone with an Instagram or a kid with an Instagram will just assume you are suddenly very fashionable.  Whatever.  Use whatever to your advantage.  Stop soaking up all the negative crap into yourself like that is part of your actual job description and focus on what is actually in your job description and keeping the rest out.  Just because you are handed a bag of rocks doesn't mean you have to carry it, unless it's part of your job and you've agreed to that already.

Next.

Let's work on using temporary space.  Do you go to a festival, a convention, a vacation space?  That's a great time to work on your magical practice.  I don't generally have space of my own, but I was lecturing at a convention recently as well as hostessing a tea for them, and I got a suite to myself.  At first, I didn't see this as an opportunity but then I realized that this was very much my space, where I invited others into it. That set a very powerful standard for me. I loved nesting into my space, arranging my macarons and St. Germain just so. My sheepskin draped over the leather coffee table. My clothes hung up, my sinks and bedside table put together just so.

I loved deciding where my altar would go and not needing to consult anyone else. It was a space for thoughtful glamour choices with music I liked best. I liked seeing how capable I was. Forgot my phone charger? No problem. I called the nearest 5 Below and asked them and then took myself right over there to pick it up, listening to radiomancy omens on the way. I picked up a quartz tiara on a whim, which wound up to be my most complimented item. I loved telling admirers that it was 5 Below, not as compliment apology but a triumphant caw that it's for all of us to access, if desired.

I set up my altar to Babalon on the desk, intentionally arranging my vanity next to it so I was constantly sitting next to it. Purple embossed velvet, a crimson opened pomegranate, a sfogliatelle shaped like a yoni, a tiny gold tea cup with the word tramp scrawled across it, shining rose quartz, a delicate peacock feather, a red wax sealed love potion, snowy deer antlers, a pink glass container with a perpetually lit (electric) candle, a perfume I had mixed for this, an amethyst glass container for the perfume with curled reeds to spread it in my room. Soft rabbit skin. A glittering compact, a shimmering perfume atomizer, a picture of Her. Dried flower petals strewn across the altar.

I could talk about what that did for me during the convention and after, but, um, two can keep a secret/ if one of us is dead.

It was good though.  V. good.

Did a bunch of laundry this morning.

This afternoon’s long-overdue unfucking project: the pantry.

I’m almost ashamed to post this because yikes. This side of the house gets really bad because I basically pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s where Shilo and Eric hang out most the time and it just gets… Well, you can see the picture.

It started out as simply trying to clear some space on what used to be my dining table. The “dining room” is now one of my “store rooms”.

A few months ago a rat moved into my house. It took a couple of weeks to catch him but I did kill him! I felt bad because he suffered but I’m not sorry anymore! I swear I’d do it all over again three times!

As I was moving things around in the room I found a nest I hadn’t been aware of. He did a tremendous amount of damage! I’m horrified! I’m disgusted! This was supposed to be a minimal unfucking and now it’s become fucking huge! I have to move everything in the entire room and you can’t imagine how much stuff I have packed in there! And everything has to be disinfected. And I’m so grossed out the entire time!!

Too ashamed to post photos.