Updates and WIP Parade-Part 1

So, a lot has happened since my last post and I debated going in chronological order, but it would just be stupid of me to avoid the biggest elephant in the room...my Mother died on October 23rd. I'm not going to say "passed away" (I hate that phrase), because she didn't just pass. She suffered for four days and then she died. It wasn't expected, I'm not sure she was even conscious the entire time I was there (which was just about 24/7 other than pup feeding time). She was drugged pretty heavily because of the pain, and once they started cutting on her, I'm not even sure she was "there" anymore. There was a lot of bad ju-ju between us that will never get sorted out, but there is nothing I can do about that now and it's useless to dwell on it. I have good days and bad days, last Thursday would have been her 79th birthday, so I've had nothing but bad days since. This probably sounds a bit cold, but it's really the only way I know to deal with it. I guess that's life now so, moving on.

I went to Disney World in September around my birthday and I'm glad I did. It didn't completely wipe out the memory of the last horrible trip I had and it put a more positive light on my favorite place on earth. I also went into serious debt because of it, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back again, but I definitely will be going back, and that's what's important. But as of now, I still haven't gone through my photos, and I don't really have a lot (I know, a shocking statement from me). About mid week, I got fed up with carrying a camera around, so I just stopped. What little pics I took after that were on my phone and were sparse and I'm glad I did that. I enjoyed things a lot more rather than spending a crazy amount of time taking pics.

I really want to start a FlossTube channel, but everyone that does FlossTube has either an amazing craft room, or a really good place to film videos. I do not. I have a Disney-hoarded trailer that I would be ashamed to put on the internet. I do plan to do some little renovations this year if I can get my debt down a bit, so maybe I can clean an area good enough to film videos in, but for now, that is on hold. When I renew my Adobe Lightroom to edit the Disney pics, I'll get Photoshop so I can take all these progress pics and align them up enough to make a video slideshow out of them. That is as close to FlossTube as I can get for now, but I have YEARS of projects, completed and still in progress, that have daily pics, so it could be pretty cool for timelapse progress videos, from start to finish. It's just taking the time to do them. I should also mention that I do post several times a week over on Instagram with my current progress, if anyone wants more routine updates.

Now to the reason why most of you are here...WIPs. Considering I have 26 of them in rotation, this is going to take a while and be pic heavy, so buckle up! It looks like the last time I did an end of year review was at the end of 2024. I apparently didn't do one for 2025 at all. I did start some new projects in 2025 and I have even started one or two in 2026, so let's save that for part 2. For this part though, let's go back to where I left off at the end of 2024 and show where it is now. I don't see the need to post 2024 stats (and I'm just too lazy to dig it all up). If anyone has a question about the previous stats, just let me know.

Let's start with my oldest WIP, one that has no stats because it was started before I kept stats...Tartan B. I figure I started it in either 2014 or 2015, but I'm just not sure. The last time I worked on it was Jan 1st, 2022!

Do NOT ask me why this took over 10 years to finish, but here it is. I finished it on Nov 26th, 2025. I did iron it, but it's just in a drawer right now because I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now. I was going to have my Mother help me make a pillow out of it because I can't sew, but I guess we know why that's not going to get done now:

Alice and the Bouguereau Princesses, a Jasmine Becket-Griffith charted by HAED is now my oldest WIP, started on Jan 4th, 2015 on 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches. As of the end of 2024, it was here:

I did stitch on this a bit in the beginning of 2025, but I really kicked it into gear at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. It is now 847.7 hrs in, 194,366 out of 329,175 stitches and is at about 59% done as of Jan 14th, 2026:

The biggest pain in my butt, Christmas Contest Suteki, Aimee Stewart, HAED, hasn't been touched since 2020, even though it was started Jan 1st, 2016 on 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches.

I did work on it this year though, for exactly one day on Jan 18th, 2026. It is currently at 183.27 hrs, 32,790 out of 89,662 stitches, and about 37% done. We'll see when it comes back out again. The older I get, the harder cross country stitching has become for me, but I'm also not the kind of person that could park because the loose strings would drive me insane. I could do a modified typewriter method, but just knowing there is a stitch a couple of boxes away in the next row down would also drive me even more insane. For now, I just can't handle it.

Next up is Night Wish by Anne Rodrigue, charted by HAED. It was started on Jan 2nd, 2016 on 26ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches, and the last time I touched it in 2024 was Feb 13th.

This is going to get worked on probably by the end of this week, but the last time I touched it was Mar 9th, 2025. It is currently 202.12 hrs in, 47,806 stitches out of 206,000 and is at about 23%.

The furthest along is now Snow White, a retired HAED chart by Jessica Clark. I started this Jan 3rd, 2016 and, because of the weird fabric, have had a really tough time with it, but it's moving along better now. As per my usual, it is on 28ct Monaco (although really crappy Monaco), 1x1 full stitches. Nov 22nd, 2023 was the last time I touched it before I started back in 2025.

This one has probably gotten the most love in 2025 and even 2026, and she is now 270.75 hrs in, 52,682/69,374 stitches in, and about 76% done. This was the last pic from Jan 27th, 2026:

Sleepy Hollow Mural, another retired HAED by Lewis T. Johnson is slacking as well. I started it Jan 9th, 2017 on 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches. I started it in a Q-Snap, but I absolutely HATED working on it, so I finally got scroll rods long enough for it. The issue has been that my stand has a heck of a time holding it. I got a VERY expensive attachment for my stand, but the mounting screws are too big and I just haven't gotten new ones so, when I do work on it, it's a struggle. Feb 11th, 2024 was the last time it was touched.

But it also got love in 2025 and 2026, even if it was sparse. And, I've switched it between enough scroll rods that I managed to clean up the crookedness caused by the Q-Snaps. I just don't know how you guys do it! It is now at 159.55 hrs, 12,382/246,000 stitches done for a total of about 5%. The last time I stitched on it was Feb 15th, 2026:

Happy Haunts, an Etsy project by a designer that has changed their name so many times, I couldn't tell you the name of the store now. I'm pretty sure they are still in business though. I started it Jan 23rd, 2017 on 18ct Aida, 2x1 and, although I love the design, I absolutely HATE stitching on it! It should be finished by now, but alas, Dec 31t, 2023 was the last time I touched it before the end of 2024:

I have tried and tried to work on this, but I just can't stand it for long. It is now 178.97 hrs in, 30,922/62,775 stitches in and is about 49% done. If I'd just focus on it, I could get it done, but geez, what a pain! Apparently, the last time I touched it was April 14, 2025 (although I'm questioning that and I need to look back through my phone to see if there is a later pic)

The Bride Doll Making, a retired Medusa Dollmaker kit from GeckoRouge was started on Jul 16th, 2017. It came with 25ct fabric, but I changed it out for 28ct and, of course, I'm doing it 1x1. At this point, Monaco became harder to find, so the rest of the projects I can't say for sure if they are Lugana or Monaco unless they are Easy Guide, so we will just go with evenweave from here on out. It was last touched on Nov 8th, 2023, nothing in 2024:

We are now up to 258.6 hrs, 49,050/107,269 stitches and about 46%. Nov 17th, 2025 was apparently the last time I touched it (time for it to come back out I guess), but she is here now:

Hook by Daniel Kordek and Tilton Crafts is still a massive pain in my backside. I still haven't decided whether or not I want to start it over and skip all the white background or not, so he's just been sitting in limbo. It was started on Feb 12th, 2018 on 28ct evenweave, 1x1, was touched in 2024, Feb 1st to be exact:

I'm ashamed to admit, I touched it once on Apr 15th, 2025. It is 63.3 hrs in, 14,726/148,750 stitches in for about 10%. I really need to decide what to do with this:

On a more positive front, a 2018 start (Mar 6th, 2018 to be exact), Faces of Faery by Jasmine Becket-Griffith, charted by HAED, has gotten some recent attention. I can safely say this is on 32ct Lugana because I HATE it! I am too blind for 32ct and 1x1 is super tight, but that's where I'm at. The last time this was touched was Jan 29th, 2024:

But I've done some major work on it in 2025 and 2026 and actually managed a row finish on Feb 2, 2026! The first one in a VERY long time! It doesn't look like much work, but 32ct makes it much more than 28ct in my opinion. It's now at 84.18 hrs, 17.996/50,175 stitches for 36% finished.

Everest, another Etsy special by a store called Addict to Cross Stitch (and I'm not sure they are still in business). Ironically, when I started this project on Jan 12th, 2020, this bridge was still at Animal Kingdom park. It is now long gone and is a construction zone for the new Encanto land. It was one of my favorite places in Animal Kingdom though, so I'm going to keep going on it. For this count, Jan 21st, 2024 was the last time it was touched and it's on 28ct evenweave, 1x1 full stitches:

And it will be coming back out soon since it was only touched once in 2025, April 6th to be exact. It's at 51.82 hrs, 8884/136,528 stitches for a total of 7% complete. I think I'm slowly figuring out that long, horizontal projects are hard and I need to come up with a better stand solution for them. But here it is:

Now we are up to the 2024 started projects, the ones I started as Leap Year starts. There were originally only supposed to be 4, but it ended up being 7. Not sure how that happened. On Feb 17th, 2024, The Harry Potter US Bookcovers was the first start. I originally was going to do the one with the author's name (who shall not be named) at the bottom, but I have since changed it to the unnamed one. It didn't affect my progress so far though. It's on 28ct Easy Guide, 1x1 full stitches. I managed to stitch until Feb 25th, 2024 and didn't touch it again for the remainder of the year.

But 2025 and 2026 upped the ante and its now become another row finish for me this year. It's 74.9 hrs in, 18,385/121,975 stitches (but I think the final stitch count changed when I switched to the unnamed pattern), and it's at about 15% as of Feb 9th, 2026.

Evil Queen, a Once Upon A Time pattern by Thread Geeks is next. It was started on Feb 26th, 2024 and that was the only day in 2024 I worked on it. It's on 28ct evenweave, 1x1 (although I'm pretty sure it is Monaco):

Last touched on Nov 16th, 2025, it has the Hook effect in the opposite because there is a LOT of black background, but it's a much easier stitch. It is also supposed to be very blue-y and purple-y, but it obviously is not. The colors worry me. It should be coming up again pretty soon though. It's got 34.85 hrs worth of work, 8926/81,648 stitches for a total of about 11%.

I started three projects on Feb 28th, 2024, so these will be in no particular order. First up is Merida by DoNa Stitches. I blazed through DoNa's Rapunzel in a few weeks. This one isn't going as quickly. It's on 18ct opalescent evenweave 2x1. I worked on this for two days for 2024, start day and then this last time, Mar 8th:

I picked it up some in 2025 and just recently last week, so we are here as of Feb 15th, 30.93 hrs in, 6990/41,836 stitches and about 17% complete:

Next on the 28th new starts was The Blue Marble is so Fragile by Unconventional X Stitch, artist is Borda Danut Adrian. It's another HUGE project. It also got two days in 2024, last being Mar 1st. It's on 28ct Easy Guide evenweave, 1x1 full stitches. It was also another one I started on Q-snaps before I remembered (again) how much I hate Q-Snaps.

It got three more days in 2025 for a total of 12.1 hrs, 2733/298,350 stitches for a total of about 1%. It is now in scroll rods, although I apparently haven't stitched on it since putting it on scroll rods, so I'm having the same issue with my stand (which is probably why I haven't touched it since), but it should be coming up again soon in rotation (not that I have a rotation, I stitch what I want when I want or else I get too bogged down with it all and it feels more like a job):

At this point, I start to sound like a broken record...started on the 28th, yada yada yada, hate Q-snaps, yada yada yada, it's now on super long scroll rods, yada yada yada, etc. This is SS/MC Once Upon A Fairy Tale Bookshelf by Aimee Stewart, charted by HAED. It got one day of love in 2024:

And only a couple more in 2025. It's now at 9.52 hrs, 2103/713,265 stitches (and it is my biggest WIP), and it's WAY less than 1% done. It actually shows up as 0% on my spreadsheet (which I'll talk more about in part 2). March 24th, 2025 was the last time it was touched and obviously (again) not since it's been on scroll rods.

We're almost at the end! Two more starts on Feb 29th, 2024, Leap Day. First up is Mini Wisdom by Cherie Gerhardt, charted by HAED. It's on 28ct Easy Guide evenweave, 1x1 full stitches. Even though it only got one day of love in 2024 (start day), it's moving along well. Here is where 2024 left off:

The last it saw action was Oct 19th, 2025. It's now at 37.98 hrs, 8828/84,500 stitches and it's sitting at about 10%. It's very confetti heavy, so it's taking more time than I would like, but HAED's minis are notoriously harder than a regular pattern, and that's a hill I will die on.

Last one, Belle of Bonaventure by Jasmine Becket-Griffith, charted by HAED. I had trouble deciding between this and another JBG, and this one won out, but not surprisingly, the other one became a 2025 start which we will discuss in part 2. This one is, of course, 28ct Magic Guide evenweave, 1x1 full crosses.

Of all the Leap Year starts, this one got the most love. I absolutely adore stitching it and, because it was before HAED started dithering, it just makes it that much more enjoyable! It's got in 94.13 hrs, 24,185/118,000 stitches, and is sitting at about 20% done. It was last touched Jan 18th of this year.

And that's it up to the 2024 starts! Doing these long posts just got too hard, then a bunch of bad life stuff happened, and it all just got away with me. Even now, I expected to have all my WIPs in one post, but we are just sitting way too long right now for this to continue for the 2025 and 2026 starts, so until next time with Part 2!

Hardly any stitching, but a LOT of cleaning

I have really only have one stitching weekend since the last post (and even that was weeks ago). I started Vivster's Scottish Quaker Tiles (and, in case you're not aware of the project, here you go):

I spent WAY too much time charting the grid and I still kept frogging the expensive silk thread, so I decided to stop. Barely one weekend later, I made it to here:

I also started to upgrade my blog layout (because it's been a WHILE), but apparently I quit in the middle of it, and when I checked my last blog post, I realized this and just switched it back. I'm not in the mood to dink with it now.

The only place where I've been EXTREMELY productive is in the duckroom (and my bedroom as well). I've been throwing things away (that only the hoarder in me thought I needed, but I don't), I've been removing some things from their boxes to put them on display (or at least taking it out of the outer shrink wrap), moving things around, just overall changes that have probably been emotionally destructive than actual physical destruction (or cleaning, depending on your point of view). I managed to get every single Donald plush from their shelves to the top of the bookshelves, which as led to dedicated shelves to specific characters or rides. I managed to extend the Pirates shelf to two (which was desperately needed). I got the Haunted Mansion stuff down to four shelves, but extended Figment to three. I got a Tower of Terror shelf now, as well as a combo Elliot/Orange Bird shelf, I added a Splash Mountain/Space Mountain combo shelf (although I still need a Small World/Everest shelf, but as of now, that's not possible. I moved a lot of the Christmas stuff (which isn't much) to one area. I was able to create a more dedicated area to the large Stitch plush, so I could take them a) out of the floor, and b) clearing the top of the large curio cabinet. A lot of the model kits that have just been taking up space in their boxes are not put together (and the boxes are gone). But most importantly, I got a LOT of the closet cleared out. I took a few pics before I finished (if I am finished), but here are some shots:

I probably really should take new pics before I update this, but I will keep forgetting and never post anything!

I've also spent a LARGE amount of time working on my upcoming Disney trip. I do NOT want a repeat of last time, so I've been walking. This has also cut into my stitch time because, once I eat, let the food settle, and then walk, it's pushing 9-10 pm. I have been reading a lot, but it's way easier to pick up a book, even for 10 minutes, than to get all set up to stitch.

Please be patient with me and I'll get back to stitching, but right now, I just don't have the time.

So many tasks, not enough time!

I have been SUPER busy the past couple of weeks...Disney planning, trying to loose weight, walking (to help loose weight and to "train" for Disney), cleaning around the house, reading books (to hit my 55 in my 55th year) and, of course, stitching. The first ones are going well, but the stitching, not so much. I can really only stitch on the weekends since I spend the week doing the other things. I'm walking with a co-worker who is perpetually late (although I am able to walk by myself now, when I can get myself out of the house). By the time all that's done, I don't feel like stitching anymore. Thankfully, I can read books and watch TV at the same time, or else not much book reading would be done either. I'm keeping up with my books over on Insta, if you're curious (I think I just finished book #15).

But, on to the stitching. I've only worked on A Girl in a Red Dress at the Castle. Last time I left off here:

Now I'm here:

It's not much progress...1796 more stitches, for a total of 5910/67,500, I'm now at 8.76%, and am 26.38 hrs in (last time it was 18.86 hrs). And I only stitched for two days, both being weekend days. I'm not sure if I'm going switch WIPs this weekend or keep on, time will tell.

Last time, you saw where I cleaned the Duck Room, made a path in the back, and cleaned up my pins (a bit). This week I'm focusing on two tasks, starting to catalog items (although that has a big caveat we'll deal with in a mo) and moving to the front of the Duck Room and straightening up my Mickey ear hats (I haven't touched the Mickey headbands yet, although I don't have many of those). The were on cheap hat hangers on the Duck closet door (and forgive this pic, it's several years old and that area is way more cluttered now, Funkos to the ceiling, the floor covered in plush, and don't get me started on the curios):

Obviously, they didn't all fit due to the limited number of hangers. Since the hangers were made for ball hats, I also had to use various methods to attach them (I did recently change to clothes pins, which plays into this story). The ears that didn't fit were scattered about the room (in their various character categories, of course). I'm always looking online for how other people store and display their stuff, but I haven't found the right "idea" for me in almost every category, but especially ear hats (and pins). Some people have the wall space to mount hangers or to add shelving, I don't. Some people have hats hanging on a rope line mounted to the wall and clipped with clothes pins (like they are on a clothesline), but I never give this idea a second thought because I didn't have the wall room.

Then, it dawned on me, why not attach string to the hat hanger do-hickies and make individual clotheslines. That way I'm not taking up any additional space in the room and, instead of two hats on a row, I could get four or five. Sounded like a plan, right? And the best part is that they could all be together again (I have issues with wanting things to be "together" in their family, the joys of OCD). I quickly found out I couldn't do a line on each row, I had to skip a row for spacing issues. I also tucked in the backs of the hats to flatten them out, like everyone else, to make them hang better. My first iterration:

I very quickly realized this wasn't going to work. The bent hats were driving me insane (I opened them back up) and I still needed the others around the room, which meant more lines. I set about changing them around again, risking the extra rows and adding the hat's brothers, and I HATED the result. I couldn't, for the life of me, get them to look organized after that. I gave that up Wednesday night, but by Thursday night, I decided to start again. After several more configurations, I ended up with this, although I still not happy (and I somehow missed a row close to the top):

Are they too cramped? Yes, yes they are. Is there anything I can do about it? No, probably not, no, especially if I wanted them to live together. And then, like I mentioned earlier, there is still the issue of the Mickey headbands. I'd like them with the ear hats, but I don't know how to accomplish that, at least not yet. They won't work on the rope line and an over-the-door hook won't hold them all.

If anyone has any ideas of how to handle this, let me know, I'm all "ears" (ha!).

Now, on to the cataloging. This is something I have tried numerous times in the past. The last time I tried it, it took me a month to do ONE bookshelf in my bedroom (I have four, not including everything else in the room), and that was probably ten years ago! The software I had became defuct, so I had to buy new home inventory software (maybe nine years ago, unused all this time), which now has a subscription-based model, but the old version still works, so I'm not upgrading until I have to...I'm really hating subscription-based stuff, $10/mo for this, $5/mo for that...it adds up quick. About five or six years ago, I bought a lightbox to make photographing the items easier. It's been sitting in my closet ever since, still in its unopened box. Last year, I bought a camping table for the lightbox to sit on. It's been in the closet next to the lightbox ever since (although I did take it out of it's box to see what it looked like and, thankfully, it came with its own storage bag). Yeah, to say I've been dreading this project for years is the understatement of the decade (literally).

Last Saturday (hence the little bit of weekend stitching), I pulled it all out, set it all up, put the camera on the tripod and got to work photographing the front, back, and bottom side of each item (and sometimes a second set if it lit up). This wasn't even Duck Room stuff, this is MY bedroom. After SIX hours, I had done just the things on my dresser! JUST THE DRESSER! I could not, for the life of me, get everything back in the right place, which also drove me insane. After about 10 hours, I had a ton of photographs, nothing in the cataloging software, and now an annoying dresser top I don't like.

Yeah, I'm not sure how in the Hades I'm supposed to do the entire house. I also realized that my new camera was taking high quality pictures, pictures that will take up a ton of hard drive space. Thankfully, work has an old point and shoot camera that isn't being used, so I got permission to take it home and try it. The MP size of the pics has to be 20 times smaller, so that will help. It was (apparently) a day of realizations, because I also realized that it would be easier to photograph the item, THEN add it to the software one at a time (which will take me a LOT longer than six hours and means I need to start over). I also need to get a barcode scanner (or borrow one from work). Saturday night, I broke down the lightbox and the camping table and put them back in the closet. Whether or not they make it out again in this decade, is up for debate.

I do need a cataloged archive of all my items, not just for insurance purposes (which, as I mentioned numerous times before, most of this stuff can NEVER be replaced, so that's probably a moot point), but because I don't know what I have anymore and sometimes I buy things not realizing I already have it. Since I started cataloging my books, it keeps me from rebuying them all the time. I love it! I also have the Funko app and have all those cataloged as well (although I question if I've done them all). Shame Jim Shore or Enesco doesn't have an app. But, books, movies, music and even Funkos and Enesco figurines are 1/100000 of my entire collection, so the time it will take might be more than the life I have left.

But alas, these are the worries on my brain now and I'm totally open to any ideas you give me! You guys know I'm picky about my stuff, but I will try anything at this point! And let me know if you want to continue to hear about my Disney stuff. I probably should be doing separate posts for all this, but I'm lucky to be posting at all these days. I probably need to learn to actually use Instragram for more than just posting single pictures with a comment!

Have a great week everyone!

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Weekly Stitching Update

I didn't stitch a lot (more on that later), but I did get some done! I finally started A Discovery of Witches by Modern Cross Stitch. I STILL don't have my modification equipment for my stand (and I'm starting to get upset about that, it's been almost 2 1/2 months now), but I did my best with the stand the way it is. It's probably why I didn't get very far because it was a juggling act. In case you forgot, here is what the image looks like:

It's not my largest project (it's the second largest), but it is huge! It's hard to tell here how big it actually is, but it's in a 48" scroll rod, so I'm sure you can imagine it. I only worked on it for one day (3.87 hrs) because it was uncomfortable on my stand, but I got 1278 stitches out of 499,999 total and I'm at 0.26%.

Because it's so long, I also did a close up picture, but because it's just one color, it's kind of boring.

I'm still kind of shocked at this, but I've decided to start three of my new four purchases and, because I've been obsessing over it, A Girl in a Red Dress at the Castle was first. Maybe because my brain is in Disney mode, but I did work on this for the holiday (and I'm not sure if I will continue this week, but we'll see). Here is what it will look like:

I got 4114 stitches out of 67,500 total and made it 6.09%. That sounds like a lot, but it's not that big of a project. I am really happy with the level of detail though and I can't wait to get to recognizable landmarks (aka the castle).

I planned on using my stash thread and fabric, but I was still missing some threads, so I did have to order them. But I'm good so far with just stitching with the threads I had. This was also one of the projects that didn't need new fabric. I had just the right piece for it.

I didn't stitch all weekend though, I managed to clean up the duck room even more, clearing a path through the back side (and yes, it's so dark because of the "island" I've made in the middle, I have to use a lantern back there):

This is the only one the four "walkways" that I don't have to turn sideways for! Quite proud of that!

I emptied out the duck room closet of more old boxes and whatnots (this seems to be an ongoing project). I managed to get the past six years of vacations in their storage boxes (I keep extra storage boxes just for this purpose...well, technically for Disney trips because I want all the storage boxes to match, but that's a different story and I did have some random other boxes, so it's not as matchy-matchy as my Disney stuff). I also got them labeled with my handy-dandy new label maker. It's one of the generic little ones from Amazon, but I love it! Oh, for those that don't know, every single trip I take I keep a "memento box" of the trip stuff. Things like receipts, knick-knacks from the hotels, drink stirers, bags from purchases, glasses or cups I wouldn't ever use, etc, etc. I've been doing that for Disney since the beginning and it's just sort of spilled out to all my other trips. The boxes on the left are my Disney purses and bags, but the smaller ones on the right are the trip boxes (and, the eagle-eyed among you may spot the Disney bag in one of the trip boxes, but that's a box of all the stuff that my sister had given me from her various Disney trips, so they all live together in one box). This may still look messy to some, but believe me when I say this closet was a disaster before!

Also, for those that might be shocked that I have four tubs of just Disney purses, bags, and backpacks, don't be...there are actually five and I need a sixth, you just can't see the other one.

I also got the nerve (or courage) to clean out my Disney pin backs and boxes. This was the hardest thing for me to do. I've kept every pin back and box for every single Disney pin I've ever bought. They live in two big bins and I had numerous bags of them just tossed in the closet. Here they are in my living room floor (and the bin you see is just for the pin backs, not the boxes...the box bin is a lot bigger):

All my pins live in binders in my bedroom. A couple of weeks ago, I took all the pins tossed in my closet from various trips and finally put them in their binders (and tossed the boxes and the bags in the duck room closet, hence this past weekend's project). I still need to get some black binders so they all match, but here they are (and you can see at least one wall of my framed pins, they go all around the entrance to my bedroom):

Of all the things I threw away this weekend, this was the hardest thing for me to deal with. I knew I wouldn't be able to throw all of them away. The empty pin backs and boxes serve no purpose anymore and I couldn't match most of them back to their original backs if I tried, but keeping them is just how I'm wired (like I always say, there is a fine line between hoarding and OCD). I simply stared at the mess in the floor for literal HOURS and went through several iterrations of decisions before I came up with my final option and I'm stressing now writing about it. This is the box with the empties from boxes or lanyards, or pin sets (and, you can't tell, but that stack of mystery pin boxes in the floor was a good 2ft high):

I had a couple choices of what to do, but in the end, I went with keeping one of each type of mystery pin box and throwing away the duplicates. It still filled the box bin back up, so technically it didn't help much, but once I took out the duplicates that were already in there, they all fit and now the bags are all gone (and even throwing away the bags was stressful). The trashed boxes filled an entire kitchen garbage bag on their own. I will need to get another bin by the next pin haul, but I'll worry about that after September.

Oh, and I feel like I need to explain Disney mystery pins. They are pin sets that come (usually) two to a box, but you don't know what's in the box until you've purchased and opened it. To get the whole set, you have to keep buying box after box and, even then, you may not get them all (and don't get me started on the boxes with chaser pins). I HATE mystery pins and rarely ever buy them unless they are special occasion sets or something I feel I can't live without (first I hate surprises, but you also have to keep buying box after box to get the whole set...it is financially draining), but my sister loved them. She was horrible at not finishing a set and would buy all kinds of different sets, which drives my OCD nuts. Not that I wasn't grateful to receive any Disney stuff from her, but I used to have to go on eBay and find the rest of the set, which sometimes cost more than just continuing to buy the boxes. I'd rather have two or three complete sets than 30 partial sets. Plus, there is the guilt involved with her buying me stuff. I can't remember when the last set she bought me was, but I haven't finished those sets because there were just too many of them.

Now, back to the original topic, I should add that "technically" I've thrown all this stuff away. In all actuality, the garbage bags are all sitting in my living room (all TWELVE of them) because there isn't room in the garbage can outside. It will take a couple of weeks of full trash bins for them all to go away, but this also means that I can change my mind at anytime and put the stuff back. So yes, I cleared out a ton of stuff from that closet, but it ain't over until the garbage men sing (unless I take them to the dumpster at work). Getting rid of Disney stuff, even the trash, is incredibly difficult for me. I REALLY need a bigger house (although it wouldn't take me long to fill it up too).

And that's the update for this week! I'm quite proud of myself for all the work I've managed to get done over the past few weeks. Let's just hope I can keep it up (and not undo it). I still have a ton of stuff to trash, but I'll get there eventually! I do look around a lot and sometimes wish I could get rid of more stuff, but it's probably never gonna happen. I go through phases with stuff, be it Disney, movies, books, etc and, just because I'm out of the phase now, doesn't mean I'm not going to be back in it in a week, a month, or even a year from now. I have typically always regretted throwing stuff away, which is why I hate doing it. But if I don't do something now, I'm going to be one of those hoarders with a maze in her living room of stacked up crap (it might be neatly stacked up crap, but, you get the point).

Hopefully, I will have a stitchy update next week, and, if you'd like to see more of my Disney stuff, just let me know and I'll see what I can come up with!