It is finished

Would you allow me an incredibly loud, "WHEW!"

Yeah.  Project Hot Spot Paper Clutter is over.  Mostly.  I didn't think it would happen today, and I really wanted it to.  It came down to a last minute push after we got home from a bonfire dinner with friends and Nick pitching in to get it finished.  And two enforced naptimes for Eliza, who didn't sleep through one at all.  But it's done.  Is it clean?  I wish I could say yes, but alas, the dusting is going to have to happen this next week sometime.  Is it decluttered?  Yes.  Is the paper taken care of?  Either yes or there is something in place to help me take care of it over the next week or so.  Does it look decluttered?  Ah, there's the rub.  It does in person, but looking at my pictures I'm so not convinced.  I'll show you what I mean.

 This is my side of the room again.  Much of the clutter on the floor is gone.  Granted, knitting/crocheting supplies aren't in the best shape.  I likely need to go through those and get rid of or use up some yarn that's just hanging around.  That is largely the problem there.  My bedside table doesn't look all that spic-and-span, either, does it?  But really, all that's there are the medicines (mostly the antacids) I need in the middle of the night, my water mug, and a small pile of cookbooks I'm browsing.  And yet... I feel like it looks messy.  Sigh.

 The desk and the vanity (which wasn't in the original shot but was just as messy).  Again, it doesn't look to great.  I should have thrown away the Kwik Shop coffee.  I blame that on the perspective, though, so... that means the next picture.

 Here, you can see that most everything on the desk is in neat piles (notebooks, my bible, a few things I want to make sure I know where they are).  On top of the filing cabinet is my new in-box/out-box for papers.  Those are papers that were gathered up at the last minute and I have yet to go through.  There's not a whole lot there, some coupon pages, a little bit of mail, some miscellaneous.  A big calendar that I need to find a place to put up.  Maybe I'll just nail it to the wall right next to my desk.  That's the most logical place.

 My file cabinet and a close-up of the new in-and-out box.  Really, that box looks worse than it really is.  The file cabinet was actually the first big project after all the clutter was rounded up.  As we hadn't been through it since we moved it out of storage, I had to go through everything, ditch things that we didn't need to keep.  The filing system is a bit poor, but hopefully I can refine it as we use it more.

 Entryway shelves.  Not perfect, but far, far better.  You can actually see the shelves now.

 Living room side table.  This is one picture that I think speaks mostly for itself.

 Living room side table and book shelves.  Also much, much better.

Now, if only I could say the same for the whole apartment.  But the rest of the place was a bit neglected during the project.  I don't think that was really supposed to be the intention of Project Simplify, but this was a tall, tall order for me.  Some of that clutter has been collecting since we moved in.  I intend to continue with Project Simplify, if the next hot spots continue to be relevant, but hopefully they won't be such a big chore that I have to let other cleaning go.  I need to pick up the living room after the 16 mo. old, and sweep and dust and clean in general.  And then, maybe, I'll feel like things are in order.

But I have to say: I'm rather proud of myself that I got it done.  Allow me to indulge in a smiley face here. : ]