... you should not start anything on New Year's Day that you are not willing to do all year long. The thing I specifically recall was subject of conversation had to do with sewing. I had intentions for cutting out some article of clothing I had purchased pattern and yard goods for, to start the process of making something to wear. She cautioned me about proceeding with the project on the first day of the year, saying it would cause me to be doing that same type of work throughout the weeks and months ahead. I think I was young enough to accept her adminiton without question, but now will think of it as one of those 'old wives' tales' that get passed down from one generation to the next. A hundred years ago, or even more recently, when nearly everything we wore was had made, I can understand the desire to avoid being stuck with ongoing assembly or repairs every single day of the year. What a seemingly unending project spending day after day, week after week cutting out and sewing could be.
She also warned me about doing laundry: washing, drying, ironing, folding, putting away. I assume the process was such an onerous chore before mod. cons, no one wanted to doom themselves to an entire year facing a mountain of dirty clothing. I do recall when Monday was the designated laundry day, and homemakers would devote an entire day to getting a week's worth of dirty clothing ready to be worn. Clearly remember my mom taking a load of cold wet laundry out on a blustery winter day to hang on the clothes line. And then bring it back in to iron every piece when it was dry. It is a rare day when I do not appreciate all the electricity we use and all the modern appliances that power is used to operate. As well as daily thankful for the ability to turn a faucet and get a seemingly endless supply of potable water for cooking, bathing laundry.
Even with just two people living here, I could get up a load of laundry every day of the week. I am often baffled as to where it comes from, as we are not particularly dirty people. When daughters were small and could go through half a dozen outfit changes in the course of a day, the necessity for daily washing and drying was a fact of life. But with only two of us, I am have to wonder if the neighbors might be smuggling in their things to add to ours. A seldom seen friend told of being convinced that her neighbors were bringing in dirty dishes to pile up in the sink: she could wash everything and by the time it was dried and put away, more would mysteriously appear. Two small children likely explains everything.
So what to do on this damp,dreary first day of the new year? I was planning to clean out a closet full of who-knows-what, sorting and trashing, possibly donating to non-profit. But it stands to reason this type productiveness would come under that same heading of excessive, and something no one would want to do over and over and over all year long. It has been stacked with stuff since the interior of the house was painted about ten years ago, forcing me to get everything out. And then just meticulously re-filling, as if doing a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle to make it all fit. I guess today will be the day to sort and donate: that sounds like a good thing to be doing through out the next twelve months, with the ultimate goal of less stuff in my life.
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