Purging

No, not binge-and-purging, the other kind, the kind that's all over the cable channels these days. Niecy Nash started it (I think) with Clean House, and it's now evolved into that Hoarding show that I can't even bring myself to watch.

I'm not a hoarder. Well, except for yarn maybe. But it's neatly contained and I swear I had plans for it when I bought it. I've been able to let go of a lot of yarn over the years, and I think I could probably get rid of some more, but I'm in one of those inert places where I can't do much more than is vital for our day-to-day existence.

In addition to the daily walk, which takes an hour, I've done very little around the house. Yesterday, in order to make myself feel as though I'd accomplished something, I unsubscribed from some e-mails, cutting the virtual clutter by about 60 percent!

When I switched ISPs last summer, I dropped a lot of e-mail newsletter subscriptions. In the last month, I've found myself skimming the remaining ones, or deleting them without opening them at all. There are a couple I think I'll get back to, so I'm keeping them. All they're doing is taking up hard drive space. The rest? Gone. All the political ones are gone. I'm active locally in my Democratic women's group and that's enough right now. I don't need the DCCC, the DSC and OFA asking me for my time and money, both of which are in short supply lately. Especially the money.

Speaking of the local Dems, I'm "working" today at our party headquarters. We've never had a headquarters during a mid-term election, but this one is apparently important enough that the Executive Committee rustled up a location, stocked it with signs and stickers and badges, oh my, and staffed it with volunteers. Like me. All I need is my knitting and the BlackBerry and a couple of magazines. And maybe the iPod. And this remote control. (Did you see The Jerk?) I'll be good for the day.

The down side to a day of service is, when do I walk? I could take some time during the day, lock up for lunch and walk around town for an hour. That might be fun, actually. Or I might have to get it done tonight. Dinner is ready, reruns from last night. I made enough vegetable-beef soup for a dozen guests, and there's only two of us. Soup's better the second night anyway.

Which will it be? Stay tuned …