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I have a pro/con relationship with clutter. My home can be tidy when things are organized, but when I start working on something disorder creeps in. I maintain some level of clutter, but it takes a while for me to restore it to a more clutterless state.

The clutter is sort of like a mental block, or it can be. It makes me put off doing something about it, because then I'd have to remember how I had everything before. Or, God help, if I introduced something new that wasn't originally part of the clutter ecosystem. Then I have to reevalute how things were previously. This all makes it difficult for me to step out of my routine, and do new things... Because the clutter is in the way, if only because the fact that I should do something about it takes up mental real estate.

On the other hand, I usually get clutter because I have actually been doing something. And if it's the right circumstance, it can keep me on track, in a weird way. A simple example is building a project on a table in the basement, and having everything out – it's right there where I need it, as opposed to digging through a shelf. Yes, I could organize things better, and that is a longer-term goal. However, despite mental blockage, I do appreciate things being in a state of flux sometimes.

Part of this is exhaustion. It can be difficult to work on something like tidying up or making progress on a project when I just got home from work and am tired. I'd rather be making dinner or playing with the cat. And then when I get time I'd rather be doing other things. But when I can get into decluttering, that in itself is kind of a project, and sometimes I do keep at it.

In the process of living life, you create. Maybe mundane things, like documentation for work, order while you clean your house, or footprints when you go for a hike. Something that wouldn't have come into being if you hadn't been there initiate it. Other times you deliberately create, perhaps as the main focus of your job, or just for fun. It could be building something, composing a song, or writing a blog post.

I think it's good to be able to do this, and stand back and appreciate it. For similar reasons to why it's good to get up and walk around after you've been sitting for a while. Creation is one way to recognize that we don't have to just take what the world throws at us, and conform to it. We can have a say as well.

I'm going to head out and see my town's St. Patrick's Day parade, which is held earlier in March. It's a gray weekend, drizzly, with ice-crusted snow still on the ground. Still, it should be fun, nice to get out.

Spring is getting closer, even if we still have the chance of winter weather. Actually we got a pretty bad storm last April, so it can happen. But I'm about ready for sunnier days and warmer weather, and festivities are a nice touch.

My garage needs cleaning. I've accumulated things there, Christmas lights, gardening tools, plastic totes, things in need of storage but not quite organized yet. It's not a big garage, but there's a good amount of space I could reclaim.

I might get a shelf. I might need some more totes, the original idea was to organize things that way. I think that the lights might take up at least two large ones.

I've thought about making a little work bench for out there. My main work area is the basement, but it would be nice to have one with a light in the garage too. For spring/summer/fall, mostly, since it's cold out there now.

Home can be many places. A permanent residence, a former permanent residence, just a place you feel comfortable at, perhaps one you frequent. It can be several of these.

It's nice to seek out now and then. Even when you feel at home in one place, in one sense, it's nice to try a different one. Maybe one is no longer real outside of your memories, or it never truly was home in the first place.