While it was too cold to do much outside I spent the time nesting. Occasionally I like to take inventory of all the closets, cupboards and drawers. It is amazing what can be found even in such a small house as ours.

It gives me great satisfaction to get rid of a few things. Right now I have a bag waiting to be taken to the Goodwill that contains a perfectly good pair or sneakers I have not worn in five years, some old pots and pans I no longer need since getting a new set a few months ago, and a white wire cupcake holder that looks like a tree.

I got the cupcake holder at a white elephant Christmas exchange in 2016 and was hanging on to it to take back to the same party in 2017 to be recycled. The problem was, the hostess did not have the party (or if she did we were not invited) so I am stuck with the thing. Some crafty person will love it, but I never make cupcakes.

Now I’m moving on to the junk drawer. Well, actually there are several of them — two in the kitchen and one in my desk. That is where I put things I want to save but can’t figure out quite where to put them at the moment.

The main one in the kitchen is a receptacle of small things — batteries for our car keys, pens, pencils, two paper clips, coupons that stay in there long enough to expire, several sticky note pads in various sizes and a calculator. The most important thing is my little set of what The Man of the House calls my "girl tools." It is a lot of little screwdrivers with an interchangeable handle. I used to keep a small hammer in there, too but it has disappeared — probably to the garage where the "man tools" are kept. I also have a collection of small paint brushes for when the spirit moves me to do some little touch-up painting around here.

My other kitchen drawer has bigger items — matches, empty pill bottles, a long-handled spatula for the rarely used grill, the fly swatter, a roll of yellow duct tape and the instruction books for the kitchen appliances. Sadly, I found a plastic bag of large milk bones, the last remaining thing that belonged to our dear departed dog, Shiloh.

The drawer I should pay the most attention to is the one in my desk. Instead I just keep stuffing papers in there until one day I feel guilty and tackle it. The contents are usually something that should be filed someplace but until I can figure out where it stays in the drawer. Eventually I either throw it out because it is no longer relevant, or find another place for it.

Today I found the owners manual for the Tilley hat that The Man of the House bought several years ago. There were several bundles of notes that I took on trips, telling us the best places to buy gas, get food, or places to avoid. I guess this information should be transferred to something else in one place — like the travel book I started but have not kept up with very well.

There are some troubling little sticky notes with things that have codes and passwords but I have no idea why or where they belong. There is a specially treated cloth that is to be used to clean your computer. It is unopened and I have no idea how many years it has been there.

What I need to do is read the article I found in the draw titled "The Joy of Less" telling how to get rid of more things.