Bye, Bye, Birdie (Clock)

(Monday, June 21 - really!)

Bird-song-on-the-hour Wall Clock.

Yup, it hooted, chirred, tweeted, or clucked on the hour, every hour - for the past ten years or so. This was a clock that, at one time in my life, I really, really wanted to have (oh, I don't know why! It just appealed to me.). . . and my in-laws, such good sports, gave it to me as a Christmas gift.

It delighted my kids and surprised our guests ("What? Oh, that's just the clock!") - once upon a time. Now, I don't know why, but the thrill is gone. The clock had fallen off the wall more than once and was battlescarred, not so very attractive anymore; and recently the birdsong was a little weirder than ever - for instance, the owl's "hoo hoo" had become more of a "hrr hrr," an irritated, angry sound. And hoo - I mean, who - needs to hear that, twice a day?

When I took the clock off the wall, I found the reason for this birdsong mayhem: one of the batteries had exploded! Eew! And so our poor, battered clock, once a treasure and now clearly trash, went right into the can.

Plus, I have to confess, this afternoon I ran into a pretty wall clock, on clearance, even, at Wal-Mart. Yes, I bought it! Oh, no! Does a toss count as a "declutter" if I replace it?

I'm not going to worry about that too hard - because something good happened when I hung the new clock on the wall. The wall looked different (duh!) - like it really needed a little something extra (besides a coat of fresh paint!). We have many nice pieces of framed art. . . stashed on the floor behind a chair in our sitting room. I chose one that was just right - and, on a roll, got a picture hanger nail thing and hammer from the basement, and, by golly, I hung that picture right then and there. And it looks good, too!

So I may have come out even on the decluttering, item-wise, but I came out ahead, stack-and-pile-wise. Sounds like enough of a small victory to me!

xo, LD