I think I wrote this before 2009. I'm not sure. I looked up the Inherited Values site with the Wayback Machine today. My friend, Deanna, created, ran, everything, the site. I wrote for her for awhile. Mostly posts about hobbies and collectibles.

I try not to gamble or collect things because I know this is a hazardous area for me. I seem to be one of those people who become obsessed with everything, at least for awhile. I also like to try almost everything – everything is fodder for my curiosity. I especially like arts, crafts and history.

On Flickr I have my photos of abandoned farm houses and many other abandoned or just old places. I have two Flickr groups: Ontario Rural Ruins and Canadian Rural Exploration.

Does the house in the photo look haunted to you? To me it has the mystery, romance and bluntness of history and craftsmanship. With a side of weathering and pure determination to survive the elements. I do have some feelings about the paranormal but I don’t look for them in an old house or building. I have yet to feel anything spooky when I explore. Though I did once shriek when I thought I had stepped on a toad in the long grass.

There are some things I collect: bone china posies, postcards and odd other things which aren’t coming to mind right now. I don’t keep them very organized or catalogued and I don’t join groups with other collectors with the idea of trading or buying more. I just like the randomness of a great find. I should have been an archaeologist, except I’m allergic to dust, mold and mildew. To me, the value of a collectible is in the finding of it as much as the beauty of it. I shop at thrift shops but not gift shops.

I love history. History I can reach out and touch is as close to time travel as I may ever get. As a Pagan (Earth Witch) I feel connected to history, it’s traditions and the foundations it has given us. The invention, ingenuity and thriftiness that early people had to develop to survive, that is what I see when I look at old objects and old buildings. I also treasure the art and crafts which have endured into the present. Objects which we no longer use and may not even know how to use any longer. Sometimes I feel a sense of loss for the road not taken and the knowledge lost to us. I like to read about odd crafts, new crafts and hobbies too as these are our own contributions to what will become history in time.

When not out taking photos of derelict farm houses I am writing on the web. My own little monster project is Word Grrls. My main site is ThatGrrl.ca. Most of my other projects link from there.

If you Twitter I am @thatgrrl. If you StumbleUpon I am thatgrrl and if you Tumblr I am also thatgrrl. Nice how that all works out.

Celebrated on the second Monday of January each year, encouraging people to declutter and organize their workspaces.

History of National Clean Your Desk Day National Clean Your Desk Day is designed to herald the arrival of warmer climes and the beginning of spring, a time of year that many of us associate with cleaning, decluttering, and saying sayonara to stuff we don’t want or need.

This is a day to ensure you start the New Year with a clear head and a clean, tidy desk. If there’s junk everywhere and stacks of papers overflowing, it’s not only more difficult to find what you need, but there’s also a risk of important things getting misplaced. Tidying is an excellent habit to get into, and National Clean Your Desk Day could be the start of a brand new attitude to cleaning, filing, and conquering clutter.

Stress is a common ailment in today’s society, and working in a clean, bright, open space is proven to promote serenity and calm. What could be better than turning up to work on a gloomy Monday morning to find a pristine workstation with not a scrap of junk or a pile of paperwork in sight?

But what are the origins of the modern desk? And why does it matter?

The word desk actually comes from the Latin word desca, meaning “a table you write on,” and was first coined in the middle of the 14th century. During the middle ages, people hardly referred to “desks” at all, since the vast majority of the population worked the land. The only people who could write were legal professionals and the clergy.

By the turn of the eighteenth century, however, the term desk was finding common currency. Not only was it a feature in more and more places of work, but it was also making an appearance in the home. The head of the household would use their desk as a place to do administrative work, such as preparing accounts or writing letters.

Desks, however, didn’t have a single origin. Some manufacturers made writing tables called scriptors, which featured a panel that folded down to provide the writing surface. Others were more like cabinets – what we might call today a French bureau.

By the start of the 19th century, however, all these items were virtually the same thing, with relatively few people distinguishing between them. Some had drawers underneath for storing papers, while others stood on legs, providing the user with space to put their feet.

As the needs of enterprise and commerce became more complicated, desk management issues came to the fore. People needed office spaces that afforded the organization they needed but didn’t harm their productivity. Coming up with solutions that worked was difficult. Until the rise of the PC, the best that manufacturers could do was offer people extra drawers.

National Clean Your Desk Day ties in nicely with today’s workplace culture. Research shows that people get more done and feel less stressed when their desks are clean and tidy. It helps support wellbeing and makes long days in the office more bearable.

Source - Days of the Year.com