November 13, 2009
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News Flash! Five days without Internet, and She lived to tell it!!!
What does 5 days without internet give you??? A sore back, three clean rooms and closets upstairs, bruises (don’t ask), a pickup load of stuff for the food pantry’s thrift shop, a roaring blaze in the burn pit (trash!), leg cramps, several trips down Memory Lane, a few tears and a lot of laughs, some cozy moments sharing a very small upstairs bathroom with my patient husband, and an intense determination to NEVER bring any more junk into this house!
On Monday, when my dear friends, the floor-covering boys showed up, it was time to turn off the Dell (so they could rip up the carpet in my office) and turn on all the burners…in other words, get to work! While they ripped up vinyl flooring, subflooring, carpets, pads, tack strips, baseboards, toilets, and everything else in their way, I headed upstairs. For how could I enjoy the eventual fruits of their labors (nice, new, clean floors downstairs to go with freshly painted walls throughout), knowing what lurked above. I tackled it with a vengeance. Every day this week, I emptied closets, sorted through the bins, boxes and tubs accumulated through the years, tossed out junk and gave away anything that anyone would take. Woodwork and windows were washed. The fabric stash was organized, the yarn stash minimized. Books, magazines, toys…I was ruthless (never mind that Ruth is my middle name….I forgot her this week!)
I called Susannah, asking if she would mind my removing the dusty, faded posters from her closet walls. Sarah doesn’t yet know that her 3rd-grade valentine box is no longer on her closet shelf. Stan’s FFA awards (from 1968) were lovingly dusted and put back in the plastic tub to await a grandchild’s discovery at some distant future date. Matt’s freshman creative writing journal (with encouraging, positive notes from AnnieMockingbird, his wonderful teacher) went into MY keepsake box. Thirty-seven strings of Christmas lights have been reduced to…a few.
Those sweet boys (Dave, Jeff and Jason) ALMOST finished the floor covering…they’ll be back Monday morning to complete the job. It will take all of next week for me to finish what I’ve begun….this isn’t a job that can be rushed. But I’m hoping that by the time Thanksgiving rolls around I can give thanks for a home that’s cleaner, healthier and more organized, top to bottom.
No pics to go with this post…I can’t find my camera…hope I didn’t throw it out!
Comments (7)
I’m so glad someone else is taking this journey with me…. I have even organized drawers in the hutch that I’m sure haven’t been touched since before we moved here in 95…maybe I shouldn’t tell that part! I even organized the pantry today. Had to put a few things on the grocery list that I wouldn’t have thought of until I was ready to make something and then it is a ways to the grocery if I really wanted to make it badly enough. Went through all the old loose recipes that were piled up…most got tossed since we don’t eat that way anymore.
The chairs are out of the garage as of tonight. Gone to someone who had a fire and lost everything. Tomorrow is supposedly our last day of good weather for awhile so I hope to finish up in the garage.
It is quite a journey isn’t it?!!!
Wow, what energy. Please send me some of that zip as mine hasn’t returned. After months of complete body exhaustion from arimidex for breast cancer my zip is slow on returning. Doc now put me on tamoxifen. Do you think just maybe I’m getting old ? lol
Hmmmm That’s MY middle name too. (o;
wow, where do you get all your energy? That’s one crazy huge task you guys are working on. I can’t imagine. Can’t wait to see pics!
Wow! Am I ever impressed. The last time that I handled EVERYTHING in our household at one time was before our move to Berlin and that was eons ago. Since then every time I throw something away, I want it the very next week. And just the minute I give my outgrown clothes to the thrift shop, I either gain or lose weight and wish I still had some of it. BUT there are days when I feel like I’m drowning in “stuff” and should take some advice from my minimalist son and get rid of it.
I admire your determination! But once the ball is rolling you might as well use that momentum.
Jan, I somehow missed this post when you put it up – such vivid descriptions! And I SO admire your industriousness in cleaning and sorting everything – doesn’t it make you feel great to have your house all spotless and organized with new flooring and carpet and freshly painted walls! Can’t wait to see photos, and even better, see it all in person one day before too long! I hope it’s all done and that you’re able to rest up before Thanksgiving.