Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Saturday Cleaning

As most of you know by now, 2008 hasn't been really much of my year in certain regards. Sure, there are good things happening, most notably the adoption and the weight loss journey, but there are other things happening that make me sit back and go, "Hmmm, how could I possibly have pissed off God this badly?"

So Friday (I think), I got a call from my mom that she was coming early as Judy's baby is due any minute (we think she may have started labor this evening, in fact, so stay tuned for updates). So Saturday I decided was a good time to clean house.

My house was starting to reflect my general mood--a total mishmash of incongrous thoughts and ideas. There were a bazillion tchotchkes on the windowsills, tons of pictures all over the mantle and living room, posters and postcards and paintings and wreaths and even my old NYS license plates on the walls.

As I sat around, I realized that because in general, I like things to be pretty clutter-free, my house was not helping me feel a whole lot better.

So I started wondering how I'd feel if I took down or put away exactly half of all the stuff that was out.

I don't think I did that throughout the house, but I can guarantee that in the family room, I did. I cleaned off the windowsills and put everything away, then dusted thoroughly. Stuff came off the walls--posters and postcards, wreaths and the license plates gone.

At first, it was kind of a shock--I was thinking, "Damn! Where's all my stuff!?" but 4 days later, I can say that it has really helped with my peace of mind. I feel so much better now that all the stuff is put away. The curtains are back open, so it's no longer like living in a cave. I just have to find room for my mom's stuff for her dog so he can't get into it, but so that we can have our dining room table back.

I plan to similarly clean house in other areas of the home. As we continue to plan and prepare for Baby Kosior's someday arrival, just the idea that in moving the rabbit downstairs, I could get the baby room done the way I want it and move all the baby stuff upstairs and out of our guest room makes me feel free. Hopefully we'll be able to accomplish this as soon as the Thanksgiving rush is over.

On top of Freedom Friday, it all feels pretty darn good.

2 pearl(s) of wisdom:

Lauren said...

I definitely need to take a cue from you. There are two rooms in my house that I'm always "cleaning," and they never ever seem to get finished. It definitely makes me feel emotionally cluttered, but I can't ever seem to get a handle on them.

CONGRATULATIONS on your Freedom Friday! What a great accomplishment!

Seraphim9 said...

I second Lauren's comment in that I need to take a cue from you, too!

I've been thinking of having a "Black Saturday" garage sale after Thanksgiving. We're not going anywhere for TG, since we're going over the next week for Tal's dad's surgery. So I'll have this coming weekend, TG day and Black Friday to get it ready.

I have a ton of clothes that I can no longer wear (woo hoo!) or that I just don't care to wear anymore. So I'll start in our bedroom and then work my way out to the garage. We still have stuff in boxes from when Tal and I first moved to Sav. 8 years ago - and then added to when we moved to the house 5 years ago.

Now that the gingerbread competition is done for this year, I can now concentrate on that!