The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #158262   Message #3743827
Posted By: wysiwyg
14-Oct-15 - 09:21 AM
Thread Name: More 'Clutter's Last Stand' & fitness Oct/Dec 2015
Subject: long road to the purge
Neat, Acme!

OH:

I topped out last night at about 3000 steps; not bad for how sick I started the day. Thanks to zinc and a great co-counseling session, by bedtime I felt almost well. And then slept well.

Part of that was due to decluttering an evening teleconference I'd signed up for; the online registration hadn't gone thru. A day spent trying to get the call-in PIN was nuts! By the time I got it (ten minutes before the conference started), I was deep into catching up the laundry folding. I can hear the whole thing later!

Yesterday I also put the brakes on some neat things that just weren't fitting comfortably into this visit. Boundary issues with other folks. They'll have to await the February visit, which led to determining dates.

That led to setting the next CC date in early February. That led to typing up and posting docs for that, as well as making and printing a half-page flyer-- for distribution with Halloween candy.

I refuse to buy one more dog gate.... I've been using the skinny box Newbie's crate came in, as a barrier. Faulkner finally figured out how to push it aside-- so it's now weighted with spare, heavy boxes of dry wall screws and a couple of full water bottles. "Oh! Mommeh not fooling!" ;-) Another makeshift gate is the folding bed rail; it has struts to go under the mattress that are srsly in the way for quick gate deployment! So I zip-tied them to stay put, swiveled onto the rail. Boom! (When duct tape isn't appropriate, zip ties!)


Today I plan to get the stuff for planting my daffodils, and get them into the ground. A cold snap is due here, and I have music to arrange then.


I've come to the conclusion that this house has just about the right amount of stuff in it now. A few storage helpers will come down on the next trip, but not much else. It's furnished just enough that rooms can still be quickly rearranged for temporary needs.... with room to swing a cat. That means keeping it all tidy which, because the house is much smaller than the PA house, is pretty easily maintained.

I find myself reflecting often, here, on the fast beginning of our household's formation. Hardi and I had both been single parents with fully furnished homes (esp kitchenware). We blended all that with hardly any purging. We used it all, too, since the only rental available when we took up the PA ministry call was the 3-family house converted back to a single residence.

So the ability to fully furnish this small house with minimal purchasing makes complete sense. Most of what is now furnishing the Ohio house will either furnish an insulated 2-car garage we don't really need, or be yard-saled... some PA furniture will be left for the patish's annual yard sale.

22+ years after we first met, that's when we'll actually have TIME to purge!

~Susan