Chaos and Transition

Oh my God... what have I started?

When I began this idea of redecorating my former bedroom into an office, little did I realize the chaos that would envelope the rest of the house. We have 5 days to live through this phase and I just hope we make it out alive.

You know how it is when you come from a Polish immigrant family and you're always afraid to get rid of something because "you might need it later"? That's me in a nutshell. Never letting loose of anything, including socks with holes in them. I always say "I can darn those socks, and then when we get a snow or ice storm, we'll have warm feet." Uh huh. That's the way things were in the old days when I lived in a suburb of Chicago. But I'm in Memphis now. Snow storms are rare. Socks go for $5.00 for a pack of 10, so what am I actually saving by holding onto these hole-y socks? Or the cough drops that seem to be melted into the end tables that came out of that room... ? Am I going to "need" them any time soon, or can I carry my happy butt down to Walgreens and get some more if I really have to? And tell me why, oh why, do I have so many plants in there? Am I afraid that the species will die out if I get rid of just ONE of the 10 philodendrons that I keep propagating?

Okay, you got me on the philodendrons. They're pretty and they provide oxygen to the house. But you get my idea. My house is full of things I haven't used in at least 10 years, don't look at, and absolutely won't get rid of. I found out how bad it had gotten while cleaning that room out. And we haven't even emptied the closets yet. Oh Lord, I hate to think of what's in there. I have shoes I'll never wear. Clothes I'll never fit back into (nor do I want to wear them again). Half-finished craft projects that are just sitting there taunting me.

All of this has made me realize just how much of a packrat I had become. I think decluttering your house is a 12-step program of realizations.

1. Admit that you're keeping things that should have gone out with the Crusades.

2. Realize that in a civilized world, you'll never again have to hang that glow-in-the dark Bobby Sherman poster.

3. Know that nobody needs more than 2 bellydance costumes. (I'm not even gonna explain this one.)

4. No one is going to pay top dollar for your coffee mug collection.

5. You CAN have too many baskets.

6. Knick-knacks are expensive dust-catchers.

7. So are mini-blinds... except for the expensive part.

8. Why are you saving all those little ketchup packets from Sonic?

9. There are beings living in your closet that shouldn't actually be there.

10. There's a reason you can't find anything.

11. You're never going to find the missing piece for that 1500-piece jigsaw puzzle.

12. More is not necessarily better.


Okay, RESOLVED: This is going to stop now. If I don't live up to that resolution, just pack me up with that old showgirl lamp and ship me off to the 1950's.

I'll keep you posted.

Nazdrovie'

Paczki Puta