Thursday May 19 2016  Oh WOW!

Oh WOW is the only way I can think to describe my feelings right now. 

I have a room.  A versatile, multipurpose room.  One wall is entire ceiling to floor shelves built to withstand a tornado (because my husband built them).  The shelves go the length of the 16 foot wall.  This room is an interior room without a window so it cannot be used as a bedroom.  In one large corner area the laundry shoot receptacle hangs down from the floor above and is elevated over an “L” shaped, kitchen like counter, with shelves and drawers under the Formica counter.  Opposite the shelves is a large, free standing, entertainment center that is home to all my framing tools (plus a lot more).  In the center of the room is a custom designed framing table made from an old large office desk elevated on a platform with wheels.  It takes up a big portion of the floor space.  Every shelf and drawer of the freestanding unit is full and there is not one clear space on any vertical surface.  If my sister could see this room right about now she would be ashamed of me.  At this moment I’m glad she lives in California.

The floor space is also nonexistent.  I am on a mission!  A formidable mission!  And I wage war on my own terms.  I am having a garage sale in about 4 weeks and hope to pare down this room, plus many more.  I am running out of space in our downstairs family room, also known as the Photography Studio.  The garage is available to accept the “stuff”, but I haven’t yet wanted to haul it up all the stairs, nor walk around the inclined driveway outside.  This week I have cleaned out a few drawers under the laundry shoot area, and today went through the total sum of two portions of the shelving space and a little corner space on the floor.  That’s it!  There are a total of fifteen, shelf area sections, three across and five levels up stacked from floor to ceiling.  The entertainment center also has lots of drawers and shelves totally full.  Plus, the “desk”, also known as the framing table, is full of drawers, as well as shelves on the raised platform beneath it.  I hope I have drawn a mental picture for you because I certainly won’t take a snapshot on my camera to show you.  I would be embarrassed.  As I unpacked the boxes on the shelves everything exponentially expanded. 

I said all that to tell you I worked too late this evening to spend much time on my blog.  I just couldn’t pull myself away.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.  I wanted EVERYONE to know just how hard I am working.  Even if no one reads my blog tonight I will at least have this story written down so I can remember how hard I once worked.

MEMORIES AWAIT

By Kathleen Martens

May 19, 2016

Oh the boxes that await my pilfering

Are like treasure chests I remember not.

But I know I packed them all

And for many of the things I’ve sought.

The item’s need long past, and I wonder why

I purchased it in the first place.

So much packed away without a purpose

Taking up my valuable space.

Now that I’ve started to shed the past

It’s exciting to see what’s unearthed.

Sort of like each box is waiting

For a long awaited birth.

“Pregnant boxes”, that’s quite a thought,

It’s just I don’t know what will come out.

And let me tell you, it’s a lot of pain

A quite laborious, laboring route.

But it will be great when it ends,

And everything is brought to the light.

And the best thing of all will be

When it takes its final flight.

(Sort of like how it is when the last kid finally goes to college!)

I promise not to bore you daily about my “stuff”.  Right now, it is just a big overwhelming part of my daily life, unpacking so much.  We have 14 rooms in this house plus 3 bathrooms and a huge attached shop in the lower level (20X40 feet).  I say that not to boast, but rather to solicit more sympathy for my plight.  It’s too bad the rooms are not filled with treasures, but alas, it is just 30 plus years of accumulation in one house (not to mention all we brought with us when we moved in).

God, I thank You for the desire I have now to get rid of all the unnecessary. 

God, thank You for providing what we have needed over all these years.

Thank You again Lord for the energy to do what I am able to at this time in my life.

And I always thank You for my peanut butter.

Thank You for the beautiful sunshine today.

Thank You for paper shredders.

Thank You God that I still have a purpose even though much of my stuff does not.

GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS YOU.