Sunday, November 22, 2009

Spring cleaning in Autumn.....

The rain..... Cumbria and parts of Scotland have been flooded badly, and it is now raining again. Mind you, it has not really stopped for days. 1000s of homes are wrecked, and people are staying with friends or family or in refuges. Bridges are falling down, and roads destroyed. How hard it must be for all those people who have had their lives up-ended as we ease into the festive season. Dreadful. Hopefully something will be organised soon as a way for everyone to help.

I got a little carried away on Friday. You see, I have had plenty of time while resting, to re-organise my house. In my head. So on Friday, I decided to empty my linen cupboard. Please tell me why I have so many towels, sheets etc, which have not seen the light of day for.....oh....maybe 20 years. I use and re-use the same things, and there was this mountain.....

I threw the lot onto the floor in the lounge. Then I hauled out the garbage bags and tossed 85% into it. However, in order to get the things I was keeping back into the new place I wanted them to be, I had to move ALL MY FABRIC. Oh good grief. You have NO idea how much fabric is stuffed into this small house. I was ruthless. I have now got a full rubbish bin, and a full recycling bin.

Then, because I tend to over do things (remember how bad I am at pacing???) I decided that I would toss all the bags into the car to take to a charity village close by. And so I thought a half full car was silly. You can see where this is going can't you...

In went old chairs. Bags of books. Clothes. China. A hat. And the front seat was full of things to take to the tip on the way home. And then I called Jean, and arranged for her to collect my chest of drawers - a huge oak one so we could take that as well. It is too big for the house. She arrived early on Saturday and we discovered that it would not fit in her car. That meant calling another friend with a huge car. So he arrived (after racing round his home to find more things to take too) and off we went. In convoy.

And when I got home, this house was exactly the same. 2 car loads did NOTHING. There is not the slightest gap in this place, and how on earth is that possible. I swear everything expands the moment I turn my back. So, as I was still in a ruthless mood, I managed to get up onto the deck in the sewing room. You see, there are 4 cupboards up there which I have not opened in 10 years, and clearly the contents cannot be vital to my health and happiness, or I do believe I may have opened them sometime in the past 10 years. What did I find?? More fabric.

Sigh. I now have a total mess, and have run out of steam. And storage space. I need a nap. You would not believe the state of the sewing room. I hyperventilate when I look in there. So I shut the door, and retreated to the couch.

Tomorrow is another day......

9 comments:

BrittArnhild said...

Good luck Linds. It feels great when its done :-) believe me.

Needled Mom said...

Yes, tomorrow is another day!! Thank heavens. That is the exact reason why I have not started to sort through my sewing room closet. I FEAR!!!!!!

We have been reading all the stories of the flooding. It sounds dreadful. I am glad it waited until after our visit, but I feel so sorry for all of those people.

Jan/lost-strayed-or-stolen.blogspot.com said...

Maybe you can find someone to give some of your abundance to. My sister cleaned out some fabric remnants to pass along to Jeana's girls, who are starting to quilt, and they were delirious with excitement. I am just now getting back to quilting, since I have retired, and wishing I had kept my stash from years ago.

Dawn said...

I wondered how close the flooding was to you - it seems to be feast or famine with precipitation, doesn't it?

I am thinking I need to do some more of what you're doing. Especially the basement! I know one day DC will go down there and everything will be thrown out, without my input!

Chris said...

It is my firm belief that one needs to host a holiday dinner for 30 at one's home at least once a year.

We hauled six huge bags of don't-really-need-it stuff to the curb, and filled Hubster's truck with even more for The Salvation Army. Where DOES it all come from?

Crystal said...

I need some of your energy - and ruthlessness!! Our living room is currently devoid of furniture except for the piano and it's kind of nice :)) Very easy to vacuum too! I can't bear to bring the 30+ year old furniture back in and there's no new furniture line in the budget so here we sit! Once the floor is finished in the kitchen (which I'm hoping will be this week) the table can go back in there and we'll have to make a ydecision about the living room. I should tackle the basement someday! As long as you can close the door, it can wait :))

Janine said...

I periodically tidy my sewing room and give fabric to a place that teaches homeless women to sew - makes not one jot of difference to the general clutter so I know how you feel!
Have seen some of the flood footage on TV - it looks awful. Must be devastating to have something like that happen.
See you soon!!

someone else said...

Maybe you could have a huge sale of all the extra stuff. Maybe not....that sounds like work.

Owlhaven said...

Sounds like the kind of thing I do to my house at times too....
Mary