Another nothing kinda ordinary day
I suspect you can tell by the title that it was a pretty average day today. Well, outside of the fact that Iz spent much of it sleeping. She’s fighting a cold and by the time we got back from dropping the kids off at school this morning, she was already at her wit’s end. She ended up falling asleep on my chest for about three hours. I didn’t think we’d make it to gymnastics but we did. However, by the time her class was done, she was done too. We came home, ate lunch and again she was asleep on the recliner. Poor bunny. I didn’t want to wake her but we eventually had to leave to pick the kids up. She fell asleep in the car which was actually nice because she can sometimes be a, well, pain when we’re waiting for the kids to get out. We ended up missing Gracie’s gymnastics because I wasn’t sure how I would handle Iz for an hour and a half while she’s feeling moody and sick. Iain’s resource room teacher called me today and told me he wasn’t feeling too hot either so I made the executive decision and told Gracie she could go twice next week to make up this week’s class.
LeYawn.
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January 8, 2008
S: I think the clearing out was the hardest for H. She’d watched her mom go from vibrant and involved to a hermit that spent way too much money. We’re talking racks of clothes all over the house as well as other crap. The house is now on the market. It’s the same house as my folks have. Nice little house.
Racks of clothes. Yes, yes, yes. My mother not only has her huge closet packed full but also another entire clothing rack in front of it also packed. Before I cleaned them out she also had Iain’s and the girls’ rooms packed too.
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S: Your brother should have to help clean-up and get organized. At the very least he should have removed all his damn boxes!
He should have to but there’s nothing I can do now. The way he lived downstairs is unbelievable. I’m finding cat puke dried all over the place that were below the boxes and all that crap which were obviously never seen. He and his girlfriend never cleaned any of it up.
When I removed much of the junk, I started smelling mold and mildew. Guess what? Tiles were wet on the other side of the basement and mold had been growing up the walls behind some of the paneling. It had seeped under the tiles and into the furnace room under boxes and other crap. When I pulled up a few they were completely wet underneath as if someone had spilled a bucket of water and it hadn’t rained in a long time. I cleaned the crap out, pulled up tiles, dried the area out, had the basement waterproofed, I cleaned the mold off the walls etc., etc. I’m still smelling a little but have found some boxes that need throwing out and some small areas of mold that I’ve found I can remove with tea tree oil so I don’t have to suck bleach fumes again. I’ll get it all but you’re right. I shouldn’t have to and wouldn’t have had to had he cleaned out the gutters in the last 10 years (which my mother said he hadn’t). The water had been cascading down the side of the house out of the gutters that were totally blocked with leaves and tree seed thingies. It was disgusting and Jeff cleaned them out. Of course by then it was too late, the damage had been done and the only one who was going to fix it properly would be me (and Jeff when he could).
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R: My mother is guilty of having a house that looks tidy, but God help you if you open an upper cabinet, because you’re going to get a Tupperware avalanche on your head. If you’re lucky, that is. It might just as easily be baking pans, or pyrex casserole dishes. The closets and under the beds are that way, too. My house may be cluttered, but at least there are no surprises lurking behind closed doors.
OMG, yes. My mother loves plastic containers. It’s not Tupperware but this Lock and Lock (I think that’s what it’s called) stuff and while it’s good stuff she has 34873497398475 of them. Same thing with pots, pans, kitchen gadgets, baking stuff etc. It’s overwhelming and tiring to try and figure out the best way to deal with it. Let me add that there’s a three season porch on the back and that too is filled with plastic totes full of plastic containers, baking stuff, God knows what else. Big sigh.
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We were being eaten alive by clutter and crap. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned after moving a family of five twice in two weeks plus trying to live with a woman who is more in love with her stuff than other people is that it’s just stuff. Stuff. Sure, some stuff is good. We need some stuff in our lives. We have hobbies, mementos, practical needs etc. But some is just crap. Crap we don’t need. When you have more crap than room and you live in a house big enough to comfortably house five or six people that was constructed with plenty of storage space, you have too much crap. Crap. It’s crap. No one needs that much stuff. When you have so much crap that you haven’t seen most of it in decades? That’s crap. These days people’s lives are filled with too much crap — materially, physically, emotionally and psychologically. We’re weighted down by everything and at some point we have to say enough is enough and let go. Let go of the things you don’t need. Let go of the junk that we poison ourselves with. Let go of the things and people that are toxic to our lives. Let go of the psychological junk we carry around inside us that doesn’t need to be there. It’s all crap and it’s all junk. Let it go. Be free of it.
