Chipping Away at Things

On Saturday night, I went down to my storage area in the basement to look for something. Two bad things came of it: one, I didn't find what I was looking for, and two, I hauled things around so much that my arms, especially the right, became very sore, and in fact are still somewhat so. However, I did come out of it with a renewed determination to do something about the space, which is, like my condo, suffering from the nine-years-of-occupancy stuff accumulation.

The first thing I pulled out was bags of peanuts--packing peanuts, the kind that come in some packages, and get all over everywhere? Yeah, for some reason, I had four bags, kitchen trash bags, of peanuts. And I hate reusing them, and I usually get enough other packing material that I don't need them. So onto Freecycle they went, and someone came for them today. Done!

My next basement project will involve flattening and recycling a variety of cardboard boxes that I had down there. I imagine I'll keep the boxes the OED came in, since they are so perfect for that purpose (and I am absolutely not getting rid of the OED before I move), but otherwise, spring for new boxes next time, not spidery dusty in-the-basement-all-these-years boxes. I don't want to put my stuff in those.

I also did a little work upstairs. I spent some time this weekend tidying up, particularly the living room, since I have friends coming over this Saturday for lunch and a movie (it is SO good for me, and my home, to have friends over regularly; otherwise the piles of clean laundry take over a whole couch, and the dust bunnies start to think they are in charge). While I was at it, I pulled out some more books I can do without, making a nice stack to donate. Baby steps get you there, eventually. Right?