
For me a home is special when it includes a few items from past generations. In my kitchen you'll find a potato masher and grater that were my grandma Leola's and the salt and pepper stove set is similar to one my grandma Margaret still uses. The crocheted towel was handmade for me by my aunt Linda.
Does anyone else function better when everything is in it's place? I mean everything doesn't have to be clean... dusted, vacuumed, etc. but put away where things belong. Man, I do! God is a god of order so I must get it from Him ;D (and my mom and all 6 of my grandma’s who were all excellent house and home-keepers)
It feels like years since I've had a home. Several different circumstances outside of our control, in the first years of our marriage, caused us to move several times from a place that I loved. That we both loved. It was our first little home together and even though we rented it still felt like ours. Several moves later we moved to the place we just moved from. We enjoyed the duplex, our landlord was great to us, it was cozy and secluded and we enjoyed this season to ourselves. We did our best to make it “home” the 4 years that we were there but shortly after we moved in, I had a business that took off so I was rarely home and then... I got sick.
I was bed-ridden, unable to drive, had to stop working, saw doctor after doctor after doctor, barely ate, etc. etc. etc. so as you can imagine there was no time or energy or umph to clean and organize. I had gone from a stickler about my house, to burned out on moving and now I was sick. Good grief, everything was just survivable. I've always said while watching Hoarders that I have a tendency towards it but I was quickly seeing how it could become a reality if I were left alone in this place. Thank God to friends, family and Andy that helped me a couple times over those years. To put your mind at ease, I didn't become a hoarder but I did accumulate way too much stuff. Most of us do (unless maybe you are a bachelor) after living in one place for a while but getting sick made it worse. So when we made the move this winter, I got rid of everything! Ok, not everything, but it sure felt like I was getting pretty close. And it felt good! Real good. I successfully donated gobs and gobs and gobs (that means many, many trash bags full) of clothes, household goods, and food. Yes I even gave our food away. And sadly I filled trash cans full of what nots (mostly papers I hadn't sorted through when I was lacking energy... paper annoyingly piles up FAST!) |
But the best part of this is that we are making a home here in our little "Limestone Love" (just something I like to call this little limestone house we downsized to). First room 99% finished was our kitchen (99% cuz hanging stuff on the walls is the last piece to the puzzle when we move). It feels fabulous to walk into it every morning and night. It welcomes me being so fresh and clean. It’s a great space to start and end my/our day! I downsized the kitchen by two-thirds including our dishwasher, microwave and it came with a small fridge, so we downsized from our large one also. There is no room for all the little gadgets I had so I donated or sold them too. I was worried this would be challenging but it’s actually been liberating! Less to use is less to clean. Can’t wait for more pieces of this house puzzle to come together to share with you via blog and an open door!
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