closets

tonight i'm in bed with my laptop and my legs feel like lead. today i managed to pull off the three-a-day workout ideal i'd strived for on my birthday. practiced my tennis serve this morning, then to the gym and tonight - taekwondo. it happened to be shoulders and legs day today, so as i sit propped slightly up in my bed with lead legs extended; i also feel as though the entire roof of our house is sitting on my shoulders. especially my left one. yes, that's my long-winded way of telling you how ridiculously exhausted and sore i am tonight.

but it's the best sort of tired and sore, so i'm just explaining - not complaining.

today i finished the last of the closets in the house. the boys'. yesterday i knocked out the stair closet and the pantry. it's an interesting state of affairs at the house now. whereas normally everything the average eye could see would be tidy and neat (or neat'ish) while the closets and cabinets are dangerously spring-loaded with mess; at this very moment it's the reverse.

every closet is so organized and sparingly utilized that we could be poster children for california closets, or whoever it is that makes a killing with those closet organizers. but when you close the closet doors and look around, the place is a disaster. there's a layer of dust on every surface. fifty-five gallon garbage bags holding sorted storage/garage sale/garbage are filling every available inch. the bathrooms need to be dunked in lysol. and did i mention the floors are covered in wood chips and pine cone debris (thanks to mega and a kirby that won't go.)

but, i think we're getting closer. (i think.) now that closets and playroom are in order, i simply have to pull off an entire house cleaning at one time. (i say 'at one time' because i generally clean a couple of rooms at a time and then brush my hands together and say, 'that'll do' until a couple other rooms tip the scale from livable to disgusting.) and then maintain it.

yep, piece of cake.

i do have to say though, it's felt great to clean the closets, cabinets, and junk drawers. today nancy was here helping and she said, 'it's as it should be: the trash bag is the fullest, followed by the garage sale bag, and the smallest bag is storage.' i have to agree.

i will admit that this the first garage sale i've ever had, personally. and it barely counts as 'personally' since i'm doing it in conjunction with a neighborhood wide garage sale. but even so, this is the first time, in my roughly 18 years since i moved out, that my garage or yard will sport tables of stuff that i'd just as soon haul to goodwill.

this is the house i've lived in longer than any other. longer than any childhood home. longer than any adult home. simply the longest.

i'd say it's definitely time to clean the closets. can the trash. carefully stow the precious memories. and put to use the balance.

make room for the new.

d: empty closets to fill. in a new address.
b: no more guilty messes. now it's all out in the open.
g: almost done. seriously, almost done.