Spring Cleaning... Not Just for Spring...

A year and a half ago when I was having bit of an existential crisis my dear dear dear friend asked what she could do to help. I blurted out, "Help me clean out my basement!" I tried multiple times to withdraw the request - they live in northern Maine for Pete's sake! - but they would hear nothing of it. I should have known that within weeks she and the troops would roll in. By "troops" I mean her, her wonderful husband, their two adorable little girls, and a babysitter.  Her two great loves had been called to duty - helping someone she cares about and organizing stuff - how could I deny her? At some point I had also mentioned that I wanted her to teach me to sew some day as I wanted to make some slip covers for some God-awful chairs we had bought. What did she do? She arrived with her sewing machine!

Between popping down to help her husband and me in the basement as we sorted and hoed out multiple moves worth of stuff, she sat on my living room floor and made slip covers for my chairs.

That, in case you are wondering, is the very definition of a very dear friend! We didn't have to talk about my existential crisis (I had just learned that biological children were not to be a part of my future and that trying to have them had given me a dangerous blood clot in my arm which prevented me from lifting anything heavier than 10 pounds for six months) because she knew... when faced with a setback, I drop back, punt, and keep myself very busy until I figure out a way around the roadblock. Unfortunately this was not the type of roadblock that I could get around so my E.C. was deeper than any that I had ever wrestled before. I needed a fresh perspective and she could help me by covering the navy blue with gold pinstripes chairs (seriously, hello Captain Steubing!) and helping haul away stuff that we had been dragging around due to a lack of actual time to sort through it.

It was the clean slate that I needed. They spent a long weekend scurrying about our home in October and by December my funk had lifted and I faced life with a new energy.

I realized that one of the reasons that I hadn't gotten into the basement myself before that was because I wasn't committed to living in this house for more than a few years. I like it but I don't love it. It is missing key things that I can't live without - a mudroom and a garage being the primary missing elements. As I dug deeper into those feelings (without even going to counseling!) I realized that part of my E.C. included the fact that this was the first time ever that I had unpacked my things with the very real possibility of staying in one place for more than two years. It was a little scary. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was more exciting than scary and I began to embrace it.

Isn't this magnificent?  This isn't mine but I covet it
 and have a similar item bookmarked at Ikea. Settling in affords
me the opportunity to find just the right piece for its purpose. 

Since then, I've been realizing the benefits of being settled in one place. Here are a few benefits in no particular order: I can find our Christmas decorations and I don't feel guilty about adding new items to the collection; I can design and re-design the use of a particular space until I find a use that works (see former 'dining space' that is now a sitting area. And when the cat goes to kitty heaven, just wait to see what I do with his sunroom!); I can get creative about some of the items I have collected from my family farm and have actually used an oxen yoke as a hanging pot rack and some old clapboards for additional shelving in the kitchen; I have taken a full inventory of the towels and sheets that I have collected over the years and (aside from my Sesame Street sheets) have pared them down to a reasonable amount that I can legitimately use and store; I can find a place for everything and put everything in its place... and get rid of the extra stuff that we don't really need or want; and I can feel good about choosing paint colors that we like, not fretting about if it is something that the new owners might appreciate (I'm pretty sure the carrot orange living room in our old house got painted over quickly, but that's okay).


Why am I writing this post? Well... because my husband has to work at midnight tonight and I am bored with watching TV and I just found myself down in the basement just hanging out and putting away all of the blankets and sleeping bags that I have spent the past week washing. I am now a basement junky! Oh... did I mention that I also carved out a crafting area in the corner of the basement? I'm not much of a crafter right now but it's part of the answer to my e.c. (notice it's lower case now? It's because I'm over it and that's all it deserves) and I'm going to be a crafter in my tidy, organized basement.