Hey y'all!

Seeing as how I've been a month behind real time for so long, it's now time to give you a current picture of how I've been progressing.

Especially, since it is now June JULY AUGUST and the goal was to finish this project by this LAST TWO months ago.

So when I last left you was during the Carpet Installation back in April. And then the project got paused until I got off of nursing duty.

I finally finished my long stint at my aunt's house on the first weekend of June. During my absence, the carpet was installed, the furniture and 75% of my stuff was moved back into my room. Nothing was unpacked, as the furniture needed to be cleaned.

So once I got home, I set to work breaking out the Lysol wipes....

That is, after I played treasure hunt.

Yes, you read that right. You see, this furniture was was originally my great-grandparents'. When they moved to the nursing home before they died, their furniture was put into storage.

Apparently, my grandmother had never checked the drawers before that happened.

In my great-grandfather underwear drawer, I found the following: a broken window cling, a small light bulb, a playing card, wooden blocks, a denture container (lucky that was empty *shudders*), screws, a name tag, a small card commemorating a wedding (or anniversary? IDK), a foam shape, and other smallish things.

Some of the trash haul that I recovered from the drawers

In my great-grandmother's drawers, I found: 2 small fake cherries, a teeny-tiny food stamp, a fragile note containing partial addresses of dead family members, and a really old 20 cent coupon for Lysol.

I'm half tempted to use it, however the product is totally different now....

Once the dust and trash was cleared away, the first thing that I unpacked was my clothes. Most of them had been packed in three huge black footlockers, but there were other suitcases and garment bags that they had been stuffed in too.

Before OVM, my clothes were spread between 7 different places. Besides my one dresser and closet, some were stored in a cabinet, others were held in a plastic storage bin, and still others were stored in boxes around my room.

After OVM, my clothes now are stuffed in two large dressers, the closet and two plastic storage bins. I had hoped to stuff most of it in the dressers, but it was just not working. The plastic bins, however, eliminated the two boxes, which I was rather relieved at.

My closet is really stuffed though, and I really need to get some hangers that hang multiple items. I may go through more of my clothes and eliminate more to see if I can get it down further. But this could wait until later on.



Anyway, once that was accomplished, the next major thing that got sorted out was my bookshelf.

This took two days. A few books that I didn't want were eliminated, and then the rest were divided between fiction and non-fiction.

The non-fiction shelf

I was hoping that with two shelves that I would avoid double-stacking. However, that turned out to be wishful thinking. There were so many non-fiction books that double-stacking was absolutely necessary. Which made me mad.

The fiction shelf also looks rather pitiful, for another reason entirely. You see, for some odd reason, many people stopped buying me books after middle school. And so, there are not many books in my collection that are not middle grade.

The fiction shelf - as of June 2019

The next step was to go through the remaining boxes that I had stuck all the loose stuff. Gradually over the weeks, in the midst of all the stuff that happened in the life, the boxes were tackled. Those items that didn't have a home were piled onto any spare surface.

Things that were lying around my carpet after being shoved in willy-nilly also starting to be shifted. My crate of cookbooks, a file box, change jars, a huge photo painting, and other smallish things were stuffed into my closet. I also switched out some work clothes from a plastic bin to one of the drawers of my dressers - that plastic bin becoming a catch-all for all those other extra clothes and stuff that I didn't need right away. I plan on stuffing that down in the basement....if I can get it there.... 

In the meantime, my TV is now close to being put in it's proper place, and I hope to get my DVD player back really soon. I lent mine to my parents when theirs crapped out and now that they have a replacement, they have to be switched out. I'm really excited for that - I can then watch what I wish in the privacy of my own bedroom!

The next step (besides getting all that loose stuff away) is to get out all the art and a mirror or two up on the walls! Hopefully this will be done by the end of August, so stay tuned for that!

Old-fashionably yours,

Catherine