I CAN'T FIND THIS AND I CAN'T FIND THAT. You know how it is when packing up everything to move. Little by little we will dig out from under the boxes and make some sense out of all this disarray.
My body is exhausted and it's difficult to walk. Will have to spend some time recovering after all that we have done to prepare the house to sell. My Husband feels the same way as I, exhausted and weary. Our bodies are tired. We're excited that we are at the place we are in the chain of events, but cannot deny the fatigue. It truly is difficult to lift my legs to walk.
Rethinking when we began our journey to downsize and start making preparations to move seems like a very long time ago. It's taken years. 2023 though has been an incredibly busy year and I'm blinking trying to grasp how quickly the year has gone. A week would be gone before I knew it. Just like that, it was gone.
I started by clearing out the COTTAGE two maybe three years ago. The front bedroom looked like a warehouse. We had stored a great deal of just about everything in there after our house fire in the rock house that wasn't damaged. The COTTAGE had become our attic and overflow from the garage. Slow job clearing the COTTAGE out. Got it cleared out and started making plans where all our furniture from the main house would be going. To downsize means huge reductions in present inventory. I am very attached to HOME THINGS. Turning loose means turning loose.
Two years ago, Hubby dug three large flowerbeds at the COTTAGE and planted our Irises. I wanted them to go with us after leaving the big house.
A year ago, we cleared out the junk from the COTTAGE storage side of the garage and gutted it to remodel. I started shredding all those old stored papers and checks then gave the pantry a paint job. Located pottery, dried foods, mixer, canned goods to the pantry.
Metal racks went into the storage side and Christmas decorations began to migrate to the racks. Trip after trip to haul decorations reminded me that I am downsizing. I did on the decorations, but still need to reduce a great deal more. What am I going to keep. Nativity Scene. Garland. Some Pipka Santas. Ornaments. Some wreaths. Thinking about this.
We began bringing pieces of furniture over to the COTTAGE.
When you have an abundance of items, you either have to have a larger space to hold everything or know how to use what little space you do have OR do without. Less is more concept. LIVING LARGE in a small space. As I sit here inside the COTTAGE with so many boxes and things about me, I have a ways to go to be LIVING LARGE in this small space. Another round of getting rid of STUFF has to take place.
In January, I started packing up our books after the Christmas decor was put away. Box after box, I hauled over to the COTTAGE. Books, crystal and dishes. I was amazed at all the dishes I had in the china cabinet, sideboard, buffet and antique walnut chest. Not to mention the everyday dishes in the Kitchen cabinet. Dolls galore were boxed up and moved. The dolls were placed in curio cabinets and then boxed again as the COTTAGE is too small to have the curio cabinets in it. Cabinets were moved into storage. Clothing thinned out. Records, movies, CDs, etc. thinned down.
Hubby is asleep right now on the sofa. I hope I can fall asleep tonight and not toss and turn. SO tired, but wired.
We have some more stuff to carry out of the basement before painting it. This will take some time. I want to dust the Kitchen walls. Some touch up paint where nail holes were patched will need to get a once over. We have another trailer load of things that will get hauled off on Thursday then we will need to do one more load out of the Carriage house. Our recliners are in the Carriage House. I miss my chair already.
I know I will miss the house, but after all this work of packing and stacking, carrying box after box, repairs, etc. I think I will be alright with saying good-bye. Each day I have said a small farewell to the place. We are truly moving. When we leave after Wednesday at the end of the day we will probably not be in the house unless I am vacuuming and dusting to freshen up the place while on the market. I will do my best to be quick at cleaning.
We met with the Realtor and I liked her very much. We chatted about comparables and what needs to take place after today. She is getting the ball rolling with homework and photographer lined up for pictures of the property. When the place is fully listed then the waiting game begins. I will busy myself with getting settled in the COTTAGE each passing day. Very slowly.
Right now walking through the COTTAGE reminds me of what I have seen on the show HOARDERS. We look like we could do an episode and if you didn't know we had just moved in, you might think HOARDERS live here. Not to make light about HOARDERS. Now we are downsizing out of what square footage we had to what we will have.
That saying that you spend many years gathering and collecting things then you spend years getting rid of so much comes to mind. That is exactly what we have done. AND AWAY WE GO.
OUR SWEET LITTLE COTTAGE AWAITS US. We'll sleep in the Victorian Bed tonight. I hope we sleep well as we are exhausted.
When a person has worked to the point of being exhausted and it's difficult to walk and the neck and back aches then it's time to rest. I have my bill book, address book, a few office supplies in a laundry basket by my feet so I know exactly where they are. I have one check left that I can locate as I wait for new checks to arrive in the mail. May they come soon, I didn't realize I was so low on checks. I cannot find my stash of checks. Where I put them I don't know!
As I sit in the quiet of the COTTAGE, the ceiling fan is quietly running and I am typing on my Husband's computer as I have misplaced the power source to mine. It's somewhere around here and it's a mystery. We had to go hunting for my Husband's medicines. Found them. I keep my meds in my handbag and that's a good thing so long as I don't misplace my handbag. grins.
TIS MID-WEEK AGAIN. The days have flown by so quickly as we have busied ourselves getting things done on the house. The house is the cleanest it has been since we moved in 6 and a half years ago. It seems a little odd to me that we will no longer be living there. Odd.
THIS MOVE has been so different. Another chapter to life begins tonight as we say good-night.
~d
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