Don Quixote and me

Art by Pablo Picasso, 1955...image from Wikipedia

 I am the self proclaimed Don Quixote of Organization.  Trying to get organized is my never ending quest.

For some reason I love to clean out things..closets, drawers, rooms, etc. I am a clutter keeper but eventually all of my spaces get to the point that I can't take it anymore.  So, I have to clean out and organize.  The good news is that I seem to be getting better at it.

In 2010 and again in 2011 I started a room by room clearing out project.  It took most of a year but I cleaned out every drawer and closet in my house.  I took car loads of things to the Salvation Army and the Loaves and Fishes store.  Boxes and bags went to a storage building that used to be my husband's office building. (Mostly things belonging to our still in school children that they probably don't want to keep either.) I put things in the attic--and junked it up in a huge way.   But I cleared out most of the living space in our house. I find it extremely therapeutic to do the clearing out.   My friends think I am crazy because I enjoy it so much.  It's the Army Brat in me.  I can't help it.

I never started on the kitchen clear out when I did the rest of the house.  So when it was time to pack up for the kitchen reno...that's HGTV speak for renovation....I was ready to purge.  There were lids with no pots, the endless plastic container with no lid, the random wine glass, or the cracked dish.  I was able to get rid of a several bags of junk. But, coming clean here...I mostly just packed up boxes and labeled them.  Ian almost came apart when I tried to throw away the rounded highball glasses that won't tip over. They were in his bachelor house and a great source of entertainment for he and his friends  decades ago. They have been living in the top of a cabinet covered in dust for almost years.  They are now packed up and ready to be put back in the top of a cabinet to collect dust.

The one thing I can't seem to throw away is an old...and I mean old English teapot.   It was a hand me down from my mother in law.  It leaks when you pour out the water. It is grungy and stained and not very ergonomic...but I love the old thing...  I am trying to work up the courage to let it go.  

Since it appears that this project is moving along rapidly I am now thinking about how things will go back in the kitchen and what really needs to be replaced.  So more planning for me and I like it.