Just Write {4}

Mr. C. ( for considerate) went away last week to do some training in Vancouver and then off to visit family and friends for a few days. It was so nice for him because he really needed the break. It was considerate of him to do that, too, because I took the opportunity to take that week off myself. I stayed home. All by myself. Everyday, alone in the house. Because I had a goal…to get the house ready to sell.

It is a big job, physically and emotionally. What did I do in my 10 days? I unpacked every cupboard and closet, washed it inside and out, and sorted things into 3 piles:

  1. Things I want to keep but can live without for the next 6 months
  2. Things I want to keep but can’t live without for the next 6 months
  3. Things I no longer want to keep.

The things I can’t live without until we move went back into the cupboard.

The things I want to take with us but don’t need in the meantime were lovingly wrapped in foam and/or tissue and packed into boxes for moving.

Everything else went into the give-away pile.

Over that week I touched literally everything that I own. I packed away dresses and clothing into boxes.. I boxed up books. I boxed up dishes. I even boxed up a few bits and pieces of my sewing room. My closets and cupboards now look wonderfully inviting…spacious and sparkling clean.

I got onto my hands and knees and wiped the dust off the baseboards. I washed scuff marks off of the walls, I took the photos off of the fridge and looked at each one before packing them away. I cleaned the blinds, I cleaned the tops of the cabinets, I wiped the dust from the tops of the windows. I used Old English oil on the kitchen cabinets, rubbing them until they gleamed like satin.

I wrapped up a memory with every item I packed. I started the process of saying goodbye.

Maybe it is a bit like cleaning and preparing the body of a loved one for burial. Gently touching and caressing and cleaning and in this way preparing both of you for the transition from life before to life after.

Oh, my beloved little house –  this is how I am preparing myself to say good bye to you.

 

This is my 4th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments. I am linking up with The Extraordinary Ordinary. (Please see the details here.)

Happy International Quilt Day!

I took last week off work to start getting our house ready for the market. I worked straight through from last Saturday until last night and I am still not finished, but the house is looking very nice…I don’t think it has been this clean in years! It feels so fresh and bright, and I smile all over inside and out of myself just to look at it.

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And happy co-incidence, it is International Quilt Day, and so I saved my sewing room for last. Now whether you have a sewing room or not, I know you can easily imagine the constant state of chaos that a sewing room can exist in! Which means you can easily imagine not wanting to wade in and clean up.

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But it cleaned up beautifully!

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I even polished the furniture and washed the floor. And do you like my garbage can? It’s a giant crystal vase and I love it! I don’t throw “regular” garbage in it – it sits next to my sewing machine for threads and scraps too small to keep. Special, pretty garbage. I figured it is better to use it for something than to store it “safely” away in the cupboard where nobody ever sees it.

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Yes, that is a treadmill in my sewing room! Go figure.

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I watch TV while I walk.

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Yes, that is my presser foot inside the cupboard. Yes, I stick my foot inside the cupboard to sew. Lol!

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All quilts personally tested and approved by Samson.

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And a special Haiku in honour of the day, just for you:

Dreaming in colour;
Peek-a-boo, cozy;
International Quilt Day.

Hooking up with SewCalGal’s Virtual Sew-cial.