Home >> just a few more days….
February 2, 2009
…and we’ll be starting to move…or camp! The walls are nearly painted, the floors are sanded, the kitchen cabinets, counter and sink are in… just a few more lights to install, a handful of electrical outlets, and the dust…arghh, the dust… but it’s finally starting to look like something other than a bombshell. Now the real editing of stuff will begin. I’ve been measuring and figuring space for months, but I don’t think we’ll really be able to figure out where to put furniture until we actually do it. Plus the added factor of having to leave 1/2 of our furniture in our house so it looks “staged,” open and airy… Moving with two small children underfoot is no small task. I’m tempted to bring only the basics toy-wise and then make the rest “disappear.” Problem is, Miika has the memory of an elephant and a nack for remembering a toy that she hasn’t seen in six months and inquiring of its whereabouts. Oh, the weeping when I tell her it was donated…
The kids’ room and the kitchen…still working away at the details…
Several weeks ago I read an article in Oprah’s O Magazine about getting back to basics, downsizing, and simplifying life. As it turns out, there’s an official movement called, “the voluntary simplicity movement.” I guess I find it funny in a way that there’s a new name for something that has been around as long as time. My grandmother always used to reflect back on the Great Depression, telling how she had two dresses, one for Sunday and one for week days. She taught me how to “darn” socks, sew on buttons, fix holes… because that’s just what you did then and should do now. I’m glad she took the time to teach and tell. It’s coming in handy now as we pair down our household. In the process of remodeling the apartment that we’re about to move into, Paul and I took special notice of every extra gap in the wall that could be utilized for storage and we had the contractor go in after that space with drywall. We gained 1/2 a closet in the kids’ room and a floor to ceiling shelf in the kitchen. It’s an extreme exercise in efficiency. I promise to post photos as soon as the mess is gone and we start moving in.