And Then There Was Light!

If I am not the queen of my household...yet, I am certainly The Queen of De-Nile. After the 2 week long bedroom excavation, I was certain I had conquered the second messiest room in the house and it would all be down-hill from there.

I began the living room with the hall closet...which I have already writen about. From there, I went into the living/dining/music lesson room. This is the one room in the house I have always been able to bring people in for a "visit" and not be completely mortified about what they were thinking regarding my housekeeping....see I am honest...I have been the queen of denial.

I found piles I did not even know existed. They were shoved under tables, under the piano, behind the shelves, in front of the shelves....everywhere. I did not know how many piles until I started the project in one corner and then moved around the room...still thinking this would be a piece of cake!

I got through the living room area...and just stopped for a day or so...contemplating my strategy. Yesterday morning, my best friend and I discussed curtains. Years ago, I found some very ugly but inexpensive thermal curtains I figured would help keep the room and a decent temperature. As a matter of fact, I am quite sure this prize was discovered at the Sears Surplus Store that has been out of business for about 10 years now. These beauties had huge diamond shapes covering them and were navy blue and brown in color....hideous. I always complain about this room being so dark...well DUH. So yesterday, the practical, ugly curtains came down. In their place, 15 dollars worth of big lots shear white curtains under some lovely navy blue , hand-me-down valances ...and the light came on...literally and figuratively.

I moved to the dining area...trash bags in hand. I conquered the pile in the corner that has been hidden under a tablecloth since...well probably since I put those old curtains up...
I moved to daddy's pile...and treating it with kid gloves, did the best I could. I took out the well-worn rug under the table and turned the dining room table in the opposite direction so we can all fit now. The vacuum came out and I had a hey-day. I have never had so much fun cleaning a room...now I could see what a lovely room this really is!

My beautiful children's faces smile at me from their senior portraits and the room calls me to come and sit down for a while....

Last night...I got a call that my grandson started crawling....It was perfect because, truth be told, the reason I started on this journey was so that he could come see his dee dee and we would not have to worry about what he would get into on his visits. With every step, I become more the conquering queen, slowly but surely realizing that it is better to turn loose of the past than to get in the way of making future memories a reality.

I am getting quite good at throwing things out....now that I can see, who knows what will be next?