Very Bad Ideas
Yesterday was a gorgeous spring day - one of those days that makes everything seem wonderful, new, and entirely possible. I decided to go for a long long bike ride (just to REALLY break in those sitting bones!)
Found the cycling shorts, found the shorts to go overtop, then down to the basement to retrieve the cycling shoes. Hmm..... Basement has been rearranged 2 or 3 times over the last year, with varying stages of renovation requiring various bits of it to be accessible. All belongings are currently piled in the middle of the basement.
It was absolutely impossible to find the shoes. On to the obvious task - clean the basement. (All done in cycling gear and Birkenstocks.) The student staying at my house was more than happy to abandon his reading and help make multiple trips to the back yard. Things were organized as follows:
Found the cycling shorts, found the shorts to go overtop, then down to the basement to retrieve the cycling shoes. Hmm..... Basement has been rearranged 2 or 3 times over the last year, with varying stages of renovation requiring various bits of it to be accessible. All belongings are currently piled in the middle of the basement.
It was absolutely impossible to find the shoes. On to the obvious task - clean the basement. (All done in cycling gear and Birkenstocks.) The student staying at my house was more than happy to abandon his reading and help make multiple trips to the back yard. Things were organized as follows:
- Garbage in bags to put with the regular garbage
- Garbage (like mouldy bits of drywall) to throw on the pile that will eventually get picked up by somebody with a big truck.
- "Help Yourself Garbage" This goes in the back lane, tastefully displayed for dumpster divers to peruse and take home to put in their own basements. Gyeung Ho wanted to know if "Help yourself Garbage" was a real word. Only in my house.
- Thrift shop - much of this has been sitting in boxes for years, waiting to be delivered. This got deposited behind my car so I can't go anywhere until it's done.
- Useful items - a surprisingly small category. Stashed neatly in basement.
I found the shoes.
I also found 3 boxes of childhood memorabilia - grade 3 art projects, journals detailing years and years of existence, books I had received as gifts. All stored in cardboard boxes near the basement drain. All covered in black mould and unopenable (I don't think that's a word either.) I managed to rescue 2 pencilcases made by my mom, a small plaque that brings me back 35 years, and a paper plate colored by a nephew 15 years ago.
Then out to the garbage heap, with a sad and heavy heart. Those things really did mean a lot to me. I would never choose to throw them out.
Storing papers in cardboard boxes on a basement floor - Very Bad Idea.
posted by Carlotti at 6:15 AM
7 Comments:
Carol-
this is brilliant! I hope you enjoy reading mine as much as I loved reading yours! I also immediately thought-- OOH I like this girl, I'll read her blog all the time, and I wonder if I'll ever meet her in real life?
Love you, same as always, maybe more.
just read it for the second time. I do the same darn things- store the thrift shop stuff in a sensible place, and the valuable stuff near the drain hole. I think we should read into this. Today is a gorgeous day again, and I'm feeling so cluttered that I'd like to go on the cabbage soup diet, AND take almost everything I own to the curb. Then in a week or so, I'll start going to garage sales so that I'll have stuff to throw out next year.....
Welcome to the blog world Carol...I'm looking forward to reading more of your thoughts. It's also safer if we interact this way...less chance of cake ending up on my head. :)
Hey Joyce and Brian - I'm in the club!! THanks for your comments - I will need some help figuring out how to set up my site to leave links etc.
Just got back from the Easter Vigil service. My favorite service all year. What a wonderful celebration.
Love you, and just so you know, you can order cake over the internet.
Carlotti
Thanks for stopping by my blog! It looks like you are new to blogging! Welcome, welcome!
:)
Thanks Bobita - how's the mother endurance course?
I can sooooo relate to this! My basement definitely needs cleaning out. Who knows what I'll find (and with all this rain, I know I'll find something htat shouldn't have been in a box on the floor.)
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