Well, whether I’m done or not, I’ll probably go to bed tonight around 1am, and it will be over.
Except I have to change my kids’ beds in the morning, before we leave. They are super hyped right now, which means it will probably take them a long time to fall asleep, and they will probably be super grumpy in the morning. Unless they wake up super amped tomorrow too.
So tomorrow morning, by 7:30am, it will be over.
I’m so tired, and stressed, that I can’t really appreciate it yet. My husband keeps talking about how amazing it looks. He can’t believe how much I’ve done. The garage, especially, is transformed.
And it is. So much stuff has left this house. So many things are no longer cluttering corners and closets. There is just space. And more space.
There is a still a lot of stuff though. Man we have so much stuff. I wish we didn’t have so much stuff, but it’s hard to get rid of it.
Right now I will focus on what we did get rid of, because it’s a lot. And it makes the house feel light and airy in a way it hasn’t in a long time. Maybe ever.
And everywhere I look, I know that behind or underneath, it is CLEAN. Everywhere is clean. Even under my bed (under my bed was a mess), and in the freezer (what happened in the freezer?!) and behind the couch (holy shit, behind the couch…) I never realized how much they affected me, all the messes I couldn’t see, or didn’t see very often. But they did. They caused a layer of stress simmering underneath it all. And when I come home, that layer of stress will be gone.
Oh my god was a it a lot of work though. SO MUCH WORK. I’m assuming next year it won’t be that much work, and if it is, I don’t know if I can keep AirBnBing my house. I don’t know if I can ever do that again.
I got a lot of other stuff done this past week and a half too. We got our yellow fever shots, and I got fitted for my contact (when it’s aligned properly I can see things so clearly, more clearly than I ever have before, but when it’s not aligned properly (most of the time) things are just as blurry, if not more – I am learning to turn it on my eye so it lines up right, and that is cool, I just wish it would stay there when I blink!). I had my prolapse appointment (more on that later I hope) and got a new pessary that will at least allow me to run again. I wrapped up six years at our day care (took the uniforms back today and sent the nap mats to my friend last Saturday) and helped my daughter pass her deep water test (so happy she got the experience of failing, working to get better, and then passing the next time). It’s been a crazy 10 days. And now we’re going to St. Louis!
I can’t really believe we leave tomorrow. I’ve been so focused on the house, and the experience our guests will have when they are here that I’ve hardly thought about the experience we’ll have when we’re away. It’s supposed to be really hot, and the cousin we spend the most time with won’t be there for half our stay, but the kids are excited and it should be fun.
Thank you for all your support as I wrote about this massive cleaning and purge. I know other, much more important things are happening in the world, but this past ten days I needed to put my focus on home. Thank you for indulging me.
Thank you for providing a different focus point for me. YOu really have clearly been working incredibly hard and being highly focused.
Have lovely wonderful time.
Rest and recover!
Super glad your husband is saying how impressed he is at all you got done and acknowledging how much work was involved.
Please do keep posting while on vacay even if just scenery pictures. You help ground me in this minute and stop my projections.
AIRPORT TIME!!!!!!!! HURRAH FOR YOU!!!!!!!! (Target if anything was not packed.) HIP HIP HURRAH FOR A JOB WELL DONE!!!!!!!
Wow, that’s great! I am getting ready to start a 26-week KonMari challenge on my home on July 1 (I’ve done KonMari, to a certain degree, twice at my old house, and this house where we’ve only lived for 14 months already needs it, ugh), and your purge is inspiring to me.
Enjoy your travels! 🙂
Yay, especially that your husband noticed and remarked and that YOU feel lighter and freer with a lot of the stuff gone. I wonder if this intense experience will change your thinking about bringing things into the house in the future—if you somehow intrinsically will remember the pain of this and hesitate? I dunno, it didn’t really work for me, but I keep hoping!
I find it interesting that in one breath you talk about how much lighter you feel and how it has reduced your stress to have your house in this clean, purged state…and in the next breath, you say you don’t think you can do it again. #selfcaregoals my friend! Your husband and kids can help keep up with the house moving forward, your eyes are wide open about the impact “stuff” has on your life when you add it to your house and life, and I truly believe you can stick with this new, lighter, happier way of existing in your space. YAY for AirBnB being the push for you to do this, and now you get to go on vacation and speak Spanish with your kids and come home to a fantastic home that you feel happy in. I’m SO happy for you!
Yay!
Did you take pictures of the house transformation?!?!?