Look At What I Am Getting Rid Of...

It was time to face the linen closet...not until I had my coffee first though. As you can see it's not in too bad a shape, however, it could be better.

I decided to leave the items on the top shelf there as they're our Christmas ornaments and such. If I were to store them in the attic, they would not survive as the heat is to much to bear. Once we get out on the road I will select a few items to decorate the rig with and then give the rest to the girls. We already have the tree as we got it last Christmas. Cute little thing.

I went through the towels and pulled out two sets each and two beach towels, packing them in Space Saver bags and stowing them in the spare bedroom. Since we're still living in a sticks-n-bricks we need towels for when the kids come to visit.

I then went through sheets, pillow cases and comforters and got rid of more. I did however keep one pillow case that really doesn't fit any of our pillows but my Grandmother gave it to me as a wedding gift. She was 71 when she did all the decoration by hand. By the time I was finished I had freed up this much space.

This is how much I'm taking to the Salvation Army resale shop today.

Now, the object of this exercise is to keep it from getting cluttered up again and continue to the next closet. By the way, I find taking pictures keeps you accountable. I never did get the kitchen done while Christie was here. DRATS!

456 Days and counting!

See you out there....

Let's Get On The Stick Here People...

Sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns and throw him down.

Procrastination is one of my downfalls. But it's been too darn hot here to do much of anything. With temperatures over a 100 degrees every day, just trying to stay cool takes a lot of effort. I will be working on one closet this weekend, the linen closet. We'll see what we can get done. Some people say to clear it all out and then put back in what you want. Sounds like a plan to me. It's a good time to clear out what you don't need or are not using. I have tons of card table linens, I don't even own a card table. But they are from my mother and Dave's mother from when they were young. Maybe I will pass them on to the girls so they will have cute table linens. I may keep one or two for the table in the RV, when we get an RV.

Am I nuts or what?


534 days and counting!
 
See you out there

A Visit...

Our youngest daughter is coming home for a week and boy do I have plans for her! Little does she realize what we will be doing while she's home, going through, digging out, tossing unnecessary things, lots of "stuff" going to Goodwill with other "stuff" to be saved for a garage sale to be held in August when the students return for school.

It's been too hot here to do much of anything outside, so we're going to be concentrating on inside activities with the kitchen and several closets. We might even work on the shed and garage early in the mornings. Way too much junk around here. The goal is to clean out the garage and what ever we decide to keep for the garage sale will go in there for storage to be priced before the appointed day. The shed is way overloaded and desperately needs to be purged and most of it is the girls childhood things that they couldn't bear to get rid of at the time. So...there it is, no sleeping in for her. The whole family will be involved as it took the whole family to collect it and store it. So much for vacation this year.

We looked at more fifth wheels last weekend at a local RV show, saw some really nice ones. The Rushmore by Crossroads was one group that we looked at. We also looked at the Heartland Sundance models. I thought they looked promising. I find the industry is listening and am seeing improvements in the fifthwheels, such as a handrail for the steps inside the unit. When you have knees like mine that's an important feature. It gives you that little bit of extra security from falling. I do however wish that more manufactors would install the 4 step entry instead of the 3 step entry. I feel like I have to put on climbing gear with ropes and crampons just to get up into the units.

If I had my ruthers I would be done with all of this and be up in Colorado with our good friends lapping up the cool crisp air and enjoying the crystal clear lakes and a mountain view with a fire at my feet and a good book in my hands, napping in my chair. We're hearing the call of the open road and long for it.

554 Days And Counting...See you out there!

Boxes Everywhere

After much discussion, Dave and I have decided that the best way to de-clutter is to decide what needs to go into the trailer and then we get rid of everything else. So I have started with the kitchen going through and sorting what items I will need and packing it up in boxes and putting it in storage. Now I really don't need 5 large measuring bowls so the decision is which one do I want to take with us. There's the plastic 4 qt. one (hardly any weight but can't read the measurements) or the glass 4qt. one that I can read the measurements on and use the hand mixer in. Yes, I know there is a weight issue. Decisions, decisions, decisions! How many utensils does one need to bring? I have 3 drawers and a hanging basket full of cooking utensils. I'm sure I could pare that down. Do I really need 25 knives, 8 spatulas, 12 mixing bowls, and 4 sets of measuring cups? Do I really? It's going to be a heck of a garage sale when I get to it. Bobbie tells me to have many small ones. The problem here in Norman is the city fathers have placed on the books a law saying you can only have 2 garage sales a year as there would be lots of people having them every week out on their front lawns creating a business of sorts. I have so much stuff it overfloweths from its storage places.

There are times I just look at it and shake my head. But I do have one closet cleaned out. Energy is what I need, I seem to be lacking in it. Although I have been sick so I guess there is an excuse. Asthma only lets you get so far before it says "Whoa there Nellie, you ain't goin no further."

I looked at the departure date the other day and calculated that we only had 629 days until our scheduled departure. It sounds like a lot of time but in all reality it's not. It goes by quick. Hmmmm the weekend is upon us so I will contine cleaning out another closet, I just have 8 more to go. Anyone out there need a good winter coat? I just have 9 of them.

See ya out there!

Looking At Trucks...

Dave surprised me last Sunday when we piled into the SUV and took a little drive in a round about way to the car dealer. After hiking out to the south 40 we found ourselves standing on the truck lot. There were lots of F250's, 2500 Duramax Chevy's and big Dodge Rams. We're interested in either a 2005 3/4 ton Diesel Duramax Chevy or a 2005 1 Ton Duramax Chevy Dually for pulling our 5th wheel when we get it. Question is...which comes first, the truck or the 5th wheel? If it were up to me I would get them both right now, but I have to be realistic and pay off more bills and de-clutter my house before we're ready to hit the road. But it's nice to dream...

See you out there...

Oh My Gosh, a Clean Closet

Ever so slowly I move about the house thinking that I need to get this done and that done, this cleaned out and that de-cluttered. And then I think no more. I return to my slow moving, post surgery self.

I got my new Escapee's Magazine the other day and Emily Fagan #99408 had written an article called "The Heart of a Dream." In it she states that "...for each year a dream is postponed, the risk of it never happening jumps exponentially." I thought to myself that if I really wanted this to happen I had better get my butt in gear and really start tossing.

Today I tackled closet number one. This is what we call the telephone closet. It's divided into three sections, two with doors and an open center area. At one time before we ever moved into the house there was a telephone land line that had a very long cord and you could pull the phone from it's place in the closet into each of the bedrooms.

After dragging everything out of the closet and giving it the once over I made a decision to either keep it, toss it , or put it in the pile of garage sale items. In the stack were my grandmothers little figurines that I use to play with as a child. They were made in occupied Japan. I will ask the girls if they want them and if they don't I will give them up, no room in an RV for them. I found lots of candles, holiday decorating items, light bulbs, bath soap and other assorted nick knacks. I now have a quite of bit of room in the closet now but I am determined that I am not going to fill it up.

Next weekend I will tackle the front hall closet. Way to much junk in there to suit me. MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE, MINIMIZE!!!!

See you out there.