The Great Divide

(I forgot to post this yesterday so let's just pretend it's Saturday, okay?)

My good friend V. came over today to help us with The Great Divide. The goal is to have ONLY what is coming with us (with the exception of certain pieces of furniture which are being sold but are still in use) in the apartment. Everything else, in the garage, waiting for Craigslist or the garage sale or, eventually, the Salvation Army truck which is coming the day before we move.

We made HUGE progress. I was ruthless. It felt great. It's very nice knowing the the Salvation Army truck is coming at the end of all this to take everything away -- it helps to know that once it's out of the house, I won't have to deal with it again except to put it someone else's hands in one form or another.

If it was porous or questionable (as in, do we really want/use this?), out it went. We are going to try to take as few mold spores with us as possible. It is strongly recommended that we set up a 'waystation' in a storage space to clean everything before bringing it to the new house. This seems like a good idea. A hell of a lot of work and hassle, but a good idea. We will probably do some form of this, not sure exactly what form yet.

Terri worked at sorting books. This is a huge job. We have five or six large bookshelves full of books. Most of these will be sold or given away. They are like babies -- how do you choose what to keep? Even what we keep will have to be 'cleaned' in some way so again, incentive to reduce the 'keep' pile. I reduced my cookbook collection by half. And then got rid of a few more. That was hard.

What's left? Going through things one more time and deciding on the heart-tuggers (the little pitcher I love but never use, the small box of ribbons, the art supplies, etc.). Straightening up from the giant rummage-fest. Listing things on Craigslist. Making garage sale signs.

However, we did SIGN THE LEASE. Done deal. Thank goodness. And drove through our new neighborhood on a bright, sunny, pretty fall day. We are very excited to be moving there.

This house is starting to smell more moldy. I think it's the change in weather. It makes me very anxious to get out ASAP.

Soon, I will be able to post our happy new housekeeping stories, with photos. Soon, we will have a clean, fresh, healthy house. We're in the home stretch. Only 3 weeks (or less?).