Cleaning Out My House – Escombrando la casa
Last week I told you a lie. I said that I was going to plant my garden last weekend. I did not. I apologize for my dishonesty. At the time that I made that statement, I fully believed it to be true. However, in the end my plans changed, and something else became more important. I guess I am no better than our loathed politicians. I hope you will forgive me. The garden still looks like this.
La semana pasada te mentí. Dije que iba a sembrar la huerta el fin de semana pasada y no lo hice. Te pido disculpas por mis mentiras. Cuando lo dije, pensaba que era la verdad. Al final se cambiaron mis planes y algo más se hizo más importante. Parece que soy igual a los políticos odiados. Espero que me perdones. La huerta permanece así.
The problem was that my house was beginning to overwhelm me. To be honest, it has been happening for a while. So, I signed up for our town-wide yard sale. For the past week, I have been ruthlessly culling my belongings. More than half of my books went into the pile. I got rid of half of my clothes. I no longer have an enormous box of off season clothes in the basement. All of my clothing now fits in the wardrobe in my bedroom.
El problema es que la casa empezaba a agobiarme. Para ser honesta, empezó hace rato. Entonces, me apunté en la venta de garaje del pueblo entero. Por la última semana he estado entresacando los objetos de mi casa, seleccionando muchísimo para vender, donar o tirar. Más de la mitad de mis libros se van. También, me desecho de la mitad de mi ropa. Ya no tengo una caja enorme de ropa fuera de temporada en el sótano y todo lo que tengo cabe en el armario en la habitación.
I even went through all my socks and got rid of the ones that were in less than ideal condition. Don’t they look pretty in their little rows.
Hasta los calcetines revisé y tiré los que estaban en mala condición. ¿No se ven bonitos en sus filas ordenadas?
I went through the kitchen cupboards and pulled out anything that we do not absolutely need. Here is a clean cupboard.
También, revisé los gabinetes de la cocina y saqué todo lo que no era de lo más necesario. Aquí está un gabinete limpio y el montón de cosas que saqué para vender.
No corner of the house has gone un-examined. I must admit, that the more I put in the discard pile, the more I wanted to get rid of. I have filled over five bags of trash so far, three bags of paper recycling and piles of things for the yard sale fill my living room and basement.
Ningún rincón de la casa se liberó del escrutinio. Admito que por más que ponía en la pila para perder, más quería sacar. He llenado más de cinco bolsas de basura, tres bolsas de papel para reciclar y montañas de cosas para vender o donar llenan la sala y el sótano.
Things were going so well, and then the rain in the forecast moved further and further into the future. First they said that it would stop raining on Thursday. Then, the forecast for rain moved to Friday morning, Friday afternoon, Friday night, Saturday, Sunday and now they are even saying that it is going to rain all of next week as well. I know that the rain is good for the earth, but I need to have a yard sale! Please, pray for the rain to stop at least for Saturday, so that I can get rid of these piles in my living spaces! I told Douglas that anything that is not sold on Saturday will be taken immediately to Goodwill. None of it is returning to the house, ever again.
Todo iba bien hasta que el pronóstico del tiempo cambió y la lluvia se extendía más y más al futuro. Primero, decían que iba a parar de llover el jueves, después el viernes por la mañana, el viernes por la tarde, el viernes por la noche, el sábado, el domingo, y ahora dicen que va a llover por toda la semana que viene también. Sé que la lluvia es buena para la tierra, pero ¡necesito vender estas cosas! Reza para que no llueva el sábado por lo menos, por favor, para que yo pueda sacar montones de mi vivienda. Le dije a Douglas que todo lo que no se vende, se dona. Nada volverá a entrar de nuevo en la casa, ¡más nunca!
Happy Homemaking!
¡Que todos sus sueños caseras se cumplan!
I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com
Wow! I should so do this… But the contrary happened here: it was suddenly warm and sunny last week-end so I worked on my vegetable garden.
I envy you the warm weather. It is freezing here… and still raining!
2 questions:
how do you muster the get up and go?
how do you decide what to keep and what to give away?
I feel like I would get panicky choosing , for example, which 1 black sweater to keep.
It got easier as I went along. Getting rid of things became addictive. I just went by how happy I would feel to have some empty space in my house.
Look at your sox, all relaxed and KonMari’d!! 🙂 Good for you for tackling this formidable task. I’m afraid I would poop out in the middle of it and live with piles in the living room for months. I will think sunny thoughts for your yard sale!
I am afraid that we are going to have piles for months! The weather does not seem like it is going to cooperate.
that is so awesome, jessica!!! it is addictive… once you start, and really get some momentum, i find it takes over my entire weekend and in the end i have a huge stack for good will. good for you! it’s been the same here – cold, raw, and rainy. granted, we’re not that far from you in the grand scheme. it sucks! i still can’t hang my new screen door. too wet.
It’s all gone, and it feel soooo gooooood. Today was beautiful. Did you get nice weather too?
Yesterday the weather was still pretty crappy. The sun would peak out for like half an hour during the afternoon, but then it would go dark and we’d have torrential downpours! It was very odd. I’m glad your bags and boxes are all gone – yay!
What an inspiration you are! I ‘ve been removing a box a day from the attic and mostly throwing stuff out. I blog about the treasures I find. I’m hoping to have all the clutter/junk gone by 2020. You’re way ahead of me. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music