random thoughts – Day 1,900 – (Friday) – packing and schlepping

It was a day off from the paid job but there was no R&R or lounging about past 8:00 am. The day was taken for purposes of physical labor at the house and the labor began at the same time as the "real" job.

The storage pod has been sitting mostly empty since arriving on Tuesday. The steel storage shelving from the basement was the first thing set inside, which wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. It was too tall to get up the short staircase through the bulkhead, and too awkward and unwieldy to get up the full staircase to the kitchen by myself. I had to disassemble it, then reassemble it inside the pod.

The objective isn’t to empty the house. Not yet, anyway. The current objective is to clear the spare bedroom, and declutter my bedroom and the laundry room for photos and showings. The spare room is full of arts and craft supplies and today was spent going through the boxes, assessing the benefits of keeping or ditching, and packing items for donation. I’m trying to be methodical and thin stuff now instead of thinking I’ll do it later. It would be faster to just carry everything to the pod, but this way is providing for a longer-term declutter.

Today, I learned there is much more fabric waiting to be sewn than I thought I had, found in two different bags and a box in the room. Now, it’s gathered in one clear quilt bag so I can keep tabs on it at the next dwelling. One of the fabrics, a purple and gold satin brocade, is already cut out for a top and still pinned to the tissue pattern pieces and ready for assembly. I wonder if I stopped working on it because the house in Tennessee sold after months on the market and I had to spring into pack, clean, and move mode.

Donations in progress.

The current challenge/frustration is boxes. There are tubs, space bags, suitcases, and duffle bags for packing the stuff being kept, but I’m low on boxes for the stuff being donated. Clothing can go into bags, but the housewares and Christmas decorations being shed need to go into boxes. I may have to give in and go buy some. The truck from Epilepsy Foundation is due on Monday so there are a couple more days to gather donations.

It was a full day of climbing the stairs, carrying down boxes, labeling and setting them into the pod or in the enclosed porch for Epilepsy Foundation. I had a breakfast bar with coffee, and didn’t think about food again until 5:00. It was quite a workout compared to sitting at a desk all day and reminded me of the daily activity level when I was doing the visuals at Kohl’s. I’m tired, but it feels good.

Kiki stayed scarce all day. She emerged from her hidden lair when I was seated on the couch eating pizza. She probably monitored the noise levels and once there was no more trudging up and down the stairs determined it was safe to come out.