Shuffle, shuffle, ball change....

The dance of the basement purge and shuffle continues!

Exactly one month ago, tomorrow, we moved my son out of the main area of the basement.

Tomorrow, we move him back!

When we set up this little area by the furnace, we knew it had to happen at some point. This adjoins the stairs and is the remaining half of the wall which needs to be patched and insulated.

But I could not have done anywhere near the amount of purging and sorting I have done if he had remained. I needed the space to work!

Remember the binders?

Here's what's left:

And, there's one final box of notebooks and workbooks to go through:

This table was full of memorabilia--papers, ticket stubs, receipts, the kids' artwork (boxes and tubs and a suitcase full of the kids' artwork!) postcards, and so on and so on....

I am now left with this:

Still a monster--but I can see the end!
I pulled all my cards and letters together from before I was married.

It took several sessions, but I weeded it down. More importantly, I feel like I closed a few chapters of my life. I was 33 when I got married--and I had done a lot of living before settling down. And I mean a lot! Confronting the stuff meant confronting my feelings. One boyfriend in particular--getting rid of the small amount of things I had from him felt like, finally, finally, letting go of him and all the regrets I have had over the years.

It was incredibly healing.

 

I still want to go through all of these picture frames and decide what to keep and what to toss:

I want to re-do my gallery wall in the living room with a mix of thrift store paintings and photographs I've taken of mountain scenery while on vacation. I have no idea which, if any, of these frames I ought to keep for that project.

Now, I should probably stop here, BUT I am going to treat you to a tour.

From left to right, from the bottom of the stairs. The curtains arepulled across the wall of shelves.

I am standing at the bottom of the stairs looking at the wall of shelves (with the curtains closed).

Now, looking into the corner.


Lastly, I'm the bottom of the stairs, looking straight ahead.

Incidentally, those boxes under the table are empty.

Looking straight at the shelves:

Looking at the shelves, curtains open.

Standing at the shelves looking back at the workshop. (Yes, we took down the makeshift wall behind the black plastic shelves. So much more light!)

It may not look this good again for months.

On Sunday, we will start pulling everything out from under the stairs in order to insulate. I will have to shift my focus and deal with all the stuff coming out of there!