Decluttering

The dictionary says there is no such word, but that's what my son and I spent a couple of days doing during his short stay here for Christmas. I moved here ten years ago and was so delighted to have a big, clean, dry basement in which to store things. It's great to be able to have ample room to store my many Christmas decorations, cooking things that aren't used that often, vases and plant containers, paper goods from Costco, packing boxes and other things. Packing boxes, did I say packing boxes? Well, that 's one thing that got me into a lot of trouble. Since I had the room, I couldn't bear to throw away a good packing box and I ended up with a huge mountain of them, much more that I would ever use. Besides, I usually roll my quilts and send them in telescoping Uni- boxes. So my son, Kurt, broke down all the boxes, put them in piles and we bundled them all up in twine to put out for recycling next Monday.

Then we tackled the many boxes of things that had not been opened since I moved here, most of them filled with either my son's or my late husband's stuff. Lots of things went in the trash or recycling and three station wagons full went to Good Will. I have a lot of fine tuning to do down there, but it is soooo much better now. My house is very neat and tidy and uncluttered, but my basement was always a huge source of embarrassment if anyone went down there. We won't talk about my studio. That's another whole story.

My son's best bud from college, Will, was here very briefly, just overnight and a short time today before they both left for NYC for a concert. That's him on the left. He is just as nice as he is good looking! They have been best friends since freshman year of college and although they live very far apart, they still remain close. Kurt was his best man last year at his wedding. So for a short time I had two burly young men to help me. They carried the metal two-drawer filing cabinet from the basement up to my second floor studio. I couldn't believe how heavy it was, even though it was empty. They also took the heavy cabinet that housed the video equipment to Good Will. Kurt had previously taken the turn table and other equipment. I don't know why I ever moved it here in the first place since I had no room for it in this house. It had been the basement all that time.

I loved having Kurt home, not just because he is so helpful when he's here. We have a good time together. We went to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", ate pizza at Peppi's, the new branch of the famous one in New Haven, that he had been wanting to try. It was delicious! He cooked dinner one night for my sister, my niece and me (he's a good cook) and we just had fun hanging out together. I sure wish he didn't live on the other side of the country. Portland is very far from Connecticut!