One good thing comes of me being overwhelmed and stressed... it unleashes the Domestic Goddess in me! Yes, me who hates Housework and cleaning so I can be quite lazy about it usually. When stressed and having an abundance of pent up nervous energy, will go into a cleaning and organizing frenzy of epic proportions! It's so out of character for me, but since the house has gone to Hell with all the Life Drama unfolding in recent weeks, it's not like it didn't desperately need that kind of intense focus and attention!
Our Home is 100+ Years Old and not completely Restored and Remodeled yet, so even when it is clean there are things that can still look raunchy... such as the ancient peeling linoleum floors that have seen several Generations of foot traffic and won't clean up well anymore. So it can easily be a handy excuse for a personality not domestically inclined {Moi} to just forget about it and not give it regular attention, since the level of clean won't visually line up with the effort expended. But in my brief Domesticated Frenzy I decided to do a Front Kitchen Overhaul. Yep, that's an Orb up near the Tramp Art Crucifix, we get that a lot when re-doing and changing things, Spirit shows up and must be Curious about what's up?
And that's not all that shows up when I'm in the middle of a major Project... though I must say Princess T is a willing Volunteer to get involved and Help when any cleaning and organizing is going on... though it might not be my forte, it's most definitely HERS, she thrives on it! *Smiles* I even finally dragged Home the Retro Kitchen Table I got from my Friends Debbie and Roy, which has been in one of my Showroom Displays. And set it up with the Retro Atomic Handle Back Chairs I got from my Friends Leslie and Mike.
NOTE TO SELF: The Man's new Jeep doesn't have a lot of room for hauling larger Inventory and Found Treasures like my Truck did!
I'm furiously Editing and Purging during the Overhaul... three boxes of Purged Collections and Vintage Items went to the Showroom today from this room as I cleared it out. And I haven't gone thru all the cupboards and drawers yet... but it feels good to pare things down considerably from what has accumulated over the years and get rid of what isn't used or Loved.
I'm finding I'm easily falling out of Love with so much of it in order to Simplify and Let Go... so those open shelves will soon be a lot more barren when I get to them, starting Tonight as I tackle some more!
For some folks it might still look like a lot even once I'm done, but for me it's minimizing even though it won't look like Minimalism to anyone but a Maximalist like myself! *Winks*
Though a lot moved out, some things moved in... like my Carnival Kitsch Collection. They just fit the Front Kitchen Vibe better than the Back Kitchen Vibe... and I'm starting at the Front of the House and moving towards the Back slowly but surely, room by room of this Ole House!
This is a Cabinet The Man made for me out of Salvaged Orphan Furniture pieces that came out of various Old Houses in the West Valley that have since been razed and probably long forgotten by everyone but us. As the Agricultural areas of the Far West Valley have been developed, almost all of the Lovely Old Residential Farm Homes were destroyed in the process. Often nothing was able to be Salvaged before they were obliterated. But I was tenacious about attempting to gleen a few Salvaged items, either Architectural, Personal or Structural that I was allowed to Rescue.
Most of those types of items hold Sentiment for me... but as for the rest, the Found Treasures 'Picked' at random and not connected to a Special Place, have been easy to Let Go of en mass, so the Paring Down Process has been quite expedient once I get some momentum going and don't end up with too many external distractions to break the rhythm.
I'm hanging Fresh Lavender Sachets around and lighting Candles as I Work... and listening to Andrew Sisters Era Music on Pandora. Setting the Mood is important to me when I've got a big Project in full swing, it makes the Process enjoyable and increases my stamina for sticking with it since the Atmosphere of the room is then enjoyable to be present in. As things start coming together everyone wants to spend more time in the room too as it Transforms and becomes more Functional and 'New'. Don't you Feel that too when you Change things up at Home?
You don't have to buy anything New or particularly Special during the Changes or have everything immaculate... it can be the same Old Stuff you've always had, and not even get it all scrubbed, spotless or squeaky clean, but just Editing, Purging, Tidying and Changing Things Up that will remain creates a different Energy and Atmosphere doesn't it? As I'm heading towards Less, I'm finding that I'm Enjoying what remains More... it's not competing with as much or getting lost in the minutia of what surrounds it.
And as rooms are getting cleared out, Organized and Tidied I won't be as reluctant to have folks over because I won't feel the need to apologize for the disaster and chaos that it felt like as I got further behind the eight ball and housekeeping took a back seat to just about everything else really. Running damage control behind a busy Family and a series of Personal Crisis had just overtaken me. The older I get the less inclined I am to frustrate myself trying to keep on top of it all and not see lasting results. So, the only Solution was to just get rid of as much as possible and Simplify... and keep at THAT for as long as it takes until it's almost effortless to Care for around my other roles and responsibilities... and around the Family making it that much more of a Challenge.
I only have a finite amount of Energy and Time... and this is a big property and now filled with a lot of stuff that has accumulated over the years of Enjoying the Thrill Of The Hunt and being an Incurable Collector... the property isn't going to get any smaller, but the stuff can downsize and be controlled! And just maybe, I'll get better at this Domestic Goddess Thing if I can get it to the point where I don't feel overwhelmed by the task of Maintaining it all and develope a do-able Routine that doesn't take an inordinate amount of Time and Energy every day and totally exhaust me? Dust and Dirt never have bothered me as much as things not being in Order and Tidy... Dust and Dirt are Natural Elements that just happen and I can Live with some of that and be laid back about it... but Chaos and Untidiness drive me Crazy and I don't feel Comfortable in a Chaotic or Untidy environment.
Now, if my Sis from Texas can ever make it down here when things calm down on her Homefront, she's a complete Clean Freak so the place would be Immaculate in no time and you'd be able to eat off the Ancient Linoleum floors! She cleans when things don't even look dirty to me! *LOL* If it's not even dirty then I'm definitely not gonna clean it!!! *Smiles* I don't see the point in cleaning CLEAN??!!?! To me that's like doing the Laundry and then doing it AGAIN, just because...
Though my Clean Freak type Family Members and Friends might have a nervous breakdown coming into this Old Hippie's Home and resisting the urge to clean it... when they've asked me to help them clean their already Immaculate Homes I feel like it's absolute Futility and a tad bit Crazy OCD that makes me twitch! It makes me nervous too when I'm sweeping or vacuuming imaginary dirt or mess that I can't even SEE, because I don't know if I've done a good enough job of what they've asked me to help them do??! After all, only a Clean Freak would be able to have the discerning enough Eye to QC the results of Cleaning CLEAN, because Hell, it looked just fine to me before we even started!!! *LOL* I'm definitely more an 'Oscar' and not a 'Felix' in that Odd Couple match up! *Winks*
So I think the Sis reconsidered when she realized that moving in for a while to Help out would probably end up making both of us twitch when it came to the Housekeeping Thing. We joke about it all the time in fact. She'll probably look at this Post and notice what I missed even though she knows that for me, this is clean enough and definitely minimalized as much as I'm able, for now! Just enough so that she doesn't have to call 1-800-Got-Junk on my behalf or nominate me for the next Season of 'Hoarders' or Mike Rowe's 'Dirty Jobs'. *Winks*
And I've also been thinking that maybe if I can pare down enough of the chachke's I could just hire some Merry Maids to come in and they won't want to slash their wrists after the gig of helping me to do a proper deep clean? *Smiles* It's a Goal anyway I'm working towards...
Piece by piece as it's Edited, Priced or Donated... and OUT THE DOOR!!! Bye-Bye! Hope you find good Homes that will either Use or Love ya?
Blessings from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian