This Damn House

I'm packing up a subset of my belongings, in preparation for putting our house on the market, then moving into temporary housing before eventually landing at our final destination (Mosaic Commons). So I'm carefully sorting through my family's belongings, identifying those housewares, clothing, toys, books and other things that we can live without for six to nine months.

I've barely gotten started and I have some 20ish boxes packed.

Which then begs the question...if we can live without it for that long...why do we need it at all?

Some of the stuff falls into the clear category of nostalgia (old yearbooks, baby clothes, etc.) Then there's a bunch of clothes that don't fit me now but I have reason to believe will fit me in the future. But what about the rest?

Why do I have a crockpot I use 5 times a year? If we can live with 2 frying pans instead of 4 for a few months, why not a few years? Those clothes I keep to wear for special occasions that never arise...the toys that cost a lot to buy but never really captured the targeted child's interest...the sheets that fit my bed but aren't nearly as nice as the three sets I use more often...the spices purchased for a special dish that didn't turn out so special... why am I lugging this stuff around with me?

Mind you, we've already parted with vast amounts of stuff. And I'm not actually a packrat compared to many folks in my socioeconomic strata.

But for reasons I can't clearly identify, stuff imposes a certain spiritual weight. I feel...heavier with all these belongings, as if I'm carrying them around in my mind all the time.

Ironically, the time pressure of getting the house ready has forced me to stop freecycling. If it's not something I need right now...toss into the box it goes!

I have so many started but unfinished projects in the house. It seems like my motivation is high when the project looms large before me; once the most egregious flaws of the area are fixed, though, I find myself drawn to new big projects rather than the picky sticky yicky stuff at the end of the current one.

So last weekend I painted the bedroom...mostly. Ran out of paint with one half of one wall left. Picked up more paint, but never picked the project back up. Painted the living room....except for the base trim. Re-tiled the bathroom floor, but still haven't put up the matching tiles around the base of the wall. Painted the hallway but need to put the curtain rods and curtains back up.

And I know all this needs to be done, and yet somehow "paint trim in living room" keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the (very large) to do list!

How do I motivate myself for these underwhelming detail tasks? (Probably with the knowledge that I can't post an "after" picture here on TDH until I do them! You'll note you all haven't seen many pictures lately.)

or if you do, be prepared to eat your words. (Try with ketchup if they are a little dry going down)

(This sage advice is brought to you courtesy of Mrs. TDH who was looking at some of her early blog posts and found this quote: "we're going to have to hire someone to do the work, because there's no way in hell I'm re-tiling and re-grouting the bathtub. Just ain't gonna happen."

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Now I'm off to scrub the grout out from under my fingernails. TTFN