A Feat

Monday started off inauspiciously with a head-full-o-fluff and a nap.  

 But when the cleaning spirit catches you, you obey.

The picture below may not look like much of anything.  An old, nearly empty closet in a room that is in great need of painting.  You would be completely on target with the painting part.  This has been the one room (Laundry) in the house that has never even been close to being finished since we moved in over seven years ago.  And in those seven years, this poor, centrally located closet has borne the burden of every unwanted, unneeded, not-right-now/I'll just put this here until later-item that I could throw at it.  That is to say, on Monday when I made an innocent trip to the kitchen and walked past this sad closet for the umpteenth-thousandth time, my heart said "Enough is enough."

This closet was stacked helter-skelter with boxes and bins and papers to almost the full height of the ironing board.  I cannot even tell you what ended up in the garbage can and recycle bin except that my heart and brain were finally in agreement that it was past time to get rid of things that I have no intention of using.  I organized the packaging and bags I want and will use; I discovered a binder full of photos and notes of phone calls with my father and his first cousin, both of whom are gone now, about my grandparents and my extended paternal family; I made the determination to greatly lighten my collection of stamps (Stampin' Up!).

After the closet was cleaned out, I put together a metal six shelf unit to go inside the closet - it looks beautiful!!  But, alas, I cannot overcome physics and when purchasing the shelf to go in the closet, I did not factor in the four inches of overhang on the framing.  See, the shelf unit technically will fit inside the closet, but once it is built I cannot put it inside.  I won't tell you how long I stood there staring, questioning my mental capacity, luck, fate, etc.  

Once I snapped out of it and accepted the reality of the situation, I went and sat down for a much needed break.

When I was watered and refreshed, I got back up and cleaned all of the debris from the utter chaos I had created.  The five things that remain are, clockwise from wok, a small bin of clothes one size smaller than what I wear (yes, I'm keeping them as incentive!), Large bin of scrapbook paper, supplies, and albums, clear bin of stamps that haven't been used in many, many years and will soon be listed on eBay, and a box with a started quilt top.  I'm still vacillating on the quilt top, but by the time I reached that box around the corner I had made too many decisions already and saved that one for later.  I also cleaned up the rest of the laundry room, including lots of clutter in front of closet #2.  (Yes, there is another, with even more stuff in it!)

Then it was time for the finishing touch:  Sweeping and mopping my laundry room.

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

It was an UTTERLY Exhausting day, I cried a little bit, took some tylenol, made a cup of tea, 

and went to bed for the remainder of the day with a heating pad on my back.

The reward, though, is this beautiful closet just waiting for some new shelves 

and to be a loved and useful part of our daily lives.