Power Nesting 2.0: Armageddon

Or at least it looks that way in my garage.

Yes, the adventures of The Preggolicious One continue, and this most recent episode finds her standing in the doorway of a two-car garage that hasn't been able to hold two cars since we moved in. The day's still young, though...

My decision to attack the garage wasn't based on a sudden longing for covered parking. It's that I was running out of places inside the house to de-clutter when, just over a week ago, I was struck by an incredibly liberating thought:  if we haven't needed any of this stuff since we moved in two years ago, chances are good we don't really need it at all.

Challenged by that epiphany, I spent several days culling boxes from the outskirts of the pile and going on reconnaissance missions that took me deeper and deeper into the jungles of WeMayNeedThatSomeday. I gave away dozens of items on Freecycle, took an entire carload of stuff to the recycling center (and we have a pretty good-sized car!), and finally made peace with throwing out the things that couldn't be reused.

At the end of that week, I'd gotten rid of more than a hundred cubic feet of stuff we'll never miss.  In terms of what to do with things worth keeping, though, I was at an impasse... until Tuesday night, when I found myself wide awake at a quarter after one. I crept downstairs and spent the next several hours in and out of the garage, taking measurements and taking inventory, creating a map of the shelves with a corresponding directory of their [eventual] contents. I vaguely remember noticing the lavender streaks of the pre-dawn sky before falling asleep on the couch, pen in hand. 

Yesterday, fueled by more than enough determination to overcome the lack of sleep, I got most of the remaining junk out and organized the shelves before collapsing onto the couch last night for a graciously offered foot rub from Mister Nygren.  This morning, only a small band of stragglers remain... and they don't know it (because, being inanimate objects, they don't really know anything), but the only thing coming between them and Armageddon is the amount of time it will take my son to finish his yogurt...

Comments

[lauren a.]

you have such a delightful writing style. i wonder if you would ever write any short stories or children's books?

[mrs. n]

Aw, thanks! That's a very high compliment.

I'd be lying if I said I'd never given it any thought. Be a dear and mention it to me again a few months after I "publish" my latest work -- the one currently underway in my belly. :)

[kristen]

tell me you've heard of jim gaffigan? if not, google "jim gaffigan" and "hot pockets." preferably on youtube.