Labour Day

Today is Labour Day, so I laboured.
For months the freezer room in the basement has been getting on my nerves; it is the catch-all for everything that doesn't have a place to go in the house. Slowly, it was filling up to the point where there was a path from the door to the freezer, and every surface was full of junk. I hated it.
Today was the day. I hate cleaning and organizing, I just hate it. I envy people who love that sort of thing, and who live in clutter-free houses every day, with people who actually throw things away. But I live in this house, and that means I have to clean it.

Yesterday I cleaned out the freezer, which is not a job I enjoy, but has to be done every six months whether it needs it or not. I defrosted it too, I didn't just take out all the peas that had escaped and the freezer jam I made in 2006. I was astonished at how much more room there was when I took out the 4 inches of ice along the sides. Note to self: using a blow-drier to defrost the freezer is an excellent idea.
Today I cleaned out the freezer room: 4 bags for Good Will and 4 bags for the garbage man. Somehow, with all that out, the shelves still appear to be full. How does that happen?

I was on a roll of sorts, so I cleaned out the three drawers in the kitchen that didn't close any more. I guess I really don't need 3 lemon reamers and a bag of twist ties. I tossed out instruction manuals to appliances I don't have any more, and a bunch of cookie cutters that never get used because no one can figure out what they are supposed to be the shape of. (Most of them look like bags of potatoes, and at least one of them looked like Richard Nixon.) Really, I can live a full and rich life without those things.

Then I cleaned out another drawer, a bookshelf and the laundry room. Turns out cleaning and organizing isn't my problem, it's getting started that is.

By the end of my day, I was seriously considering renting a dumpster tomorrow, and starting on the garage. (Big Liver Girl got a dumpster rented for her this summer, and it came on her wedding anniversary. I think that would be the best anniversary present ever, even if she didn't even consider putting her husband in it.)

This evening I have spent wandering around and admiring my work. The Mister made appropriate noises, even though he could happily live in squalor without even noticing. The kids wondered if I threw out anything "important". (The answer? Yes, a Hannah Montana sticker album, and an origami kit that we once tried that was so complicated we thought it might be a third-year engineering exam posing as a craft. Also, a poster of American First Ladies I got from Kelly for Christmas once. All very important.)

Tomorrow the kids get back to school. Then I can really get to the purging, while they aren't here to stop me. They may come home to a perfectly empty house.
I can dream, can't I?