Cleaning out the closets

A few random things I found while packing:

• Tea bags – a container of very, very old loose tea bags; I actually think some of these might have been around for more than three or four years.

• An ancient video camera – no, it doesn’t work properly anymore; also video cassettes belonging to the camera which have long since been converted to DVDs

• Micro cassette tapes – God only knows how long those have been around, long enough to get all mouldy and need to be thrown out

• A rat trap – yeah, that was really worth saving, and as an added plus it was packed in a box with other household items that either had to be seriously disinfected or just gotten rid of

• Mouldy costumes – this was probably the most unpleasant discovery of the day, not only did we still have a suitcase full of random costume wear that the kids used to dress up in years and years ago, but they had all moulded and stuck together, yuck

• Art supplies – a very old and very odd collection of paints and craft materials most of which will go to the girls in our children’s home

• Christmas cake – last but not least the delightful discovery that we still have about three quarters of a Christmas cake left, yum

This may not seem like a particularly amusing list, but finding some of these things made me laugh so hard that I cried, and made me so thankful that we getting rid of all this junk (and eating yummy cake).

I am blessed

This move has been going very well, mainly because I'm blessed to live with three great people who make it so much easier. I don't mind sorting, organizing, and cleaning, but I've got some kind of mental block when it comes to packing up boxes. My friend Lily is really good at that bit, and gets everything out of the way so quickly and efficiently. Then there are the two guys who do all the heavy lifting, loading, and unloading, and all I have to do is tell them what room to put the things in -- when I'm not busy scrubbing years worth of grime and mold out of the new kitchen, that is. With all of us working together, it's going much more smoothly than I thought it would -- and we got rid of a whole truck load of junk, hurray!

We've been busy packing, sorting, cleaning, painting, packing.... There's no way around it. It's a lot of work to move, especially when you're moving from a six bedroom house, where you've had an extra room for storage, into a three bedroom flat. But it has to be done. And this time, instead of whining about how much I hate moving, I've realized what a wonderful opportunity it is to get rid of all that accumulated junk. Hopefully, by the time we get into our nice little flat, all the things we've brought with us will be things we actually need or want, and it will fit in nicely....hopefully.