If you purge, it will get clean

My friend came. She is a saint. She came on Thursday. Both of us have kids, little kids, so it made it harder to really put a day in, but she was here for about 3 hours and we made some progress. I really wanted to finish flinging the playroom/craft room. With her help I was able to clean up the mess I had made from pulling all my sewing stuff out and then separate some toys and move some boxes and the best part was that we moved the piano out of the dining room. That is part of the "grand scheme" of decluttering! There is still a LOT of work to be done. It was nice to have a second pair of hands because it a) kept me on the task and b) there was someone else to distract my kids and c) she made me think objectively about my stuff. I was able to look at a couple of broken dishes and say "Hey, these are JUST broken dishes! It doesn't matter how pretty they were. They are not special because I can't even think of where they came from. So goodbye broken dishes!" And in the trash they went. I was also able to throw away a Barbie item from my childhood. I am a touch sad about that, but it is gone. It had no purpose in my home. It was part of a set that has long been broken and irreparable. I loved the way it felt in my hands. That was really the only reason I liked it. Oh geez, I think I'm gonna shed a tear over this! I am rather pathetic.

So, was I embarrassed? Well my dear saintly friend has not even seen the tip of the iceberg. She has not seen "The Shed" otherwise known as "The Studio" and I am coming up with a snazzy name for it after it is cleaned out. Any suggestions? To answer the question now, no. I wasn't. She is the most loving and accepting person I know, which is why I called her. She has helped me clean my house before when the baby was really little and I was feeling very overwhelmed. And she always pooh pooh's me when I apologize for the mess. She says she has been praying for service. Well I'm glad I can be the service project. (Please sense my sarcasm here) Anyways - we have another "date" for Tuesday morning. She comes right after she drops her boys at school and brings her daughter who is the same age as my 2nd son. Then she has to go around lunch time so that her daughter can have her afternoon nap. I am grateful for this help.

It was kind of funny though, because after she left, the playroom was looking loads better, but the dining room was a MESS!!! The table was full of stuff that needed to be put away and there were 4 or 5 boxes randomly stacked against the wall from the playroom. Oh well! One room at a time! She did haul away 4 bags of stuff. Yipee! She was nice enough to say "I will take it to Goodwill right away now, and do I need to take the trash bags also so you don't go digging through them?" I laughed, but assured her that I have overcome enough, that I am not going to do that. On Tuesday I think we will finish up the playroom and move the big desk in. That requires visiting The Shed. Then things get embarrassing. We did discuss strategy and decided that it was best to complete the house before starting in the shed, so I know that we won't be working out there other than to clear the desk of my old business stuff and hauling it out, but I know that I'm gonna have a harder time with that building. I am thinking I might even call the only other person I trust with my junk, our other mutual friend.

I do count myself very fortunate to have these two precious friends. They mean the world to me. I think they were put in my life for a purpose. I trust them completely, and hope they think of me the same way. I only called the one friend first because she is very practical about things. My other friend is more like me sometimes and can get very sentimental. And her dad just died, so I think it might be a little stressful for her. Well I must off be off for the night! Happy decluttering!