Sunday, July 08, 2007

House TILT!

Um....I decided to declutter my house. I do this pretty often....at least every ten years or so. The thing is...I have jeans in my closet from high school. (BLUSH!) They range from size from 4...okay 5....to 22. No kidding. Well, there are a few 24's that I wore when prego, but that's beside the point. Point is, I have trouble throwing anything away. Yes, I'm a packsquirrel. Or I was. But now, I'm on a clothes-binging spree.

Reason?

I was pushmowing the lawn the other day even though we have a perfectly good riding mower. I love to push mow because I like to make straight lines in the grass and be very methodical about how I mow. My husband recently got me a push mower as a gift not because he's a heathen hinting that I've got a little too much cottage cheese goin' on beneath my skin, but because I'd been begging for a push mower. My rationale is more excercise means I can possibly get back into a size **.

Didn't think I was gonna tell ya on a public domain, did ya? Heeee!

Anyway, I was mowing up a sweat and noticed the end of the house where my closet rests is tilting. EEEK. Now, you have to understand my walk-in closet is no less than 18 feet long...has 6 doors, three huge shelves above the clothes...and four long racks. They are so full and packed so tightly that I can't get any clothes in or out. So to remedy this, I hung clothes on my treadmill, and on the two chairs in my room.

I'm not sure, but upon further investigation of the tilt, I concluded that I think the weight of my closet is cracking the foundation of our home. I'm really not kidding about this. I'm scared to tell my husband. He'll make me get rid of more clothes for sure. LOL!

Today, my grandmother (who is visiting from Oklahoma) asked me if I still had my 200 pairs of shoes. Well, I may have misunderstood...she may have just asked if I still had all my shoes and my brain probably logged it in as 200 since I don't doubt that at one time I easily had that many. LOL! She said it with a straight face too.

I casually mentioned that, no, I'd cut way down to around 20 pair now. LOL!

Hey....it's a start.

Back to the closet-excavation....

Squirrel

8 comments:

Jessica Ferguson said...

Hey, Cheryl, I know exactly what you're talking about and FEELING. I'm a packrat. I have an original Levi jacket (size 9) that I will never wear again but I can't part with it. It's 40 years old and looks great! LOL A few years ago I got rid of my high heeled Ostrich dancing boots. I miss them, but I no longer wear high heels, boots or dance! I was trying to use some logic. (It comes in spurts.)There's got to be support groups for people like you and me. LOL But tell me about your push mower. My daddy had an original a very long time ago and I'd still have it if the garage hadn't burned down. :) Loved this post... I hope your house doesn't have a cracked slab... EXPENSIVE to fix.

Pammer said...

Hehehe! I know exactly what you mean. You know there is a dip in my dining room floor and from the outside it looks like the roof is sagging in that same spot. I thought it was a foundation problem. BUT thinking about it, these are right where my overstuffed walk in closet resides!!! I've been decluttering too, but because we are trying to refinance and I really think the people walking through want to walk through, not go through pathways, LOL! Also I'd never open my closet with all those shoes and clothes I can't wear anymore.

My hubby packrats EVERYTHING and I packrat paper and books. (go figure).

There is a group that helps people like us. It's called Flylady. Go to www.flylady.net and check her out. You might not be a Franny living in CHAOS, but there is something for everyone there.

Shauna said...

LOL! I've been doing a little "down-sizing" and de-cluttering around my house. So now I have nice, neatly marked places for everything to go. At least, I know where the clutter *should* be. LOL! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Okay, my closet is stuffed full of clothes. Some are ones I wear now, some are ones that I WILL fit into again. Now, I'm almost afraid to go look at the outside of my house. LOL

Praying your foundation is solid. (Hey that sounds like a great theme for a ladies' meeting!)

Michelle
Michelle's Writing Space
My Shoutlife

Hope Chastain said...

Yikes, I've been hearing new creaks in the floor when I walk by the overstuffed bedroom where the movers dumped everything three years ago that we haven't been able to clear out---- (Picture the worried face from the eharlequin boards!). Pray for me! I had planned to do more downsizing today, but due to circumstances beyond my control, it's going to have to wait a little longer. Maybe I can at least start making some lists!

Hope Chastain said...

PS I'd be happy with any kind of lawnmower, even the old non-powered one my grandfather had.

Mindy Obenhaus said...

Of course, we women have to have three wardrobes. There's the pre-holiday wardrobe, the holiday wardrobe, and the post-holiday wardrobe. This can constitute a variety of sizes, though they are all necessary :-)

I'm so glad we got the opportnity to talk at conference. You're the sweetest squirrel I've ever met.

Cheryl Wyatt said...

LOL! Your comments and stories made me laugh. Makes me feel better that I'm not the only one.

Hugs,
Cheryl