House Cleaning

My mother and I have been remodeling the house for what seems like an eternity (which, in addition to other reasons, has prevented me from writing a record review for tomorrow,  so I'll wait until September 8 to offer another one), though it's certainly taken up the bulk of the year.  And we're not finished yet - not even close.

While all of this is going on, we've had to clean our furniture and get rid of some clutter in the process. I thought I was doing a good job keeping my own furniture dusted until we started moving things around in my room  . . . and we found dust accumulations of dust that shocked us beyond belief.  Furthermore, it was determined that there were too many pieces of bric-a-brac - mainly my collection of Volkswagen diecast models - on my dressers, the wheels of which could possibly ruin the wood finish of the dresser surfaces.

They didn't, but my mother advised me to move them elsewhere. As I had no immediate place for them, I put them in a drawer until I could find an appropriate place.  I did.  I created space in a cheap bookshelf we  bought from a discount department store that has long since gone of of business (like Target, but a local chain). I did this by . . . giving away some of my books.  I gave books I'd already read to my local library, which freed up enough space for my VW cars (still no space for my Porsche 924 diecast car, but that's not as important).

Now I know why so many of them came with their own plastic stands (not that plastic would have been more kind to my furniture).

This divestment of clutter led me to start clearing out other stuff in my room.  I went through back issues of the two magazines to which I subscribe and found enough magazines I was finished with to donate them to a waiting room of a local office.  I still have a ton of magazines left, and I have to find the time to read them (which probably means less time on this blog) and make a molehill out of that mountain.  I also got rid of a handful of videos I know I'm never going to watch again.  I'd recorded off TV episodes of the Teri Polo sitcom "I'm With Her," which, like "Two And a Half Men," debuted in the 2003-04 season but, unlike "Two And a Half Men," didn't make it farther than that.  I had already watched them on TV but wanted to keep them for repeated viewing.  Since I never got around to watching these episodes again, and since this show was a one-season wonder that predates Barack Obama's celebrity - and since Teri Polo has a new series that apparently has become the success her previous shows never were - there was no reason to hold on to them.  Look, even if "I'm With Her" had been a hit and lasted eight or nine seasons, Teri Polo would still be doing something different now, and besides, I normally don't watch reruns of TV show episodes I've already seen anyway. In short, they went into the trash can. 

This is only the beginning of my attempts to divest myself of clutter.  Just like the remodeling in our house is only just beginning at the very moment I think it's nearing the end.  And as it continues, I may have less time still for this blog.  But, given its pathetic readership statistics, I doubt anyone will notice. :-O

See, I told you I'd get more personal.  I'm just sorry I had to drag Teri Polo into this.  

(Because of all this housecleaning, and because it's Labor Day weekend, I will not have a record review tomorrow.)