photo by John Gullo/Creative Commons
There’s something to be said for having all your crap all together all in one place and all at the same time.
Gives such personal meaning to the phrase “getting your crap together.”
I finally have my crap together.
I also have Tom’s crap together. Which he should be pretty grateful for, if you ask me.
All here. In the new house. Me and Tom and all our crap.
Such controversy over whose crap is good and whose isn’t. That’s a story for a later time.
And…is it at all possible that I could use the word crap any more often and with any less finesse in this my first piece of writing in twelve hundred years?
I don’t think so.
Here’s the good (read: UNBELIEVABLY GREAT…ranking right up there with the birth of healthy babies #1 and #2) news:
608 5th St. Lowden, IA is Under New Management.
No more fretting about clogged gutters and windstorms or torrential downpours or dorky little vandal wannabes who throw rocks through bay windows or utility companies who turn off your gas in early winter without actually contacting you (if you don’t count the teeny tiny note they attached to the natural gas line mentioning that you might like to call them if you want your gas turned back on. This was not for lack of payment. It was for Nobody Knows Why.).
No more paying $80 a month for truly crappy lawn mowing.
No more crazy craigslist emails telling me I was “donb” for listing the house at our price.
No more paying Alliant Energy and City of Lowden utilities.
No more Cedar County property taxes for a place sitting empty.
No more homeowner’s insurance on a second home that I still love but don’t live in.
Just a basement in Waukee full of Where Did All THIS New-Old Crap Come From?
_____
So, I’m thinking about…actually enjoying thinking about…landscaping and room painting in Waukee…w/out my recently retired disclaimer that I can commit to no new thing…because God-only-knows-when-something terrible/awful/horrible/expensive-is-going-to-happen-to-the-Lowden-house which will guarantee that we won’t be able to afford/fix/buy anything for the rest of our lives.
I am finally moving on and moving in.
AND…for the record:
Cherie Bell is officially tipping her For Sale By Owner hat with a flourish. Leaving behind the murky and marvelous land of real estate selling on a shoestring…
I’m never moving again.
I will be that crazy old woman with the orange hair and 4” gray roots, dragged from her home in a 37-year-old stained pink nightgown kicking and screaming about the unflattering lighting and pukey wall color in nursing homes.
I’m settled.
Really. Truly.
All my crap is here.
I’m here.
All Tom’s crap is here.
He’s here.
The washer works.
I have TV.
Windows that need washing and walls that need new paint with real color.
A finite number…of walls and windows…unlike the infinite ones we lately had.
Better.
Way, WAY better.
And just think…it only took 16 months.
Reinvention is a slow process.
PS That photo is not my basement.
PPS Call before stopping by.
Comments on: "Crapaphoria" (6)
Oh, soooo glad you finally got your “crap” together in one spot. Makes life a lot easier. Your post was way too brie, but got us updated on what is what. Good for you both!!. Lately, I’ve been calling “stuff” by a different name, still starts with an “s” though. For the record, I’ve my stuff, hubby’s stuff, the ex’s stuff, my two kid’s stuff, my grandchild’s stuff, stuff from my mother-in-law and father in-law’s farm, my mom’s stuff when she moved 14 years ago and wanted to “store” it for a short while, and now, some of my brother’s stuff. By anyone’s book it is way too much “stuff.” Got any suggestions on what to do? Hubby want’s to e-bay or creig-list it, but I’m thinking about just up and moving. Leaving it all behind. Do I dare??
Good luck w/that…it took over 2 years but that crap found me and followed me to Waukee anyway.
As far as being brief, I’m so out of practice writing…I didn’t want to strain myself or pull something important trying to do too much too soon.
I will say, though, that selling the house has freed me up. The stress of it was sucking the joy (plus any and all forms of creativity) right out of me. I don’t think it really sank in until about 3 days after closing…and I had my first good night’s sleep in I can’t remember when.
Isn’t crap a part of life. I was thinking today, as a tornado was about to hit my workplace, there sure is a lot of glass surrounding me. If the tornado does hit I could get glass in my eyes and possibly lose my sight. Then I would have to have someone hand me things out of my house so I could feel them and say, “Yes” or “No”, on whether to sell it or not. It occurred to me that I wouldn’t need any stuff in my house cuz I couldn’t see it anyway. Needless to say the tornado didn’t hit work so I don’t have to worry bout that anymore.
Darn that stupid tornado, anyway. It could have solved ALL your problems!
Gloria had the bright idea the other day of getting rid of one hundred things in a day. That mission was accomplished. We are now working towards our second hundred.
I am really glad that you have sold your house.
Since you did not seem willing to move back.
Decluttering rocks. I think I probably recycled at least 100 old hunting magazines of Tom’s yesterday. He gets emotionally invested.
We’re glad about the house, too…WAAAAAAAAY glad! Like…so glad…I can’t even begin to describe HOW glad…