Brilliant Idea/The Wedding Dress

After being inspired by my good friend, writing buddy, and fellow blogger, I have stolen her idea of entering something every day. In the spirit of getting rid of my "stuff" I have decided to clean, or rather purge one item or area every day. Okay - here comes the fun part, then I will blog about it. Is there anything more exciting than reading about someone else's housecleaning efforts???

So - here's what I did yesterday:

The Wedding Dress

Daughter #1 was married in December. That would be December 2007. Her very beautiful, very expensive, to be worn only one time, wedding dress was "heirloomed" by the local dry cleaner. God only knows what that means, but the result was a wedding dress in a huge box. The box is so big I have no where to put it. (Remember, I'm a pack rat - all of my closets are full!) The box (allegedly containing the dress - who would know - you can't open it because that would ruin the "heirlooming" - what a scam!) has been moved from one uninhabited daughters' room to the other several hundred times over the last year as needs and space dictated. Finally, yesterday I figured out where to store it permanently. There is a huge cabinet over the bathtub/shower in the guest bathroom large enough to hold the colossal wedding dress box. Only one problem. You guessed it - it was otherwise inhabited with "stuff". So, my first opportunity at de-cluttering my living space.

First I had to ensure there was, indeed, enough space for the box. I found the step-stool (not as easy as it sounds) so I could reach the high cabinet, opened the doors and then got sidetracked. Several hours later I was drawn back to the guest bathroom by the smell of burning wood. When I opened the cabinet doors to peer inside I also turned on the bathroom heat lamp in order to see better into the depths of the cabinet. One of the doors was touching the lamp and was seconds away from igniting and burning down my house. See why I don't like housework?

Once the fire was thwarted I began cleaning out the cabinet. This is what I removed and threw away or put in a box to donate:
2 sets of Cabbage Patch swimming floaties, a pair of yellow flippers too small to fit anyone but a 4 year old, a hot-pink water-gun shaped like a fish, an inflatable beach ball still in the package, the box a Fisher-Price potty came in - still with the unused plastic "splash guard - for use with boys", 15 glass ceiling-fan light shades from ceiling fans I no longer own, and a blue, rolled-up, twin-size egg crated mattress cover.

This is what I kept:
An inflatable pool lounge chair, 2 ski-belts (I'm taking to the lake cabin), and a circa 1960 psychedelic throw pillow that will go nicely with daughter # 2's home decor.

The wedding dress is safely put away in the otherwise empty cabinet. I did email daughter #1 to tell her where it is because I will surely never open that cabinet again (fire hazard, you know).

I have begun - my house feels less cluttered already!