The Holy Grail

In my house there are (or were) several major areas of clutter. I began this blog to force myself to deal with (read - clean) these areas, but the blog has turned into more of a forum to write about life. I have tackled some of the housekeeping disaster areas, but I have ignored, or put off others.

I am proud to say I have conquered the kitchen cabinets, (including the much despised Tupperware cabinet). I have worked my way through messy drawers, be they dresser, desk or bathroom. Both of my daughters' rooms are now presentable, and a once unusable part of my backyard is now a garden area. So all-in-all great progress has been made. But, (aha - the infamous "but") there are still two major projects remaining.

One being the hall closet. The damn hall closet, once actually listed as a reason to purchase this house, has become a repository for "stuff" I don't want to, or can't deal with. Hundreds of books, most originally belonging to my parents or my husband's grandparents - books I don't want and will never read, but I dread discarding because of some bizarre emotional attachment. Another shelf in the closet contains framed photos. Photos of nieces and nephews and friends and family. Wedding photos and graduation pictures encased in cheap brass or plastic or tarnished silver frames. Again - the emotional attachment. Then there are the tchotchkes - the small figurines, the candlesticks, the vases, the book-ends, decorative bowls, ugly lamps, wooden boxes with carved or inlaid lids, and who knows what else, lurking on, under and behind everything.

The closet is also storage for usable, practical things - wrapping paper, vacuum cleaner, step stool, tool box, craft/art supplies and other items I need or use regularly , but always have a difficult time finding because of the clutter.

I've made several attempts at cleaning this closet over the course of my blog, to no avail. I'm detailing this today only for background information - when I tell you that the hall closet, as daunting a task as it is, pales in comparison to the mother of all purging projects, the Holy Grail of clutter - THE GARAGE.

My husband and daughter #2 proclaimed today as "begin cleaning the garage day." Even they know it can't be done in one day.

So the gauntlet has been thrown down. They are committed to the absolute, most heinous household task imaginable. I, on the other hand, am going to work (not in the garage, but to an actual clean, non-cluttered, air conditioned office across town from this insanity).

Will I lend a hand with the garage project? Certainly, I will continue to blog about it as the purging ensues.