No recipe today… the reason… my house should be deemed a national disaster area! I am hoping for some catastrophe funds from the government to be flowing my way very soon!

Every day since Easter, I have boxed up, thrown out, or donated car-loads of goods. Our house is 24+ years old and we have lived in it for 11 of those years and until today, the original carpet was on its floors.  But although the picture above looks nice, with the new fresh carpet, the rest of the house… not so much!

Although I would never categorize myself as a hoarder, I will have to admit that I am a pack rat. I find myself continually cramming all those things, that I can not bring myself to part with, into every nick and cranny of the house.

To clean it out, I began with the upstairs carpeted rooms; a huge playroom, Connor’s bedroom, and an office. The office was easy, it has a built-in desk and bookcases all the way around the room, and although those are packed to the gills, nothing had to be gone through in that room. Connor’s bedroom was another story, he has inherited my tendencies and doesn’t want to throw out anything, not even birthday cards received from family and friends for his 3rd birthday, which of course he can’t even remember receiving! Sorry, Connor, when you went back to school after Easter, some of those things ended up residing in the recycle center.

The playroom – I can barely talk about the playroom! Before Marissa went back to Tucson on Easter Sunday, she helped me go through three cabinets full of games, videos, and arts & crafts stuff. Almost an entire carload of that went to Goodwill. Everything else that was in those upstairs rooms went into Marissa’s wood-floored room. See the pictures of that sad scene below – I don’t know when I’ll find the strength or courage to open that door again and face it.

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