Spring DIY Sucks

Okay -- as you already know -- one of the best things about my life is CARRIE. She comes once a week and helps me with whatever horrible job I need done. There is a lot of cleaning -- and she is very, very good at it. I jokingly say that it's a good thing I am so BAD at it -- because that's job security for her.

The last couple of weeks -- we painted the ceilings in the downstairs. That means the kitchen, dining room, living room, and two halls. YIKES. Because I recently bought new blinds for the living room -- we had to drape all the walls, etc. the PREPARATION is always the hard part...

But Carrie has this great smile, and a can-do attitude...I just can't tell you how much I love my Mondays...

Like the painting wasn't punishment enough -- this week I decided we should clean the basement. OH MY GOD....this is a BIG JOB.

We started under the basement steps...and opened boxes I haven't seen in 30 years. Carrie found the grape cluster hanging lamp that was a wedding gift in 1970. Remember?

I had about 1,000 pounds of PAPER for the recycle. Old brochures, flyers, checkbooks, records -- from the original "Rita's Sew Fun". (A business I closed 15 years ago...)

We also burned boxes of old checks, credit card slips, etc. WHY DID I EVER PUT THAT STUFF IN MY BASEMENT??

In addition, of course, I hauled another ton of stuff BACK TO THE GOODWILL STORE... where it very possibly came from to begin with...

This is the passenger seat in my car...

AND the back seat and trunk were jam-packed as well. Boxes of books, clothes, pots and pans, stuff I've had for decades...

Of course, we didn't take the time to dust or clean all this treasure...and, as I was unloading it, I saw my basement treasure for what it really was -- disgusting, dirty old junk...

The young man at the "Donations" door was kind of a sourpuss...

As I was handed him another garbage bag full of dirty old wooden frames, I crumbled under the pressure of his judgmental look...

"My mother died, you know..."

He went from judgment to understanding as he smiled and nodded...

Sorry, Mom.

(My mother did die. In 1997.)