Use of rooms has been shuffled. Furniture re-arranged in various rooms. I got extra kitchen cabinets installed six months after he died - a project Ian had started trying to get quotes for, but was having no luck what so ever.
And now there a new paint colour on the corridor and living room walls.
My parents helped - Dad with moving furniture, my step-mum with the actual painting.
My house has a large(ish) open plan area for the living/kitchen and dining areas, but we just couldn't get the dining area walls painted because of the amount of furniture I have, and the lack of floor space to pull it all into the middle to access the walls.
My Dad was keen to try however. Until I explained that one cabinet was pretty much still as Ian left it. Including the post-it on the front with his last 'to do' list written on it.
I've given it one cursory clean-out so I didn't have to by stationary for school as I knew it was well stocked. I've also put in some additional items which matched other stuff being stored there (like electronics packaging).
One of the hard parts is that this cabinet's full of books. Ian had a large book collection. I have boxes and boxes of books stashed all over the house. I've been slowly working through other bookshelves and donating books to various charities to sell.
However there are some that are somewhat dated... like "Excel 97"... and really should just be ditched into the recycling bin. But I just can't bring myself to get rid of them... I was raised that books are precious and they don't get thrown out.
Funny how there are so many little, odd, random things that widowhood makes us deal with.
Though I guess I'll need to get to it soon. Not because of any desire to sort it out, and it doesn't really NEED to be sorted out and emptied, but because the mis-matched walls are bugging the daylights out of me 4 days into the change and to move this piece to paint it has to be emptied to drop the weight.
Looks sort of like my place. My husband also had a lot of books and then there are all the new books that I have dealing with widowhood. I don't think that I can ever give away his books. One day I will organize it all. I know that I will feel lighter for doing it.
ReplyDeleteI have over 900 music CD's. Don't know when I'll get to that.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that. I painted my whole house prior to selling it last fall, packed up stuff as I went, leaving some items out so it still looked like home. It was hard to pick and choose what to keep, what to donate, I know I kept way too much, but just couldn't part with it all. I saved all the hand written notes, trivial as they were, they do bring me comfort to reread. Take your time in doing this, no hurry.
ReplyDelete