The Door So we're in this really awkward stage where we are waiting for underwriting to go through OR not go through. We have to ...

Cleaning The Closet

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 , , ,

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The Door
So we're in this really awkward stage where we are waiting for underwriting to go through OR not go through. We have to prepare to move next month, however, we may not be moving next month. Will the Dutch door be mine? Only time will tell. Eventually, some time, hopefully this year, we'll be moving!

Our loan officer says he's 95% sure everything is going to go off without a hitch--and that was before "our" home appraised at value {with no conditions!} just yesterday {good news!}--but I'm more feeling like this is a 45% thing. Why? I've written it all down, but that's for another post. This process feels very fragile. It's obvious I'm not handling the unknown very well.

One of the things on our daunting to-do list regarding this rental was
The Closet

Dun dun dun!

Justin and I would mention it like this, "Oh, we have to patch that hole in the wall, we need to replace that soap holder tile I broke in the bathroom, put the ugly blinds back up...and then there's...The Closet." {Screeching violins.} We'd look at each other, shudder, and quickly change the subject.

Well, The Closet is in Violet's room. In case you don't remember, Viv's room used to be my craft room. It was FULL of all kinds of my junk quality stuff. When Violet was born and needed a room of her own to nap in, we had to change my craft room into Violet's room. So we made it a pretty little room with pink, yellow, and gray colors.

The Closet, however, was always there...looming in the corner...full of leftover crap amazing stuff that I had no where else to put in this little rental. {Our new maybe-home has twice the square footage and tons of storage space in the basement. Like, 7 closets!}

The Closet...'twas not a pretty sight.

It just so happens that I woke up on Monday morning to a snow day and the urge to purge. Justin brought in a trash can, we filled it thrice. The items I wanted to keep went into various boxes: gift wrap, craft room, baby clothes, and more craft junk {there, I said it}.

It was indeed a daunting task, but it turned out to be almost fun because it was actually like a walk down memory lane. I took a few photos of some of the things I unearthed in The Closet and thought I'd share them with you, embarrassing as most of them are. Maybe a few things will surprise you about my checkered past? Here goes...


Cleaning the closet
So yeah. That's what it looked like to start, after 4 years of renting here.
It was basically the dump, a black hole. When company was coming over, and I needed somewhere to stash that gift wrap/holiday decor/yarn/junk/children really quickly, it went in...The Closet.

First, let's check out some of these photos.
Cleaning the closet
I found some albums! If you're Facebook friends with me, you've already seen some of these. Above is Justin and I at homecoming in 2000. Below is Justin and I heading to prom (2002), also featuring my sister and her husband. 
Cleaning the closet
True story: I spent all 4 years of high school convinced I was the fattest girl there. I'm actually more secure about my body now than I was with my size 6 body in this photo {I'd lost weight right before prom}. Sigh...

Speaking of sisters, here's our rockin' corny family portraits sibling shoot! Note our perfectly coifed 90s flipout/under, curled only at the ends--probably with a Conair 1.5"--as 90s style dictates. Shirts compliments of Old Navy, because 1998.
Cleaning the closet
Moving on below, you'll see our 1990s sweatshirt style. I remember this day because we went fly fishing with my dad near Leadville and very nearly got killed by lightning as we ran to dad's Pathfinder after a sudden downpour overwhelmed us. Lightning struck about 20 feet from us, kid you not. True story. Almost died. Should be famous. 
Cleaning the closet

My sister & I at Christmas. 2000? I loved those pink sports pants {Old Navy}.
Cleaning the closet
Speaking of albums, here's a page out of the half-done scrapbook I made as a teenager. I spent two weeks touring Wales and England with the Young Voices of Colorado when I was 15. 
Cleaning the closet
Speaking of scrapbooks, I rediscovered the awesome HUGE album of antique postcards that my mother-in-law bought me at an auction several years ago as a birthday gift. I love using these images in crafts. I love reading the messages on them, and also decorating with the seasonal ones. 
Cleaning the closet
Speaking of crafts...turns out I did decoupage long before I had a craft room. This is a daily planner I "made" using cut scraps from the dELiA*s CATALOG! Oh man...dELiA*s makes me miss the 90s so bad. 
Cleaning the closet
Here's what I was doing on May 15, 2003: Luther Presentation!
Cleaning the closet 
Seriously. Incredible how much stuff I had in The Closet
Cleaning the closet
True story: I'm horrible at keeping diaries. At least I have a nice blog to make up for it. I started about 20 journals during my youth. ALL of them have about 3 pages written in before I forgot about them. Most of them started out of my angst, whatever was bugging me at the moment. {Now I just blog, I know you all love my rants.} 

Here's just one of the diaries I found in The Closet. Funny and embarrassing to read. I rip them up and burn them when I find my old diaries sitting around. Apparently when I wrote this, we were close to getting married {at 19}. But 10 years, 3 kids, and house inspection later...here we are! 
Cleaning the closet

Speaking of our wedding {at 19} here's my diamond papers, came across those in The Closet. I don't know why I'd ever need this but every once in a while I take it out and look at it. Then put it away. I do love my heart-shaped diamond. 
Cleaning the closet

Ahahahaha!
True story: I once thought I'd learn Gaelic. #dork
Cleaning the closet
Sadly, there was also a "Learn German" book and "Violin for Beginners" in The Closet. As of today, I cannot speak Gaelic, play the violin, or say much more in German other than what I remember from high school. Jah! Nein! Wo ist meine Socke?

But here is ONE thing I did start and finish. I found all my cake decorating class certificates in The Closet
Cleaning the closet
Along with the manual to the really awesome flip phone 
with a camera that I once owned. 
Who else felt cool when they got their first FLIP PHONE? It was all sassy when you'd snap it shut after a phone call. Why did I ever keep this?
Cleaning the closet
Sometimes my Mac-loving friends tease me that I should switch to Macs and an iPhone and my life would be better. Well, here's a photo to prove, because I don't think they believe me: Been there. Done that. {And my iBook was in the repair shop, like, constantly.}
Cleaning the closet
Ahh, the one shred of organization that I found in The Closet. Good thing I have all my pay check stubs from 7 years ago. Good thing I kept them so organized. Good thing I haven't used this file cabinet for 7 years. Good thing when we move, we have a great little file cabinet to keep us organized at the new house!
Cleaning the closet
My great-grandmother's mid-mod painting was also found in The Closet. I love this painting. I should send it to my sister. Also, the Christmas candy tins I bought about 3 Christmases ago at Hobby Lobby...and never used. This project helped me realize just how much money I've wasted over the years. 
Cleaning the closet
Speaking of wasted money and unused things, I bought this toy when Eisley was a baby. I got it at US Toys and thought it'd be one of those great toddler activities that would last through the ages. NOT! Why?
Cleaning the closet
We never ended up using it because:
"Includes eight 15 1/2" scarves...(Scarfs sold seperately.)" Lame.
Cleaning the closet
So all that mess was tossed, donated, and boxed up to be moved to the next house. Now, we have an empty closet in Violet's room and just another to-do checked off the list. 
Cleaning the closet
Coming up next...
The Garage!

Dun dun dun.

Cheers,
Heather

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10 comments

  1. Okay, so you've motivated me to start cleaning out closets and cupboards right away! Or, at least on Monday. I need the next few days to mentally prepare myself for it. When we built our house 5 years ago, I was so stoked to have upgrade from 1400 square feet to 2500 square feet. 1100 square feet of more room! We won't be so crammed in anymore. Uh, no. That just meant that I could haul more stuff home because we had the room to store it. I'm scared, Heather. Seriously scared :-)

    ~Erica

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We're going from 1100 sq ft to 2500! Now you have me thinking about how fast I CAN fill it up. I feel like never buying anything ever again...

      How do we GET all this stuff? Oh yeah, thrifting...

      Delete
  2. How nice to be able to start fresh in a new space and fill it with things that you really, truly love and be deliberate about it. So much fun. And the scarf toy? Very odd. Never seen anything like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's the same idea as a box of Kleenex to entertain baby, except not wasteful. Except more wasteful when you never end up using it because the box lies.

      :-)

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  3. Wow! Very interesting! haha. As much as I hate tackling big, daunting tasks like that it does feel pretty darn awesome when they are successfully finished!

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    Replies
    1. It does! I'm sad to say I have more unfinished projects than accomplished ones. Oh well...something to work on!

      Delete
  4. After 21 years and 2 kids at the same house, I could never move. I knew that 10 years ago. There's more than one closet plus a storage room. I'd never get everything out. Every spring I pick one closet to start one, but alas it's filled back up by summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is it with CLOSETS? Maybe it's bad news that my maybe-new-craft-room has 4 of them. Eeek!

      Thanks for the comment, Anon ;-)

      Delete
  5. My walk in closet is our "closet". It too induces a quick change of subject. I'm right there with you girl.

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    Replies
    1. I was hoping someone would relate. It's like a junk drawer right, everyone has one...RIGHT?!

      I can't be the only one with this problem! haha :)

      Delete

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