LESS IS MORE!

So after returning home from Birmingham, I had a small bee in my bonnet. We are surrounded, nay overwhelmed, by all of the things in this house.
And then I read this blog post over at Clean.

It's easy enough to stand in the midst of a messy child's room and yell "I've had enough!"
And have your husband yell "me too!" and formulate a plan to lessen the stuff burden, but then I started to look at MY stuff.

I have a lot of stuff. Books, Art supplies, clothes, shoes, movies...

So last week, I sorted out my cookbooks. I asked myself: If the house burned down & I lost everything, which of these would I replace?
I kept those & ditched the rest.
Next week will be the bedroom closet. Out will go the too small, too big, unfinished, and things that make me go "enh".

Wish me luck.

Some thoughts

I have not been posting because I am trying to come to terms with the death of my grandmother, whom we called Nana. She lived a life that spanned nearly a century. Woodrow Wilson was President when she was born in Morgan City, Louisiana. Barack Obama was President when she died in Birmingham, Alabama. She was a pioneer in her time, running the accounting for 2 businesses when most women were expected to be only wives and mothers. She was strong-willed, courageous, and possessed a perseverence that seems mind-boggling by today's standards. She survived and thrived despite all that life through at her. And she left an amazing legacy: us. Her family.

March 25, the morning she passed, I woke at 5:00 am knowing that I would be receiving a phone call that morning. At 7 am my father called to let me know she had gone.

When Aaron arrived home from work we began the task of planning our departure for Birmingham, a 680 mile journey from where we currently live. I packed bags, called pet & house sitters, I called off work, and made sure that neighbors kept an eye on the house. I baked a batch of Nana's tea biscuits for Dad.

Aaron drove the whole way down while the kids & I slept in the car. We arrived in Birmingham at 6:30 AM and ate breakfast.

We arrived at Nana's house at 7AM where my parents & brother were staying. The next 3 days were filled with family and mourning and laughter. My kids got to meet their cousins for the first time. We filled Nana's house with the things she loved most: family and friends.

I think it was a fitting tribute to a woman who listed "parties" at the top of her "Things I like" list. Now I am still coming to terms with the Nana-shaped hole in my universe. She was a puzzle that I don't think I will ever entirely understand--and that is what makes me saddest above all.

We visited in 2002, and she said something to me that I have written down, repeated, and carried with me:

Never forget who you are.

Never forget that you are loved.

Thank you, Nana.