Ok, this is a cry for help! 

Please, tell me there's hope for a reforming clutter bug, pack-rat, call-it-what-cute-name-you-like.   AURGH!!   Here's the update:   The children and I are trying to pack up and clean this house so it can be put "on the market."   Well, that sounds great, doesn't it?!   AAHHHHH!   You see, I've dragged "stuff" across the country (from AZ to TN a year ago), and it's as though i'm so used to looking at it, the thought of getting RID of "it" never crosses my mind!

Not Long Ago...

A couple weeks back, dear Geanine (mom2fourtreasures) and her precious children, sacrificed a day of their busy life to lend help and encouragement.   Her word for me is:  SIMPLIFY.    Can I tell you something?   We are moving from a 4000 sqft home to a single wide mobile.   Four children, Dad & Mom, the three birds, two lizards and two dogs...and my parents who are in their 80's are moving from AZ to come live with us (they'll have their own little home on the property!).

So, picture this:

a clutter-nut going through 15 years of "stuff."   This is where Geanine's words keep coming back to me.   "Kim, if you can't organize it, it doesn't need to live here."   But...i found a great deal on acrylic paints, and we were going to paint pet rocks.   And books...don't get me going.   How on earth do you get rid of books??   We LOVE them!   In this house now, we have a home school room (filled with books).   In the mobile, we will have bedrooms, a family room and kitchen.   Where do the books and crafts go?   Must I part with them?!?   It was a mile stone for me this morning to sit down with the children and go thru the cookie cutters...i mean, who needs 150 of them? (yes, i'm serious...my mother in law is so precious, she knows we like to bake, and she likes to shop, and well, need i say more?!)

What's Next?

Our intention is to begin building our home, but it is very realistic that it will take us a year (or two, or three) before that is a completed reality.   I'm sooo tired of tripping over "things" that don't have a home.   And that happens in this big house - how much more in the mobile!!!   Fellow homeschoolers who know this struggle: PLEASE SEND ME ADVICE.   I am to the point where my emotional connection is to the children, not the 150,000 little things that they've made over the years.   Therefore, I can let go of (some) of those things.   And movies, clothes, and other "stuff" - i can let it go.   It just feels like i'm never going to get thru everything!   I need a process, and how to implement it (you highly organized, compassionate moms out there knows what I mean.  I know you're out there...!).   :)

My dear children

are working their little hearts out cleaning and amazingly, they have de-cluttered better than i.   Just tell me that it will work; that I can get rid of the glass bread dish that was my Mom's, but i've never used, and maybe even that neat glass turkey platter that we use twice a year, but store ALL year long....  *sigh*    Tell me the joys of clutter-free living!

Thanks for listening, i think i just needed to get this all out on "paper" before i delve back into the battle!   Angie & Maria, thank you for the encouragement!!   Geanine, I don't know how we could have made it this far without you!!   Thank you, thank you, thank you!   Hope your vacation was all you hoped it would be.   Oh, it rained a bit last night: thought of your happy garden drinking in the evening drops.

Oh, and did i mention, there was a couple that have called and want to see the house!   It almost makes me laugh out loud!!   "You'll love this home...but please watch your step - the breadmaker is being boxed up there on the floor, and don't mind those pile of books (they're going to McKay's, you know).   And - pardon?  Did you say something?   Can't quite hear you too well over the big industrial fan  running in the hallway - you see, we just finished staining the trim last night.  Would you care for a cup of tea?"

As I've been writing just now they called AGAIN!   I have invited them over to see the home on Thursday (yes, THIS Thursday!).   So if we come to your mind, or as you're reading this, please just ask the Lord to give us direction and inspiration, and to not lose heart in doing good.

 T-48 hours...and counting.