TWO STEPS BACK

I spent two hours in my office yesterday, clearing, tossing, reading. the desk -- with 9 drawers -- is now empty. The 13-year-old file box is empty.

But the room is a total wreck.

That's been happening a lot lately. I focus on one small area at a time. For instance, one day was for clearing the coat closet. Several things went to charity, one went to the kids, but two leather jackets are now hanging on the stair rail awaiting a photo shoot, so I can sell them on Ebay. Progress? I guess so. Take CLEAR COAT CLOSET off the list; add TAKE PHOTOS OF COATS and SELL COATS ON EBAY. Sigh

One thing off the list, two back on. Sigh.

It's a balancing act between getting rid of everything while trying to keep the house looking good to put on the market. Coats on the stair rail? Not so good. An office that's in total disarray? Bad. Maybe we can put a big sign on the front door that says WORK IN PROGRESS. Um, no. Or maybe one that says, "See something you like? PLEASE take it."

The TO DO list is something like this:

--sort through remaining junk in office
--look through jewelry and decide what has to go -- and where
--go through box of old, old photos and dispatch (halfway done)
--get four trays of slides from my childhood put on CD
--take load of books to library DONE!!
--sell wine racks (after drinking the wine!)
--clean and sort the downstairs workroom
--find a home for several boxes of old VHS movies
--figure out what to do with Chip's vinyl
--sort through the den closet
--deal with photos and photo albums from the last 10 years
--find homes/sell music instruments (cello, acoustic guitar, kunga, keyboard, etc.)
--get rid of CDs after putting them on iPod (partially done)
--is there anything in the attic? god, I hope not.
--paint the kids' bathroom
--touch up bedroom paint
--fix hole in sheetrock in downstairs bedroom (that's a good story for another day)
--clear out linen closet/decide what to keep
--go through bureau in living room. deal with the junk we find there
--mail books to the owners we borrowed them from
--don't end items with a preposition
--return yoga videos to friend in California
--mail shadow box of my dad's military memorabilia to my sister in New Mexico
--give gardening books to a friend who gardens DONE!!!
--decide what cookbooks we want on the boat and give away the rest
--evaluate what we need to add/subtract/spruce up to sell the house
--power wash the front porch DONE!!!!
--take pictures of stereo and sell on Ebay
--stop blogging and get something off the list

TODAY'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
--gave gardening books to one of our customers
--scrubbed down the front porch
--bid on stanchion caps on Ebay (it's a boat thing)
--found boxes (sort of) to ship chair I sold on Ebay
--dropped off books we're donating to library
--gave journalism books to high school
--got boat insurance quotes