Up to My *** in Alligators

50°f this morning (10°C). Sunny bright, and balmy with a soft breeze. 65 is predicted for today.

Well not alligators, but mess!

 I have been working since the beginning of the year on downsizing my eBay inventory and clearing some space in the room that should be our spare bedroom. "Should" being the keyword here. After our youngest son left home, this room, formerly our bedroom (the boys were all in the big bedroom we now use), turned into my

storytelling office. We added 2 hide-a-bed sofas so there were places for guests to sleep, and if needed we put cots for grandkids in the office. 

Then eBay happened, and the room became my eBay/storytelling room. The eBay inventory grew, and so did storytelling supplies. There were totes of puppets, 5 or 6 different amps and sound systems, files and files of research, programs, workshop handouts, boxes of CDs and books, as well as boxes of brochures, flyers and business cards. eBay grew into 4 large shelves, stacks of totes, and all kinds of shipping supplies. My desk, computer and printer were in there too...all in a 10x14 room with, thankfully, a very high ceiling.

After a lot of work, sorting, donating, etc I have taken out one large shelf, and countless totes. I had begun downsizing the storytelling things in 2020 when I retired from that profession, but yesterday while emptying the big desk in preparation for moving it out, I came upon files and files of stories, workshop materials and research. It made me nostalgic for those days of immersion into the story world, I can tell you. I determinedly tossed most of it, keeping only a few things for my memory box. The desk drawers were another story. So many pens and pencils! And staples, post-its, tape, glue, tape measures...but I was able to empty all four drawers and reorganized the supplies into the two small file cabinets--which also had to be sorted out and cleaned out.

This morning we have made an amazing mess as we cleared the desk completely. Larry is disassembling it to move it out and take to our neighbor who scraps metal. We will replace the desk temporarily with a table until I find a smaller desk that will better fit my needs today.

We have quite a mess on our hands, since once the desk is out the room the electronics have to be put back together. Will that happen today? Kinda doubtful.

It is a shame to be inside mucking about with this project but it does feel good to be making progress. The goal is to be able to put a full- size bed in there, as we seem to have more older overnight visitors for whom the sofa-bed just isn't so comfy.  I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, even as I look wistfully back through the dust at those busy, happy days of storytelling.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.