thinking ahead

though i probably won’t start moving anything over to david’s for another month or so, it struck me recently that i should start going through my things in order to weed out what does not need to be packed up and moved to yet another dwelling, where it will sit in a box or on the back of a shelf, only to be unused there, as well.

my first attempt at cleaning out entailed going through the mug cabinet in my kitchen. yes, a cabinet full of mugs. oh, so many mugs. mugs i’ve been given, mugs i’ve bought on trips, mugs i’ve “rescued” from my parents’ garage sales because they had sentimental value for me. they’re obviously very meaningful, seeing as they have since sat in that cabinet for four years, never once finding their way out past the many other mugs in front of them, which i also never use. so, i now have a box of eight mugs ready to be donated to those who need them. in this case, the north park friendship center’s mother’s closet.

last night while doing laundry, i decided to tackle my front hall closet, which was filled with empty boxes (many of them too small to be of much use), gift boxes which haven’t been used because they weren’t in the same place as my other gift-giving materials and were thus forgotten, two folded-up cardboard containers from two six-packs of magic hat beer (which i was saving because . . . ?), and more candles than one woman needs. a little recycling here, a little rearranging there, and voila! a less cluttered closet housing only things i actually use. (okay, maybe i could go through it one more time and come out even less cluttered.)

turning around to face the kitchen, my cleaning eye caught the pantry, which i have used as a catch-all for a variety of things, some of them only loosely related to the kitchen. in here i found vases i never use, candle holders i bought with the intention of using but never did, pots for plants that never got planted, and two boxes of adorable napkin rings from crate & barrel, which i bought shortly after moving in, tucked back in a corner of the pantry, and promptly forgot about. those i will save, but a few vases, candle holders, and a little silver tray that isn’t big enough for anything got put on the counter until a box is found in which to transport them to the mother’s closet.

my final project was to go through the three poster tubes that have been sitting in the closet of the second bedroom for four years. in one of them i found the classic michael jordan “wings” poster . . .

the edward henry potthast print that hung on the walls of my college dorm rooms . . .

one poster from each of the first four harry potter movies, one poster from the notebook, and two posters from past seasons at ravinia (the one on the left fully meant for my office wall).

it was a productive and interesting night, to say the least. and i think the next few weeks and months will be just as interesting, if not more so, as i unearth more and more. i haven’t even touched my storage unit yet!