Giving away our junk . . .

I'm in a cleaning mood.

I went down in the basement yesterday, which is in serious trouble, and started clearing things out, Clean Sweep style. Have you ever seen that show? A group of people who don't know you come in and pull everything out of two rooms of your house and put it all in yourback yard. Then, they help you sort through it all and decide what you really need, what is garbage and what can be sold in a garage sale. Whatever doesn't seel gets sent to a charity.

Though I don't have a whole group of people helping me, I started doing something similar in my basement. I set out three boxes and labeled them "Keep" "Toss" and "Donate." Then a started in one corner and sorted. Whatever was in Donate went out on my front lawn marked "FREE" and most of it is gone! I now have a clean spot. I'm hoping that spreads to the rest of the basement. I can dream . . .

My basement is so full of stuff there is just a narrow path from one door to the other and to the little closet where the circuit breakers and water meters are. It's such a shame, because this room could be beautiful! It even has a fireplace in it, though it's a gas one, not quite as fun as the woodburning kind. Maybe someday soon we'll be able to enjoy it.