Last night was not a good night for Vancouver Canucks hockey fans. I'm still convinced with home ice advantage that we will win the 'Big Mug' as my sister likes to say, but Monday and yesterday were not pleasant. At the beginning of the game last night, I decided that since it was relatively nice outside, I would go outside and clean up the bunker. (The Bunker being the small concrete patio and stairs that lead down to my apartment.) A couple days ago I bought a couple herb plants and they were so fresh and lovely looking that I thought they deserved a nice place to sit. Just before I went to Arizona, the landlords had the upstairs area powerwashed and despite my threats to the guy in the gumboots holding the high pressure hose, he got silt and dirt and dead leaves EVERYWHERE! The landlords are also kind enough to shake out their towels and other laundry right into my outdoor living space and then there's all the cat hair, so as I'm sure you can imagine, it was pretty messy!
So outside I went with my broom and a garbage bag... three huge dustpans full of silt and leaves and fluffy later, the stairs and most of the bunker were swept up and looked amazing. Then out came the Windex! I polished the stair rail, the top banister, the bottom part of the banister, my little outdoor 3 tier'd table and my mushroom. Going through my head the whole time, knowing that if I did nothing, that my friends are coming to help me, was my counselor who wisely said 'You don't have to wait until July to start'. At first I thought she was talking about running and yes, I do have to wait (for reasons I may expound on later). But then last night as I was cleaning and windexing, I realized what she meant. I'm taking everything I can do at the pace I can do it and last week I wasn't ready to clean out the Bunker. Yesterday I was and there's no sense in waiting for July. Yes, lots of things will wait and lots of things have to wait, but I'm going to do what I can now...
The funny thing was that while I was out there Windexing the railing, both my landlady and Patrick asked what I was doing and when told 'Windexing the railing' the next question from both of them was 'WHY?'. And then I realized that it's been so long since I've behaved like 'me', that they don't even recognize it. I'm innately more the person that will putter around outside (or inside) than sit on the sofa and watch TV. I like to make and build things and move and clean things... And last night was a lovely acheivable venture back into that part of me!
My plants now have a lovely home and politely asked if I could go out and get them a few more friends to help freshen the place up. The answer is yes, of course and I plan to do that tonight! I'm also going to get some chicken wire for the new cabinet and maybe some spray paint. And as I was sitting here, I came up with and awesome and potentially inexpensive solution to the fact that the bunker is in fact gray concrete. If I was in charge, I'd paint the floor, but it's not my house and that sort of thing needs upkeep, which wouldn't be guaranteed if I moved out. So I'm going to get some inexpensive fabric and some canvas stretchers and make fabric panels, which I will then hang on the walls. I'm thinking green and white... Which means that the spray paint I buy for the cabinet should be a green....
Decisions decisions
2 comments:
It's alright to want to clean up your life. People do it even when they are not in the midst of a life change. Spring cleaning, spontaneous chucking out of useless crap, cleaning out the junk drawer etc. Those are all ways of recentering ourselves and discarding the physical clutter that is tied to emotional and mental clutter.
It's also probably good that you are doing this now, while in transition, because there are probably going to be days that you are physically and emotionally exhausted and it will be nice to just sit in the pretty rather than have to wade through it and know that all that stuff is on the never ending to do list in your head.
White and green might be a bit bland against the grey. You might want to throw another colour in there. Maybe the cabinet should be a teal-y colour? Or some sort of blue? More of a tropical theme?
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