Project with a capital "P"...

It always goes something like this. My sweet sister will call and say, "Hey, what are you doing the weekend of ___?  Can I come visit?" We love her visits, so the answer is almost always a resounding "YES!" She lives about a 3 hour drive from here, so it's not like she can just drop in anytime.  As the time for her stay with us approaches we will have conversations about what we might do while she is here.  In the summer we might plan a beach day, or a kayak adventure. Sometimes we organize exploring some local antique stores, or a fun lunch out. But at some point she always says, "Let's just do nothing."  I roll my eyes.  Doing "nothing" is not really in her repertoire. The next thing I know we are on top of a mountain or something.

When Deb is here,  she always finds a project to make my life better. They tend to be rather ambitious and not a lot of fun, but the end results are usually excellent.  This weekend she decided my pantry was a problem. And as usual, she was right. The pantry is a dandy little space, but it tends to collect items that have no real home, and soon the shelves are overflowing. Also, I had TOO MUCH STUFF. Some of my stuff gets used for parties and such, (extra dishes, glasses, silverware, platters) but some of it was just overkill. "We are going to edit." My sister told me. I knew that was necessary, but also knew it would be painful. Letting go of stuff is hard.

Here is a picture just after we started. There is one empty shelf. We took everything off the wooden cabinet, took some measurements, and asked Chris if he might help us change things up. Then we went off for some adventures. When we got back the old wooden cabinet was gone, and a brand new wire shelving unit was ready to go it's place.  I had some attachment to the antique wooden thing, and it had lots of character, but it really wasn't very good at storage.

This morning, bright and early, we removed everything from both the other shelving units. There was vacuuming, scrubbing, and organizing for the next few hours.  No one organizes quite as well as my sister. Where I would have been standing around scratching my head and wondering what to put where, she was up and down off the ladder, moving and stacking, tossing and grouping. It was awesome to see.

Here is what my previously tidy dining room table looked like after we stacked STUFF all over it. The kitchen counters were piled high, and even the living room furniture had piles teetering on them. It was a little grim. We kept plugging away, and then the tide turned, and suddenly I could see order growing out of chaos.

There are still a few things to do. The top of the freezer needs to be sanded and repainted, and there is an old book shelf behind the door that houses bottles of liqueur. A new shelf is on order. By next weekend the room will be completely in order.

I can't wait for my sister to come visit again!