Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Big Discovery

The process of getting my house ready to market continues. I attacked the basement with renewed vigor today pushing aside cobwebs and reaching into the darkest and most remote corners. I poked into places that I have not looked into in 20 years. I made thousands of decisions in a matter of hours. Is this trash? Will it sell at a yard sale? Is there a spark of potential left in this? What is the shelf life of windshield washer fluid? How long does a 2x4 have to be to warrant saving it for a later project? Then there was the debate over flyswatters. How many do I need? (Never mind that I haven't used one in years) As soon as I throw it out there will arrive a pesky fly to drive me crazy. But do I need one for each hand?



It all gets a little overwhelming. BREAK TIME! Call a friend, laugh a little, have a beer and then get back at it. Today there was a bonus for my fortitude. I climbed onto a stool to scope out the top shelves of the dark and dirty storage lockers. I motivate myself to do this by envisioning myself opening a cigar box full of $100 bills. Come on. It happens sometimes. I found a stash years ago behind a partition in this very basement. There was an unopened bottle of Rum, a wrapped cigar, and an unloaded handgun. None of this was of much use to me but it was some one's treasure and it was hidden.



But today I found a strip of the vinyl flooring...the very one I spoke of in my first blog entry. At the risk of it being anticlimactic, I show it to you now.



This is the pattern I so had my heart set on for that first kitchen. Can you believe I still have a piece of it 30 years later?



Do you think I have a little problem parting with the things I love?