How many of us have asked ourselves, "How did I accumuate so much stuff in the kitchen cupboards and why did I let it go so out of hand?"
I have a small galley type kitchen in my townhouse and I am having the cupboards stripped down, resanded and stained. Next comes interior painting of the whole place, followed by carpet cleaning and new window treatments. Aargh! Why did I even start? Well, because things were beginning to look dated and shabby.
Last week the handyman took all the cupboard faces off to sand down and refinish in the shop. Then he'll come back, put plastic everywhere, and sand down and refinish the wood that is still there. Peter mentioned, as he and Danny were preparing to leave, "Fran, you might want to consider getting all the stuff out of the cupboards to make sure we don't get it dusty or break anything." He didn't say that I had a despicable mess, but I sure said that to myself. Peter is an old friend of the family, the same age as my eldest son, and my kids and his brothers and sisters grew up together. His mom died a few years ago from an unexpected fall while taking her morning walk; she was in excellent health. Thinking about his once invinceable mom, he said, "Be very careful about getting up on ladders. Get someone to help you."
I am very, very cautious about ladders these days as my balance is no longer as fine-tuned as it once was, so what did I do? I procrastinated; I just hate to ask people to help me do things until I'm really unable to do stuff myself. There comes the moment, however, when you can run, but you can't hide.
So I got up this morning, went down and made coffee and there was the kitchen staring me in the face because all the cupboard doors are off. I read the paper on the patio, part of my morning routine, and then stood surveying what seemed like a mammoth, almost impossible task. Gulp! But, I got out my two stair kitchen ladder and began to systematically, and very carefully, remove the "sentimental" display items from the tops of the cabinets, and then to empty each one. Dust, bugs, spider webs, accumulated kitchen grease, gag.
My mom couldn't part with anything and I guess I took after her. I did do a major purging of items in 1987 when I moved from the family home, but here I am with way too much stuff again--or yet. The spices and tea collection were the worst. When I was married, we entertained a LOT and I cooked a lot, but some of this stuff has to be from the 1960s. Now I have two trash bags full of stuff. And then there are the dishes, glasses and endless cooking utensils from my grandmother, mother, and mother-in-law that I am sentimentally attached to, but will never use again.
The first load is in the dish washer with several more loads to go. I'm making piles:
- Christy (daughter) might want this
- Salvation Army or thrift shop and this includes stuff that were wedding gifts in 1955.
- Freecycle
- Stuff the church kitchen might want 'cause we are restocking there after our hall burned down and now it's rebuilt
- Stuff I will definitely keep because I still (or might) use it.
- Sentimental stuff that I just can't bear to part with--yet. This includes the baby plate I ate from and the engraved silver cups people gave my kids when they were born.
If you were here you might want to take:
- Enough tea for the Boston Tea Party and I drink mostly coffee.
- A set for 12 with all accessories of Mikasa's Log Cabin pattern every day dishes that my ex-husband and I bought for our 25th anniversary. (The family still insists on using this set when they come for dinner.)
- Eight loaf pans and the gigantic pots I used to cook for large parties.
- A set of 12 beautiful seashells I used to serve seafood cocktails on.
- Fourteen vases that flowers are delivered in.
- Grandma Pullara's huge serving platters from the early 1900s
- Enough casserole dishes to choke a horse because we used to have so many potlucks.
This I know. I am getting rid of my 15-year-old set of faded, blue every day dishes and will go to the Home Goods store after a doctor's appointment and get a new, inexpensive set.
Needless to say, a task like I am undertaking today opens up an emotional can of worms and memories are innundating me. How did all those years go by so quickly?
Can any of you identify with what I'm writing about?
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