Tegenstelling

My sixth book, the last of a trilogy. Oh my, sometimes I can't believe this is really happening...

Done, for now

And another week has passed without blogging... My excuse? Too busy. But that's not really a good excuse, since I'm always too busy. But this week I was going back and forth between cleaning my bedroom and feeling sick. Hayfever, I think. And dustallergies, probably. But that last problem is solved now. The bedroom is done.

I love reading blogs about organizing and DIY and I'm always admiring those honest befores and stunning afters. I wish I could do the same, but the truth is that our bedroom is still a 'before'. The list of things to do is endless. We still have to finish the walls (where the wall we broke down used to be) and the floor (we have two different floors now) and I want to paint (trims, those purple walls and maybe all of it). Oh and lots and lots more comes to mind, but I don't want to think about it. We have still so many other projects to finish and so little time to do so.

For now I'm just going to enjoy our clean and decluttered bedroom. And if you take a picture from the right angle it really does look nice.

p.s. those baskets are empty and will probably go
p.p.s. yes, we upholstered that beam. It's just a little too low for us and it already got me a severe concussion, so we're trying to prevent that from happening again.

In my garden

All the rain we've been getting lately does have one advantage. Or maybe even two. First of all my garden really, really needed some rain. And second: now I don't have to feel guilty about not having time to do some work in the garden.
Besides... these plants don't really need me to look beautiful. Even when it's raining.

Decluttering

I was going to start writing this post first thing in the morning. I wasn’t sure what to write about, but figured it would come to me when I started. A bit of catching up, something simple.

But I didn’t make it to the computer all morning. I was going to do a little bit of cleaning in the living room before I started and then it took me all morning.

During those chaotic weeks , there just wasn’t enough time to do more than just a quick bit of vacuuming (that’s what I planned to do this morning too). It’s likely that there are some dust bunnies building up when you ‘clean’ like that. And there’s the decluttering I’m doing.

I don’t like that word very much. Because it’s not really clutter that I’m dealing with. The clutter is long gone in our home. These are all things that are somehow important to me. But it’s a fact that there are too many of those things.

It’s very unnerving to help with somebody else’s move to a new (smaller) home. Or at least it is when you’re like me, always thinking beyond the surface. Because, after wondering about the amount of ‘stuff’ somebody else is holding on to and thinking how they could easily part with a lot of it, I realized that in the crooks and crannies of my home there is a lot of  ‘stuff’ that other people might think I could easily part with too.

And so, I have started to sort through all my closets and I actually am parting with a lot of it.

That’s great (because it feels good to let go of stuff), exhausting (because I’m constantly making hard decisions) and very dusty (since I didn’t clean very well lately).

Oh well, we’re almost there. Right now I even have two empty shelves in my living room closet. That sounds better than it is, because I also have two cupboards that I want out of the house and what’s in there will never fit on those two shelves. But it’s a start. And upstairs it begins to feel like a bedroom, instead of having to sleep in a combined office/walk-in closet. I am doing well decluttering.

If only it was that easy to declutter my mind. My mind is very full. Besides all the sorting and cleaning, there are taxes to be done, a daughter needing help one her studying (we’re sort of homeschooling at the moment) and two stories I write when I have a little time to spare. Or at least I’m thinking about those stories while doing other things. Two at once. Not really efficient. Those stories are getting tangled in my mind. But that’s okay. Both the main characters are very good at organizing.

I’m not sure if those characters inspired my decluttering or the other way around. I guess that’s just the way I write. Both inspired by and inspiring for my own life.

Good moments

Some of the better moments of those past weeks were spent on the island of Curacao. We were there partly for work (I wrote about half a book while Theo visited clients), but also for fun. And there is lots of fun to be found on that island, I tell you).

More photos here

Curious how Curacao is on the other side of the world but still sort of in our own country? I found this wonderful and funny video explaining it all (and also the difference between Hollanders and Dutch - I'm both)

Back

I was planning to make my first blogpost after the break a nice roundup in numbers. Like this: number of family member moves (not me, but my help was needed): 2; square metres of laminateflooring laid: 33; boxes unpacked: 50 (or more); etc. But the most part of that month can not be summed up like that (how do you count emotions?) and a lot of it is not what I want out on the internet anyway. A friend called the last months a rollercoaster and I think that's quite accurate.

I'm wondering if looking back is what I need right now. There were sad moments, there were happy moments (maybe I'll share a few photos of those later) and it's over. I'd better look at the future. Although... living in the past isn't right, but constantly living in the future isn't healthy either. One forgets to enjoy the present (I love how in English that word also means 'gift') that way.

I think my first post after this break should be like this:

Hi, I'm back. The sun is shining and the bulbs are flowering. Isn't that great?