Peeking through the Window

I watched a tiny lizard out of the bottom of my long antebellum window located at the front of my house. The window is a little over six feet tall with handles on the bottom. No, I do not live in a historic antebellum home. Quite the opposite I live in a small home that was built in the late 50s or early 60s near Fort Gillem a World War II army fort just south of Jackson Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. The neighborhood is in Conley, Georgia a small bedroom community that has only a post office. This is it only a zip code 30288. No city government at all. We get our services through Clayton County or private companies.

When we looked at the home just over 23 years ago, I thought this type of window being put in this house was strange. However, after looking through what eventually would become our quaint three-bedroom home I saw a lot of unique touches. The previous owners were the do-it-yourself types. They added a laundry room, closed in the garage and made it into a family room. They also somehow put in a small bath in the back bedroom making it a small master bedroom with a closet with sliding doors. Also, in the front room they added a closet with sliding doors. The add-ons and other touches help sell the home. We feel in love immediately with the place and closed on the property about two weeks later.

Now that the two of us have lived here just over 23 years we have managed to fill every room in the house with more stuff than is needed. We must declutter our happy home. Beginning today a plan on how to declutter the place must be put in place. This project is going to take some time. The only way to get it done is to make a plan and then follow it weekly. Making sure everything that is not absolutely needed leaves this place immediately after it is gathered. If it stays and my husband sees it he will find a way to justify not removing it. This is what has happened in the past. No more the stuff goes for good.

No use in beating myself up about what has happened over the time we have lived in our home. I feel it is a blessing in some ways. I get a chance to share what I do not want with others. I was blessed by it now I can pass on the blessing. As I type this, I know I am going to need some equipment like an indoor wheelbarrow. Yes, this is how much we have accumulated over the years. Also, a small dolly I am too old to wear myself out trying to move heavy boxes and lift large lawn and leaf bags filled with clothing and other items. My husband who is eleven years my senior is in no shape to lift a lot of heavy boxes or bags either. We are both old people with old people problems low back pain, bad knees and arthritis.

Getting back to the tiny lizard. It is black with yellow stripes and a blue tail. It just plays around the step just outside the window. Or maybe there is more than one lizard, and they take turns playing around the step. I have had the Day Lilies cut down that once grew near the step. Why? I just needed a change to see something new. Now what I will replace them with I am not sure yet. I guess something easy to take care of like a set of small bushes that do not grow more than a foot tall or so. Not too thick something that needs to be cut only once every three months with green thick leaves.

Since I am seriously thinking about decluttering my home my kitchen has several items under it that have been there for way to long (over five years). It is time for all of it to go. The kitchen table is not a storage unit. When I get it cleared out, we can enjoy eating on it again. We have become TV table diners. Not good it is time to upgrade.

One of the bedrooms has slowly turned into a storage room and needs to be emptied of many items. I see a few things I used over 15 years ago when I was doing market research and in-store promotions. Maybe some imaginative person can figure something out and find a way to repurpose the signs. Once cleared out a double bed and a chest of drawers is going in it. I have seen a set in the TV ad for Wayfair that will be perfect! Then it is going to be a guestroom only.

My office, oh well this is going to take a while I am going to leave it to the end. This place is my nest. I see a few things from over 20 years ago that I have not used since and probably will not use ever again. As I said this is my nest. A few years ago, I realized I have what is referred to as Nesting Syndrome. It is a need to have a lot of things close around you. The same way birds build nest lots of stuff in the nest to make feel close like a hug. This makes me feel comfortable and I write well in the environment. Now I know I need to clear it out the sooner the better. After clearing out the clutter I may find my mind will work even better in a more open space. My office needs a facelift, like new set of file cabinets and a nice bookcase. Oh yeah, a small table where I can do some art, crafts and sketch out my book covers. It is time for a hobby I can make some extra money.

The little lizard still plays on the corner of the step. It played or one of its many friends plays on the step from time to time. Just basking in the sun, jetting around until it decides it is tired of me watching it and goes away. I am puzzled why I only always see only one lizard every time I look out the window. The other day a neighbor’s cat came by sniffing around the step and gazed for a while at the ground by the step. Maybe the lizard or his friends will not be back for a while because cats do eat bugs and maybe little lizards.