Happy New Year 2013

I love New Years.   I love the whole idea of a fresh start... a new beginning.  A reflection of what needs to be done....  a review of what went on the past year.

2012 was filled with excitement, family and happiness.  Along with good things, there were a couple of very sad, life "re-focusing" moments as well.   I did not have a bad feeling about 2012... at all... but I do have a good feeling about 2013.  I really do... and that is a rare thing for me... I never have premonitions... not good ones anyway.


This time last year.... our home was filled with a newborn baby and two young adults... learning about parenthood and loving a baby.  We had cats, dog,  guinea pigs....   Every nook and cranny of our moderate home was filled with stuff.  News Years... clean slate mentality... started me on a quest to empty out useless things from our home.. or things that others would value more than I did.

I started with all the baby items I had saved from my kids' childhoods, and things that had more memories attached to them than usefulness.  Stuffed animals, pretty newborn dresses and sleepers,  favourite toys of many of their stages.  ALL of these things meant way more to me  than to my kids.
So... off to a new family .. went... Kid Sister, Hostess Munchie bear, pink bunnies, pink stuffed animals, bath toys and random baby/toddler toys.

I found Calendars from 1977 to 1988... sort of a blog but in calendar form. I didn't throw those out, but they are tucked nicely in my closet with other "heritage building" materials.  Wedding dress... homemade wedding flowers and centrepieces... gone.

 A particularly special trophy I won in 1976, marking my expertise at being a secretary - right out of high school.  Geesh.... I had a lot of fun with that for about a week at work.. and when everyone was finished bowing to me because of my greatness... a picture was taken of my remarkable award and it was also dumped!

Soon, this giant trunk in the garage was emptied of these useless memories and re-filled with camping gear and other more appropriate trunk items.
We moved onto my freezer and I am embarrassed to say... we took 5 boxes of meat, berries,  veggies and fish to Oaklawn Farm for all the animals there to eat.  I had to throw out bread, fries, egg rolls.. etc. Not even the Bears, Tigers and Eagles would eat those frost bitten items.  But Gail Rogerson said she would take anything from your freezer because her creatures don't mind freezer burn.  And how fun to feed her big bears frozen strawberries in the middle of winter when they usually don't get such treats.  This is a note to everyone who is cleaning out your freezers... she will ALWAYS take your throw aways.

The whole year of 2012 has been a de clutter year.  Craft room, Christmas decorations, Linen closets, kitchen cupboards.  Not 100%, and not all the time.. but it has been on my mind all year.  And now.. in 2013... it will continue.

In 6 short weeks, our home will become home to Michelle and Scott, along with Jack and all the pets.  This is a strategic move on their part as they move from one stage in their family life to another.  They will be leaving behind Fredericton, in search of a new life in the Halifax area.  While the search is happening, they will be joining our house, sharing with us the joy and mayhem of raising a little boy.

In the weeks ahead,  we will be super purging closets, un-used "spare" rooms and re-vamping a dusty, lifeless "family room".  It will be wonderful to have life in every part of our big, mostly empty house, but before that can happen, those mostly forgotten hiding places need to be cleared of more "never used" items... Prom dresses, old clothes, boxes of dishes... old blankets, books, wool.. oh my.. the list goes on!
But, for now, today... New Years Day.... after a wonderful one hour walk through the snow..... we rest.