JoAnn's World

I finally did it, I cleaned the pantry out. It may not seem like much, but it is a milestone in my moving forward with living and not just doing. Oh I’m still doing, doing, doing, but now there is a small corner of doing that I just lifted off my shoulders.

The weekend after my last post, Jim pulled our 90 gallon trash can to the back door and I pulled out a couple of folding tables, set them up in the dining room and living room, and then proceeded to take everything out of the pantry that didn’t belong. I put sewing and craft items that I wanted to keep on one table, other things I wanted to keep on another table, and things I wasn’t sure about on the dining table. The things I no longer had a use for I sorted into donatable items and tossed the non-donatable junk.

After two days, I ended up with a garbage can that was two-thirds full, four donation boxes and extra room in the pantry. I was actually able to put items that were cluttering my kitchen space into the pantry where it belonged and had a less cluttered space. It was very cathartic.

As with life, instead of looking at the big picture, you just have to tackle one small corner. A weight gets lifted immediately and other areas seem to fall into place.

Since it has taken me over two weeks to get this post up, you can tell that I’m still too busy to do most of the things I really enjoy doing or want to do. But this was, none-the-less, a milestone.

Now on to milestone #2.

JoAnn ; }

Yes, this is my pantry. There are bits and pieces of my life scattered and stored on the shelves. There’s a sewing machine and a few sewing supplies, some craft supplies, yarns and baskets, office supplies, a foot soaker, picture frames, wrapping paper, a couple of kites, paint, glue, cleaning supplies, games, paper towels and TP, stuff for the motor home, a couple of old badmitten rackets, extension cords, cook books, cards, light bulbs, photos, an extra chair, folding tables and chairs, a little bit of food, and more miscellaneous stuff.

My pantry is also indicative of my life, cluttered. Normally, when you think of clutter, you think of stuff scattered all over the house. Though my house isn’t strewn with stuff, my clutter includes days that are cluttered with job-related tasks and to dos versus household responsibilities that I should get to, my sleep is interrupted with the same as well as what I should be doing on social media, my emotions are cluttered with worry about my kids and grandkids, my closets are full of clothes and shoes that are either too small or that I don’t wear, and my basement is full of the things I’d like to do more of.

There are times that I look around and can’t move because of the weight of all the clutter, especially the clutter in my mind. I literally feel paralyzed. Underneath all that weight, I don’t take time to take care of my own health or weight.

It’s sad that the things I enjoy doing – sewing, crocheting, locker hooking, crafts, and working with my photos – are all packed up in boxes and stored on shelves in the basement or the pantry.

It’s time. It’s time to clean out the pantry. If only I knew where to start.

JoAnn ; }