more purging

today i got to work on the built-in hutch thing we have in the dining room, and again, i feel like i must be moving soon.  the emptiness is something i have only experienced when i am all packed up, when all my stuff (the stuff i like and use and the stuff i don't but have never had the strength to let go of) is in boxes and out the door.  onto the next storage place.  i am ready for my home to be more of a living home and less of a storage home.  the emptiness is growing on me.  it becomes less startling every time i walk by and more and more like a deep breath in...and then out.  my hope is for more deeps breaths, more letting go, and less overwhelm.  i am someone that can easily get overwhelmed.  and i am far from my best when i am in that state.
i also got the kids rooms started.  we have a huge pile of clothes to sell.  so in the past month i went from the need to purchase new dressers for each child...because the ones we have aren't big enough and they were always over stuffed, which makes it hard for kids to be helpful in cleaning up their clothes and rooms.  i know, cleaning up is easier if everything has a place, and especially if those places actually fit what goes in there.  so, now we don't have to spend money on some new piece of furniture...and the kids will put their clothes away!  great!  (ok, i know the kids helping isn't going to magically happen...i am not that naive)
we also are going through toys.  oh, the things i wish i knew as a new parent.  the things you can't possibly know as a new parent because you have to learn it yourself.  like, my kids don't need all these toys that i thought they just HAD to have.  they hardly ever play with any of it.  my friend Jen was just talking to me about a book she is reading about simplicity parenting.  and how the fewer toys a kids had the more they can actually live into, and play more deeply with the ones they do have.  it makes sense.  even today with tallulah, my 5 yr old....she was saying she wanted to keep this dress and i said...but pumpkin you never wear it.  and she said, mama...i just forget that it is there.  when we have too many things, maybe we forget that we even have some really great stuff.  there is all the crap in the way.  it can get buried in the piles you create in an effort to shove everything in a closet so you can feel like your house is somewhat together.  well, maybe that's just me.
time to make dinner...
which reminds me, the kitchen is going to be the hardest place for me to tackle.  but you know, since i love to cook so much, maybe that is the place in my home where keeping stuff makes sense.
and can i just say....thank you sun, thank you for shining on Seattle this week!
xoxomelissa