totallytinab

I am sitting in my house that I have lived in for almost 6 years as the moving men pack up our lives into a few boxes. (OK-A lot of boxes)  Tomorrow everything will be loaded into a moving truck and then it will all be unloaded Saturday.  Knowing me, I will have most of it organized in a week or so.

The house we are moving to will be my 5th house as “an adult”  Each represents a different time in my life.  My first house will always be special.  When we bought it, Dan and I weren’t even married.  I had just established myself on tour  and buying the house signified just that.  House #2 was my dream home. It was my favorite and I know I will always love that house.   House #3 was in Manhasset, NY.  It was the only old house we have lived in and it had its charms. I finally got it just the way I wanted it when we decided to move back to Arizona.  House #4 is a great house and I will certainly miss the quiet.  Life changes and with each life change, we have changed houses.

It’s amazing how much “stuff” you can accumulate when you have lived in 4 different houses.  We are downsizing in House #5.  We are loosing 1000 square feet and a garage space.  So for the last month, I have been getting rid of “stuff”  If I hadn’t worn it, used it, played with it, or eaten off of it in a year, it was gone.  We had a garage sale, we have furniture on consignment and we have made several non-profits very happy from all of our donations.  I discovered a few things about myself.  One, I am a picture- frame aholic.  We got rid of 4 bins of picture frames (but I had to keep 2 to continue to feed my addiction)  Two, there were double the amount of  hangers as clothes in this house.  I had no idea until I was cleaning out the closets and found a box full of them that was never even unpacked from House #3.  Three, I was saving clothes that used to fit before my accident just in case I gained all of my weight back.  So far, that hasn’t happened so GoodWill was the beneficiary to my weight loss.  (Now the pressure is on to stay this size!)  Four, even with all of this de -clutter, we still have way too much “stuff”!!

I am hoping for good things in House #5.  We are moving to a house more centrally located, closer to my work and in a nice transitioning neighborhood with no snakes!  But in a few years, we will accumulate more “stuff and life will change… Hello House #6!