Its' all gotta go....

As most of you know (if you follow me on FB or Twitter)The Superfamily just recent had a fire in our home. No one was hurt and nothing of any real value was damaged (no major structural damage etc..). However, even after the fire dept aired the house out with “superfan”, the house still smelled of burned plastic and smoke. Although the fire was contained to the basement, its effects permeated to every lower level bedroom as well as up to my bedroom on the main floor to the kitchen, living room, dining room and bathroom. In short, the whole house was contaminated because of a small fire in a contained location.

The insurance company has set us in a several hotel suites and the family is doing ok, terribly inconvenienced but ok. But the house is another story. The professional restoration people has practically wiped my home out. They have taken everything from the pictures that were on the wall to every VCR tape we had in the house. All the furniture, tables, chairs, beds, dressers, clothes, shoes, washer, dryer, pots, pans, vases…EVERYTHING was packed in a box to be cleaned offsite and brought back after renovation.

I had a tough time with this. It seemed a bit overboard and it was inconveniencing me even further. I had to go buy pans & pots to cook with at the hotel for goodness sake. It seemed to me that as long as the basement was cleaned, the rest of the house should be fine. But the professionals knew better. They knew that after the reconstruction, the painting, the cleaning of carpet, washing on walls and every crevice of the basement was not enough to ensure that my home would smell appropriately and not continue to push smut though the air from one room to the next…. They HAD to take out everything that was touched by smoke, take it away and clean it. In so many words they told me, its all gotta go. At one point I went and sat in my living room and cried. I spent four years designing the walls and finding the perfect B & W photos, finally picking out furniture and making a pretty big house a warm home. To see it all in shambles, dirty, smelly and boxed away was overwhelming. To know my family had to scramble to find a few day’s worth of clothes and my husband lost rest and time having to handle the business of this was more than I could take. Angry wasn’t the word. I should be studying for a play, finishing my book and helping to plan a wedding, not hauling clothes and food in my car to 4 different hotel rooms. However, the professionals also told me that when they return the items, they will look like new and the smell of smoke will not be on them anywhere. Hmmm...that's an upside...

Somebody out there has some things in their heart that were ruined by poor relationships, a torrid past or bad decision making. My advice to you…its all gotta go. Give it all to God and allow him to make it all brand new. You will be inconvenienced for awhile, but when He begins to restore you to your rightful place…you will be like new again. So sit in the living room and cry, like I did if you must…but please know DON’T’ keep the damage hidden from the Lord. Expose your hurts, your disappointments and your desires to Him and let him restore to you the joy of your salvation. But first…its all gotta go.

The Rallying Cry for May-June ORGANIZE

In the book "3 Big Questions for a frantic family"...one of the BIG questions is "What is your "rallying cry"? What is the specific plan, purpose and procedures for your family for the next 3 months? Not the overall goal in life...just what is the focus right now. What can get everyone on the same page and headed in the same direction...for us lately it has been CLUTTER REMOVAL. You can't think clearly if you are surrounded by clutter, garbage and excess. In most cases of creativity..less is more. Our family is very creative and innovative...so the best way for me to nuture that, is to make sure that the atmosphere is readily conducive for thinking and ideas.

Sooooooo... we started with getting rid of old clothes and shoes and bringing them up and out to the living room. The pictures show the 1st phase of drop offs. By the way, as you will note Our living room is void of furniture right now...so its the best place to spread out, sort and organize things..(I have no idea what we'll do if we ever buy furniture...I really like that room)


Anyway... boy did the clothes start coming...clothes I hadn't seen since we moved there. Shoes that were missing shoestrings and had scuffed heels and toes. Some of the items were salvageable and in good enough shape to donate to worthy cause. So I dragged the laptop onto the living room floor (always the multitasker) and after sorting, and reviewing and listing...we had about 5 boxes and 3-4 large bags ready on the porch for pick-up.


Then I focused my attention to my bedroom. I wanted my dresser space cleared and the pseudo office area that John has the laptop set up in cleaned up and organized. I got those areas de-cluttered and my next project is the back closet off of the garage...UGH...I will have to look up some ideas for that area. Its my least favorite place in the house...