making space: friday

Last night I furiously cleaned the kitchen because I have some women friends coming over and I know that women notice things like clean kitchens.  I actually love a clean kitchen, but during the work week I really have to let go of a lot of my expectations in that regard.  I try to keep up on the dishes and sort of swab the decks, but stuff builds up on the counters, in the cabinets, on every available surface.  Paperwork, boxes of cereal which don't make it back into the pantry, piles of fruit that are left out so that we will remember to eat them, bags of split peas and rice and other bulk items that don't have a good place to go.  So it is mostly clean (please keep this in mind if you eat at my house) but things just get very junked up, and I prefer things to look clean and clear.  I like, in general, an open expanse of counter space, table space, surfaces gleaming without clutter.  Not that we don't have plenty of it around, but I would prefer no small items cluttering up surfaces. My mother is a collector of small items, and her house is beautiful, but I simply can't deal with too many things on surfaces.

So I cleaned and I scrubbed--stove, counters, around the sink.  I removed clutter from the cabinets, appropriately storing them or throwing out.  I then attacked the things that were just sitting around on the floor.  The bread machine, for instance.  I use it very occasionally.  I want it easily available in the hopes of using it more, but I don't think it needs to sit in the floor.  To make cabinet space for it, I had to do a major clearing out and re-organizing of stuff.  I just dug in and did it, and I managed to get the bread machine (not a small item) into the cabinet.  This, I felt, was a truly major feat of making space.  Before I went to bed last night, I took one more look at the kitchen.  It was gleaming and quite a bit more clutter free.  This made me so happy that I am re-inspired to keep going with this goal of getting rid of something every day.  The internal work continues as well.  Things are churning and changing beneath the calm surface.