More Nesting

Last night I emptied a gigantic box of papers. This box, mostly papers from my grad school days but some from my first years of teaching at Salem State, had moved with us from our first apartment in Salem to our apartment in Peabody and then from Peabody to our new house. It hadn’t been opened since it was packed and I had no idea what was inside.

Most of it went straight into the trash. Even last year I’m not sure I could have parted with many of those papers. I’m in the throes of nesting and uncluttering and that drive helps. I’m desperate to clear a space in the laundry room to put the boxes of baby clothes that are currently in the girls’ room.

Also I think my perspective has changed so much in the past year. Being so far away from Salem helps. There is not way now I’m going to go back and teach a class or two.  Most of all though is the passage of time that has cemented my sense of identity as wife and mother rather than student or teacher. And I have found that I have an increased focus on homeschooling as an outlet for the intellectual drive that led me to academia in the first place. To me reading and writing about homeschooling is more than just preparing to educate my children, it’s part of a greater fascination with pedagogy. To me theorizing about education is a satisfying intellectual endeavor in its own right. I certainly look forward to the practical aspects of teaching but that’s not the only reason I read about the subject. 

So out went piles and piles of papers. I’m letting go and it’s amazingly freeing.

I also cleared off the kitchen table, which had never been properly cleaned after hosting our tomato seedlings and had months and months of accumulated junk on top of the spilled potting soil. 

And I rearranged the living room a bit, putting my recliner and computer desk in the corner and moving the kneeler to the other side. I think it will work. The room still needs something, though.

Next up: attacking boxes and boxes of photographs. Dom and I plan to scan what we want to save into his computer and then toss them all in the trash.

Also, rearranging furniture. The changing table needs to move from the girls’ room to ours for ease in middle of the night changing. My sister is giving me back the dresser she’s been borrowing for the past 9 years and which she brought with her from Texas and I’m going to see if it will work in the girls’ room. I think I’m going to move their beds while I’m at it. Right now they are end to end and Bella loves to stand on her foot board and hang off the side of the crib. At least once a week she falls and bangs her head.

And there’s a bunch of stuff that needs to go into the shed, including boxes of winter coats and hats, and a few things that need to come out, like the booster seat for Sophie who mostly refuses to sit in the high chair these days. Maybe now that the rain seems to have stopped we’ll be able to do that. And maybe I can finally pull out some of the stuff I stashed in there last fall and list it on Freecycle and get rid of it.

Oh yeah, and we still need to get a bassinet. I think I’ve found the one I want online; but I’m not really in love with it, it’s just the best one I’ve been able to find. Anyone have a bassinet/co-sleeper you’re in love with? It has to be at least 30 inches tall because we have a high bed.