woke up

What a rollercoaster ride of emotions this last week has been.
Thankfully, I woke up from a dream of a Japanese house to realize that, although I long for space and beauty,
there are many, many, ways to create them in my life...
and that I do not want to be saddled, weighed down, leashed, or chained,
to an enormous mortgage or any other debt.

Whew! Am I the only one who has these fade in/fade out moments?
Seized with a new passion for something, swept by emotions that temporarily overcome the rational parts of my brain.
I  live in both the rational and emotional parts.
I have discovered, though, that the "middle way" of living is more sustainable.
Slow and steady. I keep coming back to that theme, because I have found such stability and comfort in it.
Not to mention progress.

 I'm back to the "ten a day out" decluttering system. This sounds like it would move quickly, but many of the things are too tiny to be noticable. Still, it keeps me moving forward.

So, no grand sweep of the house (the attic avalanche is sadly still piled on the couch). I'm having the hardest time making progress with the baby clothes and little-kid toys. My preference would be to keep a few of the classic, favored toy sets, like the wooden train and Playmobils (I'm hoping for grandchildren some day far in the future, and we do have younger kids over to play occasionally). Also to keep just a few of the cutest, most memorable outfits...and pass the rest on to some other adorable baby or toddler to wear and make their own memories in. Most of these clothes were passed on to us from little Bastien, Tasman, and Zane. However, here is where I must defer to the P'tit Minous, who are inexplicably attached to their three-month old outfits and two-year old coats. Sigh.

We are (I'm claiming some credit, but really I should say Minou is) making progress on the attic remodel too. He pulled out all the rough flooring over the weekend and installed a new ventilation system to deal with moisture from the shower upstairs. I'm so excited to imagine this as our cozy little sleeping loft space (shhh...I mean, "storage space", since we aren't installing a legal staircase at this time. The City does not like lofts with ladders, since the fire marshal couldn't get up there). We live in the rainy Pacific Northwest, and I can just imagine falling asleep to the lullaby of rain on the metal roof just over our heads.

And in other news, I'm back to jogging, tonic for my soul and mood (there's nothing like a good run in the pouring rain), and I love my new job and co-workers. Life is good.