Unearth Day, 2011

I clean out my needlework closet once a year on a carefully chosen day. It's a task that has to be done when I have the entire day free and when there are no other family members around. I simply refuse to let anyone else see the extent of my stash (not even you, my readers, and thus, the picture of the backhoe).

This past Monday was the day for the 2011 clean out. My husband was playing in golf tournament at a course 45 minutes away from our house. Our two college-age children were out of the state on their summer adventures. Let Unearth Day begin!

However, the day did not start as planned. I'm a morning person and even though it was my first weekday off from work for the summer, I was up and going at 6:00. I was more than ready to dive into the closet by 9:00, but my husband was taking his sweet old time getting out of the house. I thought he'd never leave! Eventually, I had the house to myself and pulled everything out of the closet, dusted shelves and scrubbed the floor. I started sorting the contents of the boxes and then the phone calls began. The first one was from my son in Colorado. He landed a research position for the summer in a rather remote location, but he was "in town" for the morning where he had cell phone reception. Normally, he would make a good spy as he says nothing in his phone calls, but, of course, on Monday, he wanted to chat away for 15 or 20 minutes. Not that I was complaining, but I did have six or seven boxes to sort. . .

Then the call came from my daughter. She was not in Tennessee as I had thought, but near Washington, D.C. as she and her friend had taken turns driving all night to get back to her friend's house. So glad I didn't know that was happening when I went to bed on Sunday night! I was in a bit of a panic because I thought she was going to come home that afternoon, but as it turned out, she had a job interview in D.C. and stayed an extra night. Whew!

Finally, I got through all the boxes. One contained some fabrics purchased decades ago to make clothing so most of the contents will be donated. I put aside a few charts to sell at my sampler guild's next stash sale, and I put away the charts from things I finished during the past year. Along the way, I pulled out some projects that I'd like to move up on the priority list. We'll see whether I get to them during the year. One can always dream. I managed to get rid of any entire box in the closet and several plastic bags. The closet is much more organized and once again, I know where everything is. Not a bad way to start out my summer vacation.