Emptying the Boxes and Organizing

After my big job...I sat on the porch...this is the view to my left. Roses still blooming, Mandavilla blooming and vining, and those beautiful Asters just coming into their own. The hummingbird feeder is still being used. When will they migrate?? While the sun was shining bright yesterday...where was I? All last winter I thought that in the summer I would clean my work area in the basement. It would be hot outside and I'd be in getting things ship shape in my work area. So summer came and it was hotter than blazes. I just kept putting it off. So here it is fall... and I decided to get it over with. I would spend these last gorgeous days organizing my mess. I have an area by big windows that has a plant stand and a long table for my plants that I overwinter in the basement. The temps have been really cold at night and it was time to bring them in. I just can't work in an area when there is mess all around. I used to do crafts and it was hard for me to have clutter around me. I had to clean up each day before I could call it quits. Each fall I bring in my plants and put them in new soil and change to larger pots if needed. My houseplants get new soil too and their pots are cleaned up a bit. This area in the basement is a storage area for all the holiday decorations, and household bric a brac that isn't being used. Everything is in cardboard boxes and stacked against the wall. It has always bothered me...looking so untidy. So, that being said, I became the plastic bin queen. I ordered a lot of them and had them delivered...free shipping...because I didn't want to make so many trips in my car. I still didn't have enough and had to buy a few from our $ store.So, the day before yesterday, I started sorting and labeling those bins. I went through every box and either kept or tossed things. I was ruthless. I kept a basket by my side to put nice things in that I was tired of for the bingo games at the nursing home in town. Some things will go to our Church. It took me two days to do this.
I went to the greenhouse and bought bags of mulch and a huge bag of potting soil. I asked, as he put them in the trunk, "Will I be able to lift that potting soil out of the car myself?" He said, "Sure" He must have thought I was Wonder Women....the heaviest bag of soil that I have ever lifted. Since Joe had back surgery...I have had to do so much that he used to be able to help me with. I left it in the garage and will take some out, when needed. I then went down and did my fall potting and got the plant stand organized and things on the long table with a new piece of oilcloth.My Christmas cacti both got some new soil and sit undisturbed on the shelf just waiting for buds to pop. They never wait till Christmas. My amaryllis are all in new pots lined up in a semi-dark area doing mysterious things below the surface of the soil. They will sit there for 6 weeks or so with no water. (sorry amaryllis) My spider plant is in a hanging planter...hanging in front of the newly washed windows. My cacti are sitting on the shelves...no new soil for them this year. African violet new soil and fed. Bulb packages and seed packets are there waiting their turn. Gardening things are in baskets on the floor under the table...waiting for a new shelving unit. It will hold all my gardening supplies. Everything looks so nice and neat now. Yesterday, I had to do something with the cardboard boxes. There were way to many to put out on the curb for recycling. I decided to break them down and tie them in bundles. I started looking closely at these boxes and they brought back so many memories. Memories of a long time ago when my daughter was in Texas and would send our Christmas gifts on ahead. They were labeled...To Mom and Dad in her handwriting. The box my first computer came in...a gift from her. Boxes that held toys for my Grand kids. Packing boxes that my friends gathered when I decided to marry Joe. Boxes from my brother that I used in several moves. Dish boxes that held my mom and dad's treasures. I friend walked by and we talked about my feeling sad about getting rid of these. She said that she too had boxes that she'd had for 20 years or more. She could understand how I was feeling. Well, they are all broken down and tied neatly and will go out on the curb tonight. They held my treasures through several moves and kept things safe. I guess we live in a plastic world now...I hope these hold up as well as the old cardboard ones.
Balisha