Yesterday was a "first day" that has been a long time coming.
Yesterday, I began going through kitchen cabinets and getting rid of things my mom had accumulated but never used and which I never intend to use.
I started with cookbooks and recipes....and there were three full cabinet shelves of books, booklets, clippings, etc. I spent hours going through some of them to weed out stuff I'll never use (like a recipe for "mashed turnips"....YUCK!) and a lot of clippings from newspapers of recipes that tickled her imagination but never got made.
Sadly, I have the same predilection myself...I save a lot of recipes which, on later examination, I know I'll never prepare.
So....three vast cabinet shelves full of stuff piled up and stuffed as far back as she could get it stuffed. Oof. And now it's available to me for things I need it for...getting foodstuffs off countertops and into cabinets.
Throughout the afternoon, I was bending and stretching, reaching and toting, and last night I felt so sore I could barely move. That followed me through the night in that I remained in one sleeping position lest I moved some muscle that didn't want to be moved.
I feel a bit better this morning, and some stretching will be in order before I resume. I have lots of cabinets and closets to go through before anything is completed. My mom threw away NOTHING...but she also did not hoard, so there is THAT to be grateful for. As a child of the depression, she couldn't bear to part with anything that could be of use.