Running on Empty

It takes a long time to clean out 23 years of stuff, even if it's just stuff in a single room. Kitchen things are tiny. You'd be surprised how many turkey lacers, which I use for testing the doneness of cakes and for removing the rubber seal from my coffee mug to clean it, I have amassed over the years. OK, I have four, but my point is there's lots of little stuff.

I was able to take a leisurely pace, starting early, stuffing it all into $75 worth of Sterlite and Hefty plastic storage containers, neatly grouping like things together: tape, string, and glue; tools; 38 mugs; etc.

The last weekend before construction was scheduled to begin, the whole family finally got involved. I packed it all and then got to point and say, "Take this [upstairs/downstairs/in the other room]." Every time I cleaned out cabinets, I kept opening the doors to see if there was anything in them, so I wound up taking off the doors.

And then it was done, which meant one thing: the acoustics! Whoa, did my voice sound good! I spent an hour or so on the floor late one night after everyone had gone upstairs, and I sang and played guitar. The next day, I shot a video of the real talented one, my daughter, of Legends of Et cetera and Birdhouse. Here she is playing Hozier's "Cherry Wine."