In my last post, I talked a bit about the challenges I’ve been having cleaning out the second-floor parlor… We have made so much progress since then, ya’ll 😳!

When I was a kid, the living room was sacrosanct. We were basically only allowed in there for special occasions, or to clean 😆… When I was very small, it was my job to comb the fringe on the oriental rug 🙃. There was a TV in the living room, but in a cabinet that closed, and only my uncle was allowed to watch in there… two rare exceptions I remember were watching The Wizard of Oz and Fraggle Rock as family events in the living room – but no snacks! Water only in the living room, if that 🙃

The second-floor parlor was, my whole life, the “ladies’ parlor.” I assumed, or someone told me, that this was the room where the ladies would retire after dinner while the men went to smoke their cigars (where the men went was unclear and/or unimportant to me 😆). I thought this was a thing. I was going to include a link to a Wikipedia article explaining what it was and talking about arcane Victorian customs… but ya’ll, this is not. a. thing. I am shook. I mean, it was a thing for the men and women to separate after dinner, but most of what I’m seeing is the ladies would go to the “drawing room” (men, iyrc, would stay in the dining room, or go to the library)… the ladies’ parlor is not a thing 😳… where did that come from? Did my aunt make it up, or did she learn it from someone? Why have I never questioned it until now!? I feel like my whole life has been a lie 😆🤣!

Anyway, the so-called “ladies’ parlor” was the kids’ room – we had a TV in there, where we watched MTV when it was just music, and You Can’t Do That on Television and Nick at Night on Nickelodeon. I spent breaks from college eating goldfish and Oreos in my pajamas on the couch in that room. Even as young adults, when my sister and cousins and I were here, we would always gravitate to that space – it was our comfort zone.

It feels SO. GOOD. to have that room clear, clean, and functional ❤️❤️❤️. The timing is perfect, with the coming of spring. It feels like a breath of spring, standing in the parlor, or the walking down the hall toward it, just breathing in the space… and that bay window, with Annie the Ivy flourishing 😍 and the fireplace 😍 and everything smells like Murphy’s and orange oil 😍 and… it’s just good, ya’ll 😊💗. We will put in a TV and recliner, but we want to revel in the space for a few days first 🙃.

This is a win that I feel in my soul. I celebrate it, and I am thrilled to use this old familiar room to make many new memories 🩷💗🩷

And, I want to acknowledge another reality of our situation. This is July 2025 and March 2026 in the second floor parlor:

This is July 2025 and March 2026 in the first floor parlor

Please don’t think we just moved stuff from one parlor to another. We did not. In fact, most of what’s in the first floor parlor came out of our bedrooms. As I talked about in my last post, the mission with the bedrooms was to get them empty as quickly as possible – this parlor is the result of that. The second floor parlor is the result of three months of picking and sorting, making room in other places, packing things up and moving them to those places, and when appropriate, throwing things away. We have barely even begun the process of actually downsizing.

People often ask me what we do with all the stuff. As I said in my very first blog post, this project is the tile game on steroids 🤣… a lot of what we do is just move things from one place to another 🤷‍♀️. We do usually organize it, clean it, and move it to logical places, but there is no getting around the constant shuffle.

When people see what we are dealing with, they frequently suggest we throw it away or donate it all. But those people do not understand our situation. First and foremost, this is not our stuff 🙃. My aunt is alive and well. Quite well, in fact, for nearly 85. It is not our place to get rid of all her stuff, regards of our feelings about it (hello, creepy dolls 🤣)

It is not our goal to empty the house as fast as possible. Besides, we are enjoying the adventure of living here 🤷‍♀️. We like living at a slower pace – there is always something to do, but not much time pressure, and plenty of different things to do if one task gets boring or overwhelming 🙃. The treasure hunt is fun – we never know what we will find, and so much of it is good stuff! Interesting, beautiful, quirky, fun, rare, and very often valuable stuff.

The work can be very rewarding – I’ve said multiple times in this post how great it feels to have that second floor parlor clean, and it’s true! I love this house. I’m excited to dig it out and polish it up. I want to fill it with people and art and music.

On top of that, there’s this blog, and social media… I am enjoying exploring my creative side through writing again, and learning video editing and content creation more generally. I guess I just mean to say that we’re in this. This is our life, for as long as it works for us and my aunt 💗🩷❤️