# 297 - An Empty Nest is a Cleaner Nest

This past weekend was exciting. My youngest daughter, Stefanie, had an official moving out of the house so she can live in an apartment to finish her studies in San Marcus.

Along with other reasons to take the house off the market, temporarily, I knew that this move would create chaos in the house, at least until things were rearranged to adapt to the change.

Stefie had a relatively new bedroom set, purchased in 2010 while she was living here at home and she took her bedroom set with her. I am so glad we bought the Queen size bed and mattress set because it will last her a long, long time. One thing I will miss is going up the stairs to lounge in bed with Stefie as we watch our tv shows. Her and I have our routines that we enjoy, lately, we've been watching Vampire Diaries. Our goal is to try to find a series that has longevity so we aren't left dangling after six episodes and no closure. We love to guess what will happen next.

As torture, we sometimes like to watch something scary. Then, we complain to each other about having nightmares or being scared to check the closet. But, there's always good humor to it all.

After she left the house, I spent the next 2-3 days cleaning her room, top to bottom. I mean EVERYTHING...blinds, window sills, floorboards, dusted the walls and ceiling fans, used the hand-wand on the vacuum cleaner to get every crack and crevice cleaned. It was weird to see her room without furniture. However, she did leave her flatscreen behind that is attached to the wall. I guess she wanted to still be able to come home for an occasional weekend and still have her own space to retreat to.

So, I had an empty room. I decided to go to the playroom which has two twin beds and to put one of them in Stefie's room so it would still be set up as sleeping quarters. By myself, I managed to take her dorm twin bed mattress and to maneuver it over the other twin bed, down the angled hall and into her room. Next came the box springs, I just took my time while getting a reminder in box springs not being flexible.

The best part of my independent rearranging of furniture came when I had to use a tool...you know I love to use tools, makes me feel as if I am charge of the situation --- it's understandable that men must have their tools --- goes with the territory. Anyway, I go to my little pink tool box and retrieve my Crescent Wrench so I can remove the metal bed frame from the headboard. I must say, I was efficient and didn't lose any moving parts in the process.

Into Stefie's room I carried the bed-frame and twin head-board. Light stuff, no problem. Lastly, I put a matching nightstand in her room. I washed all her bedding from her dorm room --- she loves that set and put freshly washed clean sheets on the bed and once it was made, it looked awesome!

Now, the end result is that there are two rooms with a LOT more floorspace. The playroom has a twin bed out of there and so I moved the other bed to reposition it for better flow in the room and Stefie's room seems huge without the Queen bed as well.

Along with Stefie's bedroom suit, she took an end table, my FAVORITE glass coffee table built with solid metal legs that weighs a ton and will last for centuries, she took our downstairs breakfast table set that had four chairs and now our house looks different. But, I like it. I'm glad Stefie is moving forward with her life and with her future. However, there's always a place at home for either of my daughters...wherever home might be. I will always be their mom and always be thrilled to have them come for a visit.

My oldest Heather and I usually like to look at craft projects together. One of her last visits, she got to take her pick from the game closet...I had games of every sort and many from her childhood, she has plenty of games now. She also got to take her pick of my hard-back craft books, the problem is that she loves ALL of them. And, I just gave her my luxurious creamy designer bedding with duvet and accent pillow...only because I ordered it after she showed me a picture of a bedding set she loved. This one was so similar, I bought it, knowing I'd give it to her soon.

One thing is for sure, both altered rooms in this house will be easier to dust and vacuum since they each have less furnishings and less belongings in them.


Stefie even filled two trash sacks with things from her room she no longer wanted...lots of old mementos went into the trash, even her old posters of heart throbs that she finally felts she could part with.

Of course, she had to take one last good look at each of them, then off the trash they went.

Isn't that the way it goes for most heart-throbs? Here one day, gone the next.

I am thrilled for the changes in our lives. I feel good. This is what I raised my children to be able to do...to confidently build their own foundation in life.

I am one proud momma who is glad to have a lot less furniture to dust! This empty nest is going to be a lot easier to keep clean!