Beginnings....the quest to sell.

Do you know how small a king size mattress looks when it's placed on the floor in the middle of an empty room?

Pretty small.

Do you know how small a closet looks when it's loaded with books, lamps, end tables, and extra bedding?

Even smaller

Right now our condo is in a complete state of adjustment. Some things are boxed up and put away. Other things have been shipped off to my brother-in-laws garage. And still others are piled to the ceiling in our virtually impassible laundry room. I know it sounds a lot like we're moving but that's the craziest part. We aren't

At least, not yet.

We do have an offer in on an adorable little brick fixer-upper. But it's contingent (a word I have been throwing around for two weeks now and have grown to hate) upon the sale of our condo. So like people possessed we have undertaken the labor intensive process of trying to QUICKLY and without GREAT loss sell our place.

We've painted and repaired and cleaned. We've removed everything that isn't absolutely necessary for minimalistic day to day living and right now we're between carpet projects; stretching and repairing.

Thus the mattress on the floor. Thus the empty rooms. Thus the closet filled to the brim with what used to be in the rooms.

It is a strange feeling to be in your house and yet feel like you aren't in your house. It's stranger still with a two year old. Everything is suddenly different and new and way more fun for her. She can run in large circles in the living room without fear of being told to watch out for the coffee table or the entertainment center. She can climb up and down off "Mommy's little bed" about a hundred times in a minute. And she can explore vents and corners and light sockets that were once discreetly covered over by furniture.

For my husband and I this is proving to be a lesson about how much we can survive without. We once arrogantly thought ourselves pretty bare-bones when it came to possessions. But going to sleep in a bedroom that contains a mattress, two bedside lamps, a book each and no more......?

That's a whole other side of simplistic.

And, well, we actually find we like it. It's very Zen; very easy, very restful.

And it's got us thinking about what it'd be like to put a whole bunch of the excess stuff we've accumulated over the years into storage and to just live for like three months without it all.

Would we miss it?

I don't think so.

Would we be happier?

If that last two days of limbo, as we are between available carpet professionals and therefore living with everything piled up and out of the way, are any indication, we just might be.

I'll let you know.