The hoarder

A little over a month ago, I saw a tutorial on Darcy's blog. She was showing how anyone could make a silicon mold.  Please note that these photos were taken with my little camera that has no settings whatsoever on it.

I knew exactly what I wanted to place in my mold once I made it, even if I couldn't take a decent shot of it.  This is a a photo of a Frozen Charlotte I purchased at a local craft store for around $5.00.  Yes, this teeny tiny little thing cost that much.  Thankfully, I had a gift certificate, or I would never have gotten it.  

This is where the story takes a backward and very ugly twist.  I couldn't find any silicon in my craft room, so I headed to the basement, where I was certain I had some in my studio.  However, what I saw nearly bowled me over.

There would definitely be no searching in my studio on that fateful day, since I couldn't even reach the studio.  It had happened sometime between the time I showered that morning, and early afternoon when I returned to the basement.

Apparently what happened, was one shelf fell over (the one you can't see, since I've moved it already), and because they were all hooked together, it toppled the other two.  The shelf unit that caused the problem had not been assembled correctly, because later I found a cardboard cylinder that had been left on the bottom of (underneath) the lowest shelf.   With all the rain we had in August, the cardboard got wet (or at least moist) and placed a great deal of strain on the plastic support posts, which put strain and pressure on the shelves, which, in turn, toppled everything, since they were all interlocked. I was now forced to deal with damp, but thankfully not moldy, items of every shape and size.   

I immediately began running every fan I could find, except the one I couldn't reach that was sitting outside my studio.  It was quite obvious I was going to need time to fix this problem.  I want to apologize for the quality of this and the following photos because I borrowed my friend Sally's camera.  It was supposed to take fantastic shots, but when I saved them as I normally do, they pixelated  horribly.

Of course, the bigger problem was my basement bathroom.  I prefer to shower in the basement.  I could go on and on about how I prefer the multi-function shower head, the tub isn't as steep to climb in and out of, and other various reasons, but the main reason is summertime is for showers in my basement, and wintertime is for hot steamy bubble baths in my main floor bath.  I knew I had to create a pathway to this room before I could shower the next day.

Even as short as my legs are, by moving only a few boxes, I was able to step over papers, books, wood, and metal in order to reach this room before it was time to bathe.  And, although it appears to look dirty, the tub is really white.  The lighting (and possibly Sally's camera) is what caused it to look filthy.

Another problem was I had no way to set up a staging area.  I couldn't get into the studio where my roll around table was, so I had to come up with a place to stage some of this mess.

It took me three days to come up with a solution.  I finally took this shelf I had not reassembled on the shelving unit it came from, and stood it on two empty cat litter containers.  It was the only thing I could find and I assure you, it was NOT much of a staging area.  But it had to do.

It took another two days to get this far.  By that, I mean to get the shelves upright once again and the books back on the shelves.  At least I could now get into my basement studio, but I had another problem to contend with.

By this time, it was also obvious those shelves were bulging in places they shouldn't have.

I placed the trash can in front of the unit in order to help stabilize the bulging shelf and went upstairs to contemplate the problem.  I was hoping the shelves would stabilize on their own, but that was not the case.  Once again, I needed a new plan.  It seemed like it was one step forward, three steps back.

The next time I went to the basement, I decided to remove books from one shelf in hopes of lightening the load on this already overworked unit.

And that is exactly what I did.  I brought this shelf of books to the studio a few at a time, since they were mostly heavy hardbacks, where they now reside. I moved the two containers to the side of the studio shelving unit, where they will reside until I can find a better home for them. 

After moving the shelf of books, I could NOT bring myself to return to the basement for several days.  Now I admit, this floor, unlike my tub, IS dirty.  In fact, it is filthy.  But I'll be cleaning it as soon as everything is back in place.  I've already cleaned under the shelving units before I set them upright.  And I have also returned Sally's camera at this point, too.  I gave it back to her the day we went to the Autumn Art show.

So why did I once again procrastinate?  I was back to that three steps back scenario.

I spent a lot of time swapping the shelf unit with the glue tower.  Once I did, I realized

the closet door wouldn't open far enough to remove much of anything.

So that meant I had to move it back.  In the process, I picked up a lot of dirt because I hadn't swept the floor.

It was time to move the shelving to another spot and return the glue tower to its original position.

That's when I realized the light was directly above one of the shelving units.  That wouldn't work if I was to put anything up there.

So once again, I unloaded a bunch of stuff, moved the two units, and checked the lighting.

I was hoping that crack in the floor wouldn't cause a problem.

While moving the shelf back in place, I hurt my back.  I tried to keep working, seeing the huge mess I still had in front of me, but it became unbearable.  That was when I stopped working for many days, trying to heal my back.

More of the story soon.  You might now see how the title of this post came about.  You'll also be able to see when I got my new camera, since this one is my little camera that has no flash.

Now that the basement mess is cleaned up (have I mentioned how anal and what a neat freak I am?), I'll have time to visit all of you who have visited me.  And I thank you in advance for sticking by me while I plowed away at this mess I managed to create in my basement.