So, one of my goals for 2006 is to de-clutter my house. On January 14th, I had a professional organizer come into my house and help Chris and I do just that in our basement. We have been wanting to setup a home gym for over a year down there and have just not done it because of the overwhelming task of junking shit out of it. So, 6 hours and $500 later, we were finished and SO HAPPY! My front porch wasn't happy and I'm sure the neighbors were not thrilled to be looking at all the trash for a week, but I.....don't.....care! I have a use-able basement! Oh, and just so we are clear, the trash bag in the "before" photos above is not really trash - it is filled with old throw pillows for the sofa. I'm not that trashy! Also, if you look really, really hard, you can see the elliptical machine poking out from behind the boxes in the top bottom photo.

The almost-final result -- (drum roll please!)






Ooooo, pretty, huh? Here's another picture of the home gym equipment from a different angle:
Ok, so it is not state-of-the-art, but it works for us. Click here to get a better idea of what the weight bench looks like.

I say almost-finished because there are still a few boxes of books that I need to go through and Chris has tons of sports cards, record albums and other assorted collectibles that he wants to sort and put up on eBay (chris405 is his eBay name if your interested in that sort of thing).

It is so cool for Chris and I to have a place right down a flight of stairs to go and exercise. I have been SO MUCH MORE consistent with my exercise since the 14th. I even called my old personal trainer and setup an appointment for her to come over and set me up with a program. She's coming tomorrow night.

I am moving forward.

It feels good.

Thanks, Claire!