Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Sawgrass Park, St. Petersburg, FL

Well, I made a list (see previous post) and forgot to send it to my house. But I did do something on it - I cleaned the area for the tree. Now - I just have to find the tree.

When I am old, if I am not already living in an RV, I am going to live in a single wide trailer and I am not going to have a lot of junk. Right now I am overwhelmed with junk. How about the rest of you? I think about getting organized, but crap, that takes up too much of my time to do the stuff I want to do. Really though, it wouldn't be too hard.

In my scrapbook room all that really needs to be cleared of is the tops of the two 8' work benches. Do you hate table tops? I sure do. Because try hard as I might, they end up getting cluttered. So, these two areas are cluttered. They have stuff on them that is trash (though not really that much). Mostly it is stuff that was taken off of its shelf & never replaced. A lot of this is scrapbook stuff (on one bench) and quilting stuff (on the other). So my thought is - 1st to get some bins and just put everything in the bin. Then I can sit on the couch and go through each of them and sort.

Let me tell you about bins & my husband. Also, bins and me. Start with me. I moved from California where I had a ton of stuff to move. Lots of it was in boxes. In Georgia when it was time to move, most of the stuff wasn't unpacked and lived in the basement and the attic. When it came time to pack up, I didn't have room for the stuff in the basement. Mind you, it is stuff I hadn't looked at in years. Yet every now and then I think of something and mourn its loss in that basement and attic (like my mom's glass blown Christmas ornaments she collected when we lived in Germany or some of my own personal momentos).

When I moved from my mom's house (where I lived after she died) to another house, 10 years later, and 5000 miles away, I remembered that there was a ton of stuff in the attic, in old Army trunks. My mother hid money, maybe money was up there. Also, she wrote her family history. At the time I didn't care and it was tossed out. What I wouldn't give for that now.

OK, back to bins. So then I move to Florida and I am constantly downsizing. But there are boxes of things that I just can't throw out. You know the rule, if you haven't looked at it in a year toss it. So sometimes I did that. When I moved into my own apartment, after my kids got on their own, I left behind stuff. Even now, 15 years later, I think of stuff I need or want that is long gone.

Enter my husband, he is a yardsaler and flea marketer. He buys good deals, hoards them till he has enough & then goes out and sells everything. He is also a carpenter and never met a nail or screw he could part with. So every few months I clean off counter tops and get a bin full of his crap. We have baskets and boxes full of old nails and screws and screw drivers, etc. All things that he just keeps replenishing, rather than dig through a bin. 14 years of this crap. He's a good man, but he isn't neat.

Once I had a dream, of having just enough stuff to fit in my car and being able to pick up and go wherever the wind blew me. And I started ditching my stuff, but now I have soooo much stuff I am being dragged down.

So, I am making this resolution now - prior to New Years - I will reduce my clutter. And once reduced I will not add to it. You hear my vow, keep track of my progress. I will soon post a tracking station so you can see how I do. By this time next year I will be one organized mama and then my Shui or whatever will be in line. Feng to you, my friends, Feng.

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