Sunday,
September 14,
2003
A Journal from Austin, Texas.
A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.
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A Journal from Austin, Texas. |
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| food | reading | writing | time | exercise | health and mood |
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a Mommy's work is never done
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distant makes things seem possible As we were driving up, I was doing projects at home in my head. They seem so much easier that way.
I was organizing all our wordly goods on the way up in the van. Thinking about our potential bed/bath remodel. What to get rid of, what to keep and how to get stuff out of the way of the work. How to live in the guest room. How to paint and decorate and finish out. In a way, I don't want to do the remodel but I know in my heart of hearts that we will enjoy the result and be able to get most of our money back when we sell in a decade or so. I keep telling myself you don't have to get rid of everything. I just need to get rid of some stuff. I need to apply my thing detective to all the stuff and then act on the knowledge. One big problem is our legacy from our depression-era parents. We always think that even if we don't want the stuff we might want it one day or might be able to get money for it. For this reason, we buy houses that are too big or rent storage units for hundreds of dollars a year in order to have room to store the stuff. My oldest great nephew has an imaginary dog named Crystal. She is white. Imaginary pets and imaginary possesions...that's the ticket.
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A thousand miles
away.
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snack
Evening
Tune in to see if I gain weight!
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I walked and sat in a coffee shop for breakfast for an hour and a half or more. I played with my great nephews. The older one (three and a half) can climb the rope ladder. The little one can climb the regular ladder with a spotter. And then threaten to jump off the platform.
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Still reading a collection of The New Yorker Profiles. One about Anatole Broyard called "White Like Me" is an interesting tale of the literary world, race and its implications, family, friends, life and death. Everything concentrated through a lens of 'passing.' Mr. Broyard's secret kept him from effectively writing novels or memoirs, some felt. Well, yes, secrets do that sort of thing.
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I scribbled in my notebook. Good thing, too, or filling out this journal wouldn't just be hard, it would be impossible. It's nearly so anyway. I can forget exactly what happened minutes after it did, |
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The way the thing detective works is pretty simple. (1) You ask yourself if a thing is functional, decorative or sentimental. If it's decorative, see 2 and, if sentimental, see 3. If it's functional then you ask yourself if you use it. If not, see number 4. If you do use it, you ask yourself how often. If you use it regularly and quite often, then you should keep it where you can find it. If you only use it once in a while, you should keep it where you can find it but not in your way. If you don't use it much or just might use it in an emergency or maybe if something else failed, then you should ask yourself if it is worth keeping or if you can just replace it if you ever need it. See 4. (2) If the item is decorative, then does it really please you? Do you like the painting/collectible/sculpture and does it work for your dwelling. If not, see 4. (3) If the item is sentimental, ask yourself how you can best store or display it so that you can see enjoy it later. You may be happy to put away old photos or paper ephemera so that they won't deteriorate and look at them many years later. Protect the stuff, separate it from other stuff and put it away...well-labeled. If you find you aren't that sentimental about it, see 4. (4) Once you get to this stage...you have an item that you don't use, want or need. You must ask yourself if it has value. And, if so, how hard is that value to realize and how much do you need the money. For example, you have a camera that you use regularly but you have an old model that you never use anymore. It's 'perfectly good' and 'worth something' so you keep it in the closet. (Hopefully with any batteries removed!) But, really, the camera needs to go unless you really need a 'backup' camera. If you think it has value, then how can you get that value? You could simply give it to someone you like or to a thrift store supporting a charity that you would give money to in any case. You could try to sell it to a friend or stranger...maybe in a garage sale. But if it has value, but not in your life, you need to realize that value...even if it is simply by being generous and giving it away.
And it's really THAT simple! Yeah, right.
156
JUST
TYPING
