Leftovers

Our friend's garage sale was a smashing success last weekend, despite un-garage-sale-like weather. At lunch today, Jim and I went to pick up the tables we loaned plus the leftover items and, oh yeah, some cash!

For simplicity, every item out of the this house had R.A. for the initials on it. But Carter and Mamie used a a black Sharpee and I used red – because I knew from past experience we'd get all our tags back as part of our friend's diligent accounting system! 

The kids didn't quite make enough to fill a tank of gas, but they'll be happy with anything. Thanks to a few items priced over $20, my profit jumped up to triple digits for the first time in a long time. So that was cool. And we really didn't have a ton of leftovers.

Thankfully things like golf clubs and some weird round chair sold. So no big items came back. Just a few boxes that I had to decide what to do with. Donate them or hold them to see if they'll see at another sale? I know what superstar organizer and declutterer Marie Kondo would say, but I wasn't inviting her to the conversation. Instead I reached out to friends on Facebook – just in case someone was having a sale in the very very near future.

Nobody was having one soon enough for me. So I loaded all but the leftover books into my car and dropped it off at Goodwill.

I know there are other worthy donation organizations but this happens to be right next door to where I was working out so I had no excuse but to unload it all after class. 

The books, though, I will put on a friend's sale this summer and donate some to the various "little lending libraries" around town. I completely forgot about that option until someone mentioned it. Since some of the books were great book club reads, it only makes sense to get them out there where people who enjoy reading want them. How did I not think about this before?

For once I know what to do with leftovers. Besides wait for them to get old and toss them out!

Thanks for everyone's input!

Girls Night In, Definitely In

While the man of the house is away, the girls will play. And by play, I mean grab a comfy spot and stay there. All night.

Since Jim had to work his church fish fry tonight (dishwasher), we girls decided to take advantage of having the house to ourselves and, more importantly, the remote.

So after a walk in the sunshine and 40-degree temps, I ran (drove) into town to the movie theater to get a curbside pickup of popcorn. While waiting for a stoplight, we probably looked like two bags heading out for a good time. Or at least the bag part.

Got home and Sylvester claimed her spot on the heated tile floor (she can have it) and I turned on Netflix. I finished the Emily in Paris series. Really liked it! Watched 3 episodes of Firefly Lane and haven't decided if I'm committing to it yet. 

And yes, I am one of those people who can stop watching a movie in the middle or quit reading a book halfway through if I'm not into it. My time is valuable. To me. So why waste it? It should give you joy, as Marie Kondo is fond of saying. Well, back when I listened to her at the beginning of this pandemic.

Since I'm so restless, though, and had nothing to multi-task with – except the eating part – I am on an episode break right now. Got the house vacuumed and am blogging. And will resume my regularly scheduled Friday night momentarily.

Oh snap. Just heard the door. Darn fish fry got done early!

There's always next week.

Not Exactly Chillin' Out

Some heroes wear capes. Some wear Carhartts.

Was grateful for two things today. One, that we probably only got 4 or 5 inches of snow instead of 10. And two, that hubby is such a skilled snowblower operator that he could handle the driveway all by himself. Did not have to blow or shovel or anything detrimental to my back – which by the way, felt pretty good today. Must have been that long, hot, Epsom salt bath!

While he was doing the very chilly outdoor chores, I handled some indoor ones – including getting the last of the Christmas stuff down. I took it down in the basement to put it away in the closet under the steps and suddenly caught the Marie Kondo bug and thought: Do all of these Christmas decorations under the stairs bring me joy?

Short answer: No. They don't.

So I emptied the big closet into Carter's room (ha) and will put back what we'll keep. For sure our artificial skinny tree and the wooden Nativity set, but the rest is up for debate. It's our seasonal closet so I'm chucking (or donating) some Easter and Halloween stuff I don't use either.

I discovered two boxes in the back of the closet that we must have put in there when we moved, cough, in uhm 2001. The one labeled "Living Room – Fragile" I peaked at quick, just put in my trunk and took to Goodwill along with a few bags of stuff I also haven't looked at in almost two decades and will never, ever use.

The Christmas stuff, though, I hopefully can donate to the local humane society. They have a fundraising Christmas bazaar each year so I'm waiting to hear from them if I can drop off donations now. Otherwise, they'll have to go to Goodwill or end up riding in my trunk for months – like the bagful of purses I got rid of today!

We both took the afternoon and evening "off" (wait, it's Saturday!) and enjoyed a hoops double-header at Assumption. Our girls team beat Pacelli by 30 points and our boys lost in OT. Darn. Pretty exciting, though!

With temps just making double digits, it was a great way to warm up.

So much better than morning laps around the driveway. I mean, not that I would personally know anything about it. But I'll take hubby's word.

Hopefully tomorrow we just chill out without the chill!

The '90s Called... Marie Kondo Answered

Despite some momentum in the spring, I sent my tidying guru Marie Kondo on a long summer vacation. I mean who wants to be inside doing anything in summer – let along tidying, as she calls it.

Well guess who's back trying to spark joy in my life? I should say, guess who's back in my head reminding me to keep what sparks joy and toss or donate the rest? Yep. Front and center. Well somewhere in my head anyway.

I purposely left my Labor Day weekend calendar open to force myself to stay home and "do stuff" around the house. Yes, I was interrupted by fun at Sand Valley, a picnic with friends, and an afternoon at the racetrack. Still, intermingled with that was a start of something MK (I'll call her that now that we're bonding) would approve of.

After consulting hubby, the basement was my first target. I realize I am breaking all MK's rules. She wants us to examine categories of items like clothes and books – not go room by room – but the basement gets so humid and yuck in summer, it's just begging for attention.

There's certainly more than one elephant in the room down there – unused stereo, unused weight machine, etc – so I walked down the stairs and started with the sound machine at the left and worked clockwise.

I know. The '90s called. They want their big-ass stereo back. Well they can have it! Oh everyone had to have big one back then. I actually purchased this one 29 years ago this week. I remember because I had just moved into my apartment in Marinette for my first newspaper job and I needed to "furnish" it with something! The radio, double cassette tape deck, and 6-CD changer still work. The phonograph, though, is inconsistent.

As luck would have it, my next-door neighbor was having a garage sale. I texted her a picture and asked, "Do you need a big-ass stereo on your sale?" She said, "Sure!" So I took out the plastic containers of some 50 or so cassettes, unhooked the wires, got a little help from a friend, and hauled it over. "Sell it for what you want or give it away. I'm not hauling it back," I said.

Well, apparently there's a '90s fan born every minute. Someone bought it for $5. And I am so fine with that!

Now, what to do with all the tapes? I worry they've been sitting unused so long that they'll break in any machine. Not that I have another cassette player around. (I don't think.) There was a cardboard box of "cassingles" – yes kids, it was a cassette with a single song on it – that seemed a bit mildewy so I just tossed that whole darn thing. I'm sure MK was dancing somewhere over that major tidying move. No music required. (Or available without the stereo.)

To prove, though, that I've always been a fan of all kinds of music, I did snap a picture of a few of the cassingles before I discarded them.

Quite the mix, right? Definitely the late '80s and early '90s vibe. And I have a slew of mix tapes to prove there's more where that came from. Not to mention the CD tower. (MK should give my extra points for having all those in alphabetical order.)

Hopefully the music will inspire me to move and groove AND move stuff out of the house! Fall cleaning, er de-cluttering, er Kondo-ing, here I come!

On the Bright Side

Not sure if spring will arrive on time for the calendar designation in two days, but on the bright side – literally – the sun will still be shining after 7 p.m. until mid-September! Yes!

Well, obviously, not when it's raining or snowing or both come April, May and June. But still, don't rain on this parade!

It did feel nice today to gas up after work and I didn't even need gloves on – or a jacket for that matter. After stuffing my face with pizza for a school German Club fundraiser, I really should have taken advantage of the late sunset and above-freezing temps to get some steps. I was too full to move, though. My willpower does not do well with pizza buffets! Yum.

Plus, I had some homework to do for both work and church. And a little organization work.

Yep, I have another bag going into the garbage this week. It's a baby-step process to get the crap out of my office, house and life. But now that it's going to be light out later in the day, I will not want to be trapped indoors, picking through clutter or folding my shirts in a special way to save space.

Nope. Make hay while the sun isn't shining so I can play when it is. Bring on spring!

Snow Use Giving Up

The real struggle for Lutherans during Lent is that we have no Catholic guilt. I didn't even know people "gave up" anything for Lent until I got to college. (I'm sure I knew Catholics in high school, but I guess they didn't talk about it much.) Believe me, I'm not making light of it. It's just that I really want to give up winter, especially since...

Yes. Another weekend, another snowstorm. Seriously. This is getting out of hand! But again, totally out of our control.

Part of the Lenten routine for many is focused on what we can control. Or perhaps something that tends to get out of control so we really try to give it up for 40 days to prove it doesn't control US. Alcohol, chocolate, caffeine, social media... innocuous things that can become addictive.

I'm not announcing that I'm giving up anything. It happens Lent is coinciding with my attempt to reign in my sugar intake. That's why King Cone was part of my Fat Friday to Tuesday schedule. But my major focus is on this Give It Up and Get It Out of My House decluttering business.

I've talked about it so many times, I have to take action. It's too stressful not to. I especially identified with one woman on the KondoMari video I watched last night. She said, "I can't ever fully relax because I always feel like there's something I should be doing, things I should be going through and getting rid of." That's me. And honestly, to always have it hanging there as this "to do" when I have time just won't cut it. The time is now.

This month marks 18 years in our house. I don't know where all the "stuff" came from in the nearly two decades, but it's here. Sort of like winter, it's not going away any time soon.

But I'd love to say 40 days from now we can view green grass in our front yard from inside a clutter-free home. Pray for me. No matter what your denomination.

I Kon Do It... Eventually

It's easy to get rid of things when there is an obvious reason for doing so. It's much more difficult when there is no compelling reason. - Marie Kondo

Thanks (I think) to being snowed in at scrap camp a few weekends ago, I now have a KonMari mentor. She talked and I listened. I had nowhere else to go!

If you recall from a post in the new year, the de-cluttering KonMari Method is a state of mind – and a way of life – that encourages cherishing the things that spark joy in one's life. Belongings are acknowledged for their service – and thanked before being let go, should they no longer spark joy.

Key words there are "let go." In other words: downsize, declutter, organize.

So my mentor suggested I watch Marie Kondo's show on Netflix to get the gist of the method before simply labeling this "spark joy" business as hokey, corny, stupid, whatever.

Unlike my usual attempts (using that word loosely) at decluttering, she doesn't do the one room at a time To Do List. She goes by category of items and says we must tackle these in order:

• Clothes
• Books
• Papers
• Komono (a.k.a. miscellaneous items)
• Sentimental items

Well if we're starting by piling all my clothes in one place and finding which ones spark joy, I can tell you right now, if they still fit, I am joyful! So I am going to try to downsize my body a bit first. Then I'll get to that pile.

In the meantime, since I have to put my scrapbooking stuff away, I figured I should go through my arts and crafts lair and see what I really need and use, what I can toss, and what could be used by others (as in give away and out of my house free of charge)!

So I do have a full bag for garbage pickup in the morning. I would love to do something more noticeable for hubby to be impressed when he gets back from his current work trip (like the top photo). But maybe he's been keeping tabs on those dried-out rubber stamp ink pads for the past decade and has just waited to see me do something with them. You never know.

Well, yeah, you kind of do.

I did share with him my willingness to get started on this joyful journey. I think he'll have to see it to believe it. Now I just have to believe it so I can do it.