Cleaning Again, or, That's going to be some garage sale

I read an article by Erin Rooney Doland, editor of www.unclutterer.com. In it, she noted ten things that will help you get rid of your stuff. The trick is changing the way you think about your stuff.

Here's where it gets complicated for me.

I was raised by a Depression baby who was raised by a immigrant who is the world's leading authority on what she calls "frugality." I call it hoarding. My grandmother has her size 2 dress from her second wedding in 1953 (as well as the matching size 4.5 shoes), every cookbook the Pillsbury Bake Off published, every weird thing anyone ever gave her...you name it, she has it. My mother is also a keeper; her tag line every time I try to get rid of something is, "But you used to be so interested in [Irish history, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Elvis]." Or worse, she will cluck her tongue and say, "Didn't [Grandma, Auntie, some old boyfriend's mother who got it at a garage sale] give that to you?" And back it goes to its home, where it remains, dust collecting and sad, waiting for an owner who will love it.

Not anymore.

Stuff I don't like is going away. Stuff that irritates me. Stuff that is worn, ugly, dirty, dated, impossible to coordinate, stuff that was given to me by dead people and people I don't like (often the same genre).....stuff I don't need, stuff that doesn't speak to my soul, stuff I will never again use professionally (lots of books fall into this category....I've held an M.A. in English for 13 years now, and I highly doubt that I will ever write the kind if literary criticism I did during that time in my life....so why hold onto 24 volumes on James Joyce? Just so people can peruse my bookcases and see them? Even I'm not that vain).

I am having a garage sale on June 13. I am going to bill it "The Best Damn Garage Sale You Will Attend This Year, and If You Miss It, You Will Be Sorry." I am selling it all....books, toys, the kids' cribs (hopefully I can unload them on Craig's List first), baskets, old ugly dishes, decor I hate...I am not fooling around. I can break the cycle of stuff insanity now. My kids deserve it.

D Day plus 2

I think what I miss about morning coffee is the ritual of it. Filling the basket, getting the water. It certainly isn't having to use the bathroom 20 times before 10, or know that I way loaded up on calories on stuff that doesn't give me a nice full feeling. I also miss the way the house smells like morning when coffee is on. A whistling tea kettle is nice, but that doesn't signal the beginning of a day to me. I don't think I'm cranky or at all unhappy biochemically. I don't think I need the caffeine of coffee the way others need nicotine, for example. I just miss the representation of it, the idea that about half a billion other people in the world start their mornings the same way, and that I was a part of that little community.

Oddly enough, ice cream has not been a challenge.

On the home decor front, we are rethinking the bathroom color to a warm cocoa, because we have blue edge tile and I think brown and blue is an incredibly sleek, modern combo. I am also thinking of ways to get more space in the girls' room. It may involve-gasp--a bunk bed. Stay tuned.