chochiyo_sama

This has been the most productive summers I have ever had.

I have been through every room in my house, nearly every cupboard and drawer, nearly every box, tote, and shelf. My goal was to decrease my possessions by at least ¼, and I think I have met that goal. I had literally hundreds of VHS tapes. I now have less than twenty.

There is a consignment shop in Ellendale, my home town, and most of my culled items have ended up there. I have given a few things to friends, siblings, and my niece and nephew. I even (GASP!!!!) went through my barbie and doll collections and got rid of tons. I got rid of a ton of Barbie doll accessories and furniture as well. 

My mom, my sister-in-law Kari, and my niece and nephew came to help me haul stuff and clean, since my knees make heavy labor and carrying things difficult. Kari and my brother Jack recently bought a van—and that was how we hauled tons of stuff to the consignment shop. Fortuitously, it was “Ellendale Days” the weekend after my first van loads of stuff went there. Apparently, my doll stuff sold like hot cakes. 

The consignment shop gets half of whatever they go for, and I told them to go ahead and set the price. If the consignment shop did not exist, the stuff would have been donated to the Lion’s Club White Elephant Sale (proceeds go to summer programs for kids).   I wouldn’t have made any money at all on the stuff, though I could have deducted the donations from my taxes. 

I’d rather have the cash in hand. 

I need to make a couple more sweeps through the doll totes—I want to really cut down to the bare essentials, keeping only the coolest vintage and current stuff. I’d like to get the Barbie Community down to a small handful of “families” and get a couple of nice big bookshelves to set up “room displays” with the dolls sitting around in them, like real people leading real lives. I also need to go through the dolls one more time. I kept a lot of Barbies that don’t really “speak” to me, simply because they are rare or beautiful. However, I don’t want any that don’t have a “story” for me. I have two “Mimi” dolls from the Drew Carey show. I think I have a Drew too. I’m going to get rid of all of them. Also, I have two Rosie O’Donnell dolls. Now, Rosie speaks to me. I love that doll. However, I don’t think I need two of them. I bought one when she first came out then got the other for a couple bucks at a Toys-R-Us clearance sale. My original intention was to have them be sisters, but that doesn’t really work for me. I could alter one, but it seems a shame when she is such a cool doll.

I need to go through my bookshelves, also. I have been through my books at least twice already, but I still have a lot of books that I don’t need. I’m thinking I am going to get rid of all but my favorite Stephen King books. His latest stuff has been mostly shit anyway.

I love The Stand. At least, I love the original version of The Stand. The unedited version….well, he should have left all that shit out, as his editors advised him. I love The Shining. I love Eyes of the Dragon. I love IT. However. Tommyknockers is shit. Deloris Clayborne is shit. Needful Things is shit. I don’t know how he can write such amazing stuff, then turn around and write such crap. I also have a bunch of vintage library books from the fifties and early sixties, which I got when Bonnie cleaned out the Triton library. I missed the Robert Heinlein stuff, unfortunately. But I got a lot of other cool old-style books which I have enjoyed reading. I will keep a few of them, but most, after I have read them, I intend to send to the consignment shop. Hopefully someone else who enjoys reading vintage adolescent fiction will find them and cherish them.

I am even considering getting rid of my Nutshell News, Dollhouse Miniatures, and Barbie Bazarre Magazines. There are a few articles and pictures I would like to keep from them, but I would like to scan them and keep them on a disk. I think all of those magazines would sell for a couple of bucks. I know the back issues of Barbie Bazarre Magazine sell for quite a bit to collectors. I’m pretty sure there are no high-end collectors in Ellendale, but there are some low-ball collectors, and a couple of bucks is enough for me.

Yesterday and today, I went to school. I got a lot done. I had hoped to finish today, but I didn’t get done. I’m sure I can get the room totally put to rights tomorrow. There’s a little bit of stuff in the gym that I can haul to my room, and the rest, I am sure Jay will haul for me. I would really like to be up and out the door by 8 am tomorrow, and maybe I could get home by noon—or maybe even take in a movie. I would dearly love to see either Ramona and Beezus or Charlie St. Cloud. I just want something cute, sweet, and mindless.

I took one carload of stuff from school to the consignment shop earlier. I have another box started. Mostly, it contains books that I will never use in school again. Also, I had some little odds and ends at school that were just clutter. Now they can be someone else’s clutter.

I am hoping that I can get rid of all my excess both at home and at school. I do not want to live out my life in West Concord. When the opportunity comes to leave, I want to be ready. I don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of worthless stuff that I do not like, need, or want.

I hope to spend any free time I have during the school year organizing my craft stuff and my fabric bins. I have enough fabric to last my life time. But it still isn’t enough. J I love fabric.

I want to crochet up my yarn stash into afghans this winter also—and then finish up a couple of quilts that I started a long time ago.

With any luck, we’ll have a few snow days I can use to get some personal projects cleaned up.

Well, me and the cats are sleepy. I think it is time to post this and go to sleep.

Oh—news from my “farm.” I have two tomato plants in pots on my steps again—and they are beautiful and lush and LOADED with little tomatoes and blossoms. My mouth waters, just thinking about how yummy those tomatoes will taste on toast. *drool*