I am an insane idiot. Or so my body says. On the other hand, we actually have a functional pantry for the first time in 26 years. (I used a Chinese screen to "curtain off" a corner of the living room by the kitchen, and put shelving in it. This is an old summer cottage and had no pantries, closets, or storage to speak of.)
Sounds a good idea.
I have just punished my body by doing a bit of gardening. I must now get back to the sorting.
I am so reluctant to get rid of memorabilia. I’m filling plastic tubs, duly labelled, wondering if I will ever look inside again.
I found the farewell comments my Head made when I retired. What happened to that organised, efficient person? Life was so busy then, I had to be. Now things just go on the back burner.
The date of my holiday is looming fast - so it's time to organise my suitcase (already sort of half packed) - and I'm going to take it into work to weigh it, since I'm only allowed 15kg on the plane. (Half of it is books for my mum, so I'll be a lot lighter coming back!)
Then I can do a bit of pottering - weeds have sprung up in the garden now it's started raining, so I'll go out with the trowel when the rain stops.
This evening I'm going to a party at the Cabinet of Curiosities, for all the people who have helped them with their idea for a local museum of botanic art and the natural world. They're about to have some major renovations done in the old house which is housing the collection.
One way around that emotional bind is to take pictures of whatever-it-is, before you send it off to a new home. You need not LOOK at the pictures in the future unless you want to--but for some of us, just knowing they exist is enough.
Another thing I do (when I remember it) is to take the thing I want to dispose of that is emotionally charged and pray about it--saying something like, "Thank you, Lord, for this object and for X who used it to cook every Thanksgiving." Then I can put it in the donation box much more comfortably. It's a way of noting the thing's importance. I suppose if you had a whole houseful of such objects to deal with, you could organize a proper house thanksgiving service? And then get on with it, without fussing about individual objects. This would probably be helpful mostly to kids clearing out parents' stuff.
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I have just punished my body by doing a bit of gardening. I must now get back to the sorting.
I am so reluctant to get rid of memorabilia. I’m filling plastic tubs, duly labelled, wondering if I will ever look inside again.
I found the farewell comments my Head made when I retired. What happened to that organised, efficient person? Life was so busy then, I had to be. Now things just go on the back burner.
Then I can do a bit of pottering - weeds have sprung up in the garden now it's started raining, so I'll go out with the trowel when the rain stops.
This evening I'm going to a party at the Cabinet of Curiosities, for all the people who have helped them with their idea for a local museum of botanic art and the natural world. They're about to have some major renovations done in the old house which is housing the collection.
“You get rid of my stuff, you get rid of me.” That’s how it is feeling.
One way around that emotional bind is to take pictures of whatever-it-is, before you send it off to a new home. You need not LOOK at the pictures in the future unless you want to--but for some of us, just knowing they exist is enough.
Another thing I do (when I remember it) is to take the thing I want to dispose of that is emotionally charged and pray about it--saying something like, "Thank you, Lord, for this object and for X who used it to cook every Thanksgiving." Then I can put it in the donation box much more comfortably. It's a way of noting the thing's importance. I suppose if you had a whole houseful of such objects to deal with, you could organize a proper house thanksgiving service? And then get on with it, without fussing about individual objects. This would probably be helpful mostly to kids clearing out parents' stuff.