I think you all know that I'm a pack rat, a hoarder in a sense...not to the point that you can't enter my house or have to find pathways to get to the kitchen...
Well...unless you count my basement...
Yes...down in the depths of my basement lies "Hoarders Heaven". This is where I "keep" my baby teeth, all my mail from college, every note written to me from pretty much anyone, including passed notes in high school. In crates you'll find left over material from dresses or crafts, buttons and yarn. In boxes you'll find every yearbook I ever owned, every award given, old lesson plans, calculus tests, college text books, and even my wedding negatives. I KEEP everything it seems.
Everything has a story attached to it and when I pick it up, I am transported back in time and I start to remember...and all the old emotions and laughter starts bubbling up. I have paper bags filled with old pictures from my childhood. I have dried flowers and boutineers from weddings that we've attended.
And the thing is...I need to stop. And it's hard.
I've done a bit better as I've gotten older. I've kept just a big tub in the basement for each daughter and I've MADE myself throw out school papers and other things...at times I just hold my breath and do it. Other times, I stack it in a pile and come back when I am able to deal.
I know that sounds crazy...I'm not sure why I'm wired this way, but I literally have these tiny panic attacks whenever I have to start pitching things, "Oh, I might neeeeeed that someday" or "I remember this, I can't just throw it in the trash!"
Well...when you have that attitude for your whole life, "stuff" starts adding up...and thus the pathways in my basement. However, we are really wanting to start to finish off parts of the basement and that means that I must make room.
Therefore, I have taken up working a half hour every day in my Hoarding Heaven and beginning to throw things away. I did really well the first 2 days and then the 3rd day, I found that my pile of "save" was bigger than my "toss" and I knew I wasn't getting anywhere...today, I spent an hour and I managed to fill another trash bag.
I'm trying hard...I really am...that along with washing my face and eating yogurt and running and chopping off my hair...man, it's like 2011 hit me with a BANG!
So, bear with me if I sound sad over thrown out underroos or babydolls from christmas 1979...and if you have any advice..moreso, emotional stabilizing advice on how to pitch stuff, I'm all ears!
p.s. I will get a picture up here soon of my hair cut. The one plus of this "style" is that I can actually "style" it many different ways...curly, curled under, flipped out, just straight...I'm finding new ways to make it "appear" longer than it actually is...granted, to many of you, it's not that short, but just touching the tops of my shoulders is SHORT to me...sooo, just bear with me...I'm finding creative & interesting ways to take my own photos too:)
