Stuff

Ok, so I bought this book on the recommendations of several people.  It's called, "Throw out Fifty Things" by Gail  Blanke.  It's one of those "How to be more organized by de-cluttering" type of books and I do love learning about how to be more organized and less cluttered.  If there's a magazine article about organization and de-cluttering, I'm reading it.  If there's a book about organizing and de-cluttering, I'm buying it.  There used to be a show on HGTV called "Mission Organization" and I never missed an episode.  So my point is, I'm all about organization and de-cluttering.

Well, kind of.  I don't always put these organizational tips to actual use.  Oh yeah, I read these articles and books and I get joetivated (a Perkins term that means "motivated."  Long story) to simplify and organize and de-clutter and how many times will I use the words "organization" and "de-clutter" in this here post.  Keep count because there will be a quiz.

Because I inherited the Family Homestead if you can call a 1950's suburban Long Beach house a "homestead" and I do, I also inherited stuff.  This weekend, TheManTheMyth was cleaning out the side garage and brought out several big plastic bins filled with, you guessed it, stuff.  In these bins are things that belonged to my grandparents and when my Gramma died almost 15 years ago, it seemed very important to keep this stuff.  I haven't looked in these bins in almost 15 years so I sat down to see what could be tossed.  In one bin was all my Grandpa's diplomas from medical school along with a genuine signed Papal Blessing on my grandparents 25th wedding anniversary.  I can't toss out a Papal Blessing; I'll go to hell.  I also found a portrait of my Gramma as a young girl that was done by an inmate at San Quentin (my uncle, who's a Carmelite priest, does Prison Outreach in case you were wondering how and why an inmate at San Quentin is doing portraits of my Gramma).  I can't really toss that out either.

I can't really throw these things out yet I don't really have a place for them because I'm trying to de-clutter and get organized so back into the bin they go and I guess I'll stick them up in the attic.  Which is not one of those walk around-in type of attics where kids can go and play and explore on a rainy day but is more like a crawl space under the eaves of the roof.  Maybe some day, my great-grandkids will go up in the attic (because we've all agreed that one of my children will continue to live in this house after I'm gone and their kids after them) and find these bins and then THEY can deal with this stuff.

Oh, on a completely unrelated note but I'm including it because I thought it was hilarious, yesterday at the park, I got chased by a gang (gaggle?) of thug geese.  Seriously.  I had just got out of my car and had opened the door to the back seat to let Lucy out when they came running up and at first I just stood there going all "Oh, how cute!" and then they came closer and closer and I started backing up and they just kept coming and honking and I ran around to the other side of my car and they came after me!  So I ran around to the other side of the car and they chased me!  We played a game of run around the car while being chased by geese and I was laughing at how stupid I must look and thank God there were no witnesses (I hope) to see these shenanigans (I love the word "shenanigans" almost as much as I love "organize" and "de-clutter) and the whole time this was going on, Lucy just sat there in the back seat and made no attempt to come to my rescue.  Probably because she knew these geese would have kicked her ass and so she stayed put and watched the show through the open door.


Ok, so how many times did I use the words "organize" and "de-clutter?"