My Head Is Full of Books: Sunday Salon --- Stuff!

Saturday, December 7, 2024

Sunday Salon --- Stuff!

Too many mugs

Weather: RAIN.

Stuff #1 -- We put out our Christmas decorations this week. Most of those decorations are stored in five storage tubs which we lug in from the shed once a year. As we open each tub we paw through to find the favored decorations and place them around the house in particular spots. The non-favored items seem to live endlessly in the tubs, never getting pulled out to decorate the house. Why do we keep this stuff? Clearly one of the reason is sentimentality -- "Oh, here is the ornament C. made in daycare." "Oh look, here is the sweet decoration we bought our first year of marriage." "I remember when your grandma gave us this bobble." -- Other decorations were given to us by relatives and we wouldn't want them to think we aren't grateful, even if they probably don't remember giving us that gift. So why keep them. Every year we say we are going to sort through the decorations in the tubs and offload the stuff but by the time we are putting things away in January, we don't feel like taking the extra time and just cram stuff back in for another year. Ha!

Stuff #2 -- My mother, aged 95, has been sorting and off-loading her stuff for years. She still lives on her own but wants to see her treasures rehomed while she is still alive so she can enjoy them in their new homes when she visits. Every time we drop by she has a little pile of items she wants to go though, hoping we will take her old stuff to our house. Most of the items in the piles are indeed stuff -- dusty candles, linens with stains, stemware with chips -- but every once in a while there is a treasure or two. This past week she gave my grandsons, her great-grandsons, a pile of old children's books. Not sure all of these are special books, but my daughter was delighted to see Moses the Kitten by James Herriot. It was one of her childhood favorites. Diamonds in the rough.

Stuff #3 -- Like mother, like daughter. I've started off-loading my stuff onto my daughters, too, though on a much smaller scale. Rita inherited old cookie cutters from me last week. I tried to get her to take the jello molds and Rice Crispy treats molds, too, but she was not tricked. Carly willingly took my unique gourd nativity set from the tub where it has lived for a few years. But she couldn't help teasing me for turning into my mother as an off-loader of stuff.

Stuff #4 -- Over a year ago we moved a lot of stuff out of our bonus room, where old stuff had gone to die for years. We were getting new carpet so we boxed up everything and put the boxes in the garage. We never moved the stuff back and they are still in the boxes in the garage. A few weeks ago I contemplated out loud how we should just throw the boxes out without looking inside. We lived for all this time without missing the stuff. Why not?

Stuff #5 -- Thinking about stuff has got me noticing all the stuff. Right before the housekeeper was set to arrive, I looked around my kitchen and noticed all the stuff on the counter. This is the stuff I use frequently but have no room in the cupboards because of the stuff I don't use that is taking up space. Stuff like the espresso maker we haven't used for years; the George Foreman grill which we used to use all the time when my husband was serving in the military overseas but haven't used since then; the teacups and saucers that match my dishes but we don't use because everyone prefers to use coffee mugs; and then the plethora of mugs in general. Here is an irony -- I have a variety of boxes of teabags I don't use which were given to me by my sister because she didn't like them. Oh man, everyone is moving their stuff around.

Stuff, a plan -- Today, coincidentally, I read one of my old blog posts where I talked about a project I was doing during of the 40 days of Lent that year. I got rid of a bag of stuff every day. 40 bags in 40 days. Lent is the season before Easter. This coming year Lent starts on March 5th. I commit right now to getting rid of 40 bags (grocery bag size, not garbage bags) of stuff before Easter. Hold me to it.

Don and his brother talking football.

Football and soup: We have technically entered the soup time of year. We try to eat a nice warm bowl of soup every evening for our dinner. If you have a favorite soup recipe, please share! / Football. Our team UO Ducks, is doing well. Saturday evening (today) they play for the league championship. If all goes well, they will be in the 12-team tournament. Fingers crossed. Don is absolutely in his element these days.

Books: If I remember correctly, I offloaded several bags of books to the library for their book sales during my last 40 in 40 challenge. Glancing over at my bookshelf which I can see from where I sit, it is clearly time to tidy it up and bag up books for a donation.

Here is what I am reading right now:

Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford. Published in the 1930s, the book is certainly a look at a bygone era. I meant to read this during November for my novella challenge. Print. 14%.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie. Another short book I'd hope to read in November. As you know, Rushdie was nearly killed by a knife attack. He lost an eye. This is a look at his life and reflections since that event. Print. 19%.
The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende. A book club selection. Audio. 40%.

Books I've recently finished:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. A Women's Prize winner. What a special book. Audio.
Modern Poetry by Diane Seuss. A National Book Award finalist. Print.
How to Be More Tree by Liz Marvin. One of those cute little inspirational books which is illustrated. Love it. Print.

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