Inflatable pool toys.
I made 'em walk the plank, right into the trash can. Why?
Because we don't have a pool! And none of my kids' friends, the ones who do have a pool, have any interest in inflatable noodles and beach balls! Nobody wants 'em, can't give 'em away!
Once upon a time, we had a pool. And so did my parents. Now our pool is gone, replaced by a garden, and my parents have moved.
And, so, mateys, I refuse to be held hostage any longer by some pieces of plastic and air. Avast!
It's nice to see a little bit of empty space opening up. The trick will be not to fill it right back up again!
xo, LD
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
My first pitch!
Poster paints. And the plastic basket they were corralled in, too.
Eight plastic bottles, each filled at least 3/4 of the way with still-liquid poster paints, left over from my kids' early art-making days: hand-delivered to the craft closet at church, for immediate use by actual little kids (who are not teens, like mine are now!).
Why would I want to hold on to them? Easy: 1) one day, who knows when, maybe we would need them to paint a poster. Right? 2) these paint bottles represent how prepared and creative I was as an elementary-school-aged kids' mom - uh huh!
Why should I let them go? Harder: 1) face it, the kids' poster-painting days are gone, gone with their squeaky voices and requests for bedtime stories. Sob! 2) can I still prove to myself and others that I am still a prepared and creative person? A good mom? Probably. . . even without hoarding a clever stash of art supplies.
Oddly, the hardest thing to let go of, in the end, was the little plastic basket that held the paint bottles. . . my brain said, "Come on, keep it! It's useful!" That basket wasn't connected to my bittersweet pangs about my kids' growing older, nor was it attached to the image of myself as a Good Momma. This little basket was tied, instead, to my practical side, industrious, thrifty, and good at finding uses for things. Oh, dear. Give it up! Let this little basket be what it needs to be right now: a very good holder of poster paint bottles.
And so my first pitch is complete!
Phew!
xo, LD
Eight plastic bottles, each filled at least 3/4 of the way with still-liquid poster paints, left over from my kids' early art-making days: hand-delivered to the craft closet at church, for immediate use by actual little kids (who are not teens, like mine are now!).
Why would I want to hold on to them? Easy: 1) one day, who knows when, maybe we would need them to paint a poster. Right? 2) these paint bottles represent how prepared and creative I was as an elementary-school-aged kids' mom - uh huh!
Why should I let them go? Harder: 1) face it, the kids' poster-painting days are gone, gone with their squeaky voices and requests for bedtime stories. Sob! 2) can I still prove to myself and others that I am still a prepared and creative person? A good mom? Probably. . . even without hoarding a clever stash of art supplies.
Oddly, the hardest thing to let go of, in the end, was the little plastic basket that held the paint bottles. . . my brain said, "Come on, keep it! It's useful!" That basket wasn't connected to my bittersweet pangs about my kids' growing older, nor was it attached to the image of myself as a Good Momma. This little basket was tied, instead, to my practical side, industrious, thrifty, and good at finding uses for things. Oh, dear. Give it up! Let this little basket be what it needs to be right now: a very good holder of poster paint bottles.
And so my first pitch is complete!
Phew!
xo, LD
Just one thing. . . less!
Too much stuff!
It was trash day in our neighborhood, and my next-door neighbor, Kathy, and I were talking about all our stuff. . . the clutter that is stuffing our basements, our attics, our garages. . . big stuff, little stuff, from our kids' lives, our own lives, inherited stuff, stuff from who-even-knows-where. Stuff piled up, tucked away, "organized" - or not - in plastic bins, closets, stacks and piles. . . so many things cluttering up our homes and our lives.
Kathy told me about a plan she had come up with, but hadn't kept up on: to throw away one thing a day from her cluttered basement. To recycle, give away, or put into the trash just one thing, every day. Something as big as, say, an air conditioner, or something as little as, for instance, an empty shoebox. After a year, 365 things would be gone! Wouldn't that be a relief! But that hadn't happened. . . life got in the way.
But what a great idea!
And so my year of "one thing at a time" begins - today! My plan (will life get in the way?) is to get rid of one thing every day, and each day I'll tell you about that thing. Why did I bring it home in the first place? What does getting rid of it mean? Or - who knows what there will be to say about my clutter?
Thanks for reading! Do you want to join me? All you have to do is: toss One Thing at a Time!
xo LD
It was trash day in our neighborhood, and my next-door neighbor, Kathy, and I were talking about all our stuff. . . the clutter that is stuffing our basements, our attics, our garages. . . big stuff, little stuff, from our kids' lives, our own lives, inherited stuff, stuff from who-even-knows-where. Stuff piled up, tucked away, "organized" - or not - in plastic bins, closets, stacks and piles. . . so many things cluttering up our homes and our lives.
Kathy told me about a plan she had come up with, but hadn't kept up on: to throw away one thing a day from her cluttered basement. To recycle, give away, or put into the trash just one thing, every day. Something as big as, say, an air conditioner, or something as little as, for instance, an empty shoebox. After a year, 365 things would be gone! Wouldn't that be a relief! But that hadn't happened. . . life got in the way.
But what a great idea!
And so my year of "one thing at a time" begins - today! My plan (will life get in the way?) is to get rid of one thing every day, and each day I'll tell you about that thing. Why did I bring it home in the first place? What does getting rid of it mean? Or - who knows what there will be to say about my clutter?
Thanks for reading! Do you want to join me? All you have to do is: toss One Thing at a Time!
xo LD
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