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Showing posts with the label Stuff

A Flea Market Find: The “Mayflower” Bowl

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The “Mayflower” Bowl ____________________________ A great sales person is a great actor.  – Based loosely on a Paul Lynde quote _________________________________ Last winter [January 26, 2015], Jerry, I, Mark, and Missy (the four Siegels) were browsing a flea market at Webster (Florida), nosing around in the antique section, when I spotted an old wooden bowl with cracks. Despite the cracks and being around the block several times, the bowl was very pretty and exuded a lot of soul, and I was drawn to it. But it had a $900.00 price tag on it. I and two other women were oohing and ahhing over it, but that high price tag seemed puzzling; while the bowl did seem to be old, it just didn’t seem to be worth $900.00. No one seemed to want to question why the bowl was priced so high – that is, except me, so I said to the owner of the stand, “This is a really nice bowl, but I don’t understand why it’s $900.00.” He, a white haired gentleman with a nice smile and friendly...

Decluttering and Shedding STUFF and Battling Affluenza, the American Disease

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Zayre's Receipt From 9/24/1989 Found in My Attic on 1/16/2012 ___________________________________________ My hubby and I suffer from a uniquely American disease called Affluenza : too much "stuff" and not enough room for it. After a financially bleak 1980's to the mid 1990's, we went on a buying spree that has lasted through the 21st century. Actually, it's not the buying that has landed us in a house stuffed full of "stuff." It's the not getting rid of old stuff that the new stuff was supposed to replace. Our attic looks like those homes featured on Hoarders : stacked boxes and boxes and boxes, some of them marked "1988." 1988? Seriously? The house itself, while a little full and messy, is still in the manageable range, but on the edge of Hoarders' territory. Dishes are always done, kitchen and food organized, bed made, laundry up-to-date, things mostly put away. However, it's got that bulgy look of having too many ...

Definitely Close to Home ;=)

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Caption: "I have no idea what it is, but it was only five bucks!" _______________________________________ This "Close to Home" cartoon hits. nail. on. head. There's a good reason why my son Eric is building a shed on our property. Jerry and I are pack rats: books, papers, rocks, stuffed animals, art work, glassware, paperweights, oddities, etc., etc. Our house is built on a slab, so no basement, and our attic is small and stuffed full. We have a storage locker (not full), but why pay a monthly rent when we can own our own storage area on property? Still, building a shed is not a license to drag home more "cool" items, but to create a staging area to go through the "stuff" we currently have so that we can organize, toss, or give away items and empty out the locker and organize the house better. However, it's difficult to organize when you don't have a place to put things. Later on, I hope to re-purpose the storage shed i...

Memoir Madness: Driven to Involuntary Commitment