The Great Purge

The adventure continues. There is a lot of work moving. The good news is, we are winning the battle, and not without some personal sacrifice on my part.

Moving the contents of a 2500 square foot store into storage containers and a SMALL open-style house takes a bunch of planning, purging, and good ‘ol hard work. Purging can be painful by itself, but building storage is worse.

Ivy (and Elaine) have set up the yarn and stuff into a masterpiece of functionality. We (Ivy) have been able to rush deliveries and ship orders, all the while, setting up the new “store”. My job? Glad you asked.

Along with my construction career, (which we might talk about in a minute), I have made repeated trips dumping stuff at the thrift store, and my construction dumpster, along with listening to “suggestions” on how I can purge my stuff and how we (I/me) can “create” additional storage in our SMALL house.

You may have noticed, I have highlighted two words in the previous sentence, "suggestions" and "create". I will explain that now.

Since we have closed our brick and mortar business, these are some of the “suggestions” I have heard:

Elaine: You know that vase you bought years ago at that auction? Me: The one that has been prominently displayed in our living room? Elaine: Yes, that one. Are you attached to it? Me: Why are you asking? Elaine: Well. We could give it to a thrift store and I can use that space.

That vase is as good as gone. "Suggestions"!

Elaine: If you and I go through our clothes, we could give some to the thrift store and sell our dressers. Me: We couldn’t give away enough clothes to not need a dresser. Elaine: I have a suggestion, as to how we can live without them. Me: Let’s hear it. Elaine: We could “create” dressers in the closet. We can use the space where the dressers are for your recumbent cycle. We can move the statue on your dresser after we get rid of the vase you bought at the auction.

Elaine tells me if we get rid of the dressers we can "create" exercise space. What do you suppose she means by that?

Now let me define the word, create. In this case, it means to build. Guess who the builder will be. Take your time. OK, in all fairness, Elaine will help build and she will have a blast doing it. I love her for that.

Here’s another suggestion that leads to a create/build opportunity.

My mother’s most prized possession was her toy baby carriage and doll she received from Santa as a child. As time went on, the doll started to crack and look pretty scary. Elaine developed an interest in dolls and had the doll repaired. Elaine created/built a doll as a gift for my mother. Before Mom passed, she gave Elaine her doll collection, including her antique doll “buggy”.

Ivy: Monner, what are we going to do with Grandma’s doll stuff? Me: I was hoping to keep it. Ivy: I don’t remember Grandma, it doesn’t mean that much to me. Can we give it to someone? Me: I can’t do that. I was hoping that would be you. Ivy: Maybe we can give it to a museum with Grandma’s name on it. (Mom’s grandfather has a street named for him in town, it would be fitting for Mom to be in a museum someplace.) Me: Let me think about it.

I’m building a shelf.

Again, in fairness, everyone has been asked to purge some of their stuff. Girl Twin has resisted the hardest. I guess she needs a load of laundry in the washer, one in the dryer, one on her floor, and two loads in her closet, and a couple of loads in the basement family room, at all times.

Boy Twin has gone so far as to create/build a pile of stuff he doesn’t need. It hasn’t left the house but at least it has been moved to the basement family room floor, next to Girl Twin's stuff.

I know, Elaine and Ivy have participated deeply in the home purge. Just how much of the stuff was mine, I can’t be sure. I have many duplicate tools. If the truth were known, I don’t like any of them. I’m going to purge them, even if I might need them someday. I’ve done that before. I don’t know how I got so many tools again. Clothes, I have a lot of special shirts and coats. I don’t wear any of them, but I have them.

Oh wow, I was going to tell some construction stories but Elaine is looking at my stuff, I need to go.

We are about 90% ready to convert to online. We appreciate those of you that didn’t wait.

God Bless you guys. Thanks for your support!

Our crazy lives!

Monner