The Generation (mine) of Wretched Excess
It is Saturday and I am home here at the Landfill this weekend. We are out of town a lot on weekends and I use the occasional Saturday at the Landfill as a catch-up kind of day. I always hit one of the big box grokkery stores at the crack of dawn, usually the Jackson Road Meijer to stock up on stuff that I can’t reasonably just walk over to the Plum Market for. Y’know, like toilet paper. The rest of the day is chores and errands.
Today the first errand after putting away the six bags of grokkeries took me downtown. I was unsuccessful and I did not last long. About 20 minutes, maybe. I hate to shop on a good day and I was just not in the mood today to share *my* downtown with a bunch of outta-town football fans. And all of their big, fancy vee-hickles and whatnot. The generation (mine) of wretched excess. I am sorry. I have lived here for a long time and I am jaded. Anyway, I met up with the GG, who had gotten downtown under his own steam. And we headed out to…
Ann Arbor Granite‘s new showroom on Jackson by Quality 16. No, they do not sell monuments there. And don’t hold your breath. Our last big errand was to Kinko’s (again, don’t ask), whose help I need on another little project, only to discover that I was really not prepared yet. And there were no blasted guinea pigs.
So. Home. What’s next. Well. There are too two Big Projects on tap. And I am not sure I can totally wrap my brain around The Great Kitchen Gut until I manage to make at least some headway on Operation Dungeon Dredge. Today? A bag of garbage, a few papers to recycle (honestly do we need the papers for the old washing machine that Big George hauled away?) and 1.5 boxes of give-aways. I made little dives down into the Abyss but I had to keep coming up for air. How did we get so much stuff? The Generation (mine) of Wretched Excess. When we moved into this place we didn’t even come close to filling it. I can’t even figure out when it got to critical mass. The hardest part is what to do with all the crap I bought the kids over the years. I am pretty sure they don’t want to spend their limited time at home making agonizing decisions about what to get rid of. Do I try to do at least some of it for them? Leaving special stuffed aminals alone, of course. They read this blahg. Kids, I’m not *really* asking you to answer. If you want to, you can do it privately, I don’t expect you to comment. Mostly though, I am thinking out loud. Wondering how to put order around complete chaos.
We are heading over to Knight’s again. This time we have a dinner reservation. It’ll be fun. Yes, some o’ them thar football fans’ll be there. I don’t hate them. I’ll be ready for that particular kind of ambience now that the day is done. It’ll help remind me not to act like a baggy old witch. Pour me a ‘hattan and let me kick back a bit.
Oh heck. I’m posting this. I may tweak it later.
Oh, yer wonderin’ what on earth is that ghostly looking pic? It is a tree down under the water in the Manistique River and Sam (archaeologist, not dog) took it a while back and loaded it up into my iPhoto. She has a pic on her blahg today of that same boat launch, I think. And if you want something even more interesting check out Jay at Raincharm for her annual Toilet Parade. Yay for flushy toilets. And outhouses too. If they don’t smell too awful.
October 4th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Glarg… during Spartan Marching Band season, I lose half of every home game weekend… Tomorrow, I have a list of clean up-organize-put away-vacuum-launder-etc that is as long as my arm… and I have to have it all done by bedtime Monday. Tuesday is band, Wednesday meeting with John from Raymond James, so at least the downstairs has to be PRESENTABLE. Right now, it is FAR from it….
Oh, yeah… the BASEMENT. I got all that awful carpet out after it got soaked (thenkyewveddymuch, Ike) which I needed to get rid of anyway, but I still have to go…through…everything…down…there and get rid of the “wretched excess” (no, nothing water-damaged is still down there – all the wretched excess and precious stuff is safe & dry) and organize. *sigh* I can’t start the process of finding a new smaller place until I get this place under control…. bleah.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Black garbage bags (big 30 gallon ones), white garbage bags (kitchen size), boxes if you have them, Swiffer sheets (work for dusting, too), paper towels, Sharpies, post-its, kleenex, loud music of your choice, helpers if at all possible. Trash goes in the black bags. Clothing, including shoes, goes in the white bags, to be taken to those checker boxes where they separate re-usable clothing from recyclable fiber. This means you don’t have to sweat whether anyone would ever wear that item again. Recycled paper can go in another white bag, or a copy paper box. Use the Sharpie to label stuff. Boxes to try and group stuff. OK, vehicles in this box, puzzle pieces over here, school supplies in that pile, and toss the legos into the trundle under David’s bed. Or whatever it is at your house. Start in the area you can reach most easily, or bothers you the most, or looks easiest. Use the Swiffer sheets or paper towels to dust before, during, or after. If you clear a few feet, celebrate. Quit when you run out of time or sanity. Trust me, it will still be there when you return.
Regarding helpers, maybe KW and Dog Mom could pick a weekend and spend a day apiece in A2 and GB. More fun and manhattans at the end?
Meanwhile, I can blather on about how to do it, but haven’t stepped in Dave’s room since he left for school in August!
October 5th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Well, I was sort of on the verge of making progress a year or so ago. And then. 1) I started working full time. 2) A tree fell on our house. 3) Summer is always chaotic and I *never* get anything done. 4) Our refrigerator broke and it took us about two weeks to get a replacement in there. And. And.
Does Dave *care* if you step in his room while he’s gone???
October 5th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
No, I don’t think so. And if I went in there and dredged the whole thing out, he probably wouldn’t care either. I try and take Dan in there, b/c he knows what action figures go with what other pieces of cosmic debris. That and he moved a lot of his more recent stuff in there. Of course, I could always take pictures and email him questions, should I get a sudden urge to actually go up there and clean. Hasn’t happened yet.