Day 42–The Decorations Keep On Comin’

Here we are, the middle of January…

And I am still dealing with getting rid of Christmas decorations. I promise that this will be the last post. I hope. But this one almost didn’t happen. I almost chickened out and put it back in the box.

Even though I haven’t put it out in a boat load of years.

Even though there are issues.

You see, there is a story attached. Like THAT is a surprise.

Yes, that is a white picket fence. You might be asking yourself why it is in with the Christmas decorations. Well…..I used to have this miniature Christmas tree that I would set up on a table. And it had it’s own little decorations and it’s own little lights and it’s own little tree skirt. And I even made decorative “gifts” that went under it every year. And my Auntie Jane decided that what I needed to make the thing complete was a white picket fence to go around it. So she made me one.

And I have used it for many years. But it has had some hard use and been dropped here and there and…..

Well, it got dropped one too many times. I am sure that I could fix it if I really had to but I have decided instead to let it go. I no longer have the tree that it went around nor the ornaments for said tree. So it is time for the final goodbye.

But if I had to I could make one for myself.

But I am not going to. I will just remember this one with great fondness.

Day 41-Mr. Monkey

There was a time, here at Chez Knit, when we had a wealth of stuffed animals.

A plethora.

An overflowing abundance of plushies made in far away places.

Thankfully over the years we have divested ourselves of all the stuffed dogs and cats and assorted animals. HHBL and I actually carted all the Beanie Babies to Rwanda and handed them out to all our “kids.

Carting a suitcase full of Beanie Babies and little back packs from Cleveland to Newark to Brussels to Kigali to Entebbe and back to Kigali was NOT a good time had by all. But it got them out of the house and into the hands of someone else who would enjoy them.

But I digress.

Today I am letting go of a treasured friend who has been hanging around eating stray bananas for many a year.

Mr. Monkey

I don’t remember how Mr. Monkey came to live with us. What wild jungle he was snatched from. It is quite possible that he was, dare I say it, a “bribe” for good behavior at one time. His “squeeker” is on it’s last legs. He has permanent orthopedic issues. And he is none too clean not to put too fine a point on it.

He is one of those stuffed animals that you can insert your hand into, all the way up to his head where you can make his “squeeker” squeek.

Putting my hand up his posterior regions always felt sort of proctological and just plain wrong.

And so, even though I cannot put him on a slow boat back to the wilds of Borneo I can send him to AmVets. That may just be wild enough for him.

Good Bye Mr. Monkey.

Day 24-Bingo! Yahtzee!

We like to play games here at Chez Knit.

Or at least some of us do. And I am not pointing fingers at the person who doesn’t like them.

Today I have cleaned out the game closet in the basement.

It used to be the game/puzzle/dress up clothes/sleeping bag closet. And it always seemed like it was a mess and you could barely get the door closed kind of closet. But now it is nice and neat and clean.

The dress up clothes are long gone thank goodness. They had lived long and happy lives.

The sleeping bags still reside in the closet. They like it there.

These are what I am eliminating from the game repertoire. Jenga goes because basically I hate that game. I have no idea what “Oodles” was. “Guess Who?” is geared for much younger children than I have as is “Scotland Yard”. We haven’t played “Racko” in a long time and the “Bingo” game was pretty boring.

There is also a very well used “Twister” game minus the box which long ago fell into ruin and was discarded. I don’t remember the progeny playing all that much Twister. I think it was really more fighting about who was on what spot.

I have no idea where the straw cowboy hat came from but it was thrown onto the pile for good measure.

Do not fear good reader that I have eliminated everything. Monopoly is still there. Boggle, various Trivial Pursuit games, Yahtzee!, Uno, the Backgammon game, Clue, Battleship (my personal favorite). They are all still there.

And boy do we have a bunch of puzzles that we need to do. I may bring one out for the Thanksgiving extravaganza that is being planned.

And while I was cleaning out the closet I found something that I had been looking for and thought was lost.

My Authors card game! AND Famous Battles of the Civil War card game.

No really I was looking for them. These are ones that I played as a child. In fact, these particular games are replacements for the ones that went somewhere long ago. I had to search long and hard over the internet to find them and they are staying.

Day 1- The Lurvey Fruit Basket

First some pictures and then the story.

This is what I refer to as “my Lurvey Basket”. I think the reason for that is obvious. I have owned this little item since the early 1970’s. My Amsler grandparents lived for a time in Dousman, WI. That is a VERY small town outside of Milwaukee.

Very small.

My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Hank had a cottage up there, on Pretty Lake. One memorable summer I spent a number of weeks visiting the cottage with my grandparents. I read old Life magazines. I read books. I dabbled my feet in the “lake” that was really only a few feet deep. I ruthlessly dug up clams. I made popovers with Grandma. I did not watch TV as I don’t even think they had one there. This was long before computers or the internet but I don’t remember ever being bored. I had my own little room where late at night I read or more likely laid on the bed and listened to “Mystery Theater” on my little transistor radio…AM only. Every morning Grandpa Amsler fried himself a hamburger and made instant mashed potatoes for his breakfast (no one ever said my family was normal) and Grandma and I had something more traditional.

And one day Grandma said, We need to make freezer strawberry jam today so that means we need to pick strawberries at Lurveys.

The Lurveys were great friends of the Amsler grandparents as well as parishioners at the small Presbyterian church that Grandpa was pastoring at (his last posting as a matter of fact). They owned a farm where you could pick fruit….obviously. And so that is what we did. And then we came home and made freezer jam that I can still taste today. I am not sure why I brought the basket home, I just remember doing so.

I have carried this basket around with me from house to house to house. And now it is time to say goodbye. It hasn’t been used for many a year. It has just been sitting, lonely and feeling unloved, on shelves in the basement. I am actually taking this item, along with a number of “newer models” from this years peach crop, over to Beck’s Farmer’s market where it will have a good and happy life. They are always looking for these kinds of things.

I Begin As I Mean To Go On

It all began with a single statement.

I have too much stuff.

There, I said it.

And to be perfectly honest I have to think that I am not the only one with this problem. And the really scary part about all this is that I am not sure how we managed to accumulate all this mathom (name that book reference!). It has slowly grown over years and years. Quietly increasing in basement and cupboard.  Things once used but needed no more.  Wedding gifts that have seldom seen the light of day (and we have been married for 26 years!) Boxes of papers and pictures from kids. Boxes of things related to hobbies that were taken up with vigor and left in the wake of new hobbies and interests. 7 hammers for the love of Pete!

A bit of background is in order I think. If you have arrived from Stop Her She’s Knitting then you know that a year or so ago HHBL and I went through the process of trying to sell Chez Knit. We were unsuccessful. And during that time I cleaned out a BUNCH of stuff. And yet, there is still more. I am convinced that it is breeding in the dark recesses of the basement. And in the kitchen cupboards. And in my office. One of these days we are going to be successful at selling the old homestead and when we do that and move to a smaller house….

I don’t want to move anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.

Believe me when I say that the phrase “absolutely necessary” does not cover all that much stuff. Think about it, what do you really need to live your daily life? What can you absolutely not do without?

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

So, since I have to do this I thought I would have you follow along. This is how I think it is going to work. I am going to post Monday thru Friday. 100 days of cleaning out. One or two pictures and story a day. And after that we will see.

But I want you to participate. I want you to comment. I want you to tell me what you are inspired to clean out, to donate. Let’s do this together.

Ready?

See you in a bit with the first item.

I can hardly wait.