Does the Pile Look Any Smaller?

I've been sorting through things.  Dear Son and his Devoted Girlfriend have been sorting through things.  There's just a lot to sort through.

I've taken some pictures and let some things go.  I'll post the pictures, but later.  I want to reminisce over them a little and, well, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is about to start.  I want to save the word count and the introspection for that.

 It's also too late at night for introspection.  And I have to drive an hour in the morning to attend a workshop.  I need to remember to take a book on tape to keep me awake.  Hey, mornings aren't my strong suit.

I swear that I've thrown things out and put things in boxes and bags for a trip to the thrift store.  That's assuming that Devoted Girlfreind doesn't organize a yard sale.  It could happen.

The Ads Aren't Supposed to Make ME Want to Buy Things!

I wonder if it's because I used the word Toastmaster.  There's now an ad for something called the Ideaboard at the side of this blog.  It might not be there when you read this, of course.  I don't have control of that.

Unfortunately, as a Toastmaster who often gives speaches in small rooms, it looks like it would be really handy.  Visual aids really add to a presentation.  They smooth a presentation out, too, because there's less worry that I'll forget something.  The small one is even within my current whim purchase limits.  Fortunately, the big one isn't, and I want it slightly more than I want the small one. 

It may not be obvious why that's a fortunate thing, wanting both of them.  The key is that I'd feel bad (guilty?) if I made the wrong purchasing choice and now one of the choices isn't within the whim limit, so I'll have to stop and think about it for awhile.

One of the blessings of having a bad memory is that I can use it with confidence to weed out the purchase of things that I don't really want.  I just tell myself I'll think about it.  Let it sit on the back burner.  If it's not something I REALLY want, I'll forget about it. 

If I keep remembering the nifty way it sets up and the way that the transparancies turn the paper tablet into a white board, I may end up buying both of them.  But if I forget . . . hey, more money in my pocket. 

I just had to grouse.  I didn't expect the ads on the side to bring in any money.  I just didn't expect them to make me want to spend money myself.  Grumble, grumble.

You Thought the Last Two Were Bad

I'm not sure what to call this one.  I had Christmas Has Left the Building.  I had Unpacking Grandma.  Now Youngest Son and Devoted Girlfriend are back from the far away state where my Mother's house, garage, and various sheds are finally empty.  
(Pictures below)

They returned in a van and a truck hauling a rented trailer, all three of which were filled.  My house is now very not empty.

 At one point, YS&DG had run the two nearest small towns out of large trash bags.  The nearest town that still had some stocked was 45 minutes away.  He estimates that they filled and hauled away 200 large bags of old paperwork, broken things, worn out things, and long expired food.

That's not counting the twenty bags of old paperwork and obsolete maps and advice books that went bye-bye both of the times that I went up.  And this was after she had spent maybe two years trying to sort and disburse as much as she could. 

I'll talk more about what sort of thing she couldn't or didn't get around to parting with, later.  At one point she and Dad had shoe boxes containing every cancelled check they ever wrote, and those had been sent to the great balance sheet in the sky.  So it could have been worse.

Since this is The Guilt List, I always sort of listen inside myself, straining to catch a whisper of guilt, whenever I post.  If I listen now, I perceive within myself guilt that YS spent so many weeks doing this work.  Fortunately, I feel more gratitude than guilt.  He was doing it for Mom and Dan and for the rest of the family that couldn't be there, as much as he was doing it for me.  I think it was a wonderful thing for him to do.

It's not over, yet.  I'll get to help sort and disburse or store the things that they brought back and the boxes and boxes that came back on previous trips.

It's a relief that there's not much to add to the kitchen.

The biggest pile inside.

Devoted Girlfriend is sorting.  There is an aisle, there.

Boxes and half-sorted pictures on the table.  Boxes under the table.

I'm sure that going through everything will bring up memories.  It has every other time.  It won't just be memories of Mom.  Mom sort of inherited pictures, papers, and bits & pieces from the two generations before her.  Not to mention, the collections of two husbands. 

YS&DG have been in purging mode for weeks, now, and they're determined to continue, going through their stuff and my stuff after we've purged or controlled the old relatives' stuff.  I'm going to do what I can to join them.  We've seen what it can build up to if you're not willing to be brutal and send things out of your life. 

And if I have trouble letting enough go, I'll be writing about it here.