The Plot: Use It or Lost It

I am beginning to suspect the idea of putting the house on the market is a plot by my husband to have me declutter the house. I suspect this because there is now a notable lack of enthusiasm on his part to get the house prepped for sale.

The plot is still working: I am now evaluating my kitchen gadgets.

 Bread maker: stay or go? I think this one may be a go. I make bread often and I prefer to make it in the oven.

Toaster: Stay or go? Technically we don’t need a toaster because our oven has a broiler. Still, it is one of those appliances that make life easier. The toaster gets to stay. It is going to live with the George Forman grill and the wok in one of the deep kitchen drawers.

Ice Cream maker: stay or go? I think this one is staying. The freezer canister is taking up room in the freezer. To save my ice cream maker from the purge I have bookmarked the following site:  40 Gourmet Ice Cream Recipes. I will have to make ice cream more often. My first attempt wasn’t all that successful.

Crock pot: stay or go? I don’t use it a lot, but I like having it just in case. The jury is out on the crock pot.  

Oversized popcorn bowl: stay or go? This is my husbands and he never uses it. It is a go. 

Microwave: Stay or go? It might have to go into hiding while we are showing the house. It does take up considerable counter space. I could adjust to life without it if I had to. But I do not want to have to. It stays until (if) the house is on the market, then I will store it for a while.

The jar of wooden spoons, spatula etc. on the counter: Stay or go? It is going into hiding with the microwave.

Coffeemaker: stay or go? You will have to tear my coffee maker from my cold dead hands before it is removed from the premise.

What kitchen gadget would they have to tear away from you?

The Plot

I am beginning to suspect the idea of putting the house on the market is a plot by my husband to have me declutter the house. I suspect this because there is a notable lack of enthusiasm on his part to get the house prepped for sale.

However, if it is all a plot, it is working. Hundreds of books have exited our home. Princess cleaned her room before she returned to college. 9 trash bags, a trip to Goodwill and the Share Shop later, I finished cleaning the ‘cleaned’ room.

I decluttered the basement. There is a closet built underneath the basement stairs that I have not peeked into for a good 15 years. I admit I was scared to open the door. Years of hockey goalie pads were stored there. One pair was so tiny, I nearly cried as I bagged them up. Also, months of past due car insurance bills were left to rot in that closet. Fortunately that situation righted itself years ago. You would think someone might have tossed the bills away.

The house has a lighter, airier feel. Clutter does weigh on one’s spirits. The only two rooms left to tackle are our bedroom and the kitchen.  Someone else may have to tackle those rooms. It is so much easier to toss other people’s junk. Besides, I need everything in the kitchen and my closet. Really I do.......

Boys to Men: Delighted

The following conversations did take place. The details may be off because I am old and my memory is going.

Haggai is coming home, so he can drive to Texas with his friend Malachi. Why you might ask? Because it’s there....While he is home another friend Igor is having a birthday.

Me: Does Igor have plans for his birthday?

Haggai: I’ll ask him.

Later =>

Haggai: He’s hanging with his family for the day and then he wants to come to your house for sauce. He really loves your pasta sauce.

Me: Oh, okay. How many people are we talking about?

Haggai: Me, Igor and a few of our friends.

Me: How many is a few? (I know from experience that a few can be any amount between 1 and 47)

Haggai: I’ll get back to you on that.

Me: What about his parents and his brother?

Haggai: I’ll see if Igor wants them to come.

So we are hosting a birthday party for Igor and an unspecified number of his friends, that may or may not include Igor’s family (it will because I will invite them). Pasta sauce morphed into homemade pizzas.

The term bacon explosion has been mentioned.  I am scared to ask.

But honestly and truly all joking aside, I am looking forward to this!



Parenting Semi-Adults Ichabod Goes Food Shopping

I am greatly disappointed that no one in Congress has championed my Teen Food Savings Accounts proposal. I am sure it would have gotten bipartisan support and maybe the Congress could have actually passed some legislation last year that would have been helpful to taxpayers.

Sadly, things have come to a head over food in our home. Ichabod has decided to be a competitive body builder. We have decided that our food budget is not going to equal our mortgage payment. After several months of claiming there was not enough food in the house, and my counter claim that 3 dozen eggs, 5 or 6 pounds of apples, 4 to 5 pounds of chicken, tuna fish and peanut butter - not to mention 3  plus loaves of bread and several boxes of cereal a week - in addition to feeding the rest of us, did indeed constitute enough, Ichabod went food shopping for himself this week, with his own money. Sixty dollars later he has enough for the week, if I will buy some chicken for him. He has all “his” food marked with “his” name in black permanent marker.

I am so going to steal a piece of “his” string cheese.....



Aging With Grace: Saying Good Bye To Old Friends

We are toying with the idea of selling our current home and downsizing. This has been a wonderful home to raise 4 kids, but with 2 kids out of the nest (more or less, sometimes more and sometimes less) the space is a little big for the four of us. (If you live in central NC and are interested in an older home with lots of character, feel free to contact me.)

My DH has decided that first we must declutter. He is correct. Clutter must go. Our major clutter is books. We have books everywhere, in almost every room. We have hundreds and hundreds of books.  We have homeschooled for years, and both of us are readers. We love the feel of a book. I like reading on the I Touch, because my sister sends me books for free, but if I have the choice between pixels on a screen and words printed on a page, I will pick the page every time (except at night. I adore being able to read in the dark before I go to sleep. It is a pleasure right up there with chocolate, coffee and a few other things I could mention.)

We have books from our college days, our young married days (before kids, when we actually bought lots of books), mysteries, theology, cookbooks, how to’s, political commentary, poetry, sports, biblical commentaries and histories.....I could go on and on. How does one winnow down a lifetime of good friends.

Books have encouraged us, annoyed us, amused us, taught us.

We rarely buy books new anymore. Unfortunately a book’s cash value drops faster than a new car driving off the car lot. That doesn’t stop us from purchasing some books new, and a lot more used every year. Over the decades we have amassed a lot of books.

We have cleaned out the book cases in the living room. They will be barren so the house will “show” better. The bookcases upstairs have also been purged, although books will be allowed to reside there until we move the whole shebang into storage so the house will ....show better. All the bookcases in the kids’ rooms and the laundry room and the basement have to be purged. Most of those books will have to go too.

Good bye old friends....

      So sad.