Posted on 01/09/2006 6:22:49 AM PST by plain talk
Sent this to my wife hoping she will get the message
But they are clearly saving all that neat stuff for you Xena !!! Where's the looooooooooooove ?;o)
I know of an older lady down the block pushing a hundred years in age that has the original paper reporting the sinking of the titanic and the days / years before and after. She even kept her War Bond Stamp books etc etc and albeit she is very neat their isn't room in that place for a fart to form !
She said she might "need" some of that stuff someday......
I only just organized my stash, of course I did go out and buy some more neutrals this past weekend...
Here is a link you might find interesting:
http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml
My wife, FIL, and MIL are the biggest hoarders I have ever seen. They will not throw away anything. Last year, my FIL had a circuit board for a 1980s microwave oven that he was saving. If you open a closet at the inlaws, be very careful for falling objects.
'Cuz it's why we don't invite people here? *\;-)
Seriously, we've had some friends who were like this. One was okay until her husband passed away, then little piles appeared and started growing. The last time we were at her place (many years ago), there were pathways through it all. Many pathways, but the trend could be seen.
The worst was some dozen years back when we helped a friend and his wife move from their South Seattle rental house. There was one pathway through each room, and it was piled chest high. It was so bad we were floored to discover a piano buried so deep we had no idea it was there.
My sister and I could tell you stories about our father, he is a hoarder. He's not well now, after bacterial meningitis, so all he hoards is candy, but he used to be an attorney used to getting this his way, so we had to live with it.
There were paths in our living room. We used to save garbage bags of stuff to throw out and then take them to the dumpster while he was at work. And one time he had a serious fit when my sister threw out a rubber-bound collection of swizzle sticks from the restaurants he had gone to. It wasn't a serious collection, they were lying in the drawer along with packs of matches from every restaurant, etc...
We would open the hall closet to something for the bathroom and the stacks of towels, toilet paper and soap would often fall onto our heads.
I think he would have loved to be different--it was always a massive undertaking to entertain people, in contrast to the well-kept homes of his partners--but he really could not help himself.
Sweet diane, I pinged you on the earlier thread because I, too, am a Flylady fan. She's great. :)
LOL, please see my post #208. Been there, done that. :)
Yes, and she helps you to realize that keeping your home maintained is a question of self-respect: "Finally Loving Yourself," as she says.
So did my dad (and he would if he had the strength today). I remember that he laughed at himself sometimes; he once had a ceremony when he threw a white "weekend work" t-shirt that had more holes than fabric left. It was that big a deal. :)
I have a hard time throwing things away too, though I don't come anywhere near my dad's level. It's mostly sentimental stuff that is hard for me to give/throw away.
However, when my husband cleans the house, there suddenly seems to be a lot more space, and though it's very tempting, I try not to look in the huge filled garbage bag. :)
I wonder if Marla has seen this. So sad!
I used to have a wonderfully delightful, elderly second-cousin (We called her "aunt" because she was quite elderly, and she had so few relatives left.) She had her entire house neatly stacked from floor to ceiling--with paths throughout the house leading from one necessary place to another. When we'd visit, she'd give us treasures from her stacks--antique dolls and other ancient toys in perfect conditions. She'd never had a child, and she had wanted kids so badly.
She was nothing if not neat! She had been a county clerk for years...an amazing woman.
You might have a point there. I know where I first put everything... but it's easy to lose track after shuffling things around every now and then. I promise -- I'm trying to clean out old stuff every now and then.
Well, I kind of promise... at least a little.
Write a story about her...
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LOL!
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