Purging

I spent part of today going through the garage, condensing boxes and boxes ...and BOXES of books, and other misc junk that's been hanging around for way to long. Most of it is stuff that we brought when we sold Pop's house and moved him up here... a YEAR AND A HALF ago. *sigh*

Today I got a wild hair and asked Jack to park the garbage trailer in front of the garage and I started hucking anything that Pop (or us) hasn't needed in the past 21 months. Odds are we'll never need it again, right? Holy cow, it was so liberating!

I've always suffered from the 'oh this is perfectly good, let me just set it aside because I KNOW someone can use it' mentality, but in the past year I've been learning to simplify and cut out stuff that isn't essential. I love that I'm finally okay with letting stuff go. The problem I've run into is that these days the local Salvation Army stores are so dang picky, it ends up being more trouble than it's worth to box stuff up and take it in. I don't live in an area where I can have a yard sale, so that's not an option -I just don't know what to do with this stuff and I admit I feel guilty just pitching it -but OMG it's gonna feel so good to get rid of it and have my garage back (well, part of it anyway).

One of the best parts about reclaiming my garage is that I'll finally have enough room to refinish my mom and dad's oak table. I'm not looking forward to the actual refinishing process but I can't wait till we can use it -it totally reminds me of the holidays, with everyone sitting elbow to elbow so we'd all fit around it and it reminds me of playing card games with my mom -she loved that. ...it just reminds me of home. Good stuff!