Off The Cuff -- Boxes Galore
I packed up my entire house today in 14 boxes and some bags. It was sad to see my life sitting in my living room, and its only destination is a storage unit/Alexis. From Huckleberries Online here
Other than college days, I have never been able to get all my belongings in just 14 boxes. I have 20 boxes right now filled with collectible glassware that are sitting in my cellar. I have thousands of books that would probably fill 30 boxes. My bedding alone would fill my car! And I save everything because I collect everything.
As soon as I read this quote on Huckleberries, a memory flashed into my mind of the day we moved Grandmom out of her apartment to live in a nursing home. She lived in a one-bedroom assisted living apartment, half the size of my 730 square foot house. She had spices in her cupboard that had petrified, probably purchased in the late 30s. She had piles of new slacks that still had the price tag on them from stores that have been closed for a couple decades.
As I was going through her things, trying to pare it down to what would fit in a side table (or in one box), I kept going over MY things in my mind. I vowed then and there that I was going to whittle down my stuff so that my sons would not be sitting on the floor of my living room surrounded by endless empty little jars of makeup (because they were milk glass and probably collectible); magazines from the 70s; canned food from the 70s; 29,000 pens and pencils; glue sticks that were glueless and sticky notes that had lost their stick; a gazillion balls of yarn and just as many mid-process uncompleted knitting projects; cross word puzzles already filled out. . .
So far, I have only managed to put these things in boxes and store them in closets. I have managed, though, to record them on tape for which I will transcribe them later. It's been several years since I started the tape and stored the boxes. I have a box full of all those travel size soaps and shampoos you get in hotels. I wonder what the shelf life is for generic motel shampoo?
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2 comments:
Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie....If you are wondering about the shelf life of generic hotel shampoos, then let me share a lovely word with you - or a link, rather... www.freecycle.com.
Why are you packing up your entire house in 14 boxes anyway? Are you moving? Cher
Hi Cheryl - no it was another reader at Huckleberries (a local newspaper blog that is just fantastic - I have a link to it in the quote). I don't think 14 boxes would make a dent. (Yes, I am living with my significant other and need to either rent or sell my house - favoring renting it so I can still have a place if I want to run away.) I already have several boxes filled with stuff I don't use or might use or will never use but can't part with (books, books, books, figurines, collectibles, bla bla bla). 20 boxes. :(
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