I'm Stuffed!

What is it about stuff that brings us back wanting more? New stuff, old stuff, family stuff, important stuff, yard sale stuff, Free Store stuff, and even stuff I’m not really sure how I got.  I saw an episode of Hoarders last night and thought “Well, it’s not like I have that much stuff…”  But then try to start packing all your stuff.  All of a sudden you find you have more than enough stuff!

So with our move a month closer now, we’re trying to get more stuff packed.  With buying a retirement home last year, “The Farm”, we are thinking it would be smart to only move our stuff once so if we want to keep anything forever but really don’t need it right now, then that stuff should be packed in different boxes and taken to the farm.  That includes things like my grandmothers’s cut glass ware and my mother’s wedding china.  We have all our large family meals there now anyway… well, most of the time.  This past Sunday we had Easter dinner at our current home, so we had to drag some of the glassware that we already packed and moved to the farm back to the house.  AHHHHH!  Thing stuff drives me crazy.

Then there are all the art supplies.  I really never have time to create unless I am on vacation and I spend those at the farm, so all the art supplies are being packed to go there… well, mostly.  I need some items for upcoming Kid’s Clubs at the church and I do have to finish my granddaughter’s quilt before her birthday… [sigh]… Then there is the actual stuff I want and need at our new house in Marshall come June.  The moving company wants all of that in their boxes so they can pack all our stuff snuggly in the truck.  But if I really need it now, how do I pack that stuff early?… [Sigh]

I get exhausted just thinking about all the stuff that needs to be moved.  I don’t even want to talk about my clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry, paintings, framed photos, and chairs.  I like chairs.  And that’s just some of the stuff.  I also have lots of live stuff that has to be moved, like Manuel Hosea Newago.  He’s our Red Devil fish.  He’s almost a foot from fin to lips.  He’s snotty and a real bully sometimes, especially if you move anything in his tank.  Ha! We’ll be moving YOU and the TANK soon, bud!  That should be a real fight.  Plus there are all my plants… [SIGH]… I have a lot of plants, indoors and out.  Indoors alone I have my last five year’s poinsettias from Christmas.  I have almost 100 running foot of Devil’s Ivy. They also call it Golden Pothos, but anyway, no matter how many times I cut it back to the pot, it grows like crazy.  Somehow, I have to move this stuff.  Plus there are gerbera daisies, palms, Christmas cactus, geraniums, begonias, arrowhead vine, spider plants, dracaena, schefflera, and more.  I have to move all this stuff!

And did I mention all my stuff outside?!  Oh yes. I have stuff out there too.  I put in hundreds of square foot of landscaping and gardens outside.  I plan on splitting most all of them to take either to the farm or the new house.  There are hostas, lilies, roses, moon plants, irises, daisies, cone flowers, decorative grasses, and a snowball bush I really want to bring along.  [SIGH]  Then there’s the grandkids’ play house, the sandbox, the teeter totter and race car.  The garage and shed are full of stuff that needs to be moved.  We’ve got lawn chairs, lawn tools, tents and yard décor.  Did I mention I have a 25’ greenhouse we will need to move too?  It is FULL of stuff!  There are pots up the ying yang, a compost bin, four huge potting benches, a cabinet for all my supplies, and a soil tub.  I have harvested all my own seeds so I’ll be planting them here this week and next, so all my seedlings will be ready for the move.

Did I mention we went to a friend’s estate sale and bought some stuff this week?  I mean great deals!  A whole bucket of awesome rope for 25 cents.  Tons of handmade glazed pottery to use as planters, also for 25 cents each!  An old ladder to use as a planter, some metalsmithing tools, a birdcage on a stand (I’ve always wanted one of those!)  And then there was the white iron yard furniture with scroll detailing… the rototiller… the vintage kitchen utensils with red wooden handles for the farm… well, you get the picture. 

Praise be to God for the Open Door Free Store.  The more stuff I pack, the more stuff I realize I really don’t need.  That stuff is going in big black garbage bags and hauled down to the Free Store.  That way some others who don’t have enough stuff can have some of mine.  Lord knows I have plenty!