Our stuff-o-meter is in the red zone!
I feel like I’m living in a clown car! How on earth did we cram so many books into so few rooms?!?
When we moved here, we had three kids, a dog, two smuggled pet mice (Chocolate was one of them, along with his wife, Skunky), a beat up old couch, my grandmother’s dining room table, bookcases of all shapes, sizes and colors, and books.
Over the years, we’ve accumulated more…books! Along with the usual assorted kid games, sports gear, clothing, uniforms, cleats, National Geographic Magazines…you shoulda seen me lying on my stomach using a fishing net to haul all the soccer gear and elementary school year books out from under my daughter’s bed. I don’t even want to mention what else I found.
So, what science needs to figure out is, just like that old Monsanto ride at Disneyland, how did all this stuff shrink to fit in my kids’ rooms? Because when I pack it up all neat and tidy in brand new packing boxes, the stuff from the smallest room alone covers nearly every square inch of my garage. Most of the boxes contain books and magazines.
Lest you think we live in a house filled to the rafters with garbage, nope, not the case. I’m not a pack rat and I recycle. That’s why I don’t get it. Where did all this stuff come from? Who squeezed it in here when I wasn’t looking?
I’m dividing books into categories: Forever keepers. For now keepers. Each kid keepers. Those that someone will ooh and aah over several generations from now keepers. Donations - OMG - I’ve already made six trips to the library and I have to return again tomorrow morning - I foresee many more trips in my future, believe me.
So that’s what I’ve been doing - reorganizing one room after another. Four more rooms to go. The end game? A place to call my own. Yes…fist pump!
Okay so, other news. Just finished reading So Much for That, by Lionel Shriver. The last two chapters were beautiful, the rest of the book not so much. Not a keeper. I’m starting Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese. I hear the book is magnificent, but Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay, is a very tough act to follow.
I’m super excited about my new contract for the menage, All Four One - that means I’ll have three books out this summer and possibly another by fall. In the meantime, when I’m not packing boxes and cleaning rooms, I can focus on my three longer WIPs. I noticed that My Everything has just gone up on Fictionwise. Fingers crossed! Night all!
