Because I'm Laying on the Couch Thinking of These Things

My delightful little son shared his runny nose (and cough and sore throat and fever) with me and Nathan. This is always the way it goes, Jonah and Nathan get a little stuffy head, "Hack, hack, I think I'm a little sick" and they're fine after two or three days. Then I get it, and I'm knock-down, drag-out sick. Fever, chills, horrible sinus pain and a headache that won't quit. Or, I dunno, maybe everyone gets sick like that and I'm just whiny. It's entirely possible.

So for the last two days, it's been beautiful outside and I have so much work to do, and I'm laying on the couch with a blanket and a bucket to catch the snot. (Gross, isn't it? I just kidding. But I'll tell you this, I'm not saving any trees this week.)

Did you know that if you eat a bite of chocolate right before sneezing, it makes the sneeze taste better?

Anyway, I've still had to get some work done. I have a pot of tomato sauce cooking down on the stove. I still have to make food for my guys. (Although, Nathan banished me to my bed with the laptop last night after supper. Ain't he sweet? I'll keep him.) But I have this list of work to do that I'm not getting far on. Most of it is computer work, and I can't think because my head is full of snot and who wants to sit at the computer when the sun is shining, anyway?

Also, if you go into my extra bedroom upstairs, you may get lost and die. It's a mess, full of things that need organizing and getting rid of. I have good intentions on this score. I'm gonna go up there (when I'm not sick, but understand that this has been going on for months. The mess, not the sickness.) and I'm gonna tackle it! I'm gonna give it a left! and a right! and conquer my foe before I get lost and die. But then I walk into the room, and I pretty much always get lost and then I run away screaming before any dying happens.

See, I have a horror of collecting stuff and junk that's just going to make itself at home and then lead a hostile takover. So I keep things in order downstairs, but things have a way of congregating in that room and holding underground meetings about what they'll do when I'm not looking. I regularly take stuff to Goodwill. I like to think that I'm good at making the tough decisions about "do I really need this? Do I use it? Will I? Reeeally? No. It goes."

My downfall is the sentimental paraphranalia. Here's what happens. I go up the stairs, hang a right, and face my nemesis. Deep breath, open a box. Peer inside. Wait for it... and... "Oooh! I forgot all about this! Look at that! I remember that time..." and then I put it back in the box because, what if I wanna show my grandchildren someday and tell them about the time I...

And so it goes.

And I read Unclutterer. I try to arm myself with steely reserve against the things that are having power over my resolve. So I totally KNOW what's wrong with this picture. Totally. The real trouble is that I can't give that stuff away. I have the throw it away. And that is sad.

So my new plan is to open those boxes of travel memorabelia and scan everything (that I can actually remember what they are) and save the images on a disc and label it and put the disc away (where I'll still never look at it, but at least it will take up less space.) Okay. So I just need to do it. Do it. (See, I'm sick, so I'm formulating all my plans and pretending they won't soon go awry.)

Now, on to the boxes of county fair ribbons and... gulp... trophies. What in tarnation do I do with those? When I left my parent's house, I "accidentally" left those things in the storage room in their barn. Haha, I live 2,800 miles away. But no, they found their way to my house and now I don't know what to do with them. There's... uh... a lot of them. I've seen where people sew ribbons into a quilt, and that's a great idea for using them, but honestly? What would I do with a quilt made of stiff and itchy fair ribbons? Hang it on the wall? Um, yeah, NO. And the trophies? Like I'm gonna display them, yeahright. My friend suggested I lay them all out and take a picture. Great idea, that's exactly what I should do. But... then... what? Send them to the dump? Groan.

Yes. I will do it. Do it!

And then... there are all these things that I made that won me many of those fair ribbons. I was a crafty kid, and I made stuff all the time. And some things, I got quite good at. (and between making things and keeping up my menagerie and then taking it all to fair, I accumulated some ribbons, see?) I learned a lot making that stuff and now I frequently use what I learned. But what do I do with the stuff?

What will I do with all of Nathan's childhood stuff? Granted, he has much less than I do, and it's actually easy for me to toss it, but them I'm not sure if he might be sad about that... and what if our grandchildren want to see it and... oh dear.

So I guess I need to start with the things that I can easily get rid of. All the kitchen stuff that's been packed up for two years while I've had a temporary kitchen and guess what? I haven't missed more than a couple of things. It can go. Wedding presents I haven't used? I think it's been long enough now. (I know it sounds awful, but that's the way it goes sometimes...) The steam cleaner that Nathan got for me at a sale... and I don't have any carpet in my house to use it on. It can probably go now.

Yes, I'll start there. I even have a few things that I might be able to sell... if I ever get around to it.

This is making me tired.

First things first. Stop the brain goo flowing from my nasal cavity. Then I'll get to work upstairs.