Saturday, January 3, 2009

Take a Critical Look

I must be an obsessive/compulsive kinda gal. Or, I'm easily entertained by organizing, re-organizing and purging our home of useless stuff. Either way, I'm at it again.

Truth be told, aside from fixing a couple meals, vacuuming 2-3 times a week, hauling in fire wood, building a few puzzles, reading, doing laundry once a week, rarely dusting, and then reading the blogs, what else is there to do? Especially in the winter when it snows nearly every day. Take a hike? Well, I'm still using my walker, so that's out. The possibility of falling on ice beneath the snow and breaking something would keep me inside anyway. Yeah, I know, excuses, excuses! So here's a few more: We're retired. We ain't got money, honey. We live 10 miles out of town. We don't have anyone else living with us. So keeping busy or entertained is a challenge!

Sweetie says I could paint a couple ceilings. I say "why me?" and besides, why paint ceilings when we're still heating with wood? I prefer fresh air and better light before I do my best imitation of Picasso.

For Sweetie the constant snowfall has been a Godsend 'cause he can plow. Otherwise, he'd play Freecell 10 hours a day and snack more often. And drive me batty. Always asking me to repeat something or not hearing me to begin with 'cause he doesn't hear well and we can't afford hearing aids. And being a man, if I discover that Medicare pays for hearing aids, and he gets a pair, he'll just turn them off to further irritate me. He has a wicked sense of humor at times. Ain't growing older and being with one another nearly all the time wonderful?

Careful how you answer that!

Once again, we'll have plenty of company in that department. As millions of people have no work with time on their hands and not a clue as to how to care for themselves - and probably no motivation - the ground is fertile for family disruptions, mental health problems and worse.

So I'm sorting through drawers and boxes and shelves and occasionally muttering: "what in the world did I ever buy that for?" And, "When was the last time I wore a dress or a suit?" And, "How many mystery books do I need?"

Aside from the extra coffee pots, the boxes of fabric, the tin of quilting thread and our canning supplies, everything else is fair game.

So I'll sort and price and repack and wait for the first good spring weekend.

Which leads me to a few more thoughts:

Will yard sale prices be higher this year? I'd say yes.

Will the used furniture store in town be overwhelmed by requests to buy furniture from people desperate to raise cash? Yes again. He added on last spring and outgrew the space by July.

And, will we ever find a buyer for this place? We still hope so. Our last offer was for a land contract from a couple who wanted to relocate from Grand Rapids. He'd lost his $100,000/yr. GM job and she'd found a job at Munson Hospital in Traverse City - an 80 mile round trip from here. Sorry, we need to sell for cash.

Anyway, the New year is a great time to re-evaluate your prepping, your excess baggage and anything else that comes to mind.

So enough blabbing, I'm off to tackle another box. Later, Treesong

6 comments:

HermitJim said...

I can just see the two of you there, finding humorous ways to get a rise out of each other! (in a good way, of course!)

About the hearing...after my Dad died and my Mom remarried, her husband "Roy" hung a small plaque in the room by his chair that said..."I'm NOT hard of hearing, I'm just ignoring you".

Gotta have a little humor in any relationship, I think!

Stephanie in AR said...

I've just begun reading your blog regularly & if I may ask - once your place sells what are your plans? You & Sweetie don't seem like town folks but with the health problems perhaps.

We have been going through mil's things since her death and often wonder what she was thinking - she loved counted cross stitch and if she worked an 8 hr day she would have had to live to be about 200 to finish just what she owned. But I have my own stashes too, surprising how that builds up.

treesong said...

Thanks for the comments and appreciating a little humor.

Fortunately, Sweetie is gone looking for a truck motor or I'd be screeching like a banshee. Can you imagine discovering that he knocked over the open bleach bottle that was sitting on the dryer>

We now have an extremely noxious but clean bathroom and a different color bath rug!

And Step, we want to move to Michigan's Upper Peninsula were my family is. He wants me back home as his health - and mine - decline.

Cygnus MacLlyr said...

Hi Treesong!
Been following you vicariously from hermitjim's; now i've added you to by read list.
Wanted to share a site with you-- a blog called eatatdixiebelles. I think you two could share good GF beta.
Hope it works for you!

treesong said...

Thanks Cygnus! Dixie's is another place for me to get lost.

And now it's time for some peanut butter chocolate ice cream.

After my day, I really do deserve it.

Ellen said...

I'm waiting for spring for tag sale season too. It helps to bring in some extra cash plus I love searching for bargains. I think prices for typical items like clothes, books, etc. will raise a bit but I think that the less common items like oil lamps, etc. will still be fairly low. People buy these for show or find them in Aunt Rita's basement and figure who in their right mind would want that. They mark it at a ridiculously low price just to get something for it.