So you can tell I've been away from blogging about slogging through old relatives' stuff...regular life schedule has taken over. I still need to mail out some photos and mementos to extended family--I found items that I don't need to keep and can be passed on, e.g. a great uncle's WWII pins/medals. Chores like that are on the list of to-dos, but they are hard to prioritize when the routine stuff still needs to be done, along with a busy work and personal life. Eek!
I know the Fly Lady constantly mentions routines. Some of her music is cheesy, but that "Routines, routines" song is awfully cute and true. I wonder why I resist routines so much? I think I fear I won't have enough time to deal with work and personal stuff--maybe it's a scarcity of time mentality. But routines are part of maintenance...which keeps things moving smoothly. So while I still have to deal with old photos, mail some items out, and make some trips to the thrift store, I need to trust that my time is well spent doing routine maintenance tasks, whether it's cleaning the bathroom or my car, or dealing with a pile of mail. Hopefully I'll find that I will have time to do the extra chores of decluttering after attending to my own routine tasks. I've heard that's how you keep the engine of life greased and moving smoothly. I hope I can trust that it's time well spent, however busy I am in other areas of my life. I also need to remember there's still time to "go out and play," as the FL says. It's not a choice of either I do all the tasks OR I have fun. I tend to imagine I'll go all Martha Stewart--so I need to find a less extreme vision of keeping up with routines and dealing with home stuff. I hope I can trust that I have the time I need.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Summer Sun and Wide Open Spaces
Thinking about clutter makes me think
about spaces...today I am tired of the indoors and ready to write
about the outdoors instead.
I have a large corner lot with lots of
space in my backyard. Theoretically I could garden up a storm, but I
do live in Texas and have been through multiple “hottest summers on
record” in the last six years. I am thoroughly in awe of Texan
gardeners who keep up beautiful gardens. We have pests, diseases,
freezes, and 100-degree+ days, not to mention the fascist yet
necessary watering restrictions. So I have the large yard with some
nice old trees, but the ornamental plants are not what I would have
in the garden of my dreams. It's not like I haven't tried to
personalize the spaces—the afternoon summer sun has killed probably
three lavenders, a verbena, an Indian paintbrush, and possibly more.
I'm not sure how these same plants survive and blossom in other
yards. I call mine a “hot backyard” and for the most part have
put my gardening dreams on hold until I move somewhere else.
What do thrive are Turks caps, which
are okay, but they seem like a 1970s plant. (They were there when I
moved in.) I did put in some survivors--Copper Canyon daisies (very
fragrant), Lantana, rosemary, another yellow daisy-type,
prickly-pear, and then a plant that said Jerusalem Sage but came out
having purple flowers instead of yellow. It's very fragrant
and aggressive. Hope it's not an invasive on the no-no list. Despite
these few survivors, I have decided it's too much time and heartbreak
over dead plants to make over my yard space, at least on my own. I
have felt comforted by hearing the folks on Central Texas Gardener
say that folks have taken serious hits to their gardens the last few
years. While I see others with tidier, livelier gardens, it's
difficult to find the plants that survive and thrive in this drought.
Though I sound pretty fatalistic about
my yard, I actually love gardening under different conditions. In
Colorado we had a 90-day growing season and I obsessed over planting
my summer flower garden, sometimes from seed. It was a short show, but
I easily had stand-out beautiful beds each year, sometimes featuring
a row of tall sunflowers in the back. Texas is a whole other
world and I haven't quite adapted or found the energy to fight for a
great garden here. Perhaps if my space were smaller and more
manageable, I could focus my energy on keeping a limited number of
plants alive and well.
I will say that I've never lived in a
state with such enthusiastic gardeners. I mean, our local PBS station
has a weekly regional gardening show mentioned earlier, Central
Texas Gardener. I've never seen that type of local program
anywhere else. We also have a master gardeners' program, a garden
society, seminars, etc. Here people are serious about their gardens,
which is thoroughly impressive given all the problems year-round. I salute you, Texas gardeners.
Maybe your backyards have more shade, but clearly you are skilled and
working hard to keep things looking so good.
Despite the brutal afternoon sun, I hope to get back to gardening sometime soon. Nature is so healing, and it's all the more fun to be a designer and watch things pop up over a few weeks. When or how I'll get back to it, I don't know, but a garden is a serious must-have in my ideal outdoor space. Because I agree with what my mother says--plants are healing for the soul.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
A Day at the Auction...My Hot Tips
This morning I feel like I'll leave the auction-going to the Brits on the BBC show Cash in the Attic. To be fair, it's just the fatigue talking. I didn't get the greatest sleep so it's amplifying my tiredness. Here's what I've gleaned from attending my first auction as a seller of numerous items.
Auction lesson #1: Smartphones and the net change the process.
People do check to see what items are going for online, so as a seller, you should check too. If something is particularly valuable and easy to pack and ship, consider opening your stuff up to a national or worldwide market if your local auction house might not generate the right interest. I have a collectible WWII knife that did not meet the reserve, and I am sure I will have much better luck online. The net also makes the buyers more savvy which can be both good and bad for you when it comes to bids. At any rate, online info is a major reality and your buyers often have a sense of the national market.
Auction lesson #2: You have no idea what's hot and what's not that day with that group.
This truth added to the entertainment factor. The crowd might be in love with that 1940s pocket watch and then totally pass on some interesting Victorian furniture. Some of my stuff got next to no interest while other items really surprised me. An old fishing stringer got $20 or more while a cute aqua pitcher got zero bids. Who's to say? But when you are disappointed with one lot, the next sale might just cheer you up.
Auction lesson #3: Try to treat the sale as entertainment when possible.
This is difficult if you must get good money for some valuable items, so my non-expert advice is to be careful where you sell your stuff if you can't take the sale lightly. If it's stuff you can more easily part with, you can more breezily let go of the outcome and enjoy the sale. If you seriously need to get a certain price, do your research before and consider your choices of auction houses, consignment stores, and classifieds beforehand.
Auction lesson #4: Items might not sell and you still have to part with your stuff somehow.
I used a newer auction house outside of Austin. I knew that this meant some larger and more valuable items might not catch the right group of people, and unfortunately that was the case. (I wasn't willing to go ridiculously low.) I now have to make plans to move some furniture to a consignment store or directly to another buyer.
While lesson #4 is not fun, I'm happy to report that several smaller items did get more than expected, so it was still a worthwhile sale and I had an interesting day. I also enjoyed seeing who bought what and how my inherited clutter is another person's treasure. The lady who danced when she bought my punch bowl was especially awesome.
In the end, the marketplace determines the demand. Perhaps an auction is the place for a Zen master to practice the art of letting go in more than one sense. I'm not Zen, but Zen-like skills are certainly useful when we face unpredictability, which is what an auction is all about.
Auction lesson #1: Smartphones and the net change the process.
People do check to see what items are going for online, so as a seller, you should check too. If something is particularly valuable and easy to pack and ship, consider opening your stuff up to a national or worldwide market if your local auction house might not generate the right interest. I have a collectible WWII knife that did not meet the reserve, and I am sure I will have much better luck online. The net also makes the buyers more savvy which can be both good and bad for you when it comes to bids. At any rate, online info is a major reality and your buyers often have a sense of the national market.
Auction lesson #2: You have no idea what's hot and what's not that day with that group.
This truth added to the entertainment factor. The crowd might be in love with that 1940s pocket watch and then totally pass on some interesting Victorian furniture. Some of my stuff got next to no interest while other items really surprised me. An old fishing stringer got $20 or more while a cute aqua pitcher got zero bids. Who's to say? But when you are disappointed with one lot, the next sale might just cheer you up.
Auction lesson #3: Try to treat the sale as entertainment when possible.
This is difficult if you must get good money for some valuable items, so my non-expert advice is to be careful where you sell your stuff if you can't take the sale lightly. If it's stuff you can more easily part with, you can more breezily let go of the outcome and enjoy the sale. If you seriously need to get a certain price, do your research before and consider your choices of auction houses, consignment stores, and classifieds beforehand.
Auction lesson #4: Items might not sell and you still have to part with your stuff somehow.
I used a newer auction house outside of Austin. I knew that this meant some larger and more valuable items might not catch the right group of people, and unfortunately that was the case. (I wasn't willing to go ridiculously low.) I now have to make plans to move some furniture to a consignment store or directly to another buyer.
While lesson #4 is not fun, I'm happy to report that several smaller items did get more than expected, so it was still a worthwhile sale and I had an interesting day. I also enjoyed seeing who bought what and how my inherited clutter is another person's treasure. The lady who danced when she bought my punch bowl was especially awesome.
In the end, the marketplace determines the demand. Perhaps an auction is the place for a Zen master to practice the art of letting go in more than one sense. I'm not Zen, but Zen-like skills are certainly useful when we face unpredictability, which is what an auction is all about.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Family Stories Hidden in Boxes
Some large furniture pieces are now out of my house. Feels good and a bit shocking. Need to buy a new bed frame and perhaps a dresser or shelf. We'll see.
Yesterday went through another box of old papers--looks like my grandmother never purged her own parents' box of letters and legal papers, so....I found stuff relating to my great-grandfather's siblings. While it helps me piece together some interesting stories, you wonder how much this procrastinating of dealing with boring paper clutter just literally pushes boxes of papers on to the next generation.
Yes, I found a poll tax from 1915. That sounds cool to some, but I have "it's really old" fatigue. I'm thinking this should have been trashed a few generations back. But, it's not all bad. I learned some stuff, like Great-Grand Aunt Mary* had a cafe or bar called Mary's Tavern. And if the newspaper clipping was saved because he was her husband (as he had her last name), her husband was killed by a bolt of lightening in the street. In the same family, Great-Grand Uncle William had a bride of 16 who died of typhoid fever after a month of marriage. It sounds like a TV mini-series. While I resent people not dealing with a TON of the less interesting papers, it is amazing to see the drama three, four, and more generations back. How much happened that we'll never know because no one actually wrote out a narrative? Or just didn't know it would be of interest later down the line?
*Note: ancestry.com informed me that it's not great-great aunt but great-grand aunt. I'll take their word for it.
Another person whose paperwork has been left was my great-great grandfather who was a Methodist pastor. Because he qualified as a public figure, little items about him would run in the paper, like how his five children had "sore eyes." (What is that? Pinkeye?) I call those papers the old form of facebook. I also have various legal documents and letters that are so dusty they make my skin itch. I realized that not only was he a Methodist pastor (among other jobs), but his father-in-law was as well. I had known this but not really put it together as two generations of reverends. The funny part is that I was not raised Methodist and had zero experience with Methodism until I was maybe in my 20s. I'm not Methodist today, but it's interesting to see it was a big thread in that side of the family. In contrast, my grandfather's side was raised Church of Christ, which is quite different, I would guess. I wonder how many denominations are part of my entire family tree--I would guess all of them in the end.
It's worth being careful when sorting through things--the stories are good to know. But I hope to lose the stuff that does not need to linger in boxes anymore, e.g. my grandmother's 1928 perfect spelling test. Or a stack of 1930s real estate documents and land abstracts. It's not interesting, and it's accidentally unkind to never cull that stuff. At least I'm getting a few rewards in learning some details about people I knew little about before.
----------------------
Update: Hours after writing this, I found most of Mary's estate documents from the early 1960s...and guess what I found? Keys to the tavern and house. SIGH. Well, I wasn't sighing, but that's the polite version.
Yesterday went through another box of old papers--looks like my grandmother never purged her own parents' box of letters and legal papers, so....I found stuff relating to my great-grandfather's siblings. While it helps me piece together some interesting stories, you wonder how much this procrastinating of dealing with boring paper clutter just literally pushes boxes of papers on to the next generation.
Yes, I found a poll tax from 1915. That sounds cool to some, but I have "it's really old" fatigue. I'm thinking this should have been trashed a few generations back. But, it's not all bad. I learned some stuff, like Great-Grand Aunt Mary* had a cafe or bar called Mary's Tavern. And if the newspaper clipping was saved because he was her husband (as he had her last name), her husband was killed by a bolt of lightening in the street. In the same family, Great-Grand Uncle William had a bride of 16 who died of typhoid fever after a month of marriage. It sounds like a TV mini-series. While I resent people not dealing with a TON of the less interesting papers, it is amazing to see the drama three, four, and more generations back. How much happened that we'll never know because no one actually wrote out a narrative? Or just didn't know it would be of interest later down the line?
*Note: ancestry.com informed me that it's not great-great aunt but great-grand aunt. I'll take their word for it.
Another person whose paperwork has been left was my great-great grandfather who was a Methodist pastor. Because he qualified as a public figure, little items about him would run in the paper, like how his five children had "sore eyes." (What is that? Pinkeye?) I call those papers the old form of facebook. I also have various legal documents and letters that are so dusty they make my skin itch. I realized that not only was he a Methodist pastor (among other jobs), but his father-in-law was as well. I had known this but not really put it together as two generations of reverends. The funny part is that I was not raised Methodist and had zero experience with Methodism until I was maybe in my 20s. I'm not Methodist today, but it's interesting to see it was a big thread in that side of the family. In contrast, my grandfather's side was raised Church of Christ, which is quite different, I would guess. I wonder how many denominations are part of my entire family tree--I would guess all of them in the end.
It's worth being careful when sorting through things--the stories are good to know. But I hope to lose the stuff that does not need to linger in boxes anymore, e.g. my grandmother's 1928 perfect spelling test. Or a stack of 1930s real estate documents and land abstracts. It's not interesting, and it's accidentally unkind to never cull that stuff. At least I'm getting a few rewards in learning some details about people I knew little about before.
----------------------
Update: Hours after writing this, I found most of Mary's estate documents from the early 1960s...and guess what I found? Keys to the tavern and house. SIGH. Well, I wasn't sighing, but that's the polite version.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
I'm So Excited!
And I just can't hide it.
That's because the auctioneer came over today and we went over items to sell. They'll come back a in a few days to take stuff away. Goodbye bedroom set that has been in the family since 1940. You served your purpose, and I even kind of like you, but just not enough.
All this empty space begs the question, am I too old to shop at IKEA? Facebook friends say NO, IKEA is okay. Perhaps I will enter the Swedish maze and breathe slowly to get through my mild claustrophobia--when I can't find doors or windows for ages, I get a little nutty.
-----------------
Fun fact: English folks used to be taxed according to how many closets they had. Hence the commonness of those big wooden wardrobes a la Narnia. (I have a big one in my bedroom.)
Sad fact: Antique wardrobes aren't selling for much these days, should I ever move the hefty one out of my room. Alas.
That's because the auctioneer came over today and we went over items to sell. They'll come back a in a few days to take stuff away. Goodbye bedroom set that has been in the family since 1940. You served your purpose, and I even kind of like you, but just not enough.
All this empty space begs the question, am I too old to shop at IKEA? Facebook friends say NO, IKEA is okay. Perhaps I will enter the Swedish maze and breathe slowly to get through my mild claustrophobia--when I can't find doors or windows for ages, I get a little nutty.
 |
| Fare thee well antique dresser with fold-out drawer that serves as a desk! |
Fun fact: English folks used to be taxed according to how many closets they had. Hence the commonness of those big wooden wardrobes a la Narnia. (I have a big one in my bedroom.)
Sad fact: Antique wardrobes aren't selling for much these days, should I ever move the hefty one out of my room. Alas.
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