Can it be? A new post from me?

Just a post to say that I am still kickin'! We have been busy around here. We rented a dumpster for three weeks that sat in our driveway, and boy did we fill it. We have been here 15 years and in that time have accumulated more stuff than anyone could ever possibly need.

I am very proud of ourselves, though. We got rid of stuff that we were hanging onto "just because." Not too long after I got married a great deal of my personal belongings got thrown away that were in my mother's house including love letters, poems and drawings by my husband, my high school yearbooks, years of journals, and other stuff that I didn't get out of my closet fast enough after I married and moved out. Because of that I have had a tendency to save EVERYTHING! I also tend to be sort of a "proxy saver" for the boys - I save stuff of theirs just in case they want it some day.

Well, we had a long discussion and I decided to let the boys decide for themselves what they deemed worthy of keeping, and to my surprise it was very little. I also decided that I didn't need to hold onto "stuff" anymore - I could keep the memories and get rid of the stuff. Some things just can't be replaced, like letters, drawings, yearbooks, but what I had here was WAY less important and so out it went. I even got rid of my depression glass dishes which I loved, but really had no place for. I kept thinking that "someday" I'd have a place for them. Well, while waiting for "someday", I wasn't living here, now - and they were taking up an awful lot of space. I must confess though, I did keep my Jadite pieces! I will FIND a place for them! I am very proud of all four of us. We got rid of years of accumulated junk and decided collectively that it was time to start fresh. I can't believe how much storage space we have now.

Andy and I have also been gearing up for this school year. We will be going to the next big book sale in September to round up the books we need for literature this year. We are studying British literature and need several classic books, all of which I'm sure I'll find at the book sale considerably less expensive than buying them new online. I love that book sale - yes, I got rid of a LOT of books in our massive cleanout. What I have left though are good ones and textbooks, some of which I have already listed and sold on eBay and have some still to list. So they won't be sitting around like they would have previously. But I can't help myself - I LOVE books! Homeschoolers can never have enough books.

Well, that's it for now. I can't promise when my next post will be, but I'll try to make it some time before the new year!