Another reality check is looming. In fact, we've been avoiding it, but it's time to face it now. We're calling it the the great purge of '09. Unlike the handful of times we've moved over the last 18 years, this time we're not moving to a new house, we're just leaving. Pretty much everything needs to be sold, given away or buried in the backyard. We'll keep photos and family heirlooms, but everything else is going -- the treasures and the junk, because we're determined not to rent an airplane hangar for a storage unit.
Some things are too near to our hearts to part with, and for these things we've development a "Limited Will" of sorts. These things are going for "visits" to friends and family, with the understanding that when we come back, the stuff comes back to us. Brenna's dad and his wife get the Le Creuset dutch oven. Wendy gets the KitchenAid mixer, including its one-of-a-kind oil cloth cover. We're taking our chef's knife with us (I swear to God I'm serious!), so everybody can just lay off that one.
There are also the things that we really don't need, but somehow define who we are -- or rather who we once wished we were. For several years Brenna thought she'd love to collect art glass. It's been a slow process, with glass sculpture being so pricey, and us being downwardly mobile and all. Once Brenna sells the few Kosta Boda pieces she has, she'll have to redefine herself as a former collector of art glass -- or maybe a future collector of snow globes!
So -- next Sunday, Jan 25, we'll be launching our Great Garage Haiku Giveaway. We offer something up, and YOU write a Haiku about why it should be yours. The finalists will be posted, and then YOU vote for the winner. There will be a different item of garage junk treasure every week. We'll have a new page on the website posted with rules, Helpful Haiku Hints, and all the other information you'll need to WIN, WIN, WIN! Come back next Sunday and see it in action. (That marketing class Bob took online through the Learning Annex is really paying off now.)
Bottom line: if we back out of this whole changing our lives thing, you can still keep the stuff.