Consolidating stuff and tossing and such.

ah, the Middle Bedroom. It was going to be my craft room, a place to sew, to paint etc. but then Kerry's mom had to leave her home for assisted living and her stuff came here. Of course, there was not much in that room at the time, so it got shoved in there. Then a few years later, my parents' stuff came on by, and of course, into that room.

So the dilemma then is I'm trying so hard to get that room totally usable for me, so I don't have to crawl over anything to reach the ribbons or the large stencils or the wood and cork drawer... or the spot where the beads are stored, so when I want, I can grab them. Or the box where the "current projects" ended up, under everything, so that "current" really means four or five years ago.

I'm ready to get rid of things, for the most part, but right now is a tough time, with friends hospitalized for COVID and other things, and some have died. Of people that I knew well when I was working at various churches, and some from where my mom and dad spent so long... well, since January, I stopped counting at 15 friends and acquaintances gone. Some from COVID and some from Oldness. And one from just here today, and SHOCK she's gone. Our movie and concert buddy. Just gone, just like that. 

Why it's hard, is that emotions are just about ready to boil over, and just a teensy bit more, and my eyes are leaking, and I'm looking for a tissue. 

Anyway. I keep trying to empty boxes and consolidate and put as much as I can in the OUT pile or the TRASH pile... but then I run into things like this. I can't put this in either pile.

Outside, it's quite unassuming. But this book is full of, well, the family book of best loved poems. I memorized a lot of poetry over the years, because I loved it, and so did my mom. This was more worn than her Bible I think, it was pasted back together and taped a number of times. She got a new Bible from time to time, but this book, I don't know if you could find another if you tried.

Also in the book are tucked a number of clippings from here and there. 

So here we are. The trunk is full, I have to make some decisions. I think, well it won't take up much room, or maybe I could do some collage with some of these pages and let the rest go, or put it on a shelf.

Any suggestions for letting go of Parental Stuff, or Mother in law Stuff, or Aunt Loretta Stuff, or whoever else's stuff is hanging around here?? Yes, even ex husband needs to get a box of stuff. And a bar stool, and another little stool he made. And I really ought to let him have some pictures from his children's childhood. And then there's a doll house...

Well, daughter, you better move into a bigger house.