Sunday, September 30, 2007

Reuse, Recycle, Reduce

I haven't said a peep in this space in a week. Not that anyone has complained. We remain faithful over at Austin Daily Photo but that venue doesn't seem as demanding. The downsizing is getting weird. I'm trying to find homes for strange oddments. I believe we are tossing more stuff than we acquire. But it isn't going fast enough. One challenge is not to be wasteful and find good homes for some things. Today I saw a bike rack in front of Shoal Creek Saloon that had been made from old bike frames welded together. Oh so clever. Of course that joint has the ceiling decorated with old water skis.

Right now I have several cubic feet of knick knacks, collectibles and, let's face it, junk in my car that I hope to pass off to the Settlement Home Garage Sale. I have two cubic feet (the approximate volume of a paper box) of stuff that I'm going to store for my sister and her kids and grandkids to have.

Yesterday I was thinking what I might do with a set of twelve dinner and salad plates that I bought just for a certain party. (They were pretty cheap.) Then I opened a cabinet and realized I had another set I'd also gotten for a party. Also a dozen plates each. Also cheap. I'd just wanted something that looked right with the 'theme.' I'm sure I can find a home for both sets. Can't believe I'd forgotten even having one of them. Comes from having too much storage. In the condo we won't be able to seat twelve for dinner. I'm keeping an assortment of small salad/dessert/cocktail plates for entertaining.

I spent a bunch of time organizing old newspapers and other artifacts FFP and his parents have saved. The stuff that we want to keep I'm trying to preserve and store and catalog in a computer file saying what box they are in. It is all very tedious but I feel sure that I am making progress. Aren't I? Or will I be scrambling to do a bunch of this at the last minute?

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