Tomorrow is designated Fall Clean Up Day, where the trash men will pick up big items as well as regular trash.
I tend to go into a zen-like state where I want to throw out everything and start fresh - the whee! zone. Bear (who never met something he couldn't re-purpose) gets tighter-lipped throughout the process. (and wees if he can't get me off the scent)
So we started small - an old mop, a shredded tarp, a broken window blind. Some old toys of the kids. A box of oddments from the shed.He wasn't flinching yet, so I went to the next level.
A five gallon bucket, a crushed laundry hamper, a window shade. Some more tarps and groundcovers, in better condition. The kids' pool, which was left out with water in it and froze. Still okay.
Then I went for it: 'How about that big desk the kids don't use?' and the blinking lights of 'OVERLOAD!' went off in his brain.
He stared at me. "But...WHY?"
I couldn't answer, because I was already lifting it to the curb. "Because," I puffed. "It's (unh!) huge and takes up too much (unh!) room, and they don't sit at it, and it weighs a ton and could you help me?
He did come help, although he was mournful. "It's just....it's just...when you throw it away, it's gone forever."
I looked at him. He wasn't kidding. I let several cars go by* (and several things left unsaid) before I answered.
"Yeah. That's how it works."
So tonight I'm going to have to sleep with my hand tucked into the back of his t-shirt or something, just to make sure he doesn't 'liberate' the damned desk.
*The traffic is always heavy on Clean-Up nights - a lot of college students and people with Perma-Yard sales drive through and take things they can use. People actually sit on their porches and watch other people paw through their trash.
8 comments:
welcome to the country honey bear.
chef
Hey, I'm just like Bear and I'd like to state for the record that it HURTS to throw out stuff that may well be useable. Some day. Some how. It's why my garage is full of my old stuff!!
That's my husband... except I would never have gotten that desk out with his help, I'd have had to get it out myself, while he wasn't looking. The crazy things they want to keep in case we might use it some day... And they never do. Of course. I throw stuff out behind my husband's back and he never notices, and he never misses it either. If I thought I could get away with it,... I'd throw out a lot more...
I laughed at that image! I relate to Bear- I have finally admitted to being a hoarder!
Apart from the stash of fabric.
My life is full of things that 'might be useful one day'.
People over here also go through everyone elses trash piles, specially furniture.
I am sure the desk will find a new home!
"Re-purpose."
I love that.
-J.
I love putting things out on big trash day just to see what gets picked up before the garbage truck gets here.
Oh, yes; the can't-let-it-go syndrome suffered by adults everywhere. My husband even has the boys going through the recycling WHEN HE"S GONE so his 'treasures' don't go to the curb and the dreaded GoodBye Beyond when he's out of town. ACK! I yelp "Did you get that out of the trash?!" and they look at me, innocent and guileless and murmer "No! From the RECYCLING, MOMMY!" and look so delighted with themselves.
*sigh*
Where we live, they do Big Junk Pick Up Day something like once a month. It's not nearly the fun it use to be.
When they use to do it once or twice a year, it was an EVENT! The Husband and I would drive the neighborhood to see what kind of neat-o stuff people were throwing away. I actually got some good stuff that way.
And the people! I pulled up some carpet from my sun room one year. It was the nastiest carpet. The dog (when he got sick and old) had peed on it and it was old and then it got rained on after I put it out there. And this couple complained and asked me what I'd done to it!
I use to have bets with my husband about how long it would take for stuff to disappear. I always won. But he always said, "oh no one will want THAT."
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