Sorting it out June 5, 2010

It’s Saturday afternoon, and I’m supposed to be working on clearing out my room right now in preparation for the yard sale I’m having at the end of June. But of course I’d rather be playing online and doing anything but work.

However, in the last couple weeks I have made some progress and it’s been kind of fun going through my closet and drawers and discovering long-forgotten mementos and treasures. And a heck of a lot of junk, too, of course. The trick seems to be getting myself started, and then I find it difficult to stop. It’s sort of like pulling the stopper out of a gushing leak of crap that explodes all over my room, and somehow it just seems easier to keep going rather than to try to figure out a place to shove it all so I can actually sleep in my bed and make it to the bathroom at 3am without tripping and killing myself.

This whole clearing out exercise is seriously testing my decision-making skills, too. I’ve figured out there are at least three categories that my stuff falls into:

1. Things I don’t really care about and can put in the yard sale with no problem. Sadly, this is by far the smallest category. I guess that makes sense since it’s my crap and I originally bought it or received it for a reason, but still it would be nice if my sense of detachment from material objects was a little more developed.
2. Things I absolutely have to keep and find a way – somehow – to transport to Germany. Pictures, school yearbooks, cards and letters….These are things that I feel I really have to hold on to and slowly transport back with each trip, even if it means strapping it onto my back to avoid exceeding baggage limits.
3. Things I do care about and would like to keep, but realize I should let go of and stick in the yard sale. This is by far the biggest category that maybe 70% falls into, and requires the toughest decisions. Examples include an Animaniacs umbrella I received for my 18^th birthday; it’s big and clunky and won’t be easy to transport, but somehow I just can’t bear to sell it. Or a picture frame that was a gift and I really, really love but matches nothing and I can’t really see how or where I would use it. After much hemming and hawing, I have decided to keep the Animaniacs umbrella (it is practical, after all) and to sell the picture frame. Making these kinds of decisions are the suckiest part of the process, and my guess is that at some point I’ll dive into the garbage bag full of yard sale stuff and pull out the picture frame anyway. Sigh. At least I can pretend I’m making progress.
4. Oh, wait – I’ve realized there’s another category: awkward, embarrassing stuff that has sentimental value but I’m not sure I’d want someone else to read. I found a diary from when I was 12. I’m really torn on this one. Part of me thinks I ought to keep it to have more insight to what goes on in a 12-year-old’s mind; another part of me is terribly embarrassed and simply wants to burn it. And what do I do about the box of stuff from old boyfriends filled with letters, cards and keepsakes full of mushy sentiments from romances gone bad? These relationships are part of my past so somehow it feels wrong to just throw these things out, yet does it make sense to classify them instead as cherished possessions worthy of trans-Atlantic travel? Unfortunately, it’s one way or the other as there is no middle ground in this sort of situation.

Oh, Calgon…do your thing. And make all the tough decisions for me while you’re at it.

Good to the Last Drop May 29, 2010

I’ve been back at my parents’ house for a few days now, and I have to admit I haven’t been terribly productive thus far on clearing out my things and preparing for the yard sale. I’ve just been having too much fun doing other stuff. The good news is that I purposefully made this visit to Indiana an extra-long one because I know me (and my tendency to procrastinate) pretty well. But honestly, I’ve been keeping pretty busy doing anything but work since I arrived in Indiana.

At my brother’s, there was a grueling schedule of baking, watching movies and playing games with my niece and nephew during our stay.  My parents and I also decided to visit nearby Conner Prairie one morning while my niece and nephew were attending school. An interactive history park, Conner Prairie recreates what life was like for Indiana settlers in the 19^th century and is established around the historic brick home of trader William Conner.

Is it just me, or is that guy wearing a sack on his head?

And those children are wearing very peculiar shoes for the time period....

When we visited, we had apparently chosen one of the busiest days of the year at the park for school group tours. There must have been at least 400 school kids, but thankfully there were also plenty of parent chaperones keeping the peace. Mostly. The weather was an absolutely perfect 72 degrees, with blue skies. Hard to believe it could get that nice that quickly since the previous day must have been in the 50s or lower 60s, but hey – that’s Indiana for you. (Now we’re in the upper 80s – shorts and tank top weather – for those of you not local).

Then yesterday my mom and I went to a friend’s house to help her with a luncheon she was hosting. In addition to getting to stuff my face with her tasty homemade chicken salad and lemon cheesecake, we played Mexican Train dominoes which I must say, is becoming a new addiction (I came in second after a mighty comeback!)

Choo Choo!

And today was my first big US shopping spree since being home. Well, okay, technically I had one in Whole Foods while I was staying at my brother’s house. Whole Foods is a grocery store, however, so I don’t think it counts as a shopping spree even though the receipt might indicate otherwise….Anywhoo, I spent about 4 hours in a super Target today and it was retail heaven.

The fluorescent lights cast a celestial glow

I think I must have spent a solid hour just in the card and wrapping paper aisles. It’s pathetic, but I have a real addiction to cute paper products. That was only the appetizer, however, before moving on to the main course of my shopping excursion: gift buying. It felt a little bit like Christmas today as there are so many people to buy for at the moment. In total, I had to buy gifts for a wedding, a baby shower, multiple birthdays and Father’s Day. That’s a heck of a lot of gift buying. But it was fun. At one point, I took a break and had a coffee at the Starbucks in Target (now that’s convenience!) before diving back in. I saw many, many things I would like to bring back with me to Germany, but forced myself to leave anything heavy or big on the shelf. It’s always a difficult choice between what I want (the cool driftwood-looking serving platter for only 35 bucks) and what’s practical (5 Oral B flosses for 97 cents each when they cost 2 euro-something a piece back in Germany). Usually practicality wins, but I do give in sometimes. Okay, more than just sometimes. But the problem is I still have so many things here in Indiana that I want to take back with me, and only so much luggage space.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll head into Plainfield later in the afternoon to browse Barnes & Nobles (another one of my favorite US pastimes) and will then catch a movie with my mom. On Monday, I’m getting together with friends to celebrate a birthday; we’ll eat pancakes and play miniature golf. Well, this life of leisure can’t last forever, but I sure am enjoying it for now.

Out with the old, in with the new May 19, 2010

After a long and at times stressful journey yesterday, I finally arrived in Indiana late last night. I don’t even have the energy to go into describing everything that went wrong, but I was pretty cranky with Frankfurt Intl’ Airport, United Airlines AND Washington Dulles Intl’ Airport by the end of the day. That’s right, you’re all on my poo-poo list now. So watch out.

But I am happy to report that the move back in Germany went smoothly on Friday. I went through some of the kitchen boxes on Sunday to help the Mr. get a little more organized before I left, so now I feel slightly less guilty about abandoning him to the “no kitchen” situation. However, he did write today to tell me about the challenges of eating chicken soup with a knife. Yep, I never managed to find any silverware for him, poor guy.

It took the movers a couple of hours to bring everything inside, and reminded us of exactly how much crap we have. Seriously. We never did the usual “moving purge” of stuff because we didn’t really have the time, plus the moving company did all the packing for us which is when this type of purge would normally happen. I’ve told the Mr. that this doesn’t let us off the hook from still doing a purge as we unpack, however.

The flat was cold the first night, but eventually heated up to a reasonable level. We were a little concerned since it is an old building, but we think it will be okay. The sitting shower is…interesting.

The "sitting shower" prior to its installation

We were relieved to find that the water pressure is nice and strong, and there’s plenty of hot water – whew. But still, it’s a chilly experience to have to turn off the water to suds up given that the room never really gets all that warm. So we definitely have to convert it a regular shower, but the Mr. has nearly two months to do this before I’m back ; )

Then on Saturday we went to Ikea and bought lamps for three rooms, as well as a large gray rug for the lounge. We went on a bit of a buying spree as the Mr. handed Baby Merc back over to the rental car company today, and we’ve decided we’re going to hold off on buying a car for now. Makes me a little sad that we’re going to lose the convenience of hopping into it for bigger shopping trips and the luxury of being able to easily travel around on the weekends, but I know we’ll save heaps of money.

In the meantime, I happily have a car to use here in Indiana. My mom recently bought a new car, so that leaves me her old one to drive while I’m here. I drove up to my brother’s house today where I’ll be staying for the next few days with my mom as she’s taking care of my niece & nephew while my brother and his wife are in Japan. Then I head back to my parents’ house and will begin working on clearing out all the things they’ve been storing for me. The plan is to put together a big yard sale, and hopefully my old will become somebody else’s new.