I think this is day four (? five??) of the post-Christmas organize, purge and toss project. We used to do this every year, but I'm pretty sure we skipped the last few using the babies as our excuse. Our house is entirely too small for all the junk that seems to accumulate. So I've decided my New Year's Resolution is not to work out more (although I need to) or to eat better (which we will) but instead, this year, I pledged to become a minimalist.
Today, I was taking down the Christmas tree and decorations, Craig decided to take on the shed, where we store them. He pulled absolutely everything out, replaced some of the plywood flooring, and then called me out to look at what he found. FOUR BOXES OF BOOKS!! Oh my gosh! I got giddy like a little kid just taking the lids off the boxes and seeing/smelling all the beautiful books inside! The classics that I forgot we stored in the shed that one day will be back on a shelf where they belong. But then there are the other books that, honestly, just remind me of the phases I've gone through. There are self-help books ("Living with the Passive-Aggressive Man" aka Andrew's father... chuck it.) Child-rearing books (hmmmm, maybe Andrew wasn't as perfect as my memory has colored him. Kevin will force me to read every single one. Keepers!) Religious fiction books (The Left Behind series I started but just couldn't finish - So gone.). Philosophy books from college (Hmmm if I ever feel the need to Sartre again, there's a library right up the street... Gone - gone - gone.) I don't even want to think about how many dollars worth of chick lit paperback fiction - there will always be more where that came from.
I'm officially down to the best of the best, my absolute favorites inside the house, the rest in boxes in the shed now that I finished purging the house bookshelves of the more recent books I've bought and read.
But the best part was this... I found books I've been wanting to read that I totally forgot I had! It was just like Christmas all over! Don't tell Craig but I stashed about 10 books inside my headboard... :)
Gena - I hope you know that i adore you! Your love for books and witty sense of humor ALWAYS make me smile. And often giggle!
ReplyDeleteI can't even tell you how many times I've hidden a book so I don't have to hear about it from Derek! Then he'll do something so sweet that makes feel a little bad for it. Like yesterday, I was reading and he noticed that I was almost done with my book. He said, "Honey, it looks like you're almost done with that book. You need to go and get a new one." Huh? I almost fell off the couch!