TGIF. Hi guys. Thought I'd get a few minutes of QBT (quality blogging time) before the monkeys arrive home and chaos ensues. Had a fantastic Friday actually, did absolutely nothing and enjoyed it :) I went out with some girlfriends last night for a bday celebration and did a bit too much celebrating myself, so was happy for the downtime today. We are having a home improvement weekend, tiling the bedrooms upstairs, so the peace and quiet came and went in the same breath. The boys have a football tournament tomorrow, followed by a bday party and then a sleepover here, so the weekend will be business as usual. On Sunday we are headed to friends', where the kids will set up and man a good old fashioned lemonade stand. That should be an interesting concept for the Hungarian passersby.

I keep saying that my true wish is to have a garage sale, but nobody thinks it will work. They are probably right, but on the other hand, I could be a pioneer and really start something here. In anticipation of 'dump your junk day' (explanation to follow), coupled with the need to completely pack up the kids' rooms for tiling, I have been rigorously compiling bags/boxes of things we don't need. It's a bummer that there isn't more of an eBay setup here in Hungary, I could supplement Bill's income (when he as one again) very nicely.

'Dump your junk day' is a semi-annual event whereby each district/town picks a day when everyone can get rid of their bigger household/outdoor items, as well as things that the gypsies are likely to come by and salvage. It's amazing - the gypsies obviously have the schedule posted on the fridge, for wherever you see junk being dumped, there are droves of gypsies loaded up in Ladas, Trabants, and the odd pick-up truck, going up and down the streets looking for that special something that time forgot.

Bill and I had the garage door open a couple years ago on a Saturday afternoon which didn't actually coincide with this celebratory mass disposal, and a gypsy guy pulls up to the house with his wife, a little trailer attached to their 1972 Wartburg, to see if there is something we don't need. We had just finished cleaning out the garage, and there was indeed a stack of stuff in the t0-go pile. He took every last drop of it and went on his merry way.

Let's move to this topic for a moment, shall we? Organizing your house. I have spent countless hours reading magazine articles and internet chat about simplifying and decluttering your life. Obviously it's a pretty hot topic, since it has become a virtual industry in the US. I am the first person to scream about the amount of 'stuff' cluttering my house, my garage, my life, but there is no possible way that Martha friggin' Stewart's '10 tips to get your house in order' is going to get me whipped into shape. I would venture to say that at least one full day in a two-week period (in terms of hours spent, spread out over two weeks) is consumed by my incessant and never-ending need to tidy up some corner of this house. Let me just add that we don't have a basement, we have a pretty small garage, and only a small amount of storage space in the laundry/dump-it room. Last Sunday, I spent 6-7 hours just sorting through the toy room, trying to put the game pieces back in the right boxes, pulling out stuff that the boys don't play with, etc.. When I was done I peered back into the room, thinking to myself that there is still a whole lot of work sitting there, and that I will no doubt be doing that again very soon. Arghh! No feeling of satisfaction ever comes, because I'm immediately focused on the laundry list of other places in the house that need to be sorted out. So, what does one do to truly stop the 'stuff' from ruling their life?

How about that saying? 'They' say (Martha and associates?) that anything in your closet that you haven't worn for more than a year should be tossed to the used clothing store fashionistas. I disagree wholeheartedly; there are a ton of things rotting in my closet that have been pulled from the years-gone-by abyss and worn somehow/somewhere. And what about kitchen gadgets. Take my meat grinder, for example. Now there's a perfectly good use of storage space - I think I've used it three times in eight years. But what if I develop a sudden urge to make sausage one day? :) Do you see a pattern here? Perhaps I should spell it out - no matter what I pick up and think I might not need, I always find a reason to keep it.

Don't even get me started on Bill in this department. I throw stuff away and then find it tucked in some corner of a shelf in the garage after he has plucked it out of the trash can. Double ARGHH! If I have actually made an executive decision to eliminate it from my life, don't I deserve the satisfaction of seeing it go? So, I have a new approach. I wait until trash day when the cans are out and Bill's not looking so that I can truly toss it.

How did I get started on this topic? Not sure, but it's clearly one that warrants discussion on many levels. I think George Carlin summed it up best in his bit about 'stuff'. Basically, you spend your whole life trying to get more stuff. Then you have to get a bigger house to hold all your stuff, a bigger car to transport your stuff, and you spend most of your life moving your stuff from one place to another. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense really, does it?

Well, kiddies have returned, dinner unfortunately won't make itself, and Liam has decided that he needs help with his homework. It's Friday night and he wants to do his homework, something is very wrong here.

Have a good weekend. Will write soon. xo.