The Call Was Coming From Inside the House

I swear I started writing this a few days ago!

All of the CDs have successfully transitioned to their new home in the basement. I'm amazed at how much fewer I have now that they are racked! The wall space at the bottom of the stairs is the perfect width to keep their shelving too.

I divested myself of even more stuff this week. I sold a dj turntable to a friend of mine, and offered him a small bookcase and wastebasket I had in the garage. I had some time to take some things over to Village Merchants to sell, and at the Twilight Rummage Sale I gave away a shoe rack.

I put the desk on Facebook's Buy Nothing page for my neighborhood and a neighbor came and got it on Sunday morning.  The spare bedroom is cleaner than it's been since I moved in.

Farewell, friend

 It's not just objects I'm pushing out- I deleted my Tumblr page and I plan to leave Facebook altogether. I want to leave Wells Fargo and start banking at a credit union.

I wonder how many bookcases I've given away since I started this cleanout project 7 years ago? It must be about a dozen. I've given away and sold thousands of books since then. This process has brought me a lot of new friends and acquaintances, as well as a sense of peace and control over my environment. 

Geek Love

I'm reporting live from the Frankenstein's Comic Book Swap, happening now at the Eagles Lodge on SE Hawthorne & 49th in Portland, Oregon. We had a quiet start because of the inclement weather, but the fans are getting bolder and now there's a lot of foot traffic in the aisles. I haven't been able to sell at this show in many months due to the changes in my work schedule, but now that I have Saturdays off I shouldn't have any more problems.  I had a few modest sales today and I'm probably going to blow all of my money on my table costs but we have four more hours to go.

I made the perhaps controversial move of giving away a rare oversized book to a good friend of mine with the words "Get it out of my sight" - it had been stored in my garage or closet for years. I remember too well selling a similarly huge and rare book online and the time and trouble it took to sell and package it.  I don't feel that motivated anymore.

I traded a set of vintage nudie cards to a friend for a t-shirt he designed and a paperback bio of J.R.R. Tolkien. I spent just $2 on a rubber Kewpie knockoff, still in packaging that I can use to hang it from the wall alongside my collection of Betty Boop dolls.

Next week is another Twilight Rummage Sale.  I have so little now in the way of tchotchkes but I will end up bringing the books from today.

I'm pretty much done culling the CDs. My next plan is to clear out the closet they were in and shelve the CDs I'm keeping downstairs. I'm going to give away my desk and start pulling up carpet in that room!!

I've been having a good time purging in the last couple weeks.  Donating, selling, shredding, burning. It's a wonder I have anything left but I have the weird feeling that I'll cease to exist if I run out!

The Little Death

I was out of town for a few days so I didn't have access to make last week's post.  But that doesn't mean I haven't been at work!

I've been going through the hundreds of CDs I have and making a pile to give away to the Friends of the Library to resell in their stores and their big sales. So far I have many dozen to donate.  I've been stacking them next to my CD player and giving them a cursory listen. A lot of the ones that are going are some that I held onto because they belonged to my late husband, and because I wanted to have some variety for my old radio show years ago.  They are bands I'd never really want to listen to now.  I'm even getting rid of Neutral Milk Hotel's On Avery Island, because I'm tired of it and a lot of music that sounds like it.

Now that I've returned I've caught cold and I have some time at home to purge some more of these things. I'm headed out to the store to pick up some supplies first.

On my trip away I saw two full episodes of Marie Kondo's show Tidying Up, and the beginning of a third.

It's really good! It's helpful to see all of her theories in action and working for people. I have a lot of empathy for folks who are going through this process.  I've spoken about how I've followed her advice but haven't been very faithful about it, but what I did do changed my life, and I'm not exaggerating.