The results are in! (Long read, but the last one!)

Hello, friends!  Here I am on Tuesday morning after Easter, exhausted from a tense night of listening for tornadoes or the crack of a tree falling during our first potentially damaging storm, and finally ready to make my last post of my Lenten experiment for simplicity.  I have thought about how I would like to finish this run, and I've made a decision.  There are two pretty big items in my life that have been taking up way too much room, and it's time to pull the trigger and send them away. The first one is a stacking washer/dryer combo that Katie's grandma gave us, and the details of the story are worth sharing. ;-) 

Katie, our dear friend Rachel, and I traveled from Abilene to Lufkin (6 hrs) in my single cab old style Dakota (close quarters) to pick up this washer/dryer from her Grandmommy to use in our rental house to try and save space. Long story short, we make it there and back, work hard to get the other appliances moved out to the shed, work hard to squeeze this monster stacked appliance through our 1930's doorways and hall, and get everything set up. A year later, we have to reverse the whole process, haul the rental house's appliances back in and move this big guy BACK to Lufkin where we now live (can you tell I love my wife A LOT?!?!) BUT, our new house's laundry room doesn't have the vertical space for a stacking washer/dryer, so we're using Katie's folks' spare set of appliances and the extra extra-large stacking thing has been looming in our garage ever since. It's high time to get this thing out of our life. As soon as I can clear the items I'm donating away from around it, I'm going to take some pics and list it on craig's list and the Peddler (for you non-Deep-East-Texans, it's a free local  online classifieds and has high traffic!)  But for now, it looks like this:

 My thought at the moment is to sell it and put the money towards some vehicle repair which is long overdue and so far we have not been able to squeeze the funds out of our budget. I know this is different from the rest of my experiment, either donating items or trashing them, but I do plan on asking a more than reasonable price for it to help someone out with a costly purchase, as it is only a few years old and worth quite a bit. Is that good enough? I'm asking myself this question, by the way, not you...  how extravagantly generous can I be?  This is hard...

And speaking of hard, I've saved the biggest, most sacrificial, most significant possession for last. Wait a minute there, Braz Man, that's only two things...you said five. Well, this is pretty big.

That's right, I'm going to get rid of my truck.  For those of you who don't know, this truck and I go way back.  In the summer between my senior year of college and my last semester of school (4 1/2 yrs, not too shabby!) I purchased this used '92 Dodge Dakota.  And when I say I purchased it, I did just that. With saved pottery and necklace money, I went looking around town with a good professor friend of mine who knows cars, found this guy, walked in, negotiated a price, and wrote a check.  If you've never bought something outright that usually requires a payment plan with money you earned with your muscles, sweat, tears, time, blood, and creativity, I highly recommend you try it sometime.  The time span of my ownership of this truck is approximately one month longer than my dating, engagement, and marriage to Katie. Our first kiss was in this truck. In cleaning it out I found birdseed and bobby pins down in the nooks and crannies from driving to our Honeymoon.  We've slept in this truck, fished and camped out of it, traveled to and from dozens of pottery shows including multiple trips to Oklahoma and even one to Clay City, Indiana.  On many of these trips, Katie and I shared the bench seat with our first dog, a tiny little 90lb lapdog named Huckleberry who ran away from home after we moved to Lufkin last June, but who's hair will always remain a part of our lives (and clothes). I always said I'd probably drive this ol' truck until it completely broke down...

Well, it has.  Back in August I left Lufkin to drive to the Metroplex to pick up a bed we had been given. I made it about 25 miles, when the truck began losing power and I pulled over.  The oil pump had stopped working, cutting off oil flow to the engine, and now it has what is called a galled or spun bearing in one of the pistons. This is not an easy or cheap fix, and I've been told it will probably take a new engine to get her up to snuff.  When you're talking about a vehicle this old with 200K miles on it, even though the rest of the truck is in really pretty good shape, getting it fixed will cost way more than the truck is worth. Now, if someone enjoyed tinkering and could get the parts/engine for it and do the labor themselves, that would be a different story, but that's not describing me. 

When I pull back and look at the big picture, though, it's really not that tragic.  I would have needed to get rid of the truck at some point in the near future anyway, because it has no back seat and I wouldn't have been able to transport Avonlea in it for several years, and switching cars with Katie wouldn't have worked because she cannot drive a standard.  Plus, my dear Nana has deemed herself unable to drive anymore due to her aging mind and has gifted me with Buttercup, a hoss of a Crown Victoria with only 60K and only a slight resemblance to a taxi cab.

So, what to do with an old broke-down pickemup truck? I've already priced some of the auto salvage yards around town, and they ought to be ashamed of themselves.  Serendipitously, I just happened to look on craig's list for Dodge Dakotas, and there's a guy looking for an early 90's model for parts to restore one he's working on. Hope that pans out. Don't really want to just give away a truck that needs so many repairs to be functional, but might just give someone needing parts a good deal on it, and will most likely use the money, again, to take care of some things around the house. Katie has asked for an anniversary present at the end of the summer in the form of a painted house exterior, so maybe this is God's way of switching some assets around in our life; sell old truck, buy paint for house, and here's a free car to sweeten the pot.

BTW I'm trying to sell the camper shell as well, and it has this sweet custom fishing rod sling system I rigged up to hold about 10 poles close to the ceiling and out of the way of camping gear, ice chests, dogs, etc...

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  This experiment has been quite the learning experience for me.  When I was first pondering the details of my Lenten regimen, I looked around my house and thought that surely I could get rid of one thing a day and be pretty comfortable. Sure, that would have been 40 things. Easy.  But I didn't want easy.  I wanted to force myself to put my money where my mouth has been at times, saying that life would be so much more enjoyable if lived simply.  So I upped the count to five things a day. Yeah, this will be challenging, maybe even gut wrenching at times! Just extreme enough to make people stop and think, without just going ahead and packing a few bags and living on the streets. Sweet!

Turns out, I could have maybe done ten things a day and still live completely comfortably. Maybe more. I look around and wonder where the big holes should be where 200 items used to live. Turns out they were hiding, not taking up significant amounts of space compared to the whole of the material possessions in my capacity.  Turns out, I'm still a long LONG way from paring my possessions down to 100 measly objects. And it turns out that I'm probably still a long way from trusting God enough to live exactly like Jesus lived and taught, without worry or a pillow to rest my head, giving to everyone who asks of me, giving my coat as well to the man who asks for a shirt, going the extra mile with those who need it.

I still have so much stuff! I probably still have over 200 DVDs alone! And why, with a subscription to Netflix, would I need over 200 DVDs? Because it doesn't hurt anything for me to have over 200 DVDs. And it really doesn't hurt anything for me to have over 200 garments of clothing. And 50 Disc Golf discs. And 400 pots, pans, plates, cups, bowls, utensils,  well over 1000 books, a garage full of fishing equipment, camping equipment, lawn and auto tools, all the gizmos and whatzits for a dozen hobbies I love and don't get to  engage in enough, and literally, countless trinkets and doodads that don't fall into any category other than "Keep it until you find a use for it".  So what if I don't actually NEED all of these things? It's good to have spares. It's good to have extras for when you need em. What if I lose one? What if it breaks? What/who does it really hurt to have all of this stuff?

Me.

"It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick." - Richard Foster

It seems that the more stuff we have, the more we forget to rely on God for anything.  When we have a job that pays money to provide food and shelter, with lots extra to surround ourselves with "creature comforts" and the ability to purchase on a whim (and especially if we are taken in with the lie of credit cards), what do we need God for except at the end of our long privileged lives to save us from an eternity without Him, even though we've done pretty well for ourselves without Him up to this point...

Lord, forgive me of my arrogance. Forgive me for accepting for myself the glories that the talents and skills You've bestowed on me have reaped instead of sending them up to You. Forgive me when I am more thankful for the creations than the Creator. Forgive me for being a poor steward of Your blessings. Hosanna, save me, and let me remember how much saving I need. Amen.

Thanks to all of you who have walked with and encouraged me through this Lenten journey.  I have definitely felt God's tug on my heart and surgery on my eyes, and I hope that my meager efforts here at striving for simplicity have at least been enlightening to someone out there. There very well might be a sequel next year. We'll see. Until then, may God bless you and grant you

Peace.

One more day...just one more.

It has been a long journey to the cross. Today is Good Friday, bittersweet and ironic.  Today is the day we set aside to remember that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, was beaten to within an inch of his life and then hung on a cross to finish the job.  And in that instant, when He breathed his last, the Temple curtain was torn, the old system was made obsolete, and we all died by proxy. 

It has been a long experiment. As of tonight, I should have scoured over my entire collection of possessions and removed 190 of them for the garbage can or the thrift store.  In some ways it never got too hard (I have ample possessions to choose from so that nothing was a real sacrifice), but the self-inflicted obligation did become tedious there for a few weeks. I must say that I am glad to be at the end of this season, and I really have no regrets about it at all.   It has changed the way I see the things around me in the house, my office, my car...I hope I can become quicker to loan what I have, to be less anxious at the handling of certain pieces of pottery, to feel more free to make gifts of items to those who need or appreciate them, to be known as a "Master of Giving." 

The five books I have for tonight won't earn me any special titles, but it's what I can do right now.  I am pondering my next and last move tomorrow and wondering if I can live up to the exorbitant generosity my heart is being tugged at to exhibit.  We shall see.

Peace.

What?!?! Before the deadline...?!?!

Wow, look at me, posting before anywhere close to midnight!!  And the proaction (is that a word?
Spellcheck doesn't think so) doesn't stop there, no; I'm posting for the next three days!  Unless you haven't noticed, it's Holy Week and I'm kinda busy.  I will be in five different worship services in the next few days, and I am preparing for a Seder Passover meal with my gang, a youth group-led Sunday morning worship and a senior blessing Sunday later in May, so I'm taking a rare opportunity to get this blog posting done preemptively.

By the way, I'm sitting in my office at work right now, jamming to Acappella's song All Men Will Know on youtube. If you've never heard the song, it's worth a viewing, but make sure you have a tissue ready.  It's actually quite appropriate for Easter Week, and for this year's focus scripture for our Sunday night events called crossTraining; "Die to yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23  This song is a great reminder that "they will know we are Christians by our love" and to get out there and do it! Christ defeated death, so what are we afraid of?!  Being made fun of? Being uncomfortable? Pshaw!

Anyway...

The offering for the next three days is a stack of children's ministry literature that has been sitting on a bookshelf in my office for nearly a year, unused and eventually unseen by me. It's going to find a new home and get to work! There's sixteen things in the picture, but who's counting...?

Making up for lost time

Did you miss me? I missed you!  Katie, Avonlea and I took a couple of days off and headed for Caddo Lake State Park last week, so I missed a few days there.  We had an amazing time, saw many wonderful sights and learned some really interesting trivia about that part of Texas.  Simplicity came to my mind a few different times over our long weekend...

 First of all, how much stuff do three people need for two nights?!?!

But Katie had a good point; we could camp out for two nights or twenty with the same amount of gear, and just replenish our food and water as needed. Good point, Kate! So really, it looks like a lot but it's covering our needs and we're comfortably appreciative. Sounds good.

We have some amazing friends back in Abilene that know how much we love camping,and anticipated that we would need a little bigger tent to house our growing family, so this tent was a baby shower present from them. We broke it in admirably on this trip, because about seven hours from the time this pic was snapped, we would be riding out a pretty decent thunderstorm that would continue to rain until just before dawn. We all managed to keep dry enough to stay warm and cozy. Tent = win!

Waking up to a cool East Texas morning, greeting the sun and wetting a hook. It doesn't get much better or simpler than this!

For more pics from out adventures, check out my Facebook page.

So, that leaves me with Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday to gather up five items per day, and here it all is, unceremoniously piled together:

8 hardback books about fishing, a few more misc. books, a few pieces of pottery, a money box and coin pouch, a extra set of drill bits, and an unopened collectable Star Wars quartet that probably isn't worth $10. Oh well, they're out of my life now.

Oh, by the way, did I mention I caught an alligator?  ;-)

Two for One!!!

Whoops, I missed yesterday. In the last two days I've been to two of my guys' baseball games in the evenings, and last night we worked on laundry until pretty late. Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging, it's a simple fact of life.

But never fear, for I have two pics that will represent yesterday's items and today's. Nothing special, just another  cubic foot or so of space regained in my life, another ten possessions I won't have to pack and move again, one more small arm full of stuff I won't have any trouble living without.

Some days this experiment feels better than others.

Today was a good day.

Peace.

Two weeks to go...

Let's see, for tonight we are offering a spicy used battery pack to a tent fan (whereabouts unknown), a pair of delectable, sparkly white golf shoes that is bound to fit someone's taste, a savory (read salty) bait cast net, all served on a bed of truck bench seat cover from my poor, obsolete truck. 

What's that, you only see four choices on the menu this evening? Oh, that's because I have taken the small liberty of depositing in the recycling bin a trash sack full of 2- and 3-liter bottles saved from a fishing project of yesteryear, unrealized and bittersweet. Please, enjoy...

Peace.

Self Diagnosis

Yeah, so I'm figuring out some things.  I've learned that I will hold on to lots of things that, in all actuality, I will never, ever use.  Oh, I've had some good ideas about uses for certain things, but I'm finding things that have been stashed away for years collecting dust, which brings me to my next point.  The book Stuff mentions that hoarders get to the point of not even noticing the piles around them, the towers of papers and jumbled assortment of bric-a-brac crowding their dwellings, filling out their "caves" or "nests."  Looking at my stuff through the eyes of one seriously motivated to declutter his life, I am starting to see all the total crap I've been toting around for years and years, packing and moving and storing!

And then I have a thought, probably what this whole examination is about:  how much is pent up in my heart that has sat there, collecting dust for years? Piles of good advice about financial practices, diet, exercise, spending time with my Lord...most of which I disregard as easily as the contents of a junk drawer left unconsidered for a score of years. Maybe these new eyes will transfer over to other aspects of my life, not just my array of possessions. Hmm.

Here's a collection of things from Friday and today that have been sitting around waiting for restorations that will never happen:

An old silverware drawer tray that doesn't fit our new drawers. We've seriously had this since our first apartment. 2002, folks. Filled with two watches with dead batteries, another old sales book, and a bottle cap opener from the American Cancer Society. Nice, I know.

This group is funny:  A meat thermometer made obsolete by my purchase of a digital one, an old bag of hermit crab shells from a trip to the beach forever ago, a really, REALLY old ACE bandage (I've been operating under the assumption that these are expensive medical equipment, and not a $4 fix at CVS as apparently they are. This came out of my dad's drawer in 2001 when I sustained a foot injury) and the two lamest so far...the instructions and spare diodes to a radio electric fence from when we lived in Austin, and a ziplock bag with a single button in it. Yeah, I hear ya, "Way to go, Braz, really cleaning out your life there, bud." But here's something insightful to throw back atcha.  How many teeny, tiny, seemingly insignificant "ziplock bag-buttons" are you carrying around in your soul?  Little wounds, small grudges, a curse word here or there, a spiritually dry year, an old unresolved family conflict...one at a time, they may not seem so bad. It's when you pull out a drawer-full and see them all collected there, and you say, "What in the world am I hanging on to all this junk for?!"  So it's in the small things, like a single button in a ziplock bag that will no longer grace the inside of a drawer, that we take our baby steps towards healing, and more importantly, a new way of thinking. "Renew your minds..."  I think I'm getting it.

Peace.

The heart of the matter.

Wow, this is getting hard. The big, obvious things are long gone, the categories I've been drawing from are drying up, and I'm faced with the difficult task of confronting the source of my problem:  my hoarding tendencies.  I'm what you would call a "prudent opportunist."  That is, I find it hard to say no to free stuff, cheap stuff, stuff on sale, and I can find uses for many things that others would throw out.  For example, I have several empty tins of the International Cafe coffees, Altoids, plastic Folgers cans, pill bottles, etc., for the intended purpose of storing this or that, nails, screws, blah blah blah...  Until now I have never had a garage, so now I can finally use these goofy things to try to organize my new domain.

But, in discovering these hidden "treasures", I've found some other things that have perfectly logical uses; I just refuse to hang on to them anymore waiting for the opportunities to use them to present themselves.  There's a stack of clay medallions that would be fun as bathroom passes for teachers or awards if put on a nice wide ribbon (see, that's my problem; too creative!), a stack of those waterproof pouches that come with Magellan brand fishing shirts, a never-opened fish fighting belt, some old sales books, and a random sunglasses drawstring or croakers.

Several of these came out of a single junk drawer that should give me another day or two. Honestly it's pretty freeing to look at these things I've been carrying around for 8-10 years and say, "You know what, I'm never going to use you. So hasta la vista."  Lord, please continue to transform my heart to need things less and need you more.

Peace!

A party waiting to happen...

Don't ask me how I ended up with four packages of unused water balloons. Maybe I was caught without an abundance of hydroammunition at some point and thought, never again! Maybe it was for an occasion that either didn't end up happening or there were plenty of projectable objects, who knows?! All I know is, some kids somewhere are going to go crazy when they get their hands on this surplus!

And, an out of date package of Jelly Bellies to boot. They were "best used by" Feb 2010, if anyone wants to give them a shot. Anyone? No? Oh well...

Peace.

Thinning down the library

If you ask most potters how many is too many books about pottery, the standard answer might be, "No such thing."  That's been my modus operandi since getting into the pottery biz, but I really don't need dozens of books that all talk about the beginner basics. So, I am going to keep the ones that have the best quality pics of pots that serve as inspiration, and I'll send these on down the line to the next generation of potters  ;-)

Peace.

Starting to pinch...

Tonight was a bit challenging. I have to admit a few things to you, humble reader.  A. I'm getting a little tired of doing this experiment, and the days that I skip and have to scrounge for ten things instead of just five, it feels doubly daunting. B. It's getting harder to find things I don't have to think twice about chunking. It looks like the first half of the journey will be the easiest to traverse, and the horizon is rising at a surprising grade. Whoa...how literary of me!

Anyway, here's my offering for tonight: three pairs of hand-me-down light nylon shorts I've never worn, and two of my favorite, well-worn Life is Good t-shirts. It's not much, but someone would be able to wear them and appreciate them, and that makes it worth the giving.

Peace.

Somebody's gettin' some clothes!

Whoops. I guess the barrier has been broken...I've skipped a day here, a day here, and now it's a common occurrence. My apologies for Friday and yesterday; Friday night we had some friends over for a fish fry, so all day I was preoccupied with cleaning and cooking. Then, I spent all day at a minister's class in Tyler yesterday, and got home in time to spend a lovely, quiet evening at home with my family. I didn't even think about the blog until after I'd gone to bed, and honestly, I wasn't about to get back up and do it. So, there.

Anyway, here's two days' worth of clothes that have either been lovingly enjoyed well past their prime, and some that will never get worn if left up to me:

Ten shirts. Ten! And my closet is still nowhere near looking bare. Oh well, some one's going to get some nice fishing shirts, shooting shirts, a baby pink polo, and some genuine First Christian Church of Lufkin shirts that were hand-me-downs. Awesome.

Peace.

Nice haul of randomness...

In the spirit of trying to donate items that can go towards the No Sell Garage Sale this weekend, I've gone through the house and found five more perfectly usable items for today. They are, in no apparent order:

 The world's loudest wall clock, certified by Guinness.

 An old tea kettle with lots of use left in it (and a whistling nozzle insert!)

 An Igloo water cooler (we have two)

 My old stereo, made obsolete by an ITouch and a DVD Player that plays CDs.

A slightly risque kitchen apron, modeled by my lovely assistant first thing this morning. She was not happy to do this. But she IS a sport.

Peace.

What's cookin'...?

Quick post tonight, because I have a rare evening to get to spend chilling with Katie and I'm gonna take it! So together we tackled one of our many categories with a surplus of items quickly becoming obsolete: cook books.  With the internet and a few tried and true books we've used over the years, that leaves about a dozen we've never even cracked open. Here's six that are hitting the pile. Yes, six. I know, it's not the ordained "five" I've been holding to for a few weeks, but I figure I owe yall one for skipping several days there. Enjoy.

Sushi

Down Home Cooking Without the Fat (what's the point of that? ;-)

Great Pasta and Pizza Sauces

Dinner on the Grounds

What's Cooking II (our church recipe book; we have two!)

Knit One, Cook Two

Great, now I'm hungry.

Peace

Making up for lost time...

Wow, so that's exactly why I have been so strict with myself about posting to this blog every day. A little burp in my schedule and I go and take four days off, plus the given Sunday when I don't participate in the Lenten Five-Item-Smackdown!

Well, thanks to my lovely wife Katie, who helped me last night to accumulate items for last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, yesterday, and today, I have one huge post  of pics and a almost a full box for the No Sell Garage Sale at our church this coming Saturday. She has decided to start looking at some items that we could do without and donate them to the cause,  but last night she admitted to feeling a bit possessive of some of the things we were considering passing on.

It was quite a telling moment for us, considering a Corning ware pie plate that she didn't like but had a hard time immediately discarding. After I asked her what this pie plate could do that other baking sheets or the hand-thrown pie plate we have couldn't do, that reasoning seemed to close the case. This is one huge reason I'm doing this project, to look for the many, MANY possessions in my life that are redundancies (how many blue dress shirts do I need? How many muffin pans could we possibly use at one time? Etc., etc.)  So thanks for partnering with me in this effort, Katie! That's one more pile of extras in our life that hopefully will go some some folks who don't have any.

Here's the scoop:

 A bottle of body wash. A tube of Toasted Vanilla hand cream. A high dollar loofah. A comb. A bottle of Stetson aftershave. A beard trimmer. A set of shower curtain rings. Two white organizer baskets. = 9 items

 A muffin pan. A bread pan. The controversial pie plate ;-) A chip clip. An unopened dumpling press. A colander. A cookbook from the American Cancer Society with recipes for different holidays and party themes. = 7 items.

A neglected popcorn popper and Dirt Devil. A broken scale and toaster for the trash. = 4 items.

So that takes care of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. Now for Tuesday:

Three lightly used Dr. Brown's gas-fighting newborn bottles.

One unopened can of Similac infant formula.

A Christmas bib.  I guess Avonlea is inadvertently getting in the action too  ;-)

Sorry for the absense. I will try not to let it happen again.

Peace.

Not cheating, technically...

So, I have quite a bit on my plate. I'm leaving tomorrow (whoops, almost today!) for Abilene for a few days to do a pottery demo at a youth group retreat. The trip will be brief, as I need to make it back home to preach in two services and put on an evening youth event with my kiddoes.  So, I'm gonna push the easy button tonight and answer this question:  How many coozies does this family need?!

The answer at the present is two. Not nine. So to make up for my gimme post tonight, I'm going to donate 7 items instead of 5. Are we still friends?  ;-)

No posts for the next few days. I will make every attempt to get caught up by Sunday afternoon, since I normally don't do a Sunday post. Until then...

Peace

Just a handful

Tonight I delved into a region of the house that I've been hesitant to approach with the purpose of decreasing my possessions: the kitchen. I love to cook; I might even be consider a "foodie" of some degree. Whatever the case, I do enjoy cooking unusual and sometimes complicated foods, and as a couple, Katie and I share a passion having people over to eat. . Apparently somewhere down the line I was convinced that, in order to do this, I needed several cubic yards of kitchen gadgets, pots, pans, utensils, and appliances. It's time for some of these to go!

Well, tonight after only a few minutes of looking into our utensil drawers, I found five worthy candidates:

1. Mellon baller - never used, will never use, don't even like saying it.

2. Meat mop - thought I'd use, never used, probably won't use as I've got another basting aparatus.

3. Can/bottle opener - This 2-function tool is trumped by a 3-function tool with a corkscrew that we've got. Bummer.

4. Potato masher - again, one-upped by a pyrex brand masher that is 2" longer and actually nicer.

5. Metal chopper - don't think I've ever used, have another with a soft cozy rubber handle.

Boom. That was quick! Just like a band-aid!

In other news, we ate supper with Katie's sister and her husband tonight, just down the street and around the corner from us. Steaks, potatoes, a yummy salad, and some sunshine and fresh air made for a lovely time. Avonlea was sporting her ACU Game Day onsie that a friend had made for her son who has outgrown it, so we took some pics beside some pretty purple flowers.

Thanks to Uncle George, we got some great laughing pics.

Love that smile! And you can see two teeth poking through down there!

Then I told a joke, and like a dutiful daughter, she laughed her head off.  Actually, no. But maybe some day this will be true. ;-)

A simple evening with family, a good meal, peaceful cool breeze...ahh. Life is good.

Peace.

Today stung a little...

It's too bad I didn't start this project in November, before the winter season. Today I've happened upon some coats and jackets that have hung neglected in my closet for (some of them) years and years.  They each have years and years of life left in them, and the fact that several of them happen to be one of my favorite name brands hurts me a little. We all have our issues...but I bet some folks would have appreciated them during the few cold snaps out here in the Piney Woods.

Katie got me a Columbia two-in-one jacket for Christmas the second year we were married. The inner liner didn't fit as good as a regular fleece pullover when coupled with the outer shell, so I've only worn the liner a few times. I also happened to pick up a second "two-fer" somewhere along the way, but I really like the fit and features of the older one better. And how many jackets does a guy need anyway?

So, I have three Columbia jackets, or a two-in-one and a half (?), plus one George brand jacket I bought on a Spring Break trip where the weather forecaster was sorely mistaken and it ended up literally freezing. Mr. Me-With-No-Jacket (or long pants, if I recall) stopped by Walmart on the way to the Ft. Worth Zoo and buying a pair of cargo pants and a clearanced jacket. If you look closely you can still see the tag.

In the middle of the jackets is a pair of Brazos Brand heavy duck overalls. This one hurts. I bought it because it was on sale, and happens to say Brazos on the buckles and on a tag on the back.  It was my size, but I couldn't wriggle into it, so I set it aside in the old heap that is my closet, in hopes that someday I would be able to slim down a bit and fit into them.

Well, even though I am in a current attempt to slim down ( but that's a post for a different blog) and one day they might fit, I have to say that three years of sitting around collecting dust make this a prime candidate for donation.  I guess some day I could replace them, and they are only a pair of work pants with suspenders built in, not exactly an heirloom.  Oh well. Looks like this project might end up stinging a little after all...

Peace.

Clearing out the library

Some dear friends from way back at ACU, then Austin, then  Abilene again have stopped over on the way home from Houston this weekend. I'm smelling pretty smokey from the amazing array of charred meats and veggies I cooked tonight, and we're lazing around the living room sipping on IBC and enjoying catching up. So, I'll make it quick tonight and get back to the festivities:

The Hunchback of Notre Dame...ask me how I feel about my visit to Paris some time, and I'll tell you why I no longer need this book I'll never read.

The Fifth Book of Swords - Fred Saberhagen has created a pretty cool series of books about some swords with magical powers, and I have many of them. Including an anthology that includes this book.

A Book About a Thousand Things - I LOVE books about random trivia. I have many of them. I keep them arond because I forget only a few pages later what I've read, so when I go back to read them again it's like the first time. But, like I said, I have many. This old one gets the axe.

The Three Musketeers - I bought this used because I was trying to read The Count of Monte Cristo. I got really bogged down in The Count and haven't finished it. If I ever do, and want to read the Musketeers, I'll grab a paperback or find a library. Or by that time, I'll download it to the chip in my brain that projects it against the backs of my eyeballs...

The Odyssey - I read this in 6th grade. I actually bought this and the Musketeers at the same time, because they were such good looking hardback editions. Wow. I bought pretty books. I've never even pretended to read either of these. Adios.

Well, we're about to blend up some nice summery Alton Brown orange julius specialty, so, for now...

Peace.

Squeezed in by the deadline

I don't know how today went by so fast.  Katie and I each hosted sleepovers at separate locations last night, and we're both just exhausted from staying up so late.  We managed to squeak in a morning nap with Avonlea for a couple of hours, but since then we've both felt pretty off. It seems that God was merciful in that, if we were to be feeling so tired and kinda crappy, at least He'd make the hours slip away faster. Now it's barely half an hour before tomorrow and I need to make this post happen! I should definately try to make it a point to make my daily post earlier, but that's neither here nor there. So here goes:

I'm having a revelation about my possessions. It seems that the items I've been selecting so far can fall into about two general categories: things I've had for a long, long time and have not needed or used in about as long, and things that I have no idea how or when they came into my life. Tonight's fare is a 50/50 split with one flier. I don't know where I came upon After Your Deer is Down or The Duck Hunter's Bible. I'm not a duck hunter. I've only been a deer hunter for two years now, and I know what to do after my deer is down ;-)  Funny.

But I do know where Tales to Tremble By and this short collection of Poe stories came from; I've had them since elementary school. But, I'm positive that we have maybe a couple of copies of Poe's complete works around here, and they should cover any need to read a terrifying tale.

Be Prepared is a definate suggested reading for any new or expecting father. It's hilarious. It's dead on about a great many things. It greatly resembles the Scout Handbook. And it's written from a man's perspective about the experience of becoming a new dad, which is notably missing from the vast sea of baby books out there, and believe it or not, I've done some wading in that sea to back up my point of view. I will probably seek out a new father to gift this book (and keep my other copy as a reference, as it's helpful for the first whole year of Baby's life).

Peace.

St. Patrick's Day = Give Junk Away!

I'm wearing a green plaid shirt, green cargo pants, a camo green prayer bracelet I made for the youth group, and a green Cabelas cap.  I think it might have been this enthusiastic display of holiday spirit that allowed me to spy what definately looked like a leprechaun in the McDonalds drive thru. Well, maybe not, but he did look like a grown-up version of King Brian from Darby O'Gill and the Little People, riding a bike.

Here's today's lot 'o possessions I be sortin' through, to be passin' on to some worthy deservin' chap who'll make more use out of 'em than I.  (In retrospect, an Irish accent is curiously close to a Pirate accent, when typed out. I wonder if Pirates are from Irish descent...and that's why the Spanish hate them so much? I bet Johnny Depp knows...)

Two pairs of old shorts I no longer need, a pair of black cargo pants, and two tee shirts.

Ho hum, I know, but that's five more articles of clothing more space in my bureau. Yeah. I've got a bureau.

On a side note, Avonlea's been getting into the spirit as well. She was helping me look for stuff to donate.

And then she pulled this little stunt! I hadn't seen her do this yet. We're in a lot of trouble...

See what's in her hand?

Peace.

Last night's findings

I'm cheating a little bit, I know. This post should have happened last night, but after a long day of fishing and hanging out with some of my youth group, I came home to a full evening of cleaning with Katie to get ready for a slumber party tonight. I did, however, get my items sorted and pics taken, so I didn't totally fall off the wagon. In fact, I have last night's post and today's all ready to go, so without further ado...

Let me help you negotiate through this pile of stuff:

The foundation is comprised of an old cat carrier, purchased just days before moving out to Lufkin, and coinciding with our cat running away from my relatives who were watching him, most likely to be adopted by another family in the neighborhood.

Next, a fairly inexpensive tennis racket that I broke the strings on the first time I played with it. I have two more, so why have I kept this stringless wonder? I wonder...

How many sets of jumper cables does a guy need? Apparently the prior school of thought was "five."  Well, not anymore.

An unopened can of tennis balls to go along with that stringless racket.

A "knuckle-buster" credit card machine, from my days as a travelling peddler.

And now for last Friday's make-up pile:

three shirts, two pairs of slacks. My closet's still too full.

Peace!

"Clever Title"

I'm tired tonight. Had a great day with some certain guys and a gal from my youth group today, had some wings and caught a very interesting movie, The Adjustment Bureau. I really liked it, quite an intriguing concept. Lunch, a movie, and an afternoon of video games with friends is a great way to spend a day of Spring Break. Going fishing in the morning, so hopefully we'll have some fish pics to share tomorrow night. But tonight, I'm too tired to think up a clever title. Thus...

It's my sixth day of the project, and I can honestly say that I have not really felt too much sacrifice yet, even though I'm 30 items poorer...or did I miss a day? Think I missed a day and haven't made it up yet, so maybe tomorrow I'll post up ten items instead of the usual five.

Here's tonight's items:

VHS Wuthering Heights...I won't lie to you, not my fave. Katie likes the Ralph Fiennes/Julia Ormond version, but we have that on DVD.

The WAR VHS - this is a fantastic movie! I really, really, really like this movie. But I might get it in DVD or just rent it if I want to watch it.  Kinda feels like my VCR might be headed out too...FORESHADOWING!!!

Tom Sawyer VHS -  can't honestly say that I even know which version this is. So, I can't honestly say I'll miss it.

Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me - This hurts a little. The Austin Powers movies came out when I was in college, and at the time, they were kind of a big deal in my circle of friends.  I can rent them if I need a fix, baby, yeah!

A real, new in the blister pack Berkley spooling station with a line stripper.  You can tell how much I've used this. Tired of hauling it around when someone could use it. So long, and good luck.

Peace.

More stuff

Not an incredibly interesting night. I'm feeling a bit blegh. Spring Break is this week, but not for me, so I feel like I should have been gearing up for some big trip and here I sit in my living room, surrounded by laundry and facing another day at the office tomorrow.  At least I'll be going out with some of my kids to lunch and a movie, which will be good fun!

Tonight's offerings are as follows:

A digital antenna for picking up the new digital broadcast signal. We have cable (for the first time since we've been married!) so we don't really need this anymore.



Digital signal receiver box, for previously mentioned reason.

A Beautiful Mind VHS - love the movie, hate the format it's in. I'll get it on DVD or just rent it from Netflix from here on out.

Office Space - again, pretty funny movie, outdated technology. Adios.

And now for something completely random:  A Copper Foil DIY scratch picture. Yeah, it's copper foil covered in black stuff with a picture scratched on it, and you take this little metal stylus thing and scratch the pre-scratched scratches to make them deeper, brighter, stand out more, etc.  I think I picked this up at Goodwill in 2000 or so, so it's almost an antique. Never got around to scratching the picture out. Imagine that.  Now someone else will have the sheer thrill of scratching on metal. You're welcome.

Peace.