Organized Hoarding?!?

It all seems a little weird and surreal. I'm.  here at mom's packing up her house, her mementos and her memories.  Some of the stuff I'm keeping, and a few mementos for the grandkids.

The weird and surreal is that she isn't dead, just living in a small apartment.  Small compared to a 3 bedroom house.  At first, I was not going to tell her what I'm doing, but then a little slipped out and we talked about sharing things among the family. 

For the most part, she seems to accept that it has to be this way.  Other times, she will ask me to bring her something, telling me where its at.  At her old house in Cali.  She lived there nearly 60 years and knew where everything was.  Things started slipping after she moved.

But what surprises me (but only a little) is that even though things are "put away and organized", they really aren't.  She could certainly qualify as a hoarder.  There's a small dish of safety pins not just in her sewing drawer, but in the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom.  Same with rubber bands and clothes pins.  I counted 52 kitchen towels. And there must be 25 or so tablecloths.  I don't think she's at the point where she can laugh about it though! So I don't say anything.

It took me an hour and two 39-gallon trash bags to gather up the plastics with lids to donate, and another baggie of mismatched items to recycle. And that was just in the pantry! 

And all this has me wondering ..... what will MY daughter be saying or thinking when she finally goes through my stuff??  Eeks

There's a fine line between collecting, keeping and hoarding.

Choose Fun!

When did things change to a point where we are overly busy? What shifted us to the mindset that we have to do more? And more still? 

In my 20s, (and 30s) I worked for a forklift dealership in the service department. But when quitting time came, once a week, every Thursday, we all gathered at a local "watering hole". It was where we all talked, and yes, we talked about work issues. But we also talked about families, sports, politics or whatever else came to mind.  We laughed and shared and enjoyed each others' company. 

But somewhere along the line, it seemed more important to "get things done" than it was to find a little time to spend with friends.  Spending time with friends seemed like a luxury. 

We've started combining chores and pleasure, rather than one or the other.  We have become unbalanced.

Most parents want their kids to have it "better" than they had it. In elementary school, I didn't have soccer, ballet and music lessons.  I only had music lessons.  My parents didn't drive me to and fro between lessons and practice for several activities. And frankly, I walked to music lessons around the block.

As a retired old gal, I thought this would be  "my time" to do things I wanted to do. But somehow, we are all caught up in an overly busy life. What shifted?

There's a lot of talk about having a balanced life. At work, we were often asked if we felt we had a good work/life balance.  But that never took into expectations into account. We go to work earlier, stay later, to get things done. And yet, there is always something else needing to be done.

We need to make better choices. We don't always have to "get everything done".  Choose the fun things over work every now and then!