I threw my Apple “Think Different” posters up on eBay – part of the decluttering efforts.
Thomas Edison, Ghandi, Pablo Picasso, dancer Martha Graham, Maria Callas, Joan Baez, Alfred Hitchcock, Ted Turner.
And I threw in a Macworld 2004 poster – it’s of the 1984 superbowl ad, with iPod added in…
Yeah, there’s a reason why so many of my photos seem to be only shot in one or two rooms, or only show small, focused parts of our house.
There’s a reason why we never have people over to visit; why I’ve stopped having parties and game nights and overnight guests.
There’s a reason why I’m awake at 1:00 a.m. writing this because I can’t sleep because I’m so stressed out.
We have a serious problem. It’s more than just a problem that’s driving me out of my head, although that’s bad enough.
It’s making me physically sick, too – enough that I’ve had to go to the hospital 5 times in the past three years because I’m so allergic to dust and the house is so full of it.
We have a problem, and it’s time that problem comes out of the closet.
We have too much stuff – way more stuff than we can manage, store or enjoy. Way more stuff than we need.
These photos are just the tip of the iceberg; the garage is equally packed, and the basement is the same way, too. I just haven’t taken pictures there yet because it’s the middle of the night.
I have always had a serious pack rat problem. I don’t want it to appear that I’m blaming anyone. I’m certainly not. And I know I’m not the only one trying to fix it; Stephanie is working hard at this, too. But I’m getting seriously overwhelmed lately; and I’m worried that we’re not making progress at all. We spend all our time organizing, never have any fun, and the clutter just gets worse, not better. And we fight over it, a lot – and that has to stop because I love Stephanie so much; I don’t want this problem to ruin our relationship.
It’s interfering with living our lives, doing our jobs, enjoying what we have and our families and friends, and enjoying the blessing that is our relationship as well.
We really need two things:
1) HELP. Help confronting the problem, help accepting that it’s a problem and help fixing it. To some extent, we need to hire someone to work with us on this. But we sure could use some support from our friends, both in the clean up process and the encouraging us not to bring new items into our house as well.
2) For people to back the hell off. Ease up on seizing control of our time. Let us get this figured out without constantly hijacking our schedules. Understand us when we say we can’t do stuff with you, and lay off the guilt trips. Stephanie and I both have a tendency to say yes to everyone and everything, and we need to knock that off, for our own sanity and well being. We don’t want to blow off our friends; we love you, and care about you. But we can’t always do everything you want us to, and lately I just can’t manage to do anything at all.
I took an entire cruise and spent the whole time stressed out because I wasn’t at home organizing and cleaning stuff. I’m up late tonight because we overloaded our weekend again with events and won’t have time to relax or get anything done. We need time to work on this – lots of it.
This run-away freight train needs to stop, and now.
See the whole set of photos
Here are a couple of highlights:
Miami from the Air
Setting Sail
In Jon and Carolyn’s stateroom
Dan, Me, Stephanie at La Te Da’s in Key West
The gang at the Southernmost Point of the US
Doug winning at Trivia
Dan the birthday boy and his birthday cake
Mayan carvings at Tulum
Blue Caribbean Sea
Deck chair, chick lit, and fruity girly drink
Our CFO gambling away our fortune!
The Gang, with Fascination Mascot
Art Deco architecture in Miami
Perez Hilton, Jonathan
Heather and Kai
We’re going on a cruise for our friend Dan’s 40th birthday, along with 12 other friends. It’s a Carnival cruise, on the ship “Fascination.” The cruise leaves from Miami tomorrow, and we spend Tuesday in Key West, Wednesday in Calica, Mexico (seeing the Tulum Ruins, on a shore excursion) and then Thursday at Sea before returning to Miami to spend the day.
I’m leaving the computer and iPod behind, and we’ll have the cell phones turned off, too, due to the roaming charges, so no twitters or blogging on the trip, and probably no checking email, either. There will definitely be lots of pictures when we get back, and I hope to get a lot of reading done, too.
We have a friend house sitting for us, and we’re packed. Mostly. We should’ve been in bed long ago, but it’s been a busy day.
So…… tomorrow I have to have a Colonoscopy. Woohoo! No, Katie Couric will not be there to film it. And yes, I am old. OLD. Just yesterday I was reminiscing about something that happened in college in 1987 – twenty years ago.
a) I’m reminiscing now? Great. People just love that.
b) I still think I’m a college student. I still have that “final in a class I forgot I signed up for and never attended” dream regularly. That counts, right?
c) TWENTY FRICKIN’ YEARS AGO? OMFG.
This is a follow-up thing from my diverticulitis problem back in May. It’s mainly a precaution to ensure I don’t have colon cancer or polyps. Both are unlikely, given my age, but they want to shine a light up there to be sure.
So today I’m not allowed to eat anything but non-red jello (something about the dye) and clear liquids, and tonight I have to “prep” for the procedure. Not going into details; use your imagination for that. As I was leaving the pharmacy this morning after filling the appropriate prescription, the guy actually said “have a good day!” and then remembered what drugs I had just purchased and giggled. Funny guy.
I was going to add a funny picture to this post, but I made the mistake of searching the word colonoscopy on google images. Don’t do that. Instead, I’ll provide you with the obligatory unicorn chaser:
See how nice I am, sharing this total hotness with you? I’m so generous.
One of the blogs I read regularly pointed out the site babynamer.com in a blog post, because it’s a nicely-designed and interesting site on baby names. They include a long definition and origin of each name, a section on famous people with that name, a long list of related alternate names, and then a funny feature – “drawbacks” for any given name (all the mean things people will call your kid). The drawbacks page is definitely the selling point that sets this apart from other baby name sites.
Here’s what babynamer.com says about the name Stephanie:
Meaning: Its source is Stephanos, a Greek name meaning “Crown or garland.”
In French, this name is spelled with an accent — Stéphanie.
Languages: This girl’s name is used in German, English and French.
Nicknames: Fanny, Steffi, Steffie, Stefi, Stevey, Stevie and Stepha
Alternative Spellings: Stefaney, Stefani, Stefanie, Stefany, Steffanie, Steffany, Stepfanie, Stephaine, Stephaney, Stephani, Stephannie, Stephany, Stephenie, Stephyne and Stephney
Variant Forms: Estephanie, Stepanie, Stephane, Stephine, Stephnie and Stefne
Non-English Forms: Estefana, Estefania, Stefania, Estebana, Stefanida, Étiennette, Stefana, Stepána and Stepanida
Popularity: The name Stephanie ranked 41st in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics, 41st in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census and 10th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1994 US Census.
This name is highly rated both on the 1990 U.S. Census list and in state data recording the most popular baby names.
Narrative: According to Christian scripture, Stephen was the first martyr, and the influence of this saint accounts for the popularity of both male and female variations of his name in many Western languages.
The Bible describes Stephen as a righteous and compassionate person who refused to disguise his beliefs, even though his frankness cost him his life. (How apropo!)He was condemned to death by stoning, and the cloaks of those commissioned to do the bloody work were held by a fellow persecutor of the Christians, Saul of Tarsus.
In time, Saul became Paul the Apostle, shaper of Christian doctrine and Christian missionary to the entire ancient world.
That last two lines – where Paul the Apostle held the cloaks of the people who stoned Stephen to death, and then went on to become the most famous Christian missionary – so interesting.
And then, here are the drawbacks (with highlights of my favorites):
Phoney
Steppapee
Weffers
Stiffy
Stuffunny
Silly Steph
Schwefania
Neph
Stef-fanny (I got this one)
Stuffy Steffy (and this one, too.)
Stepper
Step on me
Steffe Weffe Waffle Face
Stetnie
Stuffy
Stay funny
Sneff
Stupid Stephanie (What? That’s not even creative.)
Stay Fine
Stepharoni
Steppy
Stephanopolis
Roani
Staphanie the Giraffanie
Epiphany
Steffers
Steffe Weffe (I got this one, too.)
Snephanie
Step
Stef-funny
Effnie
Stephanuffeluffagus
Steffie Stuff
Snephrod
Stephanovich
Stephanitis
None of these is the exact name my baby cousins used to say when they were too small to pronounce my name: “Nephne.”
I finally managed to get around to getting tested for allergies yesterday, in my ongoing quest to figure out what the hell is causing my repeated bouts of Pleurisy. In the case of airborne allergies, I am apparently allergic to 3 things: Household Dust (to which I have a particularly bad reaction) and the pollen from Hickory and Walnut trees.
I’m so thankful I don’t have a reaction to cats or dogs. I can’t begin to tell you how I would have felt about that.
BUT. Ohmygod, the things we have to do to our house regarding dust. My stuffed monkey collection. The BOOKS. I have to find some way to keep everything clean, or it has to go. And we have SO MUCH clutter that needs to be sold or donated to goodwill.
My head is spinning just thinking about it. We’re also trying to show the rental house, which also needs to be cleaned, and we’re going on a Cruise for Dan’s 40th birthday at the end of August. I’m absolutely overwhelmed with everything.
For lunch. We like Lynn’s Paradise Cafe a lot and have stopped here several times while in Louisville.
