Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Waste Not

I am often accused, mostly by my own sisters, of being a packrat. That only becomes a bad thing when you get to the point where you can't throw gum wrappers away because you just know that you're going to be able to use them as bookmarks someday. Thankfully, I've never been quite that bad. ^-^

My family is always commenting, however, on all the things that I do keep, until they are completely and utterly worn to shreds. The favorite seeems to be my purple snowboots. (Which I love dearly) I've had them since I was about.... twelve? Somewhere around there. They still fit, they're still warm, and I still think they're cute... so why get rid of them? If it's not broken, don't fix it.

Of course just because it is broken doesn't mean it needs to be thrown away. ^-^ Especially with clothes, I have a 'If you can fix it, you don't need a new one,' policy. It really doesn't come into play that much; because I am pretty good to my clothes and shoes. Usually it's my pants that I end up mending. They get holes in the knees... and on occaision in the bottom. I get very fond of my jeans and things; so I'm not about to throw them away for a little hole! As long I have a needle, thread, and random scraps of denim or cloth I will always have a few pairs of favorite jeans kickin' around my closet.

Maybe, with luck, I can pass them down to my own girls someday? Patchwork ought to be back in fashion by then. ^-^

Monday, July 7, 2008

Memories of Worth

Yardsaling (that seems to be the way one would spell it) is an interesting experiance. Not that I've never done it before; it just seems different now. The last time we really and truly had a big yardsale was when we moved up here to Alaska from Susanville (CA)... about twelve years ago. So, I guess it's not really a surprise that my perspective of it has changed.

I can remember being eight, setting up my little blanket out under our great big tree in the front yard, and carefully arranging all of the little items I'd decided to sell. I even had tags by everything to say how much it was. An old toothbrush, some kind of little plastic dog, a very pretty costume necklace with pink plastic gems, and lots of ribbons are the things that stick in my mind when I think about it. That and the excitement. We were moving, and I was going to help! I dug around in the bottom of my toychest for little things I thought someone might want. I was going to make soooo much money to help us all get to Alaska... maybe even ten whole dollars! O.O

I didn't care about what was leaving, and the things that we were leaving behind. I was just so wrapped up in the fact that we were going. Well, now I'm all grown up and things are a little different.

I'm still excited to be moving, back to where our family is. I've really missed them. It's exciting to be starting all new down there... but this time I'm leaving a lot more behind. Eight to twenty is a HUGE chunk of your life. This move not only came with more emotional attachments, but a lot more baggage to be shed as well.

Yesterday afternoon, while I was sitting out with my Mom, it was so strange to watch people looking through all of our stuff. I thought, "It's like they're poking through twelve years of memories." And most of them weren't too excited about it really. It made me sort of mad, that they didn't seem to want any of the little things that we had collected over the years. And some of them acted like our prices were way high. One whole dollar each for paperback books that had been loved and cherished and read over and over? Ten dollars for a pretty lamp that had held back the frightful flights of over-active imagination for a young girl of 13? Outrageous! How could they turn up their noses at such treasures?

And then I felt sort of strange for feeling mad because, well, HOW could they know the wealth of special memories they were getting with almost every single thing out there? All they could see were the THINGS. Even if I could manage to somehow package all those memories up with each stuffed bear or necklace, they still wouldn't be worth as much to others as they are to me.

Worth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Luckily memories of worth aren't about things, but about people and hearts. So, no matter what happens to our twelve years worth of junk, the memories will always be mine. I'm going to remember that, remember all the special things I'm KEEPING, and also try very hard to remember an eight year old's love of adventure and change when we put out the yardsaling signs again next weekend.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Things To Be Known

I've never had a blog before. I've had a diary a couple of times, and technically I still have a journal... I've never been good at keeping up with any of them. Really, the only reason I decided to start a blog at all is because I'm moving at the end of July; and I have so many friends here in my beautiful Alaska who I KNOW I'm going to forget to call. So this is for them really, so that they can know what is going on with me. ^-^

That being said, there are a few things which must be understood:

*Updates here may be slow for several reasons
1. Because other writing commitments are taking up all of my time
2. Because RL things are taking up all of my time
3. Because I have nothing to say
4. or because I have simply forgotten. (which is probably the most likely ^-^)

*Don't expect deep and detailed accounts of:
1. Everything that's going wrong in my life
2. Relationships
I have a hard enough time writing about those things in the journal which I HIDE, very cleverly I hope, in my room.

*DO expect a lot of chatter about:
1. Things that I am writing
2. Roleplays (online text-style and otherwise) that I am involved in, and the characters thereof
3. Games I'm currently playing or that I have heard about
4. Books that I'm reading, have read, or am looking forward to.
Cause I'm a total nerd and very proud of it. ^-^

*I do not promise proper grammer, punctuation, OR spelling. So, do not lecture me about it... (sideways glances at Loralin and Baltimore) unless it's in some piece of official writing I put up to show.

*All written material and photographs that end up on here ARE MINE, unless stated otherwise. I own the rights to them, and stealing them to claim as your own IS a crime... just so we're all clear on that.

And finally, you should know that several names of real people are being changed for the protection of somebody somewhere...or just cause it's fun... except for mine. Why? Well, because I like mine. Jennifer Lynn Post. It's a really great name. ^-^