Off to a Rummage Sale I go

I hope this is not going to be a busy weekend, but I swear, I have that same hope every weekend. For me, the ideal weekend is to stay home on Saturday, get the house picked up, get laundry done, and do some reading, sewing and menu-planning. On Sunday, I do like it when we go out for at least half the day, especially in nice weather, and the flea market is lately the destination of choice. The other half of the day is usually spent watching the NASCAR races. Today, however, I'm headed out first thing to a local church that is having a "Dave Ramsey Sale". Apparently, members of the church learned the Dave Ramsey way of getting control over your bills and finances, which includes selling every non-essential thing that you own to bring in money to pay bills. Now, I know what you're thinking -- she's going to the rummage sale to buy someone else's clutter! Not so. I have a list! Here's what I'm looking for: A train table (for DGS's wooden train set). Storage unit for DGS's craft supplies 26 inch tension rod for over my sink Hats, mittens, scarves to have on hand for the winter (DGS size, of course) Thread - almost any kind, any color, just not old and brittle A set of every day kitchen dishes, service for 6-8 - mine are so mismatched! Christmas decoration for the front door Christmas decoration for the kitchen table Pretty vintage pillowcases for a purse idea I saw online That's it! I'll read the list to Jeff before we go in to the sale, and together, we should be able to find some of these. These are all items I would like to have and, with the exception of the tension rod and mittens, probably won't go out and buy because they are, indeed, non-essentials. We'll see how I do! ... TWO HOURS LATER Fairly good rummage sale but less than I expected... more like 20 small garage sales in one place rather than people trying to get rid of MOST of their non-essential "stuff". What did I buy? One frame for $1.00. That's it. And I bought that because I have a photo of the family from my son's last visit home that I need a frame for. But more importantly, what did I pass up?

• A battery operated ride-in jeep for $15.00
• Five boxes of pre-cut quilt squares
• Boxes of quilting fabric
• Many bolts of home dec fabric
• A wrought iron dress form
• A vintage dress form
• Children's books by the boatload
• A really great retro-diner-looking cafe table and matching chairs, brand new $30
• Some really cool iron decorative architectural items
• A Bob the Builder tent/tunnel combo

Two years ago, I would have bought all of these. But these days Peter Walsh's words ring in my ears every time I go to buy something... "It's not that the space you have is too small for your stuff, it's that you have too much stuff for the space you have." Paraphrased, but you get the gist of it. And, of course, you can't spend hours upon hours decluttering and not understand what the effects of bringing this "but I like it" stuff into the house when it serves no purpose. My husband, on the other hand.... bought stuff. A stamp collection. A World War II bullet. A collection of die cast Pan Am jets. A Monopoly game. Other "stuff" I can't remember. Can you tell we're not on the same page about clutter? Yet. FIVE THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR TODAY:

1. Another rainy day (we need the rain)
2. I'm more than half-way through decluttering my office
3. I actually finished knitting a pair of socks for Brayden - they fit and he loves them*!
4. Warm cinnamon rolls and coffee on a cold morning
5. Crock pot meals -- they make the house smell good all day long!

*Brayden's sock - I had one sock finished when Brayden arrived yesterday morning. Because I haven't knit socks in four or five years, I had a tough time coming up with the right size needles to use, the right gauge, etc., and had knit two other socks that didn't fit him (but that he wanted to wear anyway!). Yesterday I wanted to try on this ONE sock to see if it fit before I started the second, and it fit -- and then he didn't want to take it off. He wore it all day. One colored sock, one white sock. To the library. Out to lunch. For his nap. He just loved his sock. It didn't matter to him that he didn't have two of them. One was just fine. Lordy, how can you not love this kid!?