Monday, February 26, 2007

Pair of Pack-rats in a Single-wide

Keri here. I always knew my husband and I were both pack-rats. I just didn’t realize the extent of our packing and storage habit until my mother and I started cleaning out the house in preparation for the baby. And I know what some of you are thinking, “Honestly, how much stuff could be stored in a three-bedroom single-wide with those tiny closets and tiny spare bedrooms?” I’m here to tell you LOTS! I think in the last four days or so, my mother and I have sent at least 10 of the LARGE size trash bags out the door. That covers half the house. In the coming weeks we hope to make it to the master bedroom. Land of under-the-bed storage and roomy racks in the closet above the clothes.

Since getting married and moving from home, I’ve moved twice. There were some items I packed in boxes, moved to my home, and set in the corner. Whatever junk was in those few boxes stayed that way, and I thought, made it very convenient for when we moved the second time! Hey, no packing!

So anyway, my mother is NOT, double that, NOT-NOT a pack-rat. She’s a trashier, and let me tell you, she’s been trashing the useless treasures my husband and I have been collecting for well over three years now. Her theory, you don’t use it, you don’t need it.

I’m talking scratch paper of notes I don’t even want to begin to decipher, lotion that’s not the right color because it’s aged, and empty boxes just incase some item the hubby bought three years ago goes caput, he can return it. Now if only I could figure out a way to trash my hubby’s on going stacks of what I consider useless magazines.

Now that everything’s gone, I’m enjoying my free space to move around and drooling over all the new places to pack new junk. This has got me to thinking about old manuscripts I hope to one day revamp now that I’m writer wiser than when I wrote them. I’ve gone back and looked at those manuscripts in the past, made it about three pages before deciding, this is impossible. BUT, if I trash most of the ‘junk’ (as in the dialogue, internal thoughts—basically everything but the general idea), I just might make some progress with those stories. Of course being the storage queen I am, I’m sure there will be some scenes I just fell in love with that I’ll save to use!

Anybody else have any secrets to revisiting old manuscripts?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a "thrower". Hubby is a "saver" We have lots of fun with what to keep and what goes!

And Keri - my hubby also "keeps boxes in case he has to mail something back to the manufacturer" or "in case we move." ARGH We have a storage room of boxes. But in his defense, he is getting better and I do have a tendency to toss something that I might need later. :)

Good luck with that house cleaning. Babies bring lots of "stuff" with them when they move in! LOL

Unknown said...

Just keep the "gem" of the idea and listen to your mother for the rest...trash it! LOL

Keri Ford said...

Cyndi- Baby's not even here yet, and already my house is full of its stuff!

Robin- You know, a lot of advice I get either starts with or ends with... listen to your mother. There must be some truth in there somewhere!

And on a side note- my hubby would like me to clarify that his stacks of magazines are NOT porn!! They are four-wheeler and hunting magazines, and some of them dating back to '04.

:O) keri