last day of august. wow.

flew right by, that August did.  but i have to say, i got a lot of purging accomplished.  i don't think i have ever got rid of as much stuff, unless i was moving.  and then maybe not even as much.  i have boxes and piles all over my house for the big yard sale on Saturday.   i can deal with this clutter, knowing it will be gone in a matter of days.

Today i went through my storage space in the basement.  it is about 4ft. x 15ft....well that is my best guess. i am so not good with guessing measurements though.  besides our bedroom closets and the built-in closets (we have 2), this is our only storage space.  so, i do have to say, this is much less already than other places i have lived, where i had a whole basement and attic!  you know what i have found though...more space=more stuff.  was i happier with more space and more stuff.  no.  definitely not.  i love living in this apartment, with my tiny storage area.  i have found it is not the space or the things that make me happy.  it is the people, the community, being orderly and not everything a mess all the time, but mostly the people.  my three favorite homes have had a lot to do with the people i lived around, that were on my block, in my neighborhood or in my building.  do i still want a home?  with a yard? yes.  i still dream about that.  but through this month's exercise i am reassessing what that home should look like.  what i want it to look like, and be and provide.

so as we move into September, i will be starting vegan month, and finishing purging my stuff month.  since the yard sale is this saturday (from 8am-3pm for all you locals, come buy my stuff!) i am planning on spending another day down in the storage and going through the christmas stuff.  i love decorating for christmas, but i do think we have more decorations than we need.  (here i am wincing in fear of my mother's reaction since most of it was handed down from her.)  but seriously, it is just too much, and i don't even use it all every year.  no Christmas tree could hold all those ornaments.  so if anyone is reading that is family, please, no more ornaments.  and this new less stuff thing is going be interesting for the holidays.  the kids always get SO much stuff.  SOOOOO much.  i keep it to a minimum, a silver lining to our always modest income.  but relative over buy.  i know it is out of love.  so i don't want to deny them their joy.  i know that joy, i love buying someone a gift they love.  it is truly one of my favorite things.  which, by the way, reminds me...i hate kid's birthday parties where the kids don't open the gifts in front of the guests.  it is the best part people, it's what i came to see.  anyway.  Christmas stuff, see it send me into a tizzy.

and tonight i am happily leafing through vegan cookbooks and others i can get vegan ideas from.  i am so excited.  tomorrow i am cooking food for a friend and i think she'll love a vegan meal, perfect.  So far i am thinking about a summer vegetable ragout with exotic curry sauce.  that's really the name.  printed in Bon Appetit from an LA restaurant, Hatfield's.  we'll see.

and then later this week, pricing my stuff.  hard to do.  too high and no one buys.  too low and you don't make any dough.  and i want to go to Europe people. :)
xoxomelissa