thank you sir, may i have another...

Before thinking I've gone more than nuts for posting a photo of a miniature Beanie Baby penguin named Zero, I shall explain.

I'm detoxing my life, my closets, my cubbies. All this stuff - crammed in boxes, shoved into corners, stacked on shelf upon shelf, in every nook and crannie of my existence. I'm over it. Done-do over. Over the clutter. Over the dust collectors. Over the distractions.

This weekend was the first installment of uncluttering my life. I went through piles, threw out things until it hurt a little, and even resorted to the, "hey, take a picture of it so you'll keep the memory and not the stuff". So, therefore, my friend Zero, who has lived in a shoebox for over a year, had his picture snapped and waved goodbye (can't you tell he's signing off?). Hopefully he'll soon have a home with someone who loves him dearly. I love who gave it to me - Dad, a couple of years ago for Christmas (because I had a very weird obsession with penguins awhile back... it's not my fault, SeaWorld made me) - but I don't love having too much stuff. And I hold a special place for all things Dad gives me, because he's not typically the gift giver; that's Mom's department. So when he picks something out all on his own, it's really special, because it must have reminded him of me, and it's a reflection of how much he cares about his kids. But it doesn't equal Dad's love, and I know he won't be upset it that I'm not keeping it forever.

The continuous process of uncluttering my life now consists of analyzing every purchase, maybe to the point of annoying myself a bit. Do I NEED this? Do I really, really NEED this really cute, difficult to find, perfect beautiful THING to set on my beautiful, perfect and expensive SHELF, because that SHELF needs more THINGS to set on it. Do I really NEED it? Really? OR...

Will it sit there collecting beautiful, perfect dust? Most of the time it IS a dust collector, and I don't need it. I just really wanted it. So it's stays on the shelf in the store. And I can admire it every time I return without spending a hot-diggity dime.

Don't get me started on shoe consumption... I have a minimizer plan on those as well. But I'll save it for another time. And yes, I'm a girl, and I love shoes too. Perhaps I just don't need as many...