Walk of Hope

Today is the day that my Munchkin and I are doing the Walk of Hope (Fundraising for ovarian cancer research)  for the first time.  I'm a bit nervous about it actually.  I've never really been the type to participate in these sorts of things.  I've always been a bit of a loner and not really into big "group" activities.  Probably part of the whole tormented goth thing, but hey.  Also, probably the fact I didn't used to be into exercise and the like either didn't help much.

I also have mixed feelings about these large events.  I always wonder how much money they are actually raising vs how the event costs.  I do hope the registration fee does cover it.

I think part of the nervous is going to do a big group activity where I know no one.  I'm sure it will be fine and we'll have a good time.  I do have my built in conversation piece that will be hanging off of me.  The bike ride for the Ride for the Heart has been fun the past couple of years, but I was doing it as part of a corporate team and therefore knew a bunch of people.

But I'm doing it.  I felt it was important to do something towards fundraising since I had that damn ovarian  cancer in 2010.  And maybe it's making me feel a little more involved than just throwing some money at it.  I'm not sure why as I'm not actually doing anything to cure the cancer or research.  I'm just going on a walk.

The only bad thing is I did a dumb baby toe stubbing yesterday that still hurst so I'll be wearing the Tevas instead of my running shoes.  Ah well.

It will be interesting to meet some of the other survivors too I'm sure.  I know many many people went through far worse than I did.  I mean hey, I've got Munchkin now.

More stuff gone

Well, I should clarify this..... a lot of this stuff has been put aside to go away.  The nice people form the Cystic Fibrosis association are coming by next week to do a charitable donation pickup and hopefully sometime next week the construction pile of garbage will go away too.

I did get rid of a couple of knives, a bathroom caddy from the old bathroom and a bottle dishrack.

And I suppose I shouldn't really call what I'm doing hoarding in the tags.  It's really purging.  I'm not actually a hoarder, i just feel crushed by a bunch of my stuff.

Knitting!!!!

My little Munchkin is actually taking naps that last a little while and don't require me to hold him the entire time so I tend to have a little time to do things now.  So I'm being a little selfish and have started to knit something for me!  I haven't knit anything for me in years.  I'm making this wrap/poncho.  I'm not using the yarn they suggest, which is too bad.  I'm hoping the that what I'm using will work out well.

I'm not terribly impressed with my needles though.  I'm using some bamboo circular ones and they are catching on the wool.  :(

Working on Stuff

I didn't do too much in the way of getting ride of things over the past few days.  Mostly because I was at the cottage and it's kind of hard to work on purging things whilst away.

I was pretty pleased though, we only came home with one extra thing from my parents cottage.  Usually on a visit we end up coming home with more stuff (we also give them stuff too)  This item was also prearranged and it isn't really adding to the household.  We're swapping out a rocking chair.  We had been  given a previously loved glider by a friend through a friend.  However, it didn't work out with our little Munchkin so we haven't been using it.  But when we were up at the cottage, he seemed to love being rocked in an old school rocking chair.  So my parents were able to pull out of nowhere an old rocking chair that is currently sitting in our kitchen.  It's waiting to go for a wash tomorrow.  If it all works out, it will get painted too as it's in pretty rough shape finish wise.    

Today I did work on getting rid of some items.  I got rid of (well they went into the piles going places):

About 15 onesies etc... that don't fit Munchkin anymore.

A couple of keychains

A curtain rod from the bathroom that is being renovated

A big pile of socks.  It was just time for them to go.  

I think a bunch of this stuff can go towards the getting rid of two things a day that I missed while I was away.  

Not so Much in the past couple of Days

In order to keep myself motivated, I'm going to try and keep a mostly daily record of the purging here.  It may end of being not quite so daily as I do get busy with my little Munchkin, but I will try.  And there should be some other stuff in here, with the fun stuff I hopefully get time to do.

I didn't really work on the purging yesterday.  I did more fun things like go on a picnic.  But I did manage to pass off some of the shoes that I have decided to rid myself of to a friend who will give them a good home.  I have two more people getting some shoes.  Then the rest will either be sold or sent off to Goodwill.

Hopefully I can make the pile go soon.

Shoes Shoes Shoes

So today was the day I went through my shoe collection and tried them all on to see if they fit after having my small person.    I figure almost 9 months is long enough to wait.

Sadly most of my shoes had to go.  It sucks.  You think that the one thing that doesn't change about you is your shoe size.  Gain/lose weight your feet would still stay the same.  Or so I thought.  I'm a half size at least bigger than before.  Mind you I think my feet started to get longer before I got pregnant.  

I think I've had to get rid of over 20 pairs of shoes/boots.  All of my fun shoes are gone now and most likely will never be replaced.  Many of the shoes are no longer made.  

Goodbye Platforms, Buckle Boots, Fluevogs, Swears and assorted other nifty and cool shoes!  You were awesome and I loved you.  May your new homes treat you well.  I will miss you.

And now I have lots of lovely empty space where the shoes were.  

And may there be nifty shoes in my future.

I do feel lighter now though.

Getting rid of the past

I find it interesting the reasons why it can be so hard to get rid of stuff.  There is the obvious one I usually seem to have trouble with is the "but's it's useful" or will be someday.  As a boss once said "I ended up buying new ones anyway because I couldn't find the useful stuff in the basement".  So he pretty much emptied the basement.  I kind of like that idea to a certain degree. I shall be working on it.

So today I've been working on the keeping stuff because of memories/sentimental value.  I went through a few of my clothes in the basement.  These are things that I don't want to let go of because they remind me of fun times in the past or who I used to be and would perhaps want to be again.  There are also items that I just like to remember and like to think I would wear again.

So today I got rid of a few a few items.  One was a jean jacket I used to love.  Way back when, Black Label (the beer for those who don't know) had a fabulous ad campaign (I think it was at least 20 year ago now).  Really cool graphics and the like.  I was the lucky recipient of a boatload of the promotional material (ie. jackets, T-shirts, watches etc).    I've hung onto the jacket ever since.  I'm never going to wear it, again, but it brings back good memories, especially of the caring and kindness of the person who arranged for me to get all this stuff.    But today I decided that it was time to let it go.  So it's in the pile to go up on Ebay.  I'll have a picture of it and some fond memories.

The other that I'm letting go of a bit is some of my uber goth clothing.  It doesn't really fit anymore and it should just go.  But it feels like I'm loosing a little bit of who I am by doing that.  But the stuff has got to go.  We don't have the room and I need less stuff to look after.

The other easier things to let go of have been the rollerblades from the failed "learning how to rollerblade " incident from at least 7 or 8 years ago.

Now all of this stuff is in the house, it's just all prepared for leaving.

I think I'm feeling a little lighter already.