I Need To Have A Garage Sale

I’m not a hoarder by any stretch, (I believe the accepted term is COLLECTOR), but I have a terrible time getting rid of things that have sentimental value. Even though I attended high school and university a few years ago (ahem), I still have all my papers and projects from that time, and most of the textbooks too. I have no idea why, but I’m pretty sure this qualifies as useless sentimentality. My wedding dress, my size 0 cheerleading outfit (pom poms included), and my sticker book from grade 8, all still here, all haven’t been used or looked at in years but clearly, in the still useless, but must-keep sentimental pile.
 
And then we had kids.
 
You know what having kids means, right? It means that anything that comes in contact with your child is automatically sentimental. That piece of paper with one macaroni stuck to it? Get the tissue, because that is tear-worthy art, and holy crap, how dare you even try to get rid of that. (Just an aside, but if I had ANY IDEA how much paperwork was attached to having children, I may have reconsidered the entire thing, and stuck with goldfish. And no I don’t mean tax returns, I mean the never ending art, and scribbles and that piece of paper with the macaroni stuck to it).
 
Let me warn you – If someone tells you that you don’t need a lot of “stuff” when you have kids, they are LYING to you. You will buy things that you swore would never enter your house (and you’ll drive it there in the van you said you’d never drive too). Now add another child into the mix – one of the opposite sex – and hello, more stuff. Fast forward seven years, 12 Birthdays, 7 Christmases, 7 Easters, random gift giving, two sets of grandparents, three aunts, four uncles, a million cousins and friends galore, and the stuff begins to hoard itself.
 
As I am now wise to the overflowing kids’ phenomenon, please allow me to teach you the secret to a happy home – get rid of the stuff you don’t use. Genius, I know. It’s a total downer to be surrounded by all that no longer used baby stuff, especially when the kids are begging you to get rid of it too. Of course, they’re just trying to make room for their stuff, (you know, the stuff that replaced their baby stuff), but that’s a whole other story.
 
What’s the solution? Purge, Dump and SELL!. After much prayer and fasting and heavy-duty sorting, I have decided that it's time to have a garage sale. I think we finally decided to get rid of the baby stuff. (For it looks like trying for a girl is completely out of the question in BC's mind.) It took hours of purging, and prep and cleaning, but I think we are finally ready. It's time to let go of that big plastic car my kid would ride up and down the driveway forever a la Fred Flintstone. And the giant high chair that took up half our kitchen? It's gotta go! Everything that involved Dora, Elmo, Thomas and other painfully painful yet beloved childhood characters, were now have overstayed their welcome! I will start with consignment and craigslist, but the inevitable garage sale is definitely in our immediate future. It feels good to organize.  And the thought of getting two vehicles in the garage before the snow hits this winter will be an added bonus.  And who knows. . .if and when we ever DO get blessed with another (SURPRISE!) bundle of joy, I may have no need for all-things blue that I have accumilated.  We might just have room for a little pink and ribbons in there now. *wink wink.  But I'm certainly not holding my breath.