The truth is that 23 years is a long time. The amount of things that collect in a home in such a time span is considerable. When one has the habits of a magpie, gathering everything shiny, that number is much larger. The task of sifting through the pile to find what I might need in a new life is quite difficult.

How do you decide what may interest you in the future? How long do you keep things with sentimental attachment, but no real purpose? I am trying to take with me only things that make me smile when I see them. And when that is too many, I try to find a new home for them, with someone who may think of me and smile.

There must be 1,000 things I made in this house. Not all of them are useful or beautiful to me. These I am trying to donate to charity in hope that someone else may find them so. It was easy to find new homes for the furniture. Most of it went to family. But too many tchotchkes is too many.

Yours truly,

Kat, the Tchotchkes Queen

Hello! It’s been a long time since the last post. We have been busy moving. We’re going from one peninsula to another, and downsizing. This has involved a lot of sorting, and giving away of STUFF!

You know what STUFF is? Everything you got, thinking you’d use it in a project soon. But the STUFF seems to multiply if you don’t use it immediately. Before you know, 30 more piles of STUFF are sitting around. So, because it costs money to move STUFF, this is a good time to pare down the collection.

After a couple groups of my good friends have gone through the piles, I am taking some of what remains to another group of friends. People have many different interests, so this might be the perfect STUFF for them. I hope so. It’s nice when your STUFF goes to a good home.