Stiletto Diaries™

Bring The Discrepancies, I’ll Pour The Drinks

Posted on September 26th, 2009 in Are You Gonna Eat That?, Emotional Angst

Just as I was dozing off to sleep last night, I had a good idea for a post, and thought to myself “Ok, I’m totally going to remember to write about __________” in the morning.  Naturally by this AM I have forgotten, so I’m going do two things:

A) Start keeping a pen and paper beside my bed and then force myself to write things down, because this is not the first time it’s happened

B) Write this post in the hopes that I’ll say something random that may jog my memory

Recently Jack and I have begun discussing selling our house and moving somewhere closer to his job.  When we initially came out here, we didn’t know anything about the area, and the city where we live was the first place we really liked, and so we bought a place.  Since living here and getting to know the surrounding towns, we’ve realized that we could have made our home in a location that is more convenient for Jack.  As it is, his commute to and from work is about 45 minutes each way, which is kind of brutal.  If there is heavy traffic that time can stretch up to 2 hours.

There is also the fact that this house, however beautiful it is, is really not very practical.  I know I’m going to sound terribly spoiled with this next part, but it’s TOO big.  We currently have 3 guest rooms, 3!  The dogs have their own room, as do each of the children, and that still leaves 3 bedrooms.  If we decide not to move, one of the bedrooms will be re-purposed into a den for me, as Jack already has one, and the dogs took over the room that I was originally planning to use for my stuff.  By that time there were already beds in each of the other 3 rooms, so I need to find a new home for one of them before I can create a space for myself.

I would love to move into a smaller house in the country, where I could have a horse and maybe some chickens or something.  I grew up on the farm, caring for all manner of creatures from peacocks to baby pigs.  This wouldn’t be the kind of farm that one could live off of, it would mainly be a hobby/new experience for Jack and the kids.  I would love to live further than 4 feet from my neighbor.  I would love to have horses again, and a great big garden, and fruit trees, and a drive-way that holds more than 2 cars.

The current house is not yet in shape for putting on the market, but everything that needs to be done is cosmetic: paint touch-ups, staining some railings, purging all the extra crap we’ve aquired over the years and yet don’t need.  That last one is the hardest of all, because I’m one of those people who hates to let go of anything “in case I need it someday”.  I have no problem letting go of things that are impractical, even sentimental (to a point) but if it’s something I might actually use, I hate to get rid of it.

Waffle makers are a good example.  Jack and I had one of those round Belgian waffle makers when we lived in Calgary.  During the move, it got packed in with low-priority items, and sat in a box for some months after we arrived out east.  At some point while it was still packed, I wanted to make waffles, but didn’t feel like rooting through umpteen boxes to find it.  Jack suggested we just get another one.  The one we have isn’t fancy or expensive anyway, so we got a second one.  Now that we are all unpacked, there are two waffle irons in the storage room.  While V was here, she was helping me sort through some kitchen items and said “Why don’t you get rid of one of these?  Do you really need two?”

Yes, I do need two waffle irons.  My justification is that it’s much faster to make waffles for a crowd when you can make more than one at a time.  Heaven forbid that anyone have to WAIT the two minutes it takes to cook a waffle.  She let the waffle iron thing go, but rolled her eyes so far back in her head at me that I could not see her pupils.

See what I mean?  That storage room also contains a wooden salad bowl set that I HAVE NEVER USED.  Not to mention a casserole dish that I have kept just for when I make chocolate pudding cake.  I’m serious, that’s the only thing I ever use it for, and if I could tell you the last time I made chocolate pudding cake, I would probably feel better about the fact that I’m keeping that stupid dish.

We also have two coffee makers: a regular 12-cup drip, and the awesome Keurig that I bought shortly after we moved.  I justified that in my head by telling myself that having the 12-cup drip is better for when we have company, because then I can make a lot of coffee at once, instead of people having to wait their turn to brew an individual cup of coffee.  Do you see a common theme here?  None of these things are for my own convenience, they exist to ensure that nobody has to wait.  This is the house of immediate gratification.  If you have to wait for anything, you might as well go throw yourself out of the third floor window.

It occurs to me that perhaps the drip coffee maker should take up temporary residence at Aiden’s, since I spend almost as much time at his place as I do at home, LOL.  Plus then I would have real coffee while I’m there.  And I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about spending a ridiculous amount of money on a one-cup coffee maker that is currently collecting dust in our basement.

Yesterday I found my wedding dress.  I pulled it out of the box it was in and looked at it, and the first thing I thought was “I should sell this thing” because I didn’t even like it when I wore it that one day back in ’02, when this amazing guy married me without totally understanding what he was getting into

I’ve been promising myself ever since that someday I’ll get to ‘do it over’ in a way and wear a dress that I actually like.

How did I get roped into wearing a dress that I didn’t want?  My mother.  Since she was the one with the cheque book, she and the sales lady ganged up on me and pushed me into a dress that wasn’t at all me.  It wasn’t anything like what I’d always envisioned myself getting married in.  Between her, the sales lady, and the fact that Jack and I put our wedding together in less than two months, I ‘settled’ a lot when it came to our big day, but that is a post for another time.

The other day when Aiden was here, he was looking in a cupboard for something and remarked on the fact that I have a fondue set.

“I have three of them” I said, without even thinking about how weird that is.

I also own a blossoming cake stand collection.  I think I’m up to five, a number that would make Martha Stewart proud.  Can a person ever own too many cake stands?  I think not!

Recently I was reading a story about a family of minimalists who could probably fit their collective possessions into my closet, with room to spare, and I thought “I would love to live like that…as long as I didn’t have to give up my coffee maker, and my book collection, and my…”

Honestly, I do want to get by with less stuff.  I feel like the best parts of life are lost in the race to acquire more things.  My hoarding problem, I will show it to you.  If I ever want to get into a house that I can actually manage (and by that I mean a house that does not require constant cleaning because of it’s sheer size) I am going to need to let go of a LOT.

Do any of you need a waffle iron or a set of wooden salad bowls?