Chain of Fools
Soooo, I have had a couple banker’s boxes of random stuff plus some other things in my Ninja’s trunk for a couple weeks now. Waiting for the next trip to the Kiwanis drop-off.
Did I tell you about my Flinging Coffee Buddy the other day? I mentioned to her that Kiwanis was on my regular Saturday Beat these days. When she asked me what I was shopping for at Kiwanis, I almost fell outta my seat laughing. No, no, no, no, no! (gnoff gnoff!) I am DROPPING STUFF OFF!!! Did that ever pique her interest! Kiwanis is so cool! You just pull up in front of their garage and all of these cheerful, enthusiastic volunteers are there to help you unload just about whatever you have in your vee-hickle. They were cheerfully disappointed when I told them they couldn’t have Ninja’s taaaarr pump but her taaaars are finicky and I need that thing. At any rate, there is no need to be embarrassed about the junk you are dumping off like some of us (meeeee) sometimes are.
Anyway, like I was saying, I had some stuff in my trunk and I was kind of wishy-washy about making a trip down there, like maybe we should wait until we have more. But then the GG swung into high gear and pretty soon we had a pretty good vee-hickle full. The Ninja is not a terribly large vee-hickle but still. It felt sooooo good to drive away from there with an empty vee-hickle!
We did NOT get rid of The Chain! I was ecstatic when I saw The Chain come up outta The Landfill Dungeon. Yes! It was there when we moved into this place 30 [ulp] years ago. (I just had this weird little memory about our mortgage payoff date being in 2014. We actually paid it off in 1997.) I can’t remember that we have *ever* used The Chain but the GG says he and The Indefatigable occasionally did. Whatever. I was hopeful that we might drop it off at Kiwanis today but the GG thinks maybe he can sell it on the Internet. We’ll see. It has at least progressed to Outside. Yay!
It was nice to have an empty vee-hickle for a few hours but I am already collecting more stuff. A bag of egg cartons to take to work for Chicken Lady. A bag for returnable bottles. A bag for stuff we can recycle at Lowe’s (broken xmas lights, Roooomba batteries and more). A couple bags of books I don’t need any more. The Comm’s old serger (specialized sewing musheen). I made a half-assed attempt to palm that thing off on various relations but I suspect they are not gonna want it and I will feel no guilt about dropping it off next weekend or whenever.
Hello, I am beginning to cull my fabric stash. This is 30 years of collecting quilt-type fabrics. I am working quickly and think that I will end up with about a third of my stash left when I am finished. I do expect to create stuff with fabric again but not at the moment. Maybe I’ll blahg about my haphazard culling process in a later post. Maybe not. I am considering how to off-load this stuff. There are a number of ways I could do it. I looked into selling some of it on Etsy or someplace but I would essentially be running a business if I did that and I do not have time to run a business. I would rather just donate it but the GG gives me pause reminding me how much money went into that stash and futzing around with The Chain. I don’t really give a damn about money. Okay, that was a reckless statement because it is pretty essential but unpacking what I think about money would take a book or two or three. So, we’ll see what I do…
If you’ve made it all the way through all of that random blather, here’s Aretha doing Chain of Fools.
November 15th, 2014 at 4:51 pm
Chain envy…here. 🙂 Why do you need to get rid of all of your stash? (Your quilting pieces are exquisite.) There will be a day when you will switch gears and retire, eh? You could dye some of the colors you do not dye. I am into dyeing heavily….but wool only. It is amazing what good dyes are out there. I use Majic Carpet and they are great.
November 15th, 2014 at 8:48 pm
There comes a time (I’m telling myself) of looking at items to part with as “sunk costs.” I think it’s an economics term. I will have a whole lot of stuff to “fling” when the time comes, and since garage sales aren’t feasible (nor is Ebay, etc. because I also don’t have time to run a business), I think donating will be the ticket. Even if at times my belly churns a bit about it.
“A sunk cost is money that has already been spent and cannot be recovered. Sunk costs are also called retrospective costs. Logic dictates that because sunk costs will not change — no matter what actions are taken — they should not play a role in decision-making.” ;o)
November 16th, 2014 at 12:53 am
I agree with Tonya–it’s a tax deduction and less effort and time to donate it than try to sell it. (if you count your hours and your work, you would probably come out even by just giving it away!)
November 16th, 2014 at 10:40 am
KW, you might walk over to Haisley when they are open, instead of oh-skunk-thirty, and talk to the art teacher or classroom teachers. They might be happy to take fabric off your hands. I’d also check with the Children’s (Childrens’?) Museum, or any place that might work with kids doing projects. If you were here in St. Louis, there’s a place that “upcycles” many things, including fabric. Maybe do a google search for upcycling. If there are quilting guilds in your area, they frequently make charity quilts and you might just make their day big time. Lots of love to you!