Utterly Pointless News!

[bk_forever]

I have decided I'm going to knit myself a new jumper - and it will be red! Not that wishy washy orangey red of British post boxes, but a rich, glowing blood red (it would look great on Ianto).

I was attempting to clear some of the junk out of the box room and found myself staring at all the lovely colours of wool, so I dug out some patterns and eventually picked a fairly simple one with cable panels down the front and sleeves (not sure about the back) bordered by plain stocking stitch. Now I just need to find my needles.

I really need a new red jumper as my other two have gone really saggy (they were knitted with budget wool that turned out to be rather poor quality - usually, I find it's just as good as more expensive yarns, but this stuff wasn't) and the washing machine bit a hole in one =(

My arthritic fingers will probably hate me at first, but they'll get used to it.

Wish me luck =)

Comments

[bk_forever]

Now if we had a house that big, we might even have room for all our stuff! Seriously though, English houses are ridiculously small, our kitchen is hardly bigger than the box room, we have no storage space, over 30 years' worth of clutter and I can't belive 4 of us used to live here. Now there doesn't even seem room for 2. Part of the problem is our love of books - we have thousands, although the number has probably dropped by nearly 1000 since I started trying to get rid of some. Trouble is, many of them I haven't read yet and I can't read fast enough, especially as I mostly read fanfiction at the moment. Eventually we will clear out all the junk, I just need to persuade mum that some things have to go! She does not persuade easily, yet she's the one always complaining about the mess we're in...

[royalladyemma.livejournal.com]

Your mum's a hoot!!!!! My grandmother is the same way -- for her, it's a deeply rooted fear of deprivation caused by surviving the Great Depression here in the US. What's the phrase = something like

use it up
wear it out
make it do
or do without

she's 92 and she still lives by that credo. Maybe your mum's got the same pre-wired gene caused by surviving the rationing and whatnot that she went thru during the War -- we're so extraordinarily lucky to be able to just plunge in head first and luxuriate in the concept of "TOO MUCH STUFF".

I have seven book cases, packed with books, half not read, like you, my eyes are only focused on the computer fanfic, and there are still boxes of books unpacked for two years, and some from nine years before that, the last time I moved.

There are plastic tubs upon tubs upon tubs of fabrics, sewing threads, quilting materials, yarns, patterns, sewing projects, ideas, pictures of ideas -- I can't get to any of it because I never bothered to fix up my work room, and now it's more like your box room.

Think maybe that packrat gene that my grandmother and your mum have was passed on down the line, yeah??????

[bk_forever]

Very likely! Unfortunately, it's not helping our predicament. Mum no longer sews at all, I,ve never been good at sewing, and we just can't keep piles of fabric that no one's going to use.

I think mum's hoarding stems from the fact that dad was always throwing things out - once he left, she started keeping everything. Most of mine is books, cross stitch magazines, records, DVDs and craft supplies for the crafts I actually do. Mum spends all her time bemoaning the fact that she never gets to do any of the things she wants to do - like sketching, watercolour painting and embroidery - but spends all day sitting watching TV. I caught her the other day watching a programme she hates and when I asked her why, she said there was nothing else on! I'm bust throwing out things I'd like to keep, while she watches TV, complains about the mess and won't let anyone else sort out her stuff. My sister is finally starting to understand what I'm trying to deal with, but she lives 50 odd miles away and works full time, so we hardly ever see her, and I'm left trying to cope. It's no wonder I'm so stressed!

[royalladyemma.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm your sister. I live 3000 miles away, so I don't have to face it all the way she does. A few years ago, my mum broke her ankle badly and had to spend months in rehab -- the social services people refused to let her return to her house because it was so filled with "stuff" that she could barely move -- ironically, none of it caused her to break her ankle, she just tried to pivot on her foot, and one part moved and the other didn't!

Unfortunately, my sister is one of these rather sterile environment people -- every single room MUST look like it's really just a pretty photo from a glossy magazine. So when she went into clean up my mother's house, she simply cleaned it out. She didn't give a rat's ass what it was, who it had been inhererited from or even who it belonged to. Straight into the tip.

Now you tell me, if you opened up a dresser drawer and found a shirt-box, tied with a pretty ribbon, tissue-lined, and containing very carefully preserved hand-embroidered and hand-edged in picot lace hankies, and intricately crocheted doilies and antimassacers (that's not the right spelling -- back in Victorian days, when men wore such pomades in the hair and the chairs all had high backs, these were the pieces of decourative linens that protected the chair fabrics themselves from the hair pomades when the men rested their heads back)

Anyway, if you found such a box, so obviously lovingly preserved, what would YOU do with it? Would you ask your mum about it? Would you put it back where you found it -- after all, it's in a drawer in a dresser, out of the way, not collecting any dust, etc.

Or, would you simply TOSS IT OUT INTO THE F*ING TIP LIKE IT WAS A PIECE OF DOG SH*TE?????????

Geez, even after what three years or so? I'm still so angry about that little event that I'm pounding the living crap out of my keyboard!!!!! Ha ha haa!!!! I am such an idiot!!!!!

I know I shouldn't be upset, I wasn't there to help -- it literally was not possible for me to take time off work -- we were already running below minimum shifts at the jail, which made for safety nightmares, let me tell you -- so in her eyes, I have no say and no opinion on her actions. But still -- common sense or an act of revenge because she had to take care of things.

Anyway, my heart goes out to you, because I do understand how you feel and what you're facing. When my youngest sister passed away, I was left to deal with the majority of her estate, and I did have help from my older sister, but still, it wasn't the same.

I found myself holding on to everything I could -- stupid stuff, even -- which I then had to go back thru a few months later when I decided I had to move, and even now, two years later, I'm still unpacking things from the garage and finding stuff I shouldn't have kept in the first place.

George Carlin once said that our stuff defines us -- whether it's the stuff we treasure or the stuff we put in our dumps and land-fills. Can you imagine what alien researchers are going to think of the stuff they come across in the land-fills 5000 years from now???? Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall as they sort thru it all????? I sure would!!!!

[bk_forever]

I do often wonder what future archaeologists will make of our society! I've been interested in archaeology for a long time, so I can't help myself!

My aunt, my mum's sister who died 2 years ago, was a lot like your sister - never kept much, everything had to be just so. She got a cabinet full of treasures when another relative died, but wouldn't let mum have any of it, then sold the whole lot. Mum and I were both appalled at her selfishness. There were several small items that held memories for mum that she would've loved to have, but no, it was all got rid of.

I'd never throw anything out of mum's that meant something to her, but keeping stacks of puzzle magazines going back to 2003 is not on. The puzzles have been done! Plus she has tons of clothes that don't fit her... Other things I've come across, I've asked her - some she's kept, some she hasn't. It's the same with books (the non-fiction ones) Mum sorts out those she doesn't want, then I check she hasn't thrown out something of mine, since they're all mixed up. It's easy to tell who the novels belong to - mum's are Catherine Cookson and similar authors, mine are S.F., horror and fantasy! There's no confusion there...!

Still, mum's room is piled high with stuff and you can't get near the window without climbing over her bed... not that there's anywhere to stand on the other side! My room's not quite so bad, although 7 boxes of books are getting in the way. It's a slow process deciding which ones to get rid of.

[royalladyemma.livejournal.com]

Well you know I'm here to help any time you need a hand!!!! Just yell, 'K?