Deep Cleansing and Sad Goodbyes

Yesterday I was completely useless. I pretty much laid in bed all day long. I thought I was done with the nausea stage but was entirely wrong...

But Saturday I wasn't completely useless; only a tad useless. I had a ton of things I wanted to get done but Jared had other plans.

When we moved into our home 3 years ago from our tiny cottage, we filled an entire big Budget truck full of junk that just sat in boxes. Neither of us had any idea we had that much stuff but we did. Avoiding it completely, we sent most of it into the basement to continue sitting in boxes. Through the years we've slowly weeded out the things we need or want to keep versus those things we could sacrifice and live without.

I am a total pack rat. I keep everything and I mean everything. Just a few years ago, I finally threw out my cards. I had saved every Christmas, Birthday, Graduation, etc card I had ever gotten. The box was enormous and I cried hysterically as I finally made the decision to let them all go. Jared was a pack rat too but changed his ways. Therefore I have way more stuff than he does. So Saturday we once and for all decided to finish what we started. Jared is going from bin to bin make sure we want everything that is in them, labeling them, and bringing them up to the attic to sit there until we die and our children have to deal with them (huge grin on my face right now). Honestly, some things you just have to keep forever. Hence my "keep forever" bin. Jared comes across this huge bin labeled just so. He opens it up to find it stuffed to the max. There is my tattered UCONN sweatshirt that barely resembles an article of clothing. My late uncle Wayne gave it to me so long ago and I used to wear it to bed every night. I'll never get rid of it, ever. There are my two tiny, and skin tight semi formal dresses from high school. Why I want to keep these, he asks, but this one is obvious. So I can remember I used to be super skinny back in the day!

The bin is filled with my favorite shirts from over the years that brought me so many good memories. They are my keep forever stash.

We go through a few more bins and are really making progress when he points to another bin. He asks me to see what it is and I notice it's labeled "Jessie's keep forever bin". I start laughing because I know I'm going to get that look. Yes we had already come across my "keep forever bin" but it turns out I had like four of them! My trophies, awards, yearbooks, photos, memorabilia from growing up, and newspaper clippings filled the boxes. I had already gone through these and thrown out my old corsages from prom, ticket stubs, and many other random things I saved (fortunes from cookies, pictures of random guys I had crushes on, and of course that one necklace box I had filled with the magnetic alphabet letters spelling "Brian") - don't judge, I was totally in love with Brian back in the day...

We got through all this and then he sends me a bin and says, take care of this. I look down and there it is (or some of it at least). When The Little Mermaid movie came out, one could say I was obsessed. I loved Ariel and everything about her. Every birthday party I had since then was under the sea themed as was every cake I had an Ariel cake (this includes my sweet sixteen and 21st...). I started collecting Ariel stuff and my parents helped. When I left my home to move in with Jared, I had a very large, extensive collection of Ariel things complete with a shrine in my old bedroom - again, don't judge. Eventually (like last year) my parents stopped buying me Ariel stuff at my persistence (at least I think they did...). What is a 28 year old girl going to do with so much Ariel stuff. If I have all boys, I'm screwed and if I have all girls, well, they have toys for a lifetime.

Anyway, I get to the bin and decide I have some hard decisions to make (please note this is not all of my Ariel stuff, it is actually worse than the picture depicts!)

I start going through the bin and anything that was old, discolored or broken had to go. Here are just some of the cake toppers I came across.

Ariel bubble bath, soap, lotion, bubbles, and so much more...

Not one but three cups I needed.

Look at that a complete vanity set.

The saddest thing for me was to decide it was time to lose my lunch box. I carried this Little Mermaid lunch box my entire senior year of high school. Yeah, I was 18... On the back I made a little count down and everything. It was my favorite Ariel thing. But what is the point to let it sit in a box forever and just get grosser? Therefore I decided to take a photo of it so I could remember it forever.

I made a lot of progress and was able to keep most of my good stuff and only part with a few sad items I knew it was necessary to let go of. Jared did pretty well too. I finally persuaded him to get rid of the very old Playboy collection. Score one for me!