How does it happen?  How does one accumulate so much crap?

I’ve lived at my current residence for only three years.  I am very conscious of what I save and how much I save…..or at least I thought I was.   Tonight I realized I’m apparently not as conscious as I think I am.  I was putting away my Christmas tree tonight (yes, I know, it’s the 16th, give me a break, I’ve been busy) and as I was bringing the stuff back downstairs, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

It’s the basement I go in every day, it’s the basement I do laundry in and it’s the basement I thought I had a critter in.  Why it hit me tonight?  I have no idea.  I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked around and said out loud “where did all this $*&# come from?”.   As I inventoried the contents, here’s what I found that was mine:

• Two chairs I was going to recover…….15 years ago.
• Ten bins with different holiday stuff…..who needs that much, especially when I barely decorate?
• A 5 ft. church bench, yes, I said church bench.  I’m going to refinish it………at some point.
• A piano bench that I’m going to refinish…..at some point.
• A trunk I’m going to refinish…..at some point.
• A half refinished dresser I will finish………at some point.  I better figure out when “at some point” is.
• Two cots….no mattresses.  WTF?  How did I manage to accumulate those?
• A TV stand I no longer need or want.
• A shelf I no longer need or want.
• Three bins of stuff from my youth…teddy bears, toys, dolls, urgh…what am I going to do with those besides haul them around?
• 12 purses.  Holy hell did I spend too much time in Chinatown in NYC over the years.
• 17 suitcases, beach bags, duffel bags and softball bags.  I’m really in the WTF stage now.
• Tents….oh dear, I didn’t check in that bag for the critter!!!!  I may have to just throw those out without even looking.
• Seven pairs of shoes I haven’t worn since I moved in….perhaps I could get rid of those??

It just hit me.  I’M A HOARDER!!!!!  Holy crap, my friends are going to call that show and turn me in.  I need therapy, counseling, perhaps hospitalization!

I gotta go, I have some cleaning out to do before I’m writing stories from the big house……or whatever house they put me in.