Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Thoughtful Tuesday
In lieu of a normal Tuesday Giveaway post, I have been forging ahead on my "Getting Rid of Things 2011" plan. Yesterday I went to my dad's shop to start going through my things that have been out there since I graduated high school. Short version of my life ten years ago: My dad was working down south and I was staying with my (now ex-)stepmom at our house. Things got bad and so when I graduated high school I needed to go "somewhere" and so that ended up being Portland for a year. When I left Ketchikan my dad put all of my life stuff (and all of our house stuff...again, long story) into the upper storage level of his giant workshop behind our house. I left for Portland with all of the pertinent stuff that would fit into my car (sound familiar?).
I have never gone through my things out at the shop because it was kind of a "out of sight, out of mind" thing. I apparently was living life well enough without these things so I just didn't need my stuff. But now a decade has passed since I graduated high school and I am now a different person and I want to go through my stuff. My dad has never asked me to do this, but recently he was telling me how he would eventually like to extend the upper level of the shop out so that it is all the way finished and, though maybe he wasn't even thinking it, but I was thinking, "I need to go through my stuff so that he can do that and has more space." Since I am actually in Ketchikan for an extended period of time, I'd like to go through my stuff as much as I can. Some things will be given away, some things sold, some things I will not be ready to part with, and some things I may never BE able to part with. But it has been an extended enough period of time that it is now more easy to go through my things and be okay to give them away than it would be if I had only been without these things for maybe a couple years. (Does that make sense?) The money from things I am able to sell will go toward Jonathan and I's savings, since the money I make from selling soap goes toward me and my savings. (Although some of it gets spent on fun stuff for the both of us. :o)
Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day in Ketchikan and so I headed out to the shop, only to be greeted by the super duper cute cat who belongs to the people renting our house.
He has a squished little ear and beautiful eyes! Very fluffy. I like this cat. :o)
I went up to the third floor and, though it was a beautiful day, I was kinda wishing it wasn't so gosh darn nice out because being next to the roof in the top of a metal building was HOT. I would stand there and had sweat rolling down my forehead. I only managed to be out there for an hour before I got way too hot. Bummer! I still managed to go through a good chunk of stuff and am feeling positive. I made a big pile of boxes to break down at a later date. I got together a full bag of things to donate to the Salvation Army. I found things to send to friends. I found all four of my planners from high school that I comPLEtely decorated that are basically journals of my life from then, so I am not getting rid of those, although it was hilarious to look at. I also found these pictures of myself with horrible, horrendous hair that my now-ex-stepmom put me through.
Yes, my friends, I was a rocker of the fe-mullet before it was popular.
(She was the wearer of bangs that curled down at the bottom and up at the top in a perfect little pouf. Because she thought I didn't take care of my hair (aka I just liked to wash it and call it good. I have never been one to mess with my hair much.) she thought I should at least curl it. (This was closely followed by me cutting my hair reeeallly short when I was 12. If my hair is super short then it is always in a style! I use this method today and I am always cute. Always. ;o)
Anyway, TANGENT!
I managed to get together some stuff to take home and list online, several items of which are technically sold and I will be paid for them and meeting up with people today! Huzzah! Some things will be listed on eBay. I also kinda got a visual of some of the stuff that was up there, like my stereo equipment, that I will be able to sell, but I will have to go back to the shop at a later date to get that stuff because it was so freaking hot in there.
The rest of my evening was pretty darn nice! I have had the door open the entire time I've been home so it is nice and cool in here. I washed my laundry and stuck it outside in the sunshine.
Yellow Dog and laundry, together on the deck. This makes me happy. :o)
I made a super delicious and totally easy dinner with three whole ingredients. I am all about easy when it's hot and sunny out! I took some of the salmon belly meat from cleaning the fish in the morning and cut it into little strips, covered it with teriyaki sauce, and let it marinade all day. I then baked it in the oven on a cookie sheet and had some asparagus on another cookie sheet, all cooked at 350* for about 20 minutes. I then cut everything up and stuck it in a bowl. SUPER YUMMY!!
Speaking of cleaning the fish, I gutted my salmon from Sunday and it was the first time I had ever gutted fish!! I have filleted salmon plenty. People would give me salmon or I would buy a whole fish and all I had to do was take the sides off, you know? But having to get all the guts out was a whole different story. Thanks to Google, I found how to do it correctly. I basically knew how to do it, but seeing up-close pictures was really helpful. The only bad part was that the knife I was using wasn't that great and I kept having to sharpen it, but it still worked. Just took longer and was a little more frustrating but it worked and that's what counts. I had also wanted to make this salmon jerky recipe, but couldn't because of the knife not being sharp enough to skin the fish. So sad!
This is what I started with. I ended up with probably five or six gallon bags of salmon fillets. What I would like to do is obtain a pressure canner and can up a bunch of salmon to take back to Portland with me! They're not too bad, only about $30-$40 here in town, but I just need to get one, you know? That would also help me in my quest for extreme berry picking in town. I know you can can berries in a simple syrup, but I think I might like to make jam, too. We'll see.
Anyway, back to my mission...I have been kinda poking around minimalist blogs for inspiration and ideas. I don't think I will ever get to the point where I am living with 100 things, but I would like to continue to try (and be better someday) with being mindful of my "stuff." Modern Simplicity is a blog I've been enjoying and they also blog about eco-mindedness stuff, too, which kinda goes hand in hand. We'll see where this journey takes me! What do you do to keep your "stuff" to a minimal? I'm relatively new to this and from a family of pack rats so I need help. ;o)
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Thanks so much for mentioning my blog Modern*Simplicity! Good luck going through your stuff -- living with less can be a hard habit to get into but is so rewarding!
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