Friday, March 27, 2009

It just figures

I've got a 3 day weekend and a 'to do' list a mile long and I can't get any of it done.  We'll be weekending in Champaign for my nephew's wedding.  
Not that I don't want to go, mind you. It will be great to see all my siblings and nieces and nephews and all the other family that will be there.  I'm actually looking forward to the dance after the wedding.  They will be having a Contra dance.  It is a type of folk dancing that has been growing in popularity among the younger crowds on college campuses.  My understanding is that it is a combination of line, square and circle dancing.  Anyway, it should be fun.  There will be a caller and live music and we get to swirl and twirl across the dance floor.
But, we will be spending money on travel, meals, hotel rooms and kennel costs that I really wish we weren't spending right now, and there is the time factor.  I keep telling myself that it is going to be a cold, nasty weekend with a chance of snow so I probably wouldn't be able to do many of the things on my list anyway.  But I'm in the midst of toy sorting.  
I'll confess, we're packrats and haven't ever gotten rid of many of the toys from the children's babyhoods.  Some are stashed in boxes but some are still scattered in the toy boxes.   I started last night to sort out some of them.   I managed to find all the pieces of two playsets (one Pooh and one a safari scene) and have corralled most of the Little People Barn set.  Honestly, this is something that has been on the to do list for a long time but now we've got the catalyst of moving to make it happen.  I tried to enlist K-9 to help but he was no good.  I got way to many "Oh, we should keep this" responses from him- so this is a job for grown ups.  
I'll also add a disclaimer- while our kids have lots of toys, we aren't actually responsible for the purchase of most of them.  For many years, our children were the only grandchildren my in-laws had so they went WAAY overboard on Christmas and birthday gifts.  We still have 3 of 5 of their grandchildren- only one of V's siblings had a child and then adopted another so my MIL still tends to spoil them, although she is slowly coming around.

9 comments:

  1. Please tell me as the kids get older the war on toys slowly slows down????? We don't buy lots of toys, but the grandparents and GREATGRANDMOTHER buys tons of toys. I'm selling them on ebay - I told Todd I thought I could probably get enough $ to pay a month's mortgage payment.....
    Kris

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  2. We don't buy much and we don't have kids but funny how the 'stuff' still accumulates. We are downsizing in a big way before our move to the farm, yet at the same time saving lots of stuff that we thing will be useful for livestock and for homesteading. Every time we go to Wisc I take a few things to donate to the resale shop there. Its been a very freeing exercise.

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  3. We are so in the same toy boat-overindulging grandparents and boxes and boxes of toys! I dread going through them!

    Good luck on your purging and packing (definitely the worst part of moving!)

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  4. I hear you. I've got a basement room full of toys that I never bought for my daughter.

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  5. they (the grandparents) asked what Lilly wanted for christmas this past year (she was only 10 months old) I told them "money for her college fund" you should have seen the looks I got :( We now have a ton of toys that she doesn't play with.

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  6. Ahhh..the toy war. The family toy war has made china a rich country! LOL.

    I wish people understood that I'm telling the truth when I say, crayons and a roll of paper is what they would love most!

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  7. Sorting through stuff is so tedious. Good luck with it all!
    After its all done , you'll be amazed at how wonderful it is to shed those extras.

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  8. Sounds like a fun time with relatives. Your to do list will be waiting for you when you get home. SOOOO happy to hear your getting the new homestead! ~Kim

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  9. I hope you had fun at the wedding, anyway. I love dances!

    I've always been a ruthless toy-thrower awayer...for lack of a better term. ;-) Sometimes I have thrown away/donated things I regret not having, or the kids ask for, but for the most part I never look back. It was easier to do that when the kids were littler, though!

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