Emotional Hoarding

Last week I did a post about "hoarding". I just have too much stuff, but at least some of it is cool stuff, and not stacks of newspapers and magazines stacked around the house! I talked about a cabinet I had that had belonged to my folks for years. I didn't really like it, and worse yet it was filled with "smalls" that I didn't really care for either. That is where the whole "emotional hoarding" thing came in. It is my holding on to many physical memories of my mom, dad, and grandmothers stuff. So, when I saw a customer put a bid yesterday on one of Ginny's small primitive tables, I wanted it. And, as you can see above, the customer didn't come back and it is all mine. I decided it would take the place of my "emotional hoarding" in my dining room. With another grandchild on his way here soon, my big harvest table doesn't have enough chairs for my entire family. So now I officially have a "children's table"! Good excuse to bring it home, right? I went upstairs at the store yesterday, and was looking around. Our upstairs use to be open to the public. But the wonderful City of Orange, looking out for everyone's safety, closed it a few years ago. Bless their little hearts! Now it is our storage area for our sold merchandise, and layaways, and my family's stuff. I found my bench up there which actually matched the table, and both the table and bench match my big, old harvest table. I've been in this business of "junk" now for about twenty years. And the one thing I'm never fond of is "smalls". And my emotionally hoarding of that cabinet was filled with dreaded smalls. I was out like a light last night courtesy of three days at Country Roads. So, I didn't even hear Bryce when he unloaded the entire cabinet for me! It was really nice of him to do that for me. Now, I have the job of dusting this stuff off, and pricing it, and hauling it to the store, and finding a place to put it all. And since I'm not a big "glass & smalls" person, I'm going to have to have some help pricing this stuff. Thankfully, one of my "kids" at Country Roads is the QUEEN of smalls and knows her prices well. If you have ever visited any of Carol's spaces, you know what I'm talking about!! So, with her help, we might get all this stuff priced, and put out on the sales floor. I had originally planned on selling this cabinet. And I had been thinking it was perfect to fill up with all my smalls I was going to sell. Then I spoke with another "emotional hoarder" in my family, Brande. She wants the cabinet. Now, we must remember that Brande has no room for this cabinet, but as she said, she has always liked it, and she has lots of books to put in it some day, and it belonged to her Grandma and Papa. So my friends, that IS the definition of an "emotional hoarder" and I don't think it is really a bad thing. So, this little cabinet WILL go to Country Roads, just not on the sales floor but upstairs with some more of mine and my kids "emotional hoarding" merchandise!