People watching--what a trip!

People-watching has to be the best past time ever!  I took a little break from the pathos of trying to sort through stuff, and I went to Northpark Mall to indulge in a little retail therapy.  Almost better than the shopping is watching the people who are doing the shopping. 

Have you ever seen the website People of Walmart?  The pictures of poorly-dressed people at Walmart don't surprise me--nothing against Walmart, but c'mon, it's a discount store.  Northpark is probably one of the chic-est malls in America, so you would think that you would see correspondingly chic people.  And, sometimes you do.  Sometimes, however, you don't!

This stuff just can't make itself up!  I actually saw a woman wearing curlers in her hair.  There was also a mortified-looking girl wearing what looked like a bad 70s prom dress.  Everywhere I looked there were girls dressed too old for their actual ages, and women dressed too young for theirs. I saw more than my fair share of women who looked like they had just fled the gym, including one who was wearing tennis clothes. 

And then there are the trends, that while "fashionable" I just don't get.  I think my age my be showing.  Floor length dresses for example, saw at least three of those, one on a woman way too old.  The no-pants look was evident, as was the hooker look.  Is it just me, or do about half the clothes and shoes in the stores look like something hookers would wear?  All I know, is that if I had a daughter, no way would she be wearing those clothes.

Thanks People of Northpark Mall for a very entertaining afternoon!

In which I try to put three lifetimes of stuff in one house

It's a good thing I don't subscribe to a minimalist decorating style! Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you...

My mom recently passed away quite unexpectedly (she was 83, but the week before Christmas she was fine, and by the end of the first week in January, she was gone. That's unexpected!) Anyway, due to her passing, I now have more stuff than I ever thought possible: Two houses, two cars, three dogs, and two packrats' possessions.

How do you go about sorting through a lifetime of possessions and deciding what you do and don't want? Hey, it's me--remember? I love everything. Some things are pretty easy to dispatch to the sale pile. For instance, the odd medieval-esque accessories that were in the living room. I think mom bought those at a furniture store in the 1960s when she and my dad bought new furniture for this house. Those were the days before we started to travel, and before we acquired all kinds of personal, memorable decorative accents. I've always thought those things--two porcelain knights, a couple of wooden ships (looking like drawings I've seen of the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria!), a faux-old globe, and a small cannon--were so out of place in our house, and didn't seem like something my parents would have liked. I guess they went well with the mediterranean style of the house.

Yes, those were easy to part with. My mom collected cow creamers--those were tough. I couldn't get rid of them. I just packed them in boxes, except for a few that I really like. I cried just packing them up. I kept blubbering, "I'm sorry little cow" every time I put one in a box. I haven't even tried to pack away any of her thimble collection, or my dad's carved bird collection.

I have gotten brave enough to change some things. The living room/dining room will become a dining library. I barely eat at the table and no one ever comes over--so the dining room, and yet another living area, are totally superfluous. My dad's study will become my studio. It's not big enough to house my books too, and I don't want to make the living room into my studio because it's right in front of the house where everyone could see my mess when they walked in. And, there's not a good window for ventilation in the front of the house--necessary for jewelry-making.

Well, that's all for now--wish me luck as I go over to my old house this evening and pack up another load!

Below, a picture of my messy "new" den.  You can see that I'm dealing with a massive quantity of "stuff."  Every room is just like this! (and you can see Poquito made a surprise appearance too)

In which I resurrect this little blog!

After years of neglect, I've decided to resurrect this blog!  I've been looking for a way to express myself, and I think maybe this is it.  Of course, I've been there before, but we'll see if this time I can make it work. 

To start anew, I'll tell you a little about my life then and now.  When I started this blog back in 2000 (2000?!--12 years ago), I was divorced, living in an apartment in Dallas, Texas.  I had a dog named Touchdown, a mom that I loved, a red Honda CR-V, and a job as a librarian.  Now 12 years later, almost everything has changed--except the "divorced" part. That's a constant; never going back down that road!

I live in a house in Garland, Texas now, actually it's the house I grew up in.  I have another house that I will be putting on the market sometime this summer.  I have three dogs--Sitka, a Siberian Husky, Juneau, an Alaskan Malamute, and Poquito Bandito, a Chihuahua.  I drive a bronze CR-V, and now I am the "Director of Institutional Support/Registrar" for the same college where I was the librarian.  My mom passed away earlier this year (which is why I have two houses, two cars, and three dogs). 

I'm pretty much alone, except for my friends and one close family member.  At least I'm free to do what I want.  Stay out until 3am, sleep all day, have wild parties, paint the house black--whatever I want, I can do it, with no interference!  Problem is, I don't really want to do any of those things.  I just want a nice, normal life.  I'm pretty uncomplicated.  I love my dogs, even the one I inherited; I love my stuff (I'm a collector/hoarder from way back); and I love my friends and family (the one family member I do have). 

Well, that's it for now.  I'll leave you with pictures of my children:

That's Juneau, the malamute.  He's a rescue dog, and at approximately 100 pounds, the biggest baby EVER!

This is Sitka, the husky.  She's also a rescue dog.  She's "Miss Independent" and is quite the diva.

And, last but not least, this is Poquito, the chihuahua.  He, too, is a rescue.  He was mom's dog, but she only got him in October 2011, and she passed away in January, so technically I've had him longer than she did.  He may be small, but I'm pretty sure he's the boss of us all!