Junk or Treasure?

A couple posts ago I was talking about STUFF.
If you read THIS post, then you will remember what Raimie mentioned about our early family Thanksgiving tradition of reciting/(reading) poetry.
Over the years we've had favorites, some memorized, some read, some that were wrote by the reader, many that were quickly found at the last minute (ahem...NOT yours truly of course....*I* wouldn't be guilty of that!)

This year the one our friend Gertrud read I thought was just really  perfect for my personal situation of STUFF, so I asked her for a copy.

( personally I would prefer not to  be considered "a ripe old age" But whatever---in all actuality my problem with STUFF started when I was quite young.  *sigh*)

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Housecleaning

I find that I have reached the stage

That is commonly known as "ripe old age,"

And I'm called each day to decide the fate

Of things I've allowed to accumulate.

The things I don't need I can always find,

From two to a dozen of every kind;

But what I do need escapes the eye

Until I return from the store with another buy.

And what is left over, being sly as a fox,

I know I may need, so it goes in a box.

That is surely the reason I've run out of space

With bundles and boxes all over the place.

From morning till evening I spend every day

Just trying to find something I've laid away.

Some comfort I find; it isn't all bad,

For I find many things I didn't know I had.

So day after day I go round and round,

Continually losting more than I've found.

I must change my program before I am sunk

Or just disappear, submerged in my junk.

-Author unknown

Incredible!!

Someone else posted this. I found it totally awesome. It's long, but worth the watch. WOW!

(Video posted at bottom of the page)

Don't give up, Don't give in.

Keep Shaking it off:

One day a farmer's donkey fell into an abandoned well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was too old and the well needed to be covered up anyway; so it just wasn't worth it to him to try to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. Realizing what was happening the donkey at first cried and wailed horribly.
Then, a few shovel-fulls later, he quieted down completely. The farmer peered down into the well, and was astounded by what he saw. With every shovel-full of dirt that hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt.
As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off, to the shock and astonishment of everyone.
The Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to stop wailing, and not let the dirt bury you, but to shake it off and take a step up. Each one of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

(Saw this on FB today, posted by one of my friends. Thought it was pretty good)

Boys....

yes, I'm still all in one piece...you doubted?

going, going...and soon gone!

My thoughts exactly, Thanks Anita!

I can so relate!

Not necessarily looking for monsters...but hanging things on the walls, moving the furniture, doing misc. "works of art", Putting the bed back together because it fell apart...hmmm??!!, washing clothes for school/meeting/activity tomorrow morning...Not because I don't wash clothes every day mind you, but probably because 1. they wore it today, 2. it was hiding under the bed, or 3. it was stuffed in a drawer/closet/box/ dirty, instead of putting it in the laundry room or bathroom clothes hamper where it belongs.
Or, maybe it was because "It's not mine but I have to take it back to school tomorrow..."why did you have it?" well, ____ Loaned it to me because I gave mine to ___ because she didn't have any, and needed it for ________. Working on a school project that has to be turned in first thing in the morning that they knew about for 2 weeks, "I thought I asked you if you had your homework done??"--Oh, yes, my homework's done, I just had to do this for science/art/math.... UH, yea, but it's 2 a.m. and you NEED TO BE IN BED! --read that "EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO BE, I NEED TO BE, AND I NEED YOU TO BE!
One of my favorite quotes from Erma Bombeck was "If life is a bowl of cherries, what am I doing in the pits.?"

While you're waiting..... Just for fun

Dog-Tired...(or The Napping Dog)


An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out. The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'