COLLECTIONS

"INTERIOR OF A PANELLED HOUSE WITH

A COLLECTION OF IMARI AND

BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN"

By Ellen Clacy

I really appreciate all the feedback I received about my previous post. Thanks for using using such positive words as catharsis, resurrection, reinvention, insight, honesty, introspection, strong, good example and accomplishment.

I  worried about publishing the post in the first place. I am a blogger who hesitates to hang out my laundry in public. I hover somewhere in between letting it all hang out and being a Pollyanna, refusing to acknowledge that all is not well with my world.

"SUNDAY TEA-TIME" by Stephen Darbishire

I hesitated over writing the post because I did not want anyone to think badly of me. Isn't that funny, after all these years, when I thought I was finally immune to what other people think of me. But I do care what friends think of me. I once had a co-worker who was a shopaholic and a gambler, and I thought badly of her, never realizing that in my own way I was as "bad" as she.

But I would be horrified if someone thought of me as a hoarder. That, I am not. Kristen calls me a "pack rat", but I told her to watch the A&E TV show "Hoarders" to see what a real pack rat is like! I know that these people have psychological problems, and I am so glad I do not have that particular set of problems. I have enough of my own!

No, I have the ability to let go of things, but it entails so much physical work. In my case, the mind is willing, the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!

Looking over my posts this past summer, I see that few were very relevant to my daily life. Instead, I found art, poetry, and other subjects to hide behind. I guess I blog the way I clean house. I don't clean every day - some things not even every week. I let it all go for a while, and then I clean with a frenzy. So I did with airing out my problems, until this latest post. Now that my blogging "house" is clean I may go back to art and poetry for a while. Or not.

"BLUE AND WHITE CHINA" by Carol Gillot

(Blog "Paris Breakfast")

Meanwhile, I do want to say that I have not purged everything from my home. I still have artwork on my walls, accessories on my tables. I still need to have beauty surrounding me, but I have gotten rid of the mundane, the tacky, the passe, the ubiquitous, the redundant, the "what was I thinking?" - and kept the best things. Colleen mentioned in a comment that she likes to visit estate sales in order to give some things a forever home. I, too, have found some lovely things that will have a forever home with me. Too, the precious few things I have of my mother's and grandmother's will live here forever.

I won't be selling my blue and white china collection; I hope not to have to sell my collection of Roseville china. And I certainly must keep my collection of dog figurines.

Painter unknown to me

Thank you, Lila, for suggesting that I sell some items on Etsy. I didn't know that one can sell vintage items there. I checked it out, and I will be starting an Etsy shop (at some later time). Thanks to Gemma for suggesting eBay, consignment shops and Craigs List. Unfortunately, I always associate Craigs List with porn sites, never thinking that lots of legitimate items are sold there as well. I will be listing the most fragile or larger items that I don't want to ship on Craigs List Bismarck and Bismarck-Mandan Online. I will also call the antique shop to see what consignment items they are looking for.

And I already sell items on eBay. I sold most of my vintage Halloween postcard collection earlier this fall, and am listing some other vintage Halloween items now. I will also be offering some vintage Christmas items as well.

A friend sent me a note congratulating me on my efforts to de-clutter and lighten my load. I answered back with thanks for the encouragement but said that a person walking into my house would probably never know the difference. Her reply: "But you do." How true, I do. And I'm getting lighter by the minute.