The Ottoman (Empire) 1/20/09

I said I would clean/declutter something everyday, but I was tired, I'd had a couple of glasses of wine and a nice dinner at an Indian food restaurant. I got home just in time to catch the last half of The Biggest Loser - and I love watching Biggest Loser, especially after eating Indian food and drinking a couple of glasses of wine. But the pressure is on - I MUST declutter one thing every day so I can blog about it. As I sat in my big chair watching The Biggest Loser with my feet propped up on the big ottoman it occurred to me that the big ottoman doubled as storage. How long had it been since I had lifted the padded, upholstered lid of the big plaid ottoman? I was intrigued. What could possibly be in there? So I moved the unread Avalanche Journal (the local newspaper), the February issue of Oprah, the t.v. remote control, and my feet from the ottoman and opened the lid expectantly with the story of Pandora's Box and the disaster that that held running through my mind.

In my ottoman I found:
a 550 piece Christmas-themed jigsaw puzzle
a Backgammon game
a Reader's Digest Discovering America's Past book
a 2003 street map of Lubbock
Christmas stationery
a green plastic basket with 3 boxes of Christmas cards
2 boxes of 3x5 index cards holding addresses
a Christmas address book
a pad of pink Post-It notes
a bag of Claire Burke Peaches and Dreams Potpourri
a spray can of Clair Burke Peaches and Dreams Home Fragrance Spray
An Etch-A-Sketch (how fun are those?)
An invitation and itinerary for the Big Red Bash dated 1987 (for my 101-year old grandmother's 80th birthday party)
A transcript of an oral history interview with Ruth Bader Ginsberg dated 8-19-04
A transcript of an oral history interview with Geraldine Ferraro dated 8-16-04

(I have such cool "stuff" - no wonder I don't ever throw anything away. But truth be told I never even knew I had those copies of the interviews and have never read them.)

A sheet of gold cap and gown stickers
12 unused high school graduation announcements dated 1999 - daughter #1
2 college graduation announcements for daughter #1
a partial box of name cards to go with daughter #2's high school graduation announcements
a package of latex exercise stretch bands - yellow, red and blue
a Tai Chi Chih instruction manual
an acrylic photo frame
a high school graduation photo of my now 23 year old cousin, Ryan
a one-hour photo lab envelope dated 6-16-03 full of negatives
4 packets containing copies of our cousin family chain letters dated 1986-1988
a black Bic pen
a cat toy (I no longer have a cat)
a 3-ring binder with wine recommendations from 2005

So - What do I toss?
Most of this is good stuff - this is the never-ending dilemma!
So - here goes...

jigsaw puzzle goes to lake cabin, the only place I will have time to put together a jigsaw puzzle
backgammon game goes back in ottoman only after making sure it had all pieces
Reader's Digest book goes into bag to donate to Awesome Books on 34th Street
Lubbock map - trash (I can say my abc's and 123's)
All Christmas related stuff stored in hall closet with Christmas decorations (hall closet is future purge project!)
Post It's - saved
Claire Burke - hello Peaches and Dreams
Etch-a-Sketch in brief case to take to office for slow days
Big Red Bash memorabilia sent directly to Big Red Hall of Fame
oral history transcripts kept for future reading
all graduation leftovers trashed
exercise stretch bands should go in trash because I'm sure I'll never use them, but being the perpetual optimist I am keeping them
Tai Chi Chih instructions trashed (I have the video)
photo frame trashed
I kept photo of Ryan
photo negatives put with errant photos (another future project)
cousin chain letters still waiting their final disposition
Bic Pen trashed (it didn't work)
cat toy trashed
wine recommendations trashed (what do THEY know?)

Whoo-hoo! I actually threw stuff away and only put one thing back in the ottoman. I am beginning to like this.