Geesh I guess the kids throwing liquid soap on the walls and carpet and stealing of signs in the building I manage is pretty small potatoes compared to that. That poor woman! Once a teen aged girl pulled up all the plants in one of the garden club beds and threw them into the fountain. The police caught her and she had to help my dh replant them all. The kicker is that when the police told her father, he laughed, right in front of her! An odd coincidence is that years ago I had actually written a letter to the court on the father's behalf (not that he knew that I had planted the plants, but it made me even more mad that he had laughed.) A funny thing that came of it is that we somehow missed one of the impatience in the fountain. I found it more than a month later, still alive and it had grown several little bladders on the stem that I think let it live in water. weird. There have always been kids who do rotten things, and most of them turn out ok I believe. But the parents reactions are different now, and probably don't stop the behaviors like they used to. kathy

Scary, scary, MAT and utterly believable to me. I had a bizarre 9 months or so wherein my mail was not coming to me after I moved, the post office could not say why, and my accounts were changed to another address that the companies couldn't give me! I was able to put a 'possible' fraud alert on all but Amex, which I didn't pay so that the card would be useless. In the end, a banker who knew me gave me the address, I physically DROVE out there, walked up to the lady's house and asked her what the h*ll was going on. She had a cousin with my name, whom she hated and was owed money by. She thought the mail was hers. The post office found later that the woman had lived at my apartment complex, and she had checked 'family' when she moved on her change of address form. The post office then uses last name, street name and last 3 or 4 digits of the street number. Ours matched, so she got my mail! I was never able to prove that she did anything to my accounts because the comapanies don't keep the things that need signatures! Or they charge $20 an hour to look through records. Hopefully that's changed due to computer databases being more popular nowadays but who knows? The planets align against us sometimes, is what I think ;] There's a hauled-to-jail story over a $7.50 check from 10 years previous that has a technological/human glitch, too, that is fun to tell at family reunions. Always expect the unexpected, lol.

Long post, but the above post brings together several recent threads, for me. This one of those "aha" moments when I can say I thought I really got it, but now I REALLY get it. I was on this track already in some smallish ways--recently I posted about chucking party supplies and getting free of the idea that I needed to store leftover red holiday paper goods, or things with Happy Birthday on them, for a party that isn't even imagined yet. When the kids were younger, I tried to avoid some of those late-night box store runs for the "I need a presentation folder for tomorrow", so I had part of a cabinet with binders, folders, all that stuff--but in retrospect, so often you just had to go to X-mart no matter what you had at home anyway, that I wonder whether I would do it again. I do have a big box for Christmas wraps, and so far have been happy with thinking I am limiting myself to just that box--but it has to come down from the attic, I sometimes need something before then and so I keep a bit out,or basically, have tried to develop a "red" theme for wrapping because you can use it for anything--but I can see the simplicity of just buying 2 rolls of wrap and a few ribbon or bow items (real simplicity would be not wrapping!)--or at any rate, deciding on your wrap concept each year and freecycling the leftovers yearly. This becomes much more do-able if your gifting get simpler, which ours has as the kids have grown--might cycle back up if grandkids appear. But I am really intrigued by moving this concept into other areas. What are other things we can identify that we keep for once a year or less--which of these things are worth the storage--hard to find, just the thing you want, etc--and which are best re-purchased at the time of need? Also a lot depends on how much stock you put into recycling and whether you can do that with the items or will they end up in the trash. Not to disparage trashing as a de-cluttering method, but just not trying to make intentional changes that increase my landfill footprint. I'm also intrigued by the furniture concept. Sure, I read lots of articles on how the lovely antiques fit so nicely in the new smaller retirement home and just a bit of downsizing was needed, but I also read, we just started over to get what we really needed, so share the Brit's concept of, so many things prove to be just not what you would have used if you were trying to maximize the space, the funtion, or even the style. That might suggest not getting overly attached to furniture or again, thinking ahead to whether one's investment has to be justifed by a "lifetime" of use, or just the next decade or so, given that many people will move several times. Most people can't afford to just re-buy the same things over and over, so it really is more a matter of being very selective about what you might do this way and that you don't end up overbuying to start with, as the above poster noted, so that you tend to end up with not too much left over, or you have a calm approach and backup plan for "running out"-as in, you try to avoid the feeling that you have to run and buy new wrap and bows for the one last-minute gift on your list. Craft items were a big deal for me--and I'm not even so crafty. But until recently I kept the spray paint, ribbon, felt or whatever from each project and I could tell my own "hoarding gene" got some kind of stimulus for having these items available just in case. It requires either having a certain personality or developing that angle. My MIL is a person who derives immense satisfaction from diving into a room or cabinet and coming up with just the box or twist tie or item you need. She is not a hoarder in the worst sense of the word--no trash, home is clean, the main rooms are a bit cluttered but okay to be in, and they lead wonderfully active, busy, helpful lives, but she basically can't part with much, and the decor, spare rooms, and cabinet space reflect that. So what I am eager to do is to go back through all my spaces and say, now, in which areas of my life do I want to have on hand just the thing I need, and which areas am I better served to re-purchase at time of need? And maybe this is a personality area that can be developed so we are more able to do this--it doesn't have to be an all or none thing. I have seen myself as being more able to do this as I get older, rather than being less able. What ties in for me is simplifying my ideas of "what I do" on a REGULAR basis so there are fewer things that have to be kept on hand just in case. Plus, selecting those areas that are most easily re-purchased. So maybe I am a bit crafty, but only once every couple of years and often not in the same direction using the same supplies. Or, maybe I need to develop more of a focus and say, I am going to try to specialize in just a few areas that use ___. Christmas wrap is just such a good prototype for this type of discussion--it's ubiquitous, you can walk into even the grocery store and find it, comes in all price ranges. Clothing was discussed in this way on some other post--which things do you just get seasonally and chuck; do you keep the fur coat for a trip 3 years hence; etc. I would love to hear others' examples of areas in which you "changed" from being a store-er to being a re-purchaser, and why it worked for you.

Monica, That is what I was thinking! Where are there ever any leftover PEEPS! You people are sounding like a bunch of mean, rotten, nasty -------- actually fun-loving goof balls! Hey, one of you texas gals that are part of the TEXAS TOUR, go and get some PEEPS if it is possible and have a roast and take pictures for us. That would really give the rest of us a chance to FEEL like part of your fun. Who's game for it?