Awwww! Thank you all so much, I'm glad you all like it too. Karen, I'd be honored if you put in in an inspiration album. It would make my day. He did just sort of design it in his head as he went along. The sleigh itself screws on to the part with the runners, when it's taken apart, it will fit through the opening to the attic crawl space, which is where it spends the rest of the year. - Gail

I went in the rest room at a Walmart...and it was the men's restroom. Some guy was standing at a urinal. I said, "Oh, God! I'm sorry!!" At the Walmart, I usually frequent, the ladies room is the first one you come to. At this one, it is the second one. I hadn't even looked to see if I was going in the correct one. I also remember when I was about 16. I was a late bloomer, and I didn't have much in the way of breasts until I was in my 30's...but as a teen, I had one of those circle stitched, padded bras. They were kind of pointy...if you can remember those, circa 1960's. I was at my friend's parents' weekend place and we had been riding horses with some boys I went to school with. One of them, I was super crazy about. He was just the dreamiest guy I had ever seen. We were out by the corral and he put his arms around me and kissed me. Swoon!! Then he pulled me closer and I heard my bra collapse...plop, plop. I was so mortified, and he couldn't help but notice...but he never acted like he did. What a sweetie he was!

Oh boy oh boy, so many thoughts swirling here. Twice in my life, I have had everything I own taken away from me by Nature - both times due to flooding. (Yes, we are finally moving to higher ground - you don't have to hit me over the head with a hammer TOO many times to get the point across! LOL) First of all, the original story posted - "no gift was worthy." It seems to me that this is also the theme of the Christmas song, "The Little Drummer Boy." I have no gift to bring / that's fit to give a king, etc. Well the simplest gift - the drummer's talent, his "here's what I do, only now I do it for you"... WAS the gift. The monk story didn't go quite far enough - no earthly gift was worthy, so he... gave nothing. Whereas in the song, no earthly gift was worthy - so the drummer gave of himself. I like both stories - but the theme of the song leaves me feeling more satisfied somehow. Not loving an object makes it easier to get rid of - true, unless it's useful. "Have no object in your home that isn't useful or that you do not believe to be beautiful" - or something like that, famous old quote. "Packing to move out quickly" - ohhhh, been there, done that, recently in fact. :) The first time our house flooded, we literally had 15 minutes' warning - we looked out the back door and water was rolling into the back yard. What did I grab? I stuffed some clothes into a pillow case, grabbed the stack of unpaid bills (??? LOL, yep - the BILLS... didn't want to get behind don't-cha know), and herded the dogs to the car (no kids yet). So even if you think about what you'll grab - the only way you're going to grab it is if you have some time to plan. Second time we flooded, we had several days to decide - packed mementos, genealogy research, family heirlooms, lots of clothes, etc. - but no furniture. "Bummed at the inconvenience..." - believe me, that is so much easier said if you haven't gone through it. Even though they are just objects, they have meaning. There is no sound sadder than the piano on which you learned to play as a kid, being crushed in a garbage truck. In our case, every single thing we lost, we had to personally pick up and throw away, covered as it was in disgusting river muck. It is easy to say, I wish it would all disappear - but when you see it like that, and you are forced to get rid of it, it is a lot harder than you think it's going to be. It is so much more than inconvenience - it is real, deep loss and sadness. Finally - regarding objects that have meaning. I am among other things a genealogist. I have found objects among my grandmother's things that are priceless to me because they connect me to my past: the shoe-button hook handmade by my blacksmith great-great-grandfather... the stirrups from the saddle used by my Civil War veteran great-grandfather... Grandma's class ring from high school... my mother's report cards and bone-china animal toys... sure they are "just things," but they quite literally connect me to my past. Do not cheat everyone who comes after you out of the opportunity to cherish something that belonged to you. You dont' have to keep everything... but don't ditch everything. Leave something for the future so when a descendent comes upon your name in the family record book, they can marvel at something you personally touched, or owned... I don't think this point is making much sense... I hated that episode of "CLean Sweep" where the guy made someone get rid of a painting that his mother had done when she was dying of cancer - she had always wanted to paint, and this was the only picture she ever painted, and the show's host told him, "It's not your mother, let it go..." And I just thought, what's the harm in keeping an object that reminds him of his mother and the fulfillment of her lifelong (and end-of-life) dream to be a painter? My advice... not that anyone asked :) If you want to purge, do it while it's still your choice to do so - before Nature takes it from you involuntarily. But, don't let others talk you out of keeping stuff that means something to you, just because it falls under the umbrella of "it's just stuff." Janet

Anne, that's so frustrating. Are you in the "can't give it away for trying" family, too? My problem at times is "familial obligations"... Family members don't want the (perceived) heirloom and don't want me to pass it on to someone who'd appreciate it. I keep reminding myself 'first world problems...first world problems', HaHa! chelwa, have you thought of using the cedar chest for outdoor seating & storage? I did that with an old steamer trunk years ago. It worked quite well for storing a bag of charcoal briquettes, fire-tending tools, and what-nots. An old-fashioned chaise lounge cushion fit ok on the lid. Now I have a domed-top steamer trunk of dubious heritage... Not quite sure what to do with it yet. We relo'd cross country and bought a house at less than half the square footage we originally had. And, we were in a more modest 2400-sq'er. The most challenging aspect has been furniture proportions. Our current house is a 1947 ranch/rambler with 8-foot ceilings. Furniture originally designed for stately mansions with soaring ceilings looks decidedly misplaced. Most of today's substantial styles look imposing, too. Now if I could just nudge DH a tiny bit closer to taking the plunge...and stop taking things off of my FreeCycle list ;-).