Commodore Nicole's Blog: That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff.

Until it swallows you up whole.

Yesterday, Mikko, 3 friends (who are basically family) with me directing, moved around our house to make room for the New Employee. This included emptying the contents of the The Pit of Despair (aka the basement) onto the front lawn, then moving most of the stuff (aka Nicole's craft and sewing crap and pieces of her soul) from the office down to the basement, then moving the Master boudoir to the upstairs to leave an empty canvas for what is to become Fiona's big girl room, so that we can re-set the nursery for the new baby.

The garage is now a holding area for some stuff that will be coming back into the house, but most of it will be heading for the curb. The amount of crap that will be going out for garbage and donation pick up on Wednesday is unbelievable (I'll post a picture of the garage later) and it kinda makes me sad - uhg why were we sitting on all that stuff?

I take full responsibility and admit to being a pack rat. I've known this for most of my life. My mother told me this when I was knee high to a grasshopper. I've watched those shows (Obsessed, Horders), and while I am NOT psychologically attached to a lot of this stuff, I do have to work at NOT squirrling things away. The amount of crap that is still hanging around the house in the form of electronics, craft stuff and infant-baby-toddler toys/clothes/accessories/equipment makes one twitchy. It's less then what it could be, but a hella lot more then what it should.

Sooooooooo.....

For the next year. I am declaring a state of emergency at Kinnunen Corp. I'm cutting off our influx of stuff. Anything that requires space to exist in my house is going to be scrutinized to the enth degree. If if wants to access for a in-determinate amount of time, then it had better come with a 5 page report of why it's worthy of those inches.

And I'm asking everyone's help in this. So to anyone who thinks we are worthy, please for the sake of my sanity (and Mikko's because if it drives me crazy - he suffers) that all gift giving opportunities are - Not necessary. We love, respect, and think highly of all our close family and friends. The gift of you in our lives is gift enough.

However, since I know I wouldn't be able to hold myself to such a restriction (I do love to wrap a lovely gift), if gifts must be given, we humbly requests gift cards to places that won't encourage us to bring anything into the house. I know that this sounds absolutely like this the worst sort of personality defect known to humans - to request monatary gifts - but I'm desperate. In fact, if you come up with a better idea that doesn't come in a box to be stored, put some place, shelved, and or "-sumed in some way" - I'm all for it. I seriously do not want to ask my family to come help me dig myself out again.

I'm not swearing off being a consumer for some altruist reason, I simply want to take control of the "matter" in the house. And while the economic situation should have something to do with it - furthest thing from my reasoning. Mikko and I are children of the 80's for gods sake, consumerism has been injected into our system, and there is no re-hab for that. And seriously, being a consumer is just so delectable, makes you so so sooooooo warm and fuzzy inside...

I'll be a little flexible on some things, and things for Fiona and the New Employee because I've got my eye on a few toys that they simply MUST have, (and they've got to be indoctrinated to the American way somehow) but seriously - this wave has got to take a break. At least for the next 400 days, Kinnunen corp is going on such a strick zero-waste policy, we*** don't even want have anything to zero-waste.

***By "we" I mean The CEO and Head of Kinnunen Corp. Fellow Board Members and employee's had very little to do with this idea, and while shaking their heads in agreement are problably taking bets as to when I'll break this little derective. Anybody have next week?