It's all just stuff

This morning we had a minor issue that caused some major damage. The tub was left running for too long and due to the lack of an overflow valve that was supposed to installed by our plumber many weeks ago, ran over. Water flows downhill so since this particular bathroom is right over Molly's brand new bedroom in the basement, just finished in March of last year, her bedroom was wet, very wet!

The water has ruined many suspended ceiling tiles, gotten onto her bed, making her bedding and mattress wet, the carpet, the padding, ect. When I discovered this as it was happening I had to remind myself(and Shannon and Molly) for the first several hours that it is all just stuff. Most of it will dry up or be easily replaced though this has added many more hours of work onto the finishing we were already doing in the basement.

As we were emptying Molly's things out of the room, most of which was fine, I realized that it is really time for her to get rid of some stuff. Every corner, every shelf, even a container shoved under the bed, is full of stuff. Then I came upstairs to discover (gasp) that the circumstances are the same everywhere! Books, figurines, books, papers, books, toys, books ...it goes on and on, there is just too much stuff. Why do we have it all anyway? My book addiction needs to end too. Is there a 12-step program for that?

So, I have decided it is time to start getting rid of stuff. It's all just stuff and it will make the house easier to clean, easier to sell when we need to, easier for us to move when the time comes and very little of it will go with us to Tanzania anyway. Ebay here I come. I have a bunch of stuff for others who want more stuff-after we get done finishing the basement. We weren't too far from it when this happened.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21