What is it that they say about one man's junk..

Brandon and I held our first joint garage sale this past weekend.  As we were organizing the garage the night before, I started getting that exciting jumping-bean-in-your-stomach feeling and suddenly realized that it was because this was a first for us as a married couple.  We were cooperatively deciding together that there were things that we no longer needed.  Why we already have this much stuff in only 1.5 years of marriage is not in question at the moment, but it felt pretty thrilling to be getting rid of things that were ours alone. 

We had a few customers throughout the day and made a few bucks with A LOT of stuff still left over.  It is always interesting to see what "treasure" people find from your junk.  Somehow almost our entire "never been used" section remained untouched (who doesn't want to buy a brand new coffeepot -literally never taken out of the box- for only $15?!) BUT I almost had to step between a near-brawl between two women over a box of junky, dirty, plastic flowerbed bricks for $2?!?!...okay, I'm exaggerating a little but there were two women interested in them and we almost just put them in the trash the night before.

In preparation for the garage sale, I went back through one of my absolute favorite books for getting me out of a rut; Throw Out 50 Things:  Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life by Gail Blanke.  If you are feeling stuck in the mud and need an uplifting, inspiring, motivating read...this is the book to go to.  I've read it twice in the past two years (ohGod, what does that say about my stuck-in-the-mud cycles! hah) and both times it has pulled me up and out.  She is a life coach who has a philosophy about getting rid of clutter (50 things to be exact); both the physical and emotional clutter in your life, to recharge your batteries.  Here were some of the things we de-cluttered from our life:

Physical items:
stained glass hanging lamp (1)
old music CDs (8)
knickknacks (a lot)
books (9)
jeans that I keep saying I'll fit into again some day..yea right (4)
appliances we never use but take up space in our cupboards (3)
shoes that make me feel tall and trendy but seriously hurt my feet (1)

Emotional clutter:
tab:  the notion that I am NOT the good-at-math type
  (I added and subtracted all during the yard sale without a calculator, and then calculated % off on a recent shopping trip sans calculator!  yay for me!!)
b:  the notion that he is NOT the romantic type
  (He picked a flower for me and suggested I wear it in my hair the other day:) and also orchestrated a whole surprise evening of romantic gestures)

My favorite mantra from the entire book (chap.10...seriously, read it!) is:  KNOW THIS:  YOUR GREATEST WORK IS AHEAD OF YOU.  So stop looking to the past and re-living the good 'ole days; what you do tomorrow and who you are today is greater than anything you've done so far.  Believe it.