Cleaning, Purging, and Moving Forward Into 2010

Our doorbell rang at 7:30 am Saturday morning. It woke me from a dream about a crazy merry-go-round ride that had live animals to sit on. I think my animal was not happy with me for some reason.

The gal at the door had seen my ad I posted on craigslist the evening before and although it said the garage sale would start at 8:00 am she just wanted to make sure we didn’t start earlier. My husband answered the door shirtless and responded that no we had not sold anything yet and that we were not selling cell phones or clothes from Niemen Marcus or Nordstrom (my husband knowing that my trips to those listed stores where null).

Although that was rude to ring our doorbell when obviously we were not ready yet, I'm glad she did because who knows when I would have woken, much less gotten, up.

I pulled on my clothes, put up my hair into a ponytail, and pinched my cheeks to look like I was alive at least, and started to drag out the boxes of items from the garage to the front yard. While at it, that lady kept following me back and forth re-questioning the items that were coming out (are you sure you do not have clothes from Nordstrom’s? Not even a sock lady.)

Then a family drove up asking about the kid bikes we had for sale. The same lady from earlier whispered, "Watch out for him - he stole a gold ring from an English lady at a garage sale." Then she followed me back to my garage into my backyard and continued, "Watch out for him." Then she came back out and yelled at him, "We all know about you! We know you stole that ring from that lady!" and then jumped into her van and yelled to me, "Watch out for him." Then the dog, we were taking care of, escaped barking out the front door as my older son bounded after him. Three more cars pulled up to get a good view of our treasures and I still hadn't dragged all the stuff out. It was 8:00 am and who could still be sleeping through all this morning chaos, but my youngest child who has been gifted with hibernating abilities and didn't wake for several hours later - but the neighbors were all now up.

For the next three hours I sat in the front yard, sipping a Peppermint Mocha Latte (only because they ran out of eggnog) only to have four more treasure seekers. As I sat there in our red, fold-up beach chair I picked up a magazine from the periodical stack my friend had given to me after she cleaned and purged stuff from her house the other day. “Allure,” December 2009 with Kirsten Dunst on the cover. As I sat there on this increasingly warm January morning in the midst of my garage sale goodies, I read every page of that magazine from cover to cover. Honestly, I don't think I have read an Allure magazine, especially every page.

What I learned from that magazine:

• 60% of women first colored their hair as teenagers. -- Alure.com poll. Well, I guess I'm part of the 40%.

• The bun updo is back in, but a loose messy version of it. Whew, because that is the only version I can do.

• When asked, "Heals or flats?" Victoria Beckham replies "I beyond hate ballerina flats..." Okay thanks for that while I'm wearing my ballerina shoes.

• After the question, "Sex or Sleep" Mrs. Beckham continues, "Sex. I'm getting into bed with David Beckham... so there must be something wrong if I said sleep." Like my housekeeper quit on me and I had to clean the bathroom one day or something - albeit I digress here.

• In the year 2002, “a study found that taking a bone-strengthening supplement for four weeks made people slightly taller.” (I guess I won't be dong that anymore. wink wink)

• Google recently created a new function that allows Gmail users to "unsend" e-mail.

• After traveling across country, Kirsten Dunst pronounced, "Wow, America is so poor." "There are beautiful stretches of pasture, but for the most part, people live simply."

As I sat in my front yard observing that no one wanted my past treasures and thumbed through a magazine of high fashion, I realized I too want to live simply. There is no need to store junk, to spend to much time and thought about finding fashionable clothes that I only end up wearing a couple of times, or to collect "treasures" here on earth. Essentially it is about living, touching and loving others, and moving forward in life.

I collected my rejected items and packed them into my car. My boys and I dropped off the boxes and bags at a nearby Goodwill store where I ran into an acquaintance, a fellow mom. She too had just gone through her house and purged, but she had also just sold her house and was preparing for her family’s move. She had a difficult 2009 and she was going to start her year and the decade with people and things that matter. She was going to live simply.

Here is to cleaning up and purging all that junk and bad habits we have collected over the years and to moving forward with what and who matters.

What did you purge from 2009 that you are not taking into 2010: eating unhealthy, lying, showing disrespect to your spouse, laziness, lack of respect for authority, not taking school seriously enough, neglecting your children, or something else? How are you starting anew in the new year and the new decade? What is in your personal garage sale?

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Repeating Resolutions

Now I know some of you refuse to set resolutions just because you don't want to be disappointed and fail to complete them. I understand, but if you do complete them by the end of the year - what a victory. Last year I gave up Diet Coke. I would drink it just about everyday in year 2007 and when I wasn't drinking it, I was thinking about it. Now it wasn't easy. I had good feelings about my Diet Coke. My junior year of college I would drink that carbonated drink with my M&Ms and I assure you it helped me study better. It was somewhat comforting to me. So, in 2008 I have to say it took about six months of drinking it on and off when finally I just gave it up and slowly I stopped thinking about that fizzling drink. So, now at the end of the year and I can honestly say I accomplished a resolution.

This year I'm giving up M&M's and Snickers and remorsely I am going to try and give up mocha's. I eat too much chocolate - how do I know I eat too much? Well, I think I eat it everyday and my waist line is growing. It is official, what I have feared: I am now in the next pant's size. Shameful since I am not about to go out and get new pants in a new size for the year. I have to fit in my current jeans. No question about it. So, my work is cut out for me and if I fail, I will retry next year.

So why do we make resolutions always on January 1? My thinking is well it is hard to remember any other random day, like March 12 or June 6. Days that have no meaning to us will be forgotten when it comes back around. But, well New Year's just indicates and demands a new way of thinking. A fresh plan.

As the ball dropped in New York last night, the spokespeople that co-hosted with Carson Daly asked the people around them their New Year's resolution. The gal said she wasn't going to spend as much money on gossip magazines. The guy said he was going to be more affectionate with his girlfriend and then he gave her a big smooch. Resolutions vary. It might be food or money related or just an effort to conserve and help out the environment.

One year my resolution was to learn how to love people more. I was feeling a bit bitter towards some and at the end of the year my perspective on those people had really changed. So have you been successful in past resolutions? What are your 2009 resolutions?

Here is to a new year of successful resolutions. So back to gym I go with all the other ten million people who will be there too.