Junk Collector

It took THREE hours to clean the basement. I don't think many of you have seen my basement because 1) it's hideous/ugly 2) it's cold 3) there isn't much to see at all. Today, I got my G1 License (yay!) and then my mom and I set our minds on cleaning the basement and throwing away junk!

First there was my box of stuffed animals; there were mainly cheap-o prizes won from the CNE. I recall this was the same box of stuffed animals where I found a dead mouse last year! We emptied it out and lo and behold, mouse poo heaven or err, hell. Needless to say, I don't plan on giving it to the kid next door and just threw it out. I still have two mouse-free boxes of stuffed animals but they're on the highest rack of this shelf my dad made. A lot of them have sentimental value so I don't plan on throwing them away. If I ever move to a larger house, maybe I'll have enough space to put all my stuffed animals on display, although I guess it might seem quite kiddy.

Then there was the task of organizing all my old homework, assignments, tests etc. I was really hesitant, but I managed to throw away my Grade 11 - OAC stuff and just kept the stuff from University. A part of me wanted to keep all those memories from high school. I know that my A+ on my Enriched English folder or a 92% on my singing exam or a 97 on my music exam doesn't amount to anything 20 years down the road. I also realize that chances are I won't ever go down in the basement to look up stuff from high school. Even if I started tutoring a high school kid, I probably won't go down and review my notes :P Let's hope I don't chase after the recycling man Wednesday night when he comes for all my stuff.

The basement is like an extension of my room; the part of my room where I'll put all my 'junk'. It's where I put stuff that I won't need, but I'm not willing to chuck, stuff that I *hope* I'll eventually need again. I saw so much stuff that I'm not even sure I'll use. A couple of old jewelry boxes that are too small for my current superficial needs :p, old concert programs that I had performed in from high school, old agendas and planners, puzzles, christmas/birthday/thank you cards in shoe boxes from the past 10+ years, letters from my friends in Jamaica when I recently moved here. I think I eventually kept all this stuff. I was too tired at the end of the 3 hour period to be in the mood to sift through all that memorabilia.

We also have like 4 garbage bags full of clothing we're going to donate. There's a Goodwill around a 10 minute drive away from my house :) We have my brother's old dingy mattress down there as well; does anyone know if I need to call someone in to take the mattress?

Yeah, I know, blogger's block :P