100 Things

I'm trying hard to streamline our possessions -- keeping only the things we will need in our new house. I've written about this before, whining loudly that it is hard for me to do. I'm intrigued by the very thought of participating in the A Guy Named Dave's 100 Things Challenge. No, I'm not yet willing to pare down our possessions to 100 things but I would like to live a life of simplicity with less.

This weekend posed two situations that illustrate why it is so hard for me to follow through on this concept. Both involved Mary, our youngest.

Thanksgiving morning Mary came up from the basement wearing Grandmommy's mink jacket and proclaiming it "a perfect addition" to her art-school wardrobe. I then convinced her to go back down and find Ree's fur jacket that I thought she might like even better. Both suited her to a T and looked fabulous on her. Both were items that I was planning on finding new homes for before our move to the farm. Mary has dressed up her manikin dress form with one of the coats, adding a rhinestone pin, for a "winter look." I suggested that we add a strand of Christmas lights around it and declare it our Christmas tree -- which only earned me an intense scowl from her.

Ree's fur coat, now found on Mary's manikin

Mary then convinced Maggie (who hates to shop and only buys things she really needs) and me (who is trying to pare down our things) that we needed to head to Shepherdsville on Friday morning to check out the Zappos Shoe Outlet. To brace ourselves for the expedition, we ate left-over Derby Pie for breakfast and packed a water bottle and three clementines. We headed 26 miles south on I-65 to join hundreds of other bargain-seeking shoppers for the world's largest shoe store's after-Thanksgiving sale. Mary immediately found a pair of Dansko Clog shoes -- the only one in her size in the very color she wanted. She joyfully claimed that "it was meant to be." While she waited in a-very-long-line she chatted with the woman in front of her who explained that today only all shoes were 70% off! Maggie and I immediately headed back to the size 11 and 8 aisles to take a second look, both finding a pair that we couldn't pass up. We all left happy. Santa would have something for each of us. (But then I looked down at Mary's feet and discovered that she was already wearing her find!)

So instead of reducing our possessions, I've now added two fur coats and three pair of shoes to our household's custody. I think that the Guy Named Dave (noted above) would gently remind me that only allows for 95 other things.