Monday, July 02, 2007

Spring cleaning (er... summer cleaning?)...

So a few weeks ago, we got a postcard in the mail from one of those Salvation Army-like charities that collects clothes and household items and furniture. It said they would be in our neighborhood today, so if we had anything to donate we should just set it outside by the street and they’d pick it up. Well, Rick and I saw this as a great opportunity to do something we’ve been meaning to do for about the last year or so – clean out the closet. I already had a small pile of clothing sitting on my dresser that I was planning on donating to someone, but I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg…

Yesterday afternoon we got to work. We figured not only was our closet long overdue for a good pruning, but this was also a chance to get rid of some things we shouldn’t bother moving to Chicago (assuming we DO move to Chicago…). And it started out simply enough – a dress here… a shirt there… a pair of jean shorts I’d owned for ten years and was getting sick of looking at. And then Rick pulled out a couple plastic bins we’d had stashed in the back of the closet for who-knows-how long, and we started going through their contents. That went something like this:

Me: Hey, I remember this shirt!

Rick: Ew. It has buttons. It’s ugly. (Rick has a traumatic fear of buttons… I have no idea why…)

Me (trying on and buttoning up the ugly-button shirt): Wow – when I bought this, it wouldn’t button up. I’ve lost so much weight.

Rick (sighing at the sight of those detestable buttons): You’re gonna keep it just because it fits now, aren’t you?

Me (secretly planning to sew buttons on everything I own): Yup.

And as we sorted through the bins, this became a rather common occurrence. At one point, I found a pair of American Eagle crop pants that I remember buying at some time when we were living in New Jersey. They used to fit perfectly, but when I tried them on yesterday, I was practically swimming in the things. They pretty much fell off of me. Which on one hand, makes me feel really good about how much weight I’ve lost since I lived in New Jersey… but on the other hand, it makes me think, “gosh, people must’ve thought I was really fat when I lived in New Jersey…”

I also re-discovered a Yankee shirt that used to be one of my favorites – I wore it all the time. So I put that in the “do not donate” pile. Too much Yankee nostalgia. And, interestingly enough, back when I wore it all the time, the Yankees were actually a GOOD team… maybe I need to wear it constantly throughout the entire second half of the season… I’ll do it – I swear I will. If Scott Proctor can hold a ritual burning ceremony on the Yankee Stadium field, the least I can do is wear a lucky shirt.

So, all in all, yesterday was a very productive day. We not only filled two whole boxes with clothes to donate (and cleared out a nice amount of space in the closet), but I discovered at least two shirts and a couple pairs of pants that used to be tight but actually FIT me now. It’s like I went shopping for new clothes without even leaving my house. Fun, huh? AND I discovered the article of clothing that is destined to turn the tide of the Yankees’ up-until-now-miserable-but-soon-to-be-storybook season. Yes, it was a productive day indeed… :)

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