I just spent like five minutes trying to make my daughter's discarded handbag 'work' for me. It's beautifully made, gorgeous fabric, in a sort of mini messenger bag style - but no matter how I arranged it, it looked like I was holding it for a five year old!
And there's this teddybear in a tin. Yes you read it right, a teddy bear in a tin - it should be macabre, but it's the cutest little bear with a scarf in a really nice tin. I've tried to throw the darn thing out for years!
A (small) part of my utility closet is devoted to this kind of high-class clutter. (Current residents include silly putty, a rubber ducky, a Christmas CD and earrings that aren't my style.) They "live" near the top where they don't look too bad, but are still visible--I don't want to forget they are there. I pull them out as needed for small birthday/"thinking of you" gifts, visiting children, that swap game that at least one group I'm a part of always plays at Christmas.
Off the subject: This particular ducky is the last of about a dozen or so light-up rubber duckies with Santa hats I gave out (more or less randomly) to folks I cared about several Christmases ago. Great fun, but not a "real" present with no obligation for the receiver to find something for me.
I was chucking a load of stuff recently when I found a card my ds1 made for me. It was a heart with coloured string threaded around it, he spent ages doing that and then spent ages colouring it in and writing 'I love you Mummy' on it. Then I opened it and inside it read 'I AM ANGRY WITH YOU MUMMY!'. He'd gone back and put that in after I told him off about something once :) Made me chuckle! It's also not clutter, I'm going to save it to give to him when he has his own kids :)
*raises hand* Two wooden catapult kits, assembled and on top of a bookcase in DH's office: he and DS put them together, we built Lego castles and launched aluminum foil balls at them. They've sat up there ever since. I'm seriously thinking of putting them in DS's footlocker of Legos.
or you could get them to make this instead:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/leguchet
there are lots of instructions and videos on the internet on making all sorts of Lego catapults :)
lolz@rubber ducky - I keep -nearly- buying them coz they're so cute...
Love the card with I hate you! Ha ha that's so typical isn't it. I found a really cute note to the tooth fairy. I have to be careful anytime I'm decluttering books, cos I always pop cards and notes into their pages to be discovered next time I read the book.
I suppose at some point I'm going to have to part with my lego viking ship, aren't I....
@klutzgrrl, Why part with your lego viking ship? DH and I still get legos for Christmas from my parents. It's been family tradition since i was a little kid (I'm 30 and DH is 36 y/o). I cant wait until our son (EDD 29 Oct 10) gets in on the tradition!
@lottielot Not helping, hon! ;-)
@klutzgrrl Only if you don't play with it anymore/don't get any joy from seeing it on the shelf. When I started decluttering I had to ask four different adults if they wanted their Legos back -- they'd gifted them to DS (at age 9) on what was originally described as a long-term loan.
As it happens, none of them want them back; they're decluttering, too!
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