Free Stuff

The Awesome August Blog Hop ends today. The Awesome August Blog Hop really is awesome—there’s some cool stuff to be won. Free stuff has a luring siren song. It’s hard to resist, even when there’s a pile of stuff on your balcony.

I live in a planned community. This means that my trees can’t grow too high and I can’t build forts in my front yard. When we first moved to Sembrado Street, all the houses were varying shades of peach. I love peaches, but I wanted to paint my house white. I got permission from my immediate neighbors and the association board, but our white house still received a fair amount of attention. When we put up a basketball backboard, we had to paint it to match the house. My point is, any minute now I’m expecting someone from the association to come by and smack us with a fine for the stuff on our balcony.

It’s not my stuff, it belongs to Adam. There’s not room for his stuff in the closets because they’re full of Jared and Nathan’s stuff. Jared’s in Taiwan and Nathan’s in Japan but their stuff is here. Bethany’s in Portland, but even she has stuff underneath the bed.

A few years ago I loaded up our van to take stuff to the dump and after looking what I’d collected I realized almost everything in the van had been stuff I’d inherited from friends and family. Judy’s fake trees, Mary’s rug, boxes of Grandma’s knick-knacks. Free stuff.

There’s some stuff in my house that should go to the dump, but hasn’t because, quite simply, it holds a memory. The armoire in my closet has broken doors, but I remember when we bought it in Maine. We’d been looking for lobster and bought an armoire instead. We wrapped it in blankets and tied it to the top of our van and brought it home. The 1930 walnut sideboard has a broken foot, but I found it at an estate sale in Connecticut and I love it, so even if it looks funny sharing a room with the weight machine and treadmill, it’s still here.

Will I sign up to win more free stuff on this the last day of the Awesome August Blog Hop? Probably, but if I’m smart, I’ll first get rid something old before I bring in something new.