Don’t you think these are prettier?

In honor of being married almost six months, (where did the time go?) I decided it was high time to unpack our wedding China. The hutch was my Grandmother’s and I’m so excited to finally have a home where it can be enjoyed (it was in the guest bedroom of my apartment). It’s my most favorite piece of furniture.

I’m a purger. Not that kind of purger. I’m an obsessive donor/recycler/throw-awayer. I hate clutter and random stuff and I just don’t want it in my house. At any given time, there’s a Goodwill bag going. Sometimes, when I give away one kitchen item because I have two and then the second one breaks, I regret this. But, mostly I’m proud that I have a (mostly) clutter free home.

But, there are a few things I cannot bring myself to get rid of.

• Cards, including wedding invitations, thank you notes, Christmas cards, etc. I don’t even know what to do with these items. I have several plastic totes filled to the brim with them.
• My own wedding invitations. And programs and menus and save-the-dates. I kind of over-ordered on these items and probably have about 25 of each hanging around here. Also, reply cards! People wrote notes on them! I can’t throw them out. I know that I want to frame a menu, an invitation and a program all together. So, I’ll always have one of each preserved. But, why do I need the additional 24?
• Cookbooks, Recipes and the like.  I could write a novel about my cookbook/recipe addiction. Before we moved into our house, I had probably 3 years worth of various cooking magazines, all with flags marking recipes I wanted to try. Because I wanted to move without a bunch of crap, I tore out all the marked recipes and then put them in a box. Just recently, I organized all these recipes in plastic sheet covers and a binder. I’m quite impressed with myself. BUT, I still have a bunch of cookbooks that I’ll probably never use (sorry Rachael Ray) and 5 years worth of Cook’s Illustrated. Which is the best cooking magazine ever, by the way. I have a grand plan of one day framing the lovely back covers of Cook’s Illustrated and swapping them out seasonally. Christmas? I hang illustrations of Christmas breads and candies! Spring? An illustration of quiches! (This will probably never, ever happen) Additionally, my husband shares the same cookbook addiction and well, we need an intervention. The couple with the most cookbooks does not win. OR DO THEY?
• This is a big one. I was the News Editor of my high-school newspaper. I have every edition of “Paw Prints” that I helped to create. Three years, 9 issues a year. Add to this, every single paper I turned in for a grade during high school AND college. And, for college? NOTES. As if I am going to one day need to look back at my Econ 420: Money and Banking notes. Or, my 12th grade Western Civ final.

So, basically, I’m a paper-hoarder. Do you obsessively save anything? How do you organize this stuff?

I’m a pretty sentimental person. I enjoy hearing stories about what my grandparents were like when they were younger and I enjoy having things that belonged to them. When someone compliments me on a picture, or a knick-knack, I love telling the story behind the item. When my Grandma passed away three years ago, I was able to have many of her things – furniture, jewelry, books, knick-knacks – and they’re all scattered throughout my house. I think she’d love to know that my wedding China sits in her China Hutch, that her brooches helped to make my wedding bouquet, that I’ve cooked a meal using her James Beard cookbook or that a photo of my Grandpa as a little boy hangs in my hallway.

Recently, my aunt asked if I’d like to have my Grandma’s beaver coat and mink stole. Of course, I said yes. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with them, but I thought they’d be fun to have. A Portland girl rarely has the occasion to wear a fur coat (because she’s scared that angry hipsters will spray-paint her) but you never know. A couple weeks ago, she called to confirm my address and shipped them off to me. I didn’t think about them again until early Thursday morning, when I received an email asking if I was having fun with the furs.

But, I’m not. Because they were placed on my doorstop on Monday (along with a box from Amazon) and they were snatched off my porch. It makes me sick to think that someone thought it was okay to enter my yard, climb up my porch steps and take something that didn’t belong to them. And, it makes me sick to know that someone else took something so important, so sentimental. I filed a police report, but I honestly believe that the furs are either sitting in a pawn shop or a dumpster somewhere. I’m sure I’ll never see them again.

And, maybe it’s silly, but I feel unsafe in my home now. But someone of questionable character came into my yard. They probably looked in my windows. They might come back. I live in a nice neighborhood with a really low crime rate, we bought this house because the crime rate was so low. And, now I’m scared to live here.

What is wrong with people?