{"id":379456,"date":"2014-07-28T19:57:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T19:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2014\/07\/28\/finding-joy-in-the-junk\/"},"modified":"2014-07-28T19:57:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-28T19:57:00","slug":"finding-joy-in-the-junk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2014\/07\/28\/finding-joy-in-the-junk\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Joy in the Junk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Well, Journeyers, I think my brain is fried\u2026<\/div>\n
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We returned from Salt Lake City mid Tuesday afternoon to a home with a bad main breaker coming into the house.<\/div>\n
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Some of you might have noticed in the one photo that Warren was on his cell phone as he sat suspended in the Great Salt Lake.<\/div>\n
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It is a rare occasion Hubby carries his phone when he\u2019s relaxing, but he took it into the water for me, who wanted to have access to his waterproof camera should I need it.<\/div>\n
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The universe was behind that move, my friend, because it was while we were in the water that Big Guy called to discuss failed power in parts of the house, despite the fact that he\u2019d reset all of the breakers.<\/div>\n
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Warren was able to walk through everything with him again and determine that the power just needed to be shut off, to avoid risk of fire or other damage.<\/div>\n
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So, after catching the redeye, Warren dealt with that.<\/div>\n
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Repaired Electrical Stuff<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m so grateful to have a spouse who is trained to do any type of construction, for it saves us both time and money.<\/div>\n
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While he was doing that work, I was sorting mail, catching up, and preparing for two days of college tours.<\/div>\n
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Big Guy and I left first thing Wednesday morning to visit SUNY Brockport.<\/div>\n
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Beauty had attended Brockport for a Girls\u2019 State event, and I have to say that the school has invested a great deal in upgrading the facilities.<\/div>\n
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I couldn\u2019t help but smile at all of the modern conveniences today\u2019s students have, like these touch screens in several buildings that provide immediate information.<\/div>\n
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And I just loved the inspirational quotes at the front of each step of this staircase.<\/div>\n
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“Go the extra mile. It’s never crowded.”<\/div>\n
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After that all day event, we left Thursday morning for a tour of Ithaca College.<\/div>\n
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Somehow I failed to take pictures of the glorious views from this hilltop campus.<\/div>\n
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I was up and at \u2018em first thing Friday morning for my annual mammogram.<\/div>\n
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Good health always garnishes my day with positive energy!<\/div>\n
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I followed up that appointment with one of an even more joyous nature: a massage.<\/div>\n
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I normally have to jump right off the table and head back to work or to some meeting or another, but this time I was actually able to stay splayed out on the table for a few minutes after my masseuse made her usual suggestion, \u201cTake your time, get up slowly\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
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Somehow I don\u2019t think she means to fall asleep on the table!<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m most thankful for the little snort that woke me\u2026<\/div>\n
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And then I spent two glorious, slow-paced days on Saturday and Sunday just taking care of things around the house.<\/div>\n
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One of my goals this summer is to whip my office back into shape and to hoe out all of the extra clutter that has piled up, stuff that won\u2019t fit in the few closets we have.<\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve always said that that nice thing about not having an attic or a usable basement or a garage is that I can\u2019t stockpile tons of crap.<\/div>\n
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Something comes in. Something goes out.<\/div>\n
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Or it sits piled in my office until I can address the overflow.<\/div>\n
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So, I began that process on Saturday and I started with the roll-top desk that has been closed up, well, since 2000.<\/div>\n
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This doesn\u2019t surprise me really, given the fact that it was April 25, 2000 that we lost our family business to a fire and Warren and I had to decide to reinvent ourselves.<\/div>\n
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So many things were let go or fell by the wayside when our lives were reduced to rubble and we had to find new ways of existing and managing our time with three children, a new business, and a house to run\u2026<\/div>\n
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But, can I tell you how energized I felt to burn an entire garbage can of old papers that I\u2019ll never need again?<\/div>\n
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The folder of notes from my volunteer days at my children\u2019s elementary school, especially this reminder of the fun I had being a homeroom mom and the chairperson who organized the annual staff appreciation luncheons, made me smile.<\/div>\n
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TOSSING IT INTO THE CAN FELT LIBERATING!<\/div>\n
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Seeing the pages and pages of inspirational quotes and stories and fables I\u2019d printed out made me smile because those things all helped me hurdle some super tough times.<\/div>\n
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Knowing that those things are just a few keystrokes away from my screen made me damn near giddy!<\/div>\n
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MORE STUFF TRASHED!<\/div>\n
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To actually remove a few of the boxes from the floor and get them onto shelves where they belong?<\/div>\n
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To finally find a way to say goodbye to the stuff cluttering my walkway?<\/div>\n
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You know that saying, \u201cOne man\u2019s junk is another man\u2019s treasure?\u201d<\/div>\n
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I have a REALLY HJARD TIME getting rid of stuff that still has financial value, things that can still serve a purpose<\/i>, and IT\u2019S LIKE TORTURE getting rid of something that has sentimental value.<\/div>\n
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Being that the emotional facet is one of my top three, well, you can imagine that most things bear some sentimental value to me.<\/div>\n
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Well, Journeyer, I decided to look at it this way: There are tons of people who are in the business of buying and selling, and just as many more who like finding trinkets that someone else has tossed out.<\/div>\n
I have a friend who buys and sells clothing and she is always ecstatic when she finds that gem of an item.<\/div>\n
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So, I am happy to be rid of and someone is going to be overjoyed with my \u201cjunk.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Somewhere in the midst of all that was this bumblebee and these flowers\u2026<\/div>\n
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And my hummingbirds, ever present outside my office window, they alight onto the pole hanger and peer into my window before dropping down to feed\u2026 Joy perpetuated\u2026<\/div>\n
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We capped off the week by hanging out with some friends for a little movie night; we girls caught up on the last two episodes of True Blood<\/i>while the guys watched Ghostbusters<\/i> on their own big screen.<\/div>\n
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What about you, Journeyer, what Moment(s) of joy found their way into your junk this past week?<\/div>\n
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Until next we meet again, yours in healing, hope, and happiness\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/span><\/span>~AE<\/span><\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
Soon\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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p.s. I\u2019d really love connecting with you on other social media sites and would really appreciate your clicks on the \u201cLike\u201d and \u201cFollow\u201d buttons up there on the side bar!<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, Journeyers, I think my brain is fried\u2026 We returned from Salt Lake City mid Tuesday afternoon to a home with a bad main breaker coming into the house. Some of you might have noticed in the one photo that Warren was on his cell phone as he sat suspended in the Great Salt Lake. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,1248,317,339,19,106,1247,63,320],"class_list":["post-379456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-happyhappens","tag-decluttering","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-going-away-to-college","tag-inspiration","tag-joy","tag-mammogram","tag-parenting","tag-random-happiness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Warren-Repaired-Electric-Panel.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}