Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

The music collection (LPs) we got from my sister was interesting.  She stopped collecting them in the early seventies.  I don’t think her husband (or her, for that matter) liked the music too much.  They were in mint condition.  She did have good tastes.  I had duplicates of several of her albums.  I realize it truly is a gift to have a wife who loved music as much as me and who I can share it with.  Both of us have very eclectic tastes.  That is also by grace.

Tags: 1970's, LP's, music, music collection, my sister, my wife, Our eclectic tastes in music is a gift and also by grace
Posted in local, music, time | No Comments »

I don’t know why having order of your possessions is so important.  And of course your mate has a different idea what that means.  We still have several hundred cassettes I don’t want or am not too interested in.  I am happy they are hidden from sight in the garage.  My wife considers them still valuable.  To be fair to her we have gotten rid of some but cassettes are really dinosaurs.  Almost no one wants them any longer.  I have to admit I still use my cassette deck.  Most of the time to play collections of music I put together.  Someone I know has all his music stored somewhere on a hard drive.  And he is not the only one.  LP’s are also dinosaurs.  They stopped making them in 1987 although vinyl is making a comeback.  I still have, maybe, two thousand stored in my living room.  As neatly and unobtrusively as I can.

Our living room has become neater.  There used to be piles of papers and our books on the bookcases were doubled up–no longer so I don’t want to complain too much about this room.  We have made progress in making it neater.  Every couple’s idea of order is different.  Some houses are less cluttered and some even look so clean you can eat off the floor.  Cleanliness and order are two different discussions.  They are not exactly the same thing.  And cleanliness is, also, another issue you have to work out between couples.  As order, usually each partner has a different idea what is acceptable.  Somehow you have to find the middle ground.

Tags: bookcases, books, cassettes, cleanliness and order, clutter and order, collecting casettes and LP's, couples, LP's, making order in the house, music, my wife, the importance of order and cleanliness in the houseworking, vinyl records, your possessions
Posted in balance, beauty, knowledge&learning, life, local, marriage, music, relationships, time | No Comments »

Sometimes I have to focus on something else other than me. I was depressed and made a list of what was getting me down and shared it with my wife. Top of my list was sorting through several hundred records, determining what to keep and then organizing and storing them in some fashion so I could find them. For months I was looking at several piles of them that were placed on top of the bookcase and other places and the clutter had me depressed. I did not know what to do with them. My wife and I discussed places where we could store them in an organized way if we just cleared these spots in the living room. I was thrilled: now I had a way to organize the LP’s I wanted to keep. Yesterday I spent several hours going through these albums. Later on I realized my depression had left. I had focused on something other than me. And another benefit of the list was my wife worked on one thing that was also depressing me. It was a room we had once called the junk room and was now mostly empty. There was no progress being made there. She starting chipping away at it. It looks like that one day we might have a guest room. Once it is completely empty we will paint and furnish it. I was thrilled at the progress she had made in a few days. These were two majors things that had been bothering me. All of a sudden I had hope. And most of my depression left.

Tags: clutter, depression, focus on something else, guest room, hope, junk room, LP's, made a list, making progress, my wife, record albums, several hundred records
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, life, local, love, marriage, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I was depressed about the clutter in this house.  There were too many books, VCRs and LPs and I did not know where to start.  I know we have made some headway but not enough.  I can’t just get rid of stuff:  I have to run it by my “other”.  I really do not know where to start.  I was down to begin with and when I look around at the clutter I just got more depressed.  The house is out of control.  I don’t know where to start or do this mutually.  I need someone to come in and aid us in this process.  We have had one room we call a junk room.  We want it to be a guest room but it feels like it will never be cleared.  I step in it and I just shake my head.  I just don’t know what to do any longer.

Tags: clutter, depressed about clutter, depression, don't know what to do, don't know where to start, get rid of stuff, guest room, house is out of control, junk room, LP's, my wife, too many books, VCRs
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, life, local, love, marriage, music, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »

There are too many things in this house.  And it has me depressed.  There are too many piles in different corners.  It is just too hard going through this stuff.  I see a stack of canceled checks on the desk.  Your father has been dead twenty years.  Why are they not in the trash?  We can’t even throw away broken down electronics.  That video/dvd player does work any more.  Why is it sitting on those records?  I even tried it again.  I already told my other it no longer works.  None of the lights on it worked.  I just want to pitch it.  It is preventing me from going through the pile of LP’s it is laying on.  Why are we keeping those two stacks of “Architectural Digest”.  When is the last time you looked at an issue.  I have to run everything by you.  You have to make a decision on everything.  All of this has me depressed.  Why don’t you let me have control of the decisions on most things.  And when I complain of too many things still in the house, you tell me of all the things you have given away and pitched.  There may be a lot of truth to that.  There is still too many things in this house.  And I don’t want to work so hard in eliminating them.  There are still too many piles, boxes and books and LP’s everywhere.

Tags: "Architectural Digest", books, boxes, broken video/dvd player, depressed, electronics, give away, have control, house, LP's, make a decision, old cancelled checks, piles in corners, records, stuff, throw away, too many piles of things, too many things, trash
Posted in balance, health, humor, life, local, love, marriage, time, wisdom | No Comments »

We have too many things in our house.  And that has me depressed.  I want greater order in our house.  I don’t know how to get there.

There are too many books, too much music particularly LP’s, too many knickknacks, electronic, computer and stereo equipment.  Some of it is broken down and other equipment is obsolete.

I just want to throw away some stuff, give it away, whatever.  Some of it is not mine.  It belongs to my wife.  I don’t know how to straighten up our house.  I am surrounded by things.

I just want to throw up my hands.  I don’t know where to start.  It is driving me crazy.  The disorder that is.  I want to say “abracadabra” and wake up and most of the stuff is gone.  I just don’t know what to do.

Tags: abracadabra, books, broken down, clutter, depressed, disorder, driving me crazy, electronics, give away stuff, knickknacks, LP's, music, my wife, obsolete, records, stereo equipment, straighten up the house, surrounded by things, throw away stuff, throw up my hands, too many things, too much stuff, want order in our house
Posted in balance, life, local, love, marriage, relationships, time, wisdom | 3 Comments »

Hoarding is wrong. Your “number” may come up tomorrow so what good did it do you. There is nothing wrong in properly using your resources and planning for the future. Up to a point.

There is always a balance. At what point is too much too much? I collect LP’s. I have too many of them. And the really good music, unfortunately, gets buried. And when you have too much you can’t give each individual new record the proper attention.

Collecting too much of anything at some level sometimes indicates we do not trust God to provide for our needs–like storing too much food in our pantries.

Sometimes all we can see, do is our very next step. Trusting our Lord is trusting He will provide for us. Yes, we try to conserve our resources but hoarding is not necessary: He will always provide us with food and shelter.

Tags: balance, collecting, food and shelter, God, He will provide for us, hoarding, LP's, music, record albums, trust God, trusting our Lord
Posted in balance, God, knowledge&learning, life, mental health, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I don’t know how to extricate myself from my things.  I feel trapped by them.  I have too many LPs, books in particular.  That is only a short list.

Being married makes it a little harder.  Some of the things are hers or ours.  There are still many books and cassettes in boxes as well.  I just want order and don’t know how to get there.

My house is budging (??bulging??) at its seams.  I tell my wife someone is going to have the mammoth job of going through our stuff when we are gone but that does not make any difference to her.

We had made three trips to Austin to finish the job of going through her Mom’s stuff.  Too much of it is still in boxes in the basement.  It costs us a small fortune to ship that stuff.

I just don’t know how to downsize.  We have a junk room upstairs.  It could be a guest room if it was ever cleared.  All this is driving me crazy.

I just want to throw away, give away stuff.  I want more order in this house.  Pray for me.  I don’t know what else to do.

Tags: books, boxes of stuff, cassettes, clutter, downsize, guest room, junk room, LP's, my wife, order in the house, pray for me, record albums, stuff, throw away stuff, too many things
Posted in balance, death, local, marriage, mental health, money, music, relationships, time | No Comments »

Our perennial fight about stuff.  In the garage is a Hammond organ.  It is there because I did not want it in the living room.  It does not work.  I doubt anyone wants it.  My wife thinks it is worth something.  I just want to trash it.

That is the fight my wife and I have over and over–about stuff.  It is hard to get rid of any books.  Unfortunately when you have too many books the really good ones get buried.

That does not make any difference.  She insists on keeping them.  So our book shelves are bulging.

I collect music.  My wife at some point discovered E Bay and bought lots of used LPs and CDs and now my music collection is out of control.

We have fight after fight about things–too many things in our house–a lot of things that are not being used.

Is that what all couples have–issues that will not go away and can’t be resolved no matter what?

Tags: book shelves, CDs, clutter, collect music, fight about stuff, Hammond organ, issues that will not go away, LP's, music, my wife, too many books, too many things in our house, too much stuff
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, local, marriage, music, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »