Possession #47 - TV Cabinet

O.K. so today we added another possession to our house...a big one. We asked our good friend Steve to make us an oak TV cabinet and he delivered it tonight (thanks Steve!). I must confess that I love things made out of actual wood with real craftsmanship. If I won the lottery I'd fill the house with such home-crafted pieces. For me, I don't mind spending money on something that's beautiful, will outlast our pressed-wood-like-products, and has a connection to friends. Support your local crafts people, artists, and assorted creative folks!

Possession #46 - Lighthouse knick-knack

Henning Mankell's long-suffering police officer, Detective Wallander, once said something about how we never quite leave our past behind...it's drug along with us for the rest of our lives. Sometimes that past comes in the form of little knick-knacks that occasionally serve as memory joggers. This one is of a lighthouse in Erie, Pennsylvania, a town where we once lived for awhile. It's amazing how such a little thing can evoke persons, conversations, and landscapes so vividly and instantaneously. Of course, for similar reasons, we sometimes ditch the knick-knack hoping to leave certain memories behind us. But I don't think memories leave with the trash.

On a side note...don't miss this funny little animated short from Pixar called, "Knick Knack."

Possession #45 - KitchenAid Mixer

I love my KitchenAid mixer. It's sturdy, efficient, and makes really good cookie dough. I don't know how people (mostly women) managed in the kitchen before modern appliances. I take that back...I do know how...I just shake my head in disbelief. I'm from a generation that mostly thinks making a cake from scratch involves a box of Betty Crocker mix.

The first patent for an electric mixer was given to Rufus W Eastman in 1885. It could be powered by either electricity or water. Now, my kitchen is brimming with specialty devices that make my life easier (in theory). We have all probably wondered, though, whether or not convenience and efficiency is really worth as much as we once thought it was. Certainly our most cherished relationships are rarely convenient or efficient, yet we'd never trade them for a brand new mixer. For now, however, I'll keep the mixer. My mom gave it to us and it's stayin'.

Possession #44 - Older TV

OK...so I just finished watching the 2nd half of the Castle thriller. I better fess up to the third TV. We'll call it the "older" TV. This is the one that used to be our "big" TV, but got moved to the basement as the gamer TV, but got replaced by the new "old" TV when we got the flatscreen. Now it's in the middle of the basement awaiting relocation to an as of yet unnamed location (salvation army). Do you think it was any different when the old story teller was keeping the audience entertained around the campfire? Did the new story teller unseat the old one? Did they compete for peppier stories? Did the audience sometimes wander off into the woods because of boredom? Just wondering...

Possession #43 - VHS Tapes

Tonight is Oscar Night and so it's only fitting that I bring out all my old VHS tapes. Being ancient artifacts of digital days gone by, I don't even own a machine that can play these tapes. And yet, I still have them...hmmmm. As perhaps you can see, most of these movies got us through our parenting years. I'm a movieaholic and I'm not ashamed of trying to pass an appreciation of movies along to my children. I suppose our collection of tapes and DVDs isn't as extensive as many (mostly thanks to netflix).

I got in a long discussion with my wife tonight about whether or not actors deserve multi-million-dollar salaries. Me: yes. She: no. She's probably right. Art is a wonderful thing and movies can profoundly affect us. But has Spiderman really made my world that much better?

Possession #42 - Old TV

Tonight we're giving in to the addiction that has captured so many..."Downton Abbey." However, we're only on episode 3, season 1...so we've got a lot of catching up to do. By the way, if you haven't seen "Downton Arby's" you really must! So, to honor our night of viewing, I'm featuring our old television tonight. It's been relegated to the basement where it's disconnected from the cable and only useful for video games. However, the game meister is off at school and so the TV only comes to life when he comes home. It took our collective muscles and wills to get this old tube TV into the basement and as far as I'm concerned, it can stay there for the next family who owns the house.

I suppose that one way in which our family has successfully slowed down the onslaught of stuff is that we've never owned more than one television that was actually hooked up to cable. I don't want a television in the bedroom and certainly not in the room where we eat. I suppose that my future self might look back on this and smile knowingly, but at the moment it's where I stand. How often do we really stem the tide of stuff? Not often enough.

Possession #41 - Snow Blower

Here's how we sometimes acquire new things... Spouse: "I'd really like you to consider getting a snow blower." Me: "Absolutely not! I am perfectly capable of shoveling snow. I don't need some lazy man's device." Spouse: "But you know...with your bad back and all..." Me: "No! It's out of the question!" Then, a couple weeks later I go and buy a snow blower...with electric start. And on days like today...I really love my wife!

It's all well and good in theory to separate your life into "wants" and "needs." But, the dividing line gets a bit fuzzy in the midst of life. Does the absence of children in the house and my bad back warrant a snow blower and a lawn mower with self-propelled wheels? Yes...maybe...absolutely not...all of the above? How are we supposed to make judgments on our lifestyle when rules aren't very clear? As they say, "The devil is in the details."