Altoona, IA - Construction or Deconstruction?

Life has become pretty routine these days. We arise at 7:00, eat breakfast, then drive over to our house in West Des Moines to pack up for the closing date of July 2. We then return at 5:00 or later, after working the whole day. And, I thought I had retired and left the 9 - 5 world. Silly me. Our great thrill of the day is stopping at Caseys on the way to get some coffee and some donuts. If that’s the only fun, it must be a dull day. 

Usually, we’re pleased with the selection and quality of the Casey’s donuts (though they do not compare with a real honest-to-goodness donut shop) but the donuts at this store are usually quite picked over and the ones that are left are all of the same variety: chocolate cake donuts with a variety of frostings. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate cake with maple frosting, chocolate cake with white frosting and sprinkles, well, you get the idea. Must be a new baker and he’s solidifying his skills with one type of donut before he expands his repertoire into another type.

It’s gotten so bad that I decided to forego donuts today. Of course, Gary gave me a bite of his.

Meanwhile I found a bit of history about donuts. Last week the United States celebrated National Donut Day. Did you miss that salient date? Never fear, it will roll around again next year and you can celebrate then. Just as Mother’s Day was invented to sell cards, so too did I suspect that National Donut Day was invented to sell donuts. Au contraire. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there is a historical context to the Day. The story goes that during WWI the Salvation Army women handed out donuts, which was a European treat, to American soldiers abroad. Here is a copy of the cover from an 1918 Salvation Army’s magazine, War Cry honoring these women, the ‘Doughnut Girls.’

Then in 1938, the Salvation Army's Chicago branch declared the first Friday in June to be National Doughnut Day. And, there you have it, the historical context for donuts and why they are so popular in America. Though I’m thinking that the high sugar content is more responsible for their popularity than carrying on a historical tradition.

And that’s how our days have been going. Not much of anything exciting. Just the work of deconstructing a lifestyles we’ve been living for the last many years. Although ‘deconstructing’ sounds pretty negative, I’d rather take a positive spin and look upon it as constructing a new lifestyle for the next many years. However, right now, all I can see is the mess in front of me both in our stick house and in the RV. Every room has its own special little mess, its own special pile. Here’s our living room pile for Lloyd’s of Des Moines and we keep adding to it.

I like NEAT, I like PUT AWAY, I like CLEAN and our lives are anything but those now.

What IS neat and clean is the goal ahead of us, the plan. We know what we want to do and are working everyday towards that goal. I’ve read articles by others who have gone through this same process and they all say that it is frantic, messy and tiring. just how I’d describe our lives now. Up at 7:00, breakfast, over to the house, pack, quick lunch, pack and home about 6:00. If I weren’t seeing progress, I’d be really depressed but I do see progress and I think we’re closer to the end than to the beginning. I was speaking with a friend on the phone who said that I sounded tired. Yep, I probably sound as tired as I am.

Today we took all of our old glasses and Lug’s to a local optometrist to donate to those who cannot afford glasses. We took all of our old batteries, toner and computer equipment to Best Buy which disposes of this correctly. I took some old jewelry to the gold and silver dealer and was shocked to find out how much I could sell them for. One piece, which looked like paste and was missing the clasp and a few little copy gems even brought money. Of course, he did not take the pearl necklace that was flaking. Hmmm, guess I couldn’t fool him.

Luckily, we are not accumulators but we have more than we want to keep. Some items are easy: the Navy 'donated' a pair of black steel-toed shoes to Gary when he needed them to work on the deck of a carrier. These are finally going.

Then there are the pieces of fine china which my mother insisted that we have. These are going also, some still in their original plastic baggies.

But, there are some things we are keeping: my mother-in-law’s Lane hope chest with the original labels still in it, two small bedside tables from my parents and some pictures we bought at the Minneapolis Art Show many years ago and have displayed ever since.

Here’s our kitchen counter with stuff for the Free Store which gathers household items for abused women and children. By the way, the blue tag means that cupboard is completely empty and we needn’t look in it any more.

And, that my story and I’m sticking to it.

Time to go to bed, I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.