I Love Catherine LeDuke: How I Spent My Father's Day

*Look for a new posting every Tuesday and Friday*

WOW!!! What a terrific Father's Day posting last Friday by Amanda. Thank you for sharing that terrific letter written in 2011. It was special then and special all over again this year.

So while most Dad's were out with their children or sitting in their easy chair being waited on, I spent my Father's Day Weekend buried in our basement here in Cumming, Georgia. Marty and I are tackling a long overdue project; putting order to the chaos we created almost 10 years ago when we moved here from the south side of Atlanta. We moved from a larger house into a much smaller house but forgot to stop along the way at the local dump. So our basement has been a storage facility ever since.

About two years ago we developed some "ground water" issues and before we can call a contractor to come fix our basement "pond" (different, by the way, from our other pond), we have to find the walls and the floor. This means that we are being forced to either rent a storage trailer, build a barn on the back 40, or better yet become "minimalists." We have chosen the latter.

Do you realize how hard it is for two old "yard sailors," auction-going hounds, and part-time hoarders to start throwing out items acquired at some of the finest yard sales in Atlanta? Well let me tell you "it ain't easy."

First you have to have a plan. You have to have a "Goodwill Thrift Store pile," a trash pile, a Marty-keep pile and a Jimmy-keep pile; and most important of all: you have to keep Marty out of the Jimmy-keep pile and Jimmy out of the Marty-keep pile and both of them out of the Thrift Store pile.

We only got about half way through on this first attempt, but we are actually doing really well. Goodwill is getting a very large assortment of pots, pans, dishes, assorted pillows, unread books, and bric-a-brac from all over the city. The garbage man is getting a dumpster full of old magazines, obsolete work files, unusable Christmas decorations, broken-never-to-be-repaired furniture, and an assortment of video tapes of old television shows and movies all of which are now available for free on "Rabbit TV."

And you folks get a Tuesday Posting consisting of a rather mixed bunch of old photographs that I found and tossed in the "Jimmy-Keep" pile. Are you lucky or what?!

Enjoy.