Today is Iguana Awareness Day. Iguanas are aggressive reptiles that bite and lash with their strong tails. They’re evidently very cute as babies (what isn’t cute as a baby?) but then they grow to be six feet long. Which made me think of all the other things that I’ve brought home because they were cute/beautiful/desirable in some way and that then metaphorically grew to be six feet long and not desirable. Like the book I’m working on which was supposed to be a simple story about a small town girl who fell for the Devil and is now Game of Thrones in New Jersey. Or the storage benches I bought to store my yarn before I remembered I don’t have any place to put storage benches (two are at my front door right now). Or possibly my ex-husband. I do not count the amazingly cute dogs I rescued because they did not grow to be six feet long and are still cute, but I think my yarn stash counts. Now that I’m aware of it, I’m calling it my Yarn Iguana. Perhaps you also have a situation at your house that you were not aware was an iguana, something you liked that you brought home and now are looking at with hopeless horror as it takes up way too much space and metaphorically bites you on the butt. I understand some children are like that.
Today is Iguana Awareness Day. Be aware.
I have some iguana type commitments, notably a Board I agreed to go on…
Beware the iguana! There have been a few such for me. Notably storage to deal with the hoard, similar to the benches you got.
Must be one the best feelings when it got put on the charity truck to go to a family whose home had burned down and had been rebuilt.
Yarn Iguana mage me laugh so hard. Phew. Thanks!
Clothes, I must have at least 60+ tee shirts and that’s summer and some are various sleeve lengths thanks to three newer different size short sleeve lengths, the normal, the shorter and the elbow. And 3/4 length for cooler days. Some are the same color because who can have one when two are better. Plus my size is up and down so I save them incase I lose weight. Ha! It’s September time to think about the end of the season and just be ruthless with this hoard.
Plus all the collectibles that multiplied over the years.
AHH! Collectibles. Once you show an interest in an item all family and friends gift you with that item. My aunt has a massive collection of frogs that she not only has on shelves but printed on clothing, umbrellas and blankets. I made the mistake of liking angels and was soon drowning in them. Storage was a huge problem-the wings take up so much room. I finally decided to donate most of them to our country church for use at Christmas time. With all the angels I had, we decorated the tree, the window garlands, and every flat surface in the church. They live at the church now in big plastic tubs in a roomy closet.
My husband traveled extensively for work and was given many gifts from India, China and Japan. These were donated to the local library to use for display purposes. I still have the snow baby collection to contend with as well as the small hoard of material-groan!!
Someone on the old cherry group once said something I’ve stolen.
One thing is one thing.
Two things are a set.
Three things are a collection. Three things make you a collector of said collection.
Once you get three of an angel, everyone knows you collect angels and that makes all future gift giving easier.
I started a road trip once and decided on the spur of the moment to go for magnets instead of t shirts because magnets were cheap & small. Now I have a lot of magnets and I find myself disappointed when historical sites don’t have them. ; ) No, it’s not logical, but it seems to be instinctive to accumulate things in collections.
OTOH, I think the generations after me won’t care and won’t have any stuff and the generations after them will rescue our stuff.
I hate to say it, but books. They are stacked in piles around my house and on top of things. I do have extra book shelf space now in the basement, but if I were to only single layer the books on any shelf, there is no way I would have enough book shelf space. Along with this is my “to be read” list which is also way out of control.
Fabric stash is also significant and probably enough to last me until I die. However I will end up buying more. There’s going to be a time when I can pull 80% of the fabric out of my stash but I just don’t have the right piece for the last 20% for that pattern.
Speaking of fabric and such, I posted late a photo for working Wednesday because I didn’t get it done on Wednesday. I made a bag to hold & carry my featherweight sewing machine. You can see a 37 sec video of it at https://instagram.com/p/BnaJDxnhA5V/
Love your bag. Material is lovely.
Wow, that is a really nice bag! I don’t sew, but I’m amazed how beautifully it comes together. Lovethe paw prints inside. Really cute.
Thanks!
Copper. I loved copper. I have antique molds, new cheap barely sprayed-on layer of copper molds, about 10 pans of various sizes, candy molds, copper vases, giant pots. All displayed, all needing to be polished every 2 to 3 months. I bought copper polish on Amazon in 4 pound tubs. Then we remodeled. There really is no place to display all that copper and I have discovered other things to do with my life other than polish copper. I got rid of the cheapest, non-collectible stuff but some of this stuff were gifts from people who are no longer alive. And no one in the family seems to want it. It lurks in dark corners of the cabinets. I’ve thought about putting a few pieces out but then where would I put the art nouveau glass cigar jars that I’ve started to collect which are taking over my dining room? Sigh. Iguanas.
Snow village houses. I have a good sized city. Our house burned down and the only things we could save were in the basement. We learned nothing we NEED was in the basement. So we saved plastic tubs of kid’s clothes, (the kids are 16, 25,28) and a ceramic city. Made sense at the time.
I have one of those. Its not very big but growing since my husband realized there were boats and related buildings. available
I love my children dearly, but their accessories are definitely The Iguana. I feel like I’m constantly purging things but the things replicate. I also get a ton of pushback when I say “no presents” at their birthday parties, but… I don’t want tons of plastic crap everywhere! Ah well. At least I can sell, donate, or trash this iguana in stages…
What we did when the kids were small was institute a toy purge twice a year, once before birthdays (spring) and once before Christmas. So the total didn’t necessarily increase, and we knew that–for the moment, anyway–they played with whatever they had. It worked well for us. And when they got to the ages where they no longer played with toys, as such, opting instead for electronics, computer games, and gift cards, we gradually weeded the toys until they were gone. The last of the LEGO bins went to my young nephews last Christmas.
Now to get a handle on my handcrafted cards paraphenelia…
Jenny, the date has fled the post title!
“The Game of Thrones in New Jersey” made me laugh. It’s not gonna come close to that, don’t worry. Neither will it be a remake of the 4th book of the Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel. If there is ONE book full of too much info-sex on every second page, it’s that one. If all unnecessary sex-scenes were cut out of that book it wouldn’t be any book left.
My Iguana is tea jars (tins? cans? I go with jars for I have no idea which word is correct in this case). And tea, probably. I already have too much tea, but everytime I bump into a nice jar with a fabulous print or a tactile print or anything else that makes it remarkable in some way (or easily definable to the touch), I can’t help buying it…and when I’ve bought it, I have to fill it up with tea. And even though I drink quite a lot of tea, it’s impossible to finish the entire collection before the recommended time……. and though I KNOW(!) you can put it in the freezer, I rarely do so. Too opTEAmistic. And thus the iguana keeps on growing…
The correct term is tea caddy, Shass (one of the more obscure corners of the English language).
Does tea really go bad or are the dates just so they can get you to toss it and buy more?
Open the can and smell; if it still smells like the variety you bought, it should still taste that way. But you might have to use a bit more as it ages.
Also if you think it’s not drinkable, use it as potpourri.
I don’t actually have any iguanas at the moment (knock on wood). I moved across the country last year, which was great for purging stuff, and also a good way of starting over on commitments. But I just offered to volunteer with two groups, and there’s a writing class I want to take, so there’s room for future iguanas to grow.
My iguana is all the photographs I take and download to my computer; where they breed until there are thousands of them to sort out. Went to the photography group I belong to today, and unfortunately it was a last-minute presentation by a camera club stalwart, so I spent the time contemplating the mountain of unedited images that prevent me doing some hopefully more interesting presentations myself.
Sadly, I probably have all of these iguanas plus some. Haven’t been here in awhile, but wanted to see when my favorite cozy/mystery/romance author was going to have a new book. I’m waiting with bated breath! When is this new one coming? Are you trad publishing or self? Just wondering. Still trying to get my own first novel edited. Hopefully soon! Can’t wait to see your next work!
It’s more of “when is the new one going to be finished?” We’re talking about the third act now, so high hopes.
Good luck with your book!
Cozy? Have you read Tell Me Lies? Although, I agree, some of the first paperbacks offered cozy — along with an iguana bite.
I refuse to consider books to be iguanas…but it’s a rare book these days that I buy in paper.
My iguana is my to-be-listened-to collection of audiobooks. I’m trying to control my impulse buying and I have gotten better but those $5 sales at audible are deadly.
Speaking of actualy iguanas, Dave Willis who writes Dumbing of age the webcomic apparently has at least a couple of months of backlog comics built up and also impeccable timing because todays comic is extrememly iguana-centric (warning for swearing so maybe nsfw)
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/highway/
Books, pottery, and clothes are all iguanas in my life.
LOL at this whole thing.
My current iguana is a biting index which floats all over the page. Alphabetical it is not. I wrestle with its lashing tail. Still, no iguana is going to get the better of me. I remain in the “A”s, though, with pages to go. Frustration level is high. Find the next named plant, copy, cut, find its alphabetical place, paste. Argh!
Kind of like the opposite of successful objects of ridiculous desire.
Recliners. How did this become my life? One is too squishy, one too nubbly, one is perfect but now my husband loves that one and the dog would really rather I was beside her on the couch so… There are two more here in the living room and one moved to the basement as well as one hauled upstairs. I can get rid of other iguanas. Why not recliners?
So many Iguanas. Fabric and sewing geegaws. In my living room. Out in my porch room. In the attic. I can’t get into the attic on my own so if I need something that’s stored up there I just have to buy a new one.
Then there is the yarn stash I never even look at anymore. The crafting junk. Paper. Oh My God, the paper. I love paper.
The Piano is also an Iguana, but I’m not allowed to get rid of it in case someone wants to play it at Christmas. No one ever does.
My Uncle owned an Iguana when I was a little girl. Lived in a huge terrarium. Its name was Igor. No, wait. His dog’s name was Igor. I’m afraid I don’t know the iguana’s name anymore. such a pity, I’m sure it was Horror related. I also couldn’t sleep in his bedroom because of his models of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein. Dracula too, I think.
That’s an interesting uncle. Worthy of featuring in a story.