I Like My Stuff

Mar 7th 2007
Suzanne EnochMy Life As A Plebe

32 Responses to “I Like My Stuff”

1. KMB25 on 07 Mar 2007 at 1:16 am #

   I am soooo glad that someone is bringing up this topic! I, confess…I am so not a neat freak. But I’m me…and I’m interested in all manner of interesting things! (And my bookshelves and closets can prove it!) I like music, art (Monet…especially the japanese water gardens, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, etc), Knitting, crocheting, Dancing (I just had my first Irish step-dancing class tonight in 2 years!), and pictures of everything!

   I have traveled to Europe some, and each time I bring back postcards, pictures, and momentos that I like to keep and when I go back through them or see them on display I’m reminded of the time that I spent there and the awesome people I met. I also like to collect shot glasses…one from every new place that I go..and some from old places too!

   I have to also confess…I love stuffed animals. Of all types. Many times when traveling I’ll bring back a stuffed animal that reminds me of the place that I went. I have a stuffed lobster from Maine, a bear that’s wearing a kilt and a fun plaid cap from Scotland, a black bear from Colorado, etc…you get the point!

   These are just some of the examples… Claudia mentioned in comments of the previous post that throwing stuff out is the best way to stay organized…but why should I? Why should I throw these things out that mean so much to me?

   Just because I like to have keepsakes and memories that I cherish, does that make me an awful person…because I can’t keep my closet like Oprah?
   I’m sure that some people need their space organized…my husband is one of them…and while he does try to organize me…he understands that I value my stuff…and it’s important.

   ~Kim

2. Llarasandra on 07 Mar 2007 at 1:22 am #

   My … My Precious!

   All my stuff is precious to me. I embrace my geekdom and my romance novel reading and my home reflects that.

   In our living room, we have some of my many romance novels, fantasy novels, RPG gaming books, Magic cards, DVDs, CDs, and D&D posters on the wall.

   I do admit that I have moved a lot of my romance novels to the bedroom to make our living room more fantasy.

3. dbrown3400 on 07 Mar 2007 at 7:46 am #

   I’m a stuff person, too. My living space is small now so much of my stuff is relegated to storage, but the few stuffed animals, the tiny tree that I use for Christmas and decoration for the rest of the year, the vase of dried flowers that match the tree, the thousands (almost) of books (keepers and TBR) all remind me of the others tucked away in my storage unit. I visit them now and again as well as the books there. I have a couch in storage and will go there on a rainy day, take boxes of books and sit down among my stuffed animals and pick out a few books to bring home. None seem to go the other way. I’m a bulk buyer so the other stuff is rolls of Scott tissue, boxes of Kleenex and rolls of Brawny paper towels. With no storage here, they are my ’stuff’ under the TV. The CDs and DVDs are under the bed. Oops, I’m organized! (Another topic.)

   Donna

4. Susan K on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:04 am #

   Boy do I have stuff. My apartment reflects my love of books, Elvis Presley, the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL hockey), Brett Hull (retired hockey player), Star Wars, Lions, my family and my home town of Duluth MN. I have knickknacks & everywhere! Of all my things though my favorites are: my Elvis Presley phone (which sings Jailhouse Rock while his hips swivel) & my Brett Hull bobble heads. Oh yeah, and my Elvis Presley bathroom! Gotta love it!

5. Ashefrog on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:36 am #

   Stuff, stuff and more stuff. It is not only my stuff but my family’s stuff.

   My mother is a neat freak and she cringes when she comes over but she lives alone. I have 5 people living in my house. Every one of them has stuff.

   I worried when we bought the book shelves that it would take a while to fill them up. Yeah right. I have had to move books cause the shelves were bowing.

   I have baskets under the coffee and side tables with magazines, books, newspapers and catalogs. We try to organize but the “stuff” is always coming in and doesn’t seem to leave as quickly as the stuff coming in so….

   I, too, love my stuff. Once in a while I will get in a “throwing out” phase but I usually regret throwing out some of it. I like things from the past scattered around the house reminding me of different times and places.

   We also have stuffed animals placed around the house that have special meaning to someone in my house.

   When I visit a sterile environment I don’t feel comfortable. I feel like I can’t sit down, put my drink down (if I have one), wear my shoes or touch anything. My favorite homes are the ones that look and feel lived in.

6. Julia London on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:46 am #

   We invested in having some bookcases built in around the house last year, so now I can have books in every room. I love that.

   I don’t have a lot to stuff besides books and the other thing which I sort of hate to mention, but I will in the interest of full disclosure: Pigs. I have a vast collection of artsy-fartsy pigs. It started years ago when I picked up an antique piggy bank in Taos, NM. I just liked it. It was heavy and would make a good doorstop. My mom saw it and thought it needed a companion piece. Then, she told my sisters I was collecting pigs, which I was NOT doing, but she thought it would be a good idea and so did they.

   I started getting pigs for every occasion. Most of them artistic pigs. I really liked the unusual ones, and for awhile, I got in on the deal. When I traveled, I would pick up a pig. I have pigs from Hong Kong, Europe, and Latin America now. Some are big and heavy, some are so tiny I lose them. They are scattered throughout the house.

   But I have too many now. There is no place to put more pigs. I asked my family not to get me pigs anymore. I told them the collection was complete. What did I get for Christmas? YES. Another pig!

7. Karen Rose on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:47 am #

   We’ve got oodles of stuff. Only some of it’s mine. My husband collects movie posters and sheet music and beer signs, so thankfully most of his stuff is mounted on the wall and not on the floor. We seem to collect large fake trees - the kind you decorate with. When we downsized, we had too many trees, but hubby won’t give them away, so when you come through our front door, it’s like going through the wardrobe into Narnia…

   Now, me, I collect masks, either pretty or hideous, no medocrity for me. I also collect ugly statues. My first - and still favorite - is this little carved fertility goddess I bought in Caracas, Venezuela so many years ago. It had been a lousy business trip and I was in the airport and this little replica goddess made me laugh - she wears this silly grin. I keep her above my computer. If all the stuff has to go, I must keep her.

8. Nicole Jordan on 07 Mar 2007 at 10:29 am #

   Books, books, and more books!! One of the nicest presents my dh ever gave me was a bunch of custom made-bookshelves to hold them all. Of course they quickly got filled so we got a bunch more shelf units, which are now filled, lol.

   I hate getting rid of my precious books, even if I know I won’t ever read them again. My unused reference books I have in storage , but I’ve been slowly going back through my romance paperback ‘KEEPERS’ and rereading them. If I don’t still love them, they go to the UBS or my mother. If I still love them, they go back on the Keepers shelves.

   And tack trunks to hold all my horse stuff. You would not believe all the junk I save!

   NicoleJ

9. Karen Hawkins on 07 Mar 2007 at 10:29 am #

   Suzie, I HAVE to see your Star Wars action figure collection. HAVE to!

   I love antiques and have some nice pieces in my house, but I decided I needed to collect something that was MINE. So …I now collect antique ink wells! I have about thirty but alas, no place to put them!

   I’d love to put them where I write, but Panera probably wouldn’t be cool with that. Or perhaps in my bedroom, but there’s only so many walls available for shelf space. I guss I’ll have to just get chains and hang them around my neck whenever I want to display one.

   Sigh. It’s hard collecting things.

10. claudia dain on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:15 am #

    Ashefrog nailed it. You have to feel comfortable in a space. That’s the whole story.

    I’m one of those people who don’t feel comfortable unless everything is put away, tidy, ‘the runway is ready for landing’ kind of thing. That’s just how I’m wired.

    A woman’s home is her castle and every goddess has her temple; we fashion it the way we like it.

    For me, I have to have books. There is no such thing as a book budget and there is no such thing as no place for books.

    But, you guessed it, my books are organized by topic, setting, and/or time period.

    Hey, that’s just how I like my temple to look.

11. Suzanne Enoch on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:18 am #

    I keep telling you to come and visit me, Karen! You can even wear an ink well necklace.

    I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks a sterile, picture-perfect house is just … wrong. My house reflects my life and my interests. Can people walk into your house and tell what kind of person you are?

12. anneriailin on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:58 am #

    Stuff. Lots of stuff. Oodles of stuff, even kaboodles of stuff. This is my house. My name is Dorothy and I am a pack rat extraordinaire. They say the first step is recognizing your problem, right?

    I have books and am working on a way to organize them. Right now they are just in piles around my house. Everywhere around my house. The next step is to get a shelf to put them on! Both of my kids are readers too, so we have books galore around the house. Might I just add, that Borders loves to see us walk through the door!

    I also have Lord of the Rings posters and figurines. I have Pirates of the Caribbean posters and figurines. And I have lots and lots of Eeyores around my house.

    I’m a newcomer to your site, but I’m loving it so far!

    –dorothy

13. Susan K on 07 Mar 2007 at 12:40 pm #

    Suzanne,

    I knew you were one of my favorite authors for a reason. (well besides that I love your books!) STAR WARS!!! I have my Star Wars books in my living with a few choice pieces. But since I live in a tiny one bedroom apartment I can’t display my Star Wars toys. My fiance has promised me though that when we get our house I will have a room all to myself for my books, crafts and Star Wars stuff.

14. foreverdelayed on 07 Mar 2007 at 12:56 pm #

    I have Winnie the Pooh and various other stuffed animals poking out of every bookcase. I have my Beatles lunch box out for all to see. I have a couple hundred Star Trek books. I have my Lorne action figure perched on his little stage..My home screams GEEK at the top of it’s lungs, and I am okay with that.

15. Sabrina Jeffries on 07 Mar 2007 at 3:00 pm #

    I grew up in Thailand and then lived in New Orleans, so my house is schizophrenic. There’s stuff from my travels and LOTS of Asian decor and my husband’s stuff. Stuff of all sorts. Why do you think I bought a big house? To hold all the stuff!

    I like little tiny stuff that goes in the little partitions of a shadow box. I have five shadow boxes, all with little weird things, like a tiny pair of embroidered shoes and a Chinese vase and carved jade. And lots of blue and white animals (courtesy of my mom–actually, most of the stuff is courtesy of my mom). Lots of blue and white Thai ceramics, period. You should see my Christmas tree–gorgeous satin ornaments cavort with plastic Sesame Street characters (Nick, bless his heart, still loves Sesame St.). We’re eclectic, what can I say?

    But no pets. I’d love a cat, but the cat hair would drive hubby nuts and I have no clue how my son would react. So I go catless. I’d also love to have a full-blown doll house with tiny miniature furniture, but I figure after I bought all the stuff, I’d forget it was there and it would languish being ignored, and what’s the point of that?

    I do love my house though. It’s the best house I’ve ever had.

16. Kasey on 07 Mar 2007 at 4:12 pm #

    Books, books, everywhere there are books. Books in the living room, in the bedroom, and books spilling out of boxes in the closets. Books in piles by my desk, in piles by my bed and next to the shelves that are already full of books. I love to read and it definitely shows. I have the books I love to read such as romance, fantasy, classics, and young adult books. Plus books for my graduate classes in English and for my thesis lying everywhere. Whenever my parents come to visit I get the same old story, “Kasey, you have to stop spending so much money on books.” I can’t help it, I am addicted. I confess my love of books has allowed them to take over my apartment.

    I also have a lot of movies, cd’s and stuff from traveling such as shot glasses, t-shirts and pictures. However, I have not become so obsessed with these hobbies that they have taken over my apartment……yet.

17. Sherri Browning Erwin on 07 Mar 2007 at 4:32 pm #

    I have a lovely collection of junk mail, does that count?

18. Ashefrog on 07 Mar 2007 at 4:45 pm #

    Sherri

    Junk mail is the bane of my existence. Everyday I come home to a pile of it on the counter. DH is too much of a coward to go thru and throw out the junk. “I don’t know what you want” or really you deal with it. In fact, I don’t want any of it. I wish there was a “Do Not Mail” list I could get on. Since calling the “Do Not Call” list the number of solicitor calls is almost zero. Why hasn’t anyone come up with a “Do Not Mail” list?

19. FilmPhan on 07 Mar 2007 at 5:25 pm #

    I have a ton of stuff too. I don’t think I could ever get rid of my stuff. I have my small collection of “Star Wars” things like action figures, pez thingys, and my very own light up lightsaber (I love that one). I also have a giant cardboard cutout of Obi-Wan. I like to think of him as my personal bodyguard.

    I also have “Phantom of the Opera” masks on display (the white one and the masquarade one). I have movie posters up from “Down with Love,” “Chicago,” “Moulin Rouge,” “Timeline,” varies “Star Wars,” and “Cinderella Man.” I used to work in a video store so I tried to keep as many posters as I could since I’m a HUGE movie junkie. My movie collection is almost to 200. And I’m only 20 years old. Between my parents, sister, and I, we probably have over 600 movies. Crazy but we love to have movie nights.

    And I have a few Scottish things scattered here and there like ornaments and pictures. I have never been there but my goal is to make it there someday. My grandfather was Scottish. I find the whole history of the country very interesting.

20. Stephanie on 07 Mar 2007 at 8:35 pm #

    I also have lots of stuff. I have tons of books that I love and can’t part with because I may want to read them again. And I have been collecting unicorns since I was little. I work on my family tree and have lots of notebooks with different family historys that take up space at my desk. Then there is my family. They have there own little collections of things that interest them. My daughter also likes to read and collect books. We have tons of movies (DVD and VHS). I have Star Wars movies on both. I try to organize things and keep the house neat. But that is hard to do when you have a family. I like time to have time for myself. If I cleaned constantly I wouldn’t have time to read, workout or watch TV.

21. Brandy on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:01 pm #

    If you walk into my house, you’ll know I have cats, and it’s not just because they are nosey enough to come out and meet you! My guest bath downstairs has cat things all over it, like brass kitties sitting on a shelf and a sign that hangs on the wall that says “cats are like potato chips, you can never have just one”.) But, I have books everywhere. My LR has a bookcase filled with hubs computer tomes. The stairwell landing (a brilliant idea on my part *G*) contains shelves for my books because there wasn’t space anywhere else. My bedside table is more of a VERY small chest with glass doors. In there I keep my tbr books and the ARCs I have been lucky enough to have been given. Inter sprinkedl with all of this are Angels I have been given by family. BUT, you can tell I enjoy things from the past as well. I have a reproduction 1930’s phone, a stained glass lamp, an antique wind up clock, and a Philip Gray print on my bedroom wall of an old-time Irish village(which belongs with the Irish/Scottish things I collect. (the print, a pewter jewelry box with a claddaugh, a Scottish throw, a Gallway crystal plate with a claddaugh on it, and an aran style throw a friend made for me. Geez, It sounds like alot, but really not.
    And the funny thing is, I don’t like clutter, so it’s all strategically placed to avoid looking that way.

22. Sandy S. on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:25 pm #

    Stuff - Unfortunately, I’m guilty. My stuff knows not a lot of limits or bounds. There’s books, dvd’s, vhs’s. There’s hobbies like rubberstamping and cross stitching. There’s antiques & collectibles like depression-era glassware, old canning jars with glass dome tops & wire bails, Napco/Inarco/Lefton/Josef Christmas girls & angels, DelMonte Yumkins, china cup & saucers, alabaster trinket boxes … I’m sure there’s more, but that’s the most of it.

    It’s a wonder I find room to walk & breathe. Fortunately, I have displays for most of my antique & collectible items, and mostly adequate storage for the books, dvd’s, & vhs’s.

23. Laura T on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:27 pm #

    I love you guys! You are goddesses for a reason. Made for TV is def made for TV and none of it is real. There is so much on how the producers even want you to phrase a sentence, bend the truth… that we can’t believe ANYTHING on TV. Reality my butt.

    So nice to get that off of my shoulders.

    Anyway, you guys rock, because I’ve been looking at my own stuff and tired, very recently to try it “the way” you know the clean sweep, the organize and be a cookie cutter like veryone else. And I’ve been miserable. seriously. So I decided to organize in a different way… just like the way Suzanne is talking. I feel so much better now and I am off of my soap box. ha.

24. Judy F on 07 Mar 2007 at 10:03 pm #

    Lord do I have stuff. I have books of course that are taking over just about every room. I have a good collection of nutcrackers, I don’t know how that started but I bet I have about 30 of them now. THen there are the snowmen I love and most of them stay out year round.

    I have a lot of cat stuff too. I don’t think I can part with anything

25. Sabrina Jeffries on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:26 pm #

    Oh, and I forgot to mention that I want to start a collection of solid gold bars. So if any of you want to send me some or tell your relatives or MY relatives to contribute to my collection . . .

    

    Seriously, though, never tell anyone you’re collecting something, because you’ll never get them to stop giving them to you. That’s how my mom got all those frogs she has.

26. Suzanne Enoch on 08 Mar 2007 at 1:00 am #

    What’s amazing me is how many of us gals collect Star Wars or Star Trek, or things that are considered “guy” collectibles. I’ve personally always thought it was more about imagination than testosterone, and what I’m reading here backs that up.

    That makes me feel better about the collection blogs we all know I’ll inevitably be doing. *g*

27. Laura T on 08 Mar 2007 at 9:38 am #

    Ill have to take pictures of my husbands star wars collections for all of you guys. I get into it, too, although it is his thing to begin with… it is really fun, though!

28. MizMacgyver on 08 Mar 2007 at 9:40 am #

    Oh yes, I have stuff, lots and lots of stuff. Angels, BOOKS, Unicorns, BOOKS, Star Wars & Star Trek, BOOKS, Lord of the Rings, BOOKS, Pirates of the Caribbean, did I mention BOOKS? I have three full sized book units all full, a basement with boxes of books, and the books are still stacked everywhere upstairs as well. There is more stuff in this house than people! Now that is the cool thing about having a teenage son, some of MY stuff is in HIS room cos that way no one knows ole mom is the actual fanatic on some of this stuff. Like the Pirates of the Caribbean lego sets and posters, or the Star Wars Legos, ships, action figures, or the Lord of the Rings swords, daggers, action figures, medallions…OOPS! Just let that secret out on the net didn’t I? Oh well, anyone that knows me knows that anyway so what is a few more with “THE KNOWLEDGE”

29. Kathy on 08 Mar 2007 at 9:48 pm #

    Ah home at last…….
    Stuff lots of stuff….antique glass, and multi colored goblets, and wooden boxes and hummingbirds, and teapots, and costume jewlery and books. Old hawaiin shirts, old woman clothes, antique clothes. Baby stuff from two babies, and garage full of boxes from two divorces. Post cards and old stamps. Wicker baskets and glass jars, and oh yes vases. Okay that’s enough. It hardly ever get’s dusted. Mom sez she feels like she is in a museum when she is at our house. It is great fun to have your stuff and lots of it. I figure if I go broke I will have a perpetual rummage sale and live well for months!!!!

30. Daisy W on 10 Mar 2007 at 3:44 pm #

    I am so glad to see I am not alone! I have tons of things strange and unusual things through my house. And for all those Star Wars fans out there, I have some action figures from the first movies. Sadly, I hate to report that many of them were recently lost in a fire. My brother use to have a complete collection, but only a few survived the fire, which he gave to my son. Thankfully, no one was hurt. I have devoted one entire room of my house to books, and of course, they have spilled out. I also have a craft room, which is full of all sorts of things. I am a huge sci-fi / fantasy fan. I go to cons, renaissance festivals, even met my husband through a Star Trek fan club. I love to make costumes and the accessories to go with them. I have all sorts of strange bits and pieces, from including some rather interesting jewelry, make-up, wigs, even a Klingon headpiece that I designed and created myself. I also collect dolls of different kinds. Some of which I use when designing a new costume. I will make it first for one of the dolls, so I can work out any problems on a small scale, before making the full size. Nothing in my house is normal. My son’s room for example has a fantasy mural painted on the walls, which was designed and painted by me and some friends, before he was born. One wall contains a huge castle complete with knights standing guards, a wishing well and a sword in the stone. I even have miniture suits of armor and a stuffed dragon.

    I also cried when Jim Henson died. As a fellow, I have to reccommed a filk song “A Boy and His Frog” by Tom Smith. It is on his “Who Let Him in Here?” CD. I cry every time I hear it. As far as I know his CD’s are only available at sci-fi cons and through Firebird Arts at their website, (firebirdarts.com). The song it devoted to Jim Henson and was written right after he died. Tom Smith’s music is a little odd, so be warned. He writes songs for Sci-fi, fantasy and role play game fans and we are a strange and odd bunch.

31. KathyK on 11 Mar 2007 at 11:10 am #

    I’m a collector… plain and simple, I collect…whatever takes my fancy. Some collections are long-term and still being added to, some are very static, but they’re mine and they stay that way.

    My first collection, other than the bread bag clips that I gave away or disposed of aeons ago, is rocks. I have rocks, boxes of ‘em, mostly ones that I found here and there and just about everywhere. A few are store-bought, just because I knew that I’d never find them anywhere else and I like the colour or the form.

    Next on my list is books…books that I’ve had since I was a teen (Agatha Christie) and books that I bought two days ago. In total I have between 1400 and 1500 books that are just mine ~ not my husband’s, not my kids’, just mine. These are the keepers that I can’t bear to part with, the keepers that I re-read.

    Then there are the Pendelfin Rabbits that my grandmother started me on for my 13th birthday and now take up one whole cabinet and a number of shelves in my living room.
    And my Christmas village houses that are no particular set, just pieces chosen for their appeal.
    And various interesting pieces of Japanese porcelain ~ that’s the newer collection and it’s small and courtesy of the second-hand stores that I haunt looking for books.

    After that is my music ~ I still have around 300 to 400 records and then there are the cassette tapes and my newer collection of CD’s; most of which are shared with and by members of my family. ^.^

    Then there are the movies; the Disney ones that I bought when the kids were younger, the James Bond ones that are MINE, lots of others that I like and the anime that is definitely mine, but that I will share with the interested offspring.

    And from there I seque into my anime trading cards, postcards, stickers, sticker sheets and various and sundry other collectibles.

    So, yep…glad to see that I’m not the only collect-aholic around…something that my husband ~ who is SOOOO not a collector ~ has yet to understand.

32. jilleb on 16 May 2007 at 3:53 am #

    Stuff! I love stuff!
    I watched Pee Wee’s Playhouse when I was a kid and I thought he had the coolest house I’d ever seen. Everything was cartoonish or oversized or just plain strange. I seem to have unconsciously followed his example. I have a lamp that looks like a cactus, a Kit-Kat Clock, nesting dolls, a giant Japanese fan, a fluorescent pink end table, a phone that looks like a piano, a penguin-shaped humidifier, a customized parasol from the cart at Disneyland, randomly dispersed toys and action figures, a “Baby” mannequin I practiced facials on in beauty school, a Navajo rug, and a wooden artists’ model of a hand - among other things. It’s just stuff. But it’s MY stuff. I need it. I feel comfortable with it. I’d rather my home be comfortable and welcoming than sterile and unfriendly. I don’t think I could be happy if I lived in a house where I had to take my shoes off before I touched anything. I am a stuff person. Am I a packrat? Sure. But I’m a happy packrat, dang it!