Dignity and Desperation

When you sell stuff on craigslist, you meet a lot of nice people. This isn’t anonymous eBay, where you mail things to New York. This is real life, in your face, actual people coming to your house. The other day…

Got Wench?

This is an actual ad – not a joke – that appeared in my church’s March 2009 newsletter: ———–Need a Freezer?Large chest freezer, free to a good home for just coming to pick it up. If interested, call F*******s Community…

Toys for Tats

I bought a lot of toys when my two boys were little. To their great disappointment, many of those toys went into the toy closet, unopened, and have stayed there for years. These were not-to-be-played with toys. These were, in…

Last of the Fab Fifties

Four friends and I turned fifty this year. We’re all part of the close-knit staff of Spokane’s Union Gospel Mission homeless shelter, and our birthday bashes stretched from January through December. But that’s not everyone – my husband, Scotty, and…

Bidding Goodbye – to Stuff

Stuff. Too much, far too much, the accumulation of 25 years of living in the same place. A place that has far, far too much space in which to store the stuff. I have a house with large closets, a…