brief update: whew, I'm back

[bunrab]

I'm back from my weekend in NY. I feel good about accomplishing a lot at Sally's, but somewhat depressed about how much more there is to do, and how difficult it is to do it. Getting a compulsive packrat to stop buying and saving stuff is probably a task that needs a psychologist as well as a friend, and I'm not a psychologist. I'm probably the only person Sally would consider letting do the throwing-out I did (8 garbage cans full and a few extra bags after we ran out of garbage cans, plus 12 paper sacks full of paper to be recycled, plus 9 bags full of aluminum cans; I'm pretty sure the garbage will make it out to the curb for Wednesday morning pickup, and I took the aluminum cans to the recycling center myself before I left Monday afternoon, but I'm not sure the paper stuff will actually make it out of the house to the curb Thursday night for Friday's pickup.) I spent a lot of time reassuring her, showing her the expiration dates on food I was throwing out, and that I was putting any charge card solicitations in the bag for the shredder, not in the recycling, and that I was actually saving anything that was a bill or receipt or personal mail... I lost the battle on some of the candy. She gets a lot of Christmas gifts of candy from her students/clients (she's a physical therapist who works for a couple of different schools on Long Island), and saves them all - and doesn't recognize that even candy goes stale after a couple of years; she's saving it all, even the stuff she doesn't like, because she can "bring it to school for the kids."

More details later; I'm glad to be home. Stay tuned for comparison of Greyhound vs. Amtrak!