More Sorting and Selling

I have set a goal for my first year of retirement to go through every closet and cupboard in our home and sort them out before the end of May, 2019. It's going to be a pretty big job, but with a year to accomplish my goal, I am confident that I will get it done.

Part of my motivation is that Craig and I had to sort through our mothers' homes several years ago as they moved into care facilities. Both women had had a lot of things stuffed into closets, under beds, and in storage rooms - it was a daunting undertaking! And there was no organization to much of it; things were stuffed randomly into boxes and tubs. For example, I lifted a tub out of my mother's sewing room that had yarn in it, but the tub was extremely heavy, too heavy for just yarn. Curious, I opened the lid and began digging through the skeins. To my surprise, I found bags of coins that she had hidden in the tub!

I am determined that I will not make our children go through the same thing. So, I began in my favorite place in our home - my office (or, as my kids have labeled it, the horse room.)

I am a collector, but I am not a hoarder, and truth be told, my model horse hobby items are in good order already. But, do I need all that I have collected?

For example, do I need the second edition of Gayle Roller's Hagen Renaker identification book when I also have the third edition, the one that I use and the one that is considered the best of her books?

Years ago, Felicia Browell wrote a Breyer Animal Collector's Guide.

The final book was the fifth edition, so do I need the third and fourth editions, too? Like the Hagen Renaker book, they have gone to MH$P. (Model Horse Sales Pages.)

I sold all of my Just About Horses magazines last Saturday at the Muncie swap meet - they were snapped up right away.

 But I did keep this edition.

My daughter, Jessica, is pictured in it. She was showing in the novice division of the live show Kathy Bateman and I used to put on, Lincoln Land Live. I'll tuck it back away in a tub with a note on it so my kids know why it has been saved. Or, the note will serve to remind me as to why I kept that particular magazine in the years to come.

And just because I am sorting doesn't mean I am not collecting. I do have some more shelf space now that I have sold some models, but I expect that to fill up.

After all, BreyerFest is just a week away, and there are four models I'd like to get (the Adios Autograph Horse, the Pacer, the PAM, and the Andalusian.)