I have decided to pare down my collections in order to organize my life and home. Generally, in my past,  if I saw it, I bought it, but no more. If something new comes in, something else has to leave now. I am carefully organizing my stuff and deciding what to keep, sell, and donate to charity.

It is the begining of a hard and difficult road. Basically I am overwhelmed by stuff. I have been watching TV shows on this subject and they make it look easy, but when it comes to sentimental items it is very hard to justify tossing it aside and giving it up. I have many family and sentimental pieces that I am trying to keep, but it keeps me from really organinzing my things.

I generally try to hit a section in a room (last night it was organinizing my DVD's) and see what it is that is cluttering my life and space. The first time of selecting items is often easier than the second or third attempts, but usually I can come up with something to part with.

I am a pack rat and am slowly changing my ways: Do I really need 10 or more sets of dishes?

I have new and old Russel Wright dishes, I enjoy the Russel Wright American Modern Sugar White by Oneida and mix it with my vintage White Clover pieces (which colors do I keep, I am fond of them all). The other Oneida colors I do not use and will be selling them eventually. I have 1 or 2 sets of Russel Wright Melmac, they were to be used as my outdoor sets and I have never used it, so it to will eventually be listed. Then I have a set of original American Modern I have never used, it too will be listed soon. Russel Wright was a prolific designer and I admire his designs and the craftmanship of the vintage pieces. I admire Oneida for recreating the Russel Wright line, especially their reproduction stainless flatware that I use on a daily basis. It is of the finest stainless flatware I have ever used. I recomend it highly for someone wanting a set of stainless that doesn't bend when serving the hardest of ice cream. It is truly amazing.

I have an Oriental set of Porcelain dishes I have hardly ever used, many pieces were chipped and I tossed many of these and eventually will list pieces of this set on eBay.

I collect Black Fiesta which is my daily use set with other colors in the fray for fun, I purchased my original 16 pieces the day they were released back in the eighties. Every paycheck seemed to go towards purchasing a new piece and gifts of Black Fiesta were often suggested by myself.  I will start weeding out the the pieces I rarely use. I was drawn to the Fiesta from a childhood memory of my great grandmother's cupboards full of Vintage Fiesta the was never used. She stored it away up in the upper cabinets of her kitchen where they sat unused. "They were for looks", she'd always say, and when she was gone the Fiesta pieces went away, sold because they were valuable and nobody appreciated them the way Great-grandma did. The beauty of the Black Fiesta is it's ability to be thrown in the oven and cooked in. From oven to table, they're awesome for Mexican specialites that require oven broiling to melt cheeses, for making custards in ramekins, and about anything else you want to do to them...

I collect Lefton Hollyberry pieces and have so many pieces I cannot possibly use them all. Eventually I will be listing these too.

Speaking of Christmas dishes, I collect Lenox Holiday Nouveau White Platinum. It is a very elegant pattern that is seemingly quite rare. The tartan ribbon and the ivy pattern is very beautiful. Since Christmas is my favorite time of year and this is my all time favorite Lenox pattern, it replaces my life long fondness for the Lefton Hollyberry.

I have other sets of china packed away that I will be listing too.