Operation Knick-Knack Attack

Last night, I was home earlier than usual with nothing to do. Since my roommate Ern has been in Argentina for the month, I’ve had to break out of my normal Monday and Tuesday night routine of hanging out at the apartment and drinking too much wine. Such activities are fun with a friend, but frowned upon when alone. And since I already live on the outskirts of my means, I probably shouldn’t be going out and spending money. I decided to do something productive- clean my room! Not just a make the bed and pick up the dirty laundry clean, this was an all-out, pull everything off the shelves, break out the cleaning products clean. As I was clearing off my bureau top, it occurred to me that I have a shitload of knick-knacks. Trinkets. You know, ceramic figurines, tiny decorative boxes, and whatnot. I don’t even like them. I don’t know how I’ve managed to accumulate so many useless items, and I have no idea why I originally brought them to this apartment when I moved in. Or why I’ve kept them for the years that I’ve spent here. Yet, part of me is reluctant to get rid of them. These knick-knacks have two origins. Half of them I collected when I was a small girl, enthralled with items such as a creamer in the form of a small cat. Tacky, pointless junk, but still, I’ve had them for soooo long, it is hard to part with them. The other half are gifts, primarily from the two demographics whom I have identified as The World’s Top Lovers of Knick-Knacks:

1. Nicaraguans
2. My mother

It just seems so rude and ungrateful to get rid of a gift, no matter how much it clashes with your own personal style. However, enough is enough. How long am I going to keep lugging around a box of trinkets that I don’t even like, only to pull them out and display them on unoccupied flat surfaces? Nevermore, that’s your answer! During the cleaning process, I had already packed up a bag of old clothes to bring to Goodwill, and I rounded up all of the offending knick-knacks and threw them in as well. Goodbye, ye little dish with a dove perched upon it! Fare thee well, miniature wooden giraffe! And you, ceramic cat hugging a ceramic mouse wearing a sweater, may you happily gather dust upon someone else’s shelf.