Tie one on

Great comments yesterday, thanks so much. No offense, RDK, but I think I'll try Agatha's suggestion and listen to "Footloose" when I need a little jolt. I'm so close to the brink of things a spoonful of sugar might put me over the edge. (My motto, back in the day, was "if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space." Thank you again, AA, for saving my life.)

Okay, what does the title of today's post have to do with the price of tea in China? (Also? Happy Chinese New Year!)

This:

These pictures just don't seem to show how very many ties we have.
Up close and personal? It's unbelievable.

What you see here represents every gift-giving occasion in my husband's father's life, as well as most of the ties from my husband's closet. I haven't counted them. I'm kind of afraid to.

I also haven't thrown them away, because apparently you can make lots of neat unusual interesting things from old ties. There are businesses devoted to upcycling ties into jewelry, clothing and accessories. I've seen photos of necktie skirts and thought 'Well, that may be all right for you, but I'd never wear one.' And that's still true: I'd never wear a necktie skirt. (No offense intended if you have one!)

But I might tuck my cellphone into a necktie wallet, and I would totally carry a necktie bag. And the owner of the gift shop at the end of my road would love to stock some. So we'll see where this goes.

The first thing I have to do is clean them all, and I'm not sending them to the dry cleaner. Since eventual wearability is not the goal, they'll be dumped into the washing machine with a small amount of detergent and swished around in cold water on the hand-wash cycle. I'm tempted to wait for a sunny day and hang them all on the clothesline to dry, simply because I think that picture would be amazing.

And it would make it pretty easy to count the tie inventory. I'll probably have to buy more clothespins.

While I wait for the sun to shine again, I'm going to work on emptying a catch-all closet. It's a linen closet, really, but it's in the guest-room part of the house and those linens are

a) on the bed and
b) hanging in the guest bath. 

(I see no need for spare sets of guest-room linens.) Instead, those shelves hold office supplies, bank statements, craft supplies, holiday decor, sentimental items I can't seem to toss. I hope to be in a ruthless mood when I start unloading the contents. I'll have a trash can nearby for motivation.

And the camera. If I promise before-and-after pictures, I'll be sure to do a better job of culling than if I just kept this project to myself.

Aren't you lucky? Heh.