Hoarder Story

Tyler and I have a new wishlist on TiVo for anything relating to "hoarding" and "hoarders." We have seen about 12 different shows telling the stories of compulsive hoarders. Half of these shows have been on Animal Planet, documenting the run-ins that various ASPCA groups have had with animal hoarders. The rest of the shows have focused on helping those suffering from Hoarding Disorder by helping them clean their houses and having them work with psychologists and "professional organizers." There is "Obsessed," "My Mother's Garden," "Truth Be Told: I'm a Hoarder," "Animal Hoarders," etc. And now there is now an entire series about hoarding! It is appropriately called just "Hoarders." It's fascinating.

Watching these people lose their livelihood to material possessions has gotten us in the mood for a garage sale! We went through all of our clothes, books, toys, and random crap, and will attempt to sell about half of it. It feels so great to look in my closet and see only clothes that fit me and that I wear. Amazing. It was hard to part with some things, but there is nothing that inspires you to get rid of stuff than watching people struggling to live in their own filth and rotting belongings.

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Summer Updates

I cannot believe that summer is coming to an end, and little baby Calvin is 4 months old! Time really does move fast. Calvin has come a long way in the past month. He has such a passion for learning and is one of the most easy-going, good-natured people I have ever known.

This month's big milestone was that Calvin learned how to roll over! A few weeks ago, we began to find him playing on his stomach when we would leave him on his back. The scariest would be when we would put him on his back to sleep, and we'd find him on his stomach in the morning. He couldn't seem to get from his stomach back to his back. Usually babies learn this the other way around. The sad thing for Calvin is that he doesn't much like being on his stomach, so after he would excitedly roll over, he'd be upset to discover that he was stuck in a perpetual ab exercise. This got to be very frustrating to him. He has since learned how to roll back to his back again.

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