I've done a lot of housecleaning lately as my older son's room turned into a storage facility after he left for the Army. I've tossed out a bunch of worn out and tired furniture and the very accommodating city of Charlotte has helped out. However, there is a very quirky phenomenon: every time I put something to the curb it disappears!

I've put out a beat up Microwave stand, some ancient Rattan tables and various other pieces of odd furniture and knick knacks. They just disappear. I'm assuming that someone is actually roaming the neighborhood looking for new and exciting ways to furnish their house/apartment. Personally, I wouldn't want other people's trash in my house. I don't have a problem with buying stuff at Goodwill (got some great deals there before) but I draw the line at rummaging curbside. Somehow I picture snakes slithering around in beat up drawers or worse yet, SPIDERS! Yuck. I hate spiders.

In a way though, I suppose I'm guilty of the same behavior though. I have a tendency to collect other people's discards as well; only in my case, it's people. Ha! I've always had this notion that I need to save people. By itself helping folks isn't a bad thing - after all charity is a good thing right? For some reason though, I always ended up with the short end of the stick. I help someone out and next thing you know, they take everything that wasn't part of the deal. As my grandma would've said:"You offer the little finger and they take the whole arm!"

I have gotten better at it though. I've honestly exercised restraint in collecting any more people in need of repair. The ugly lessons I've learned with a few of them were enough to make me reconsider. Afterall, you can only be walked on so many times before the threads are bare. In a way, I've gone from one extreme to the other. Since my people picker was broken, I've put it on hiatus until I can find someone qualified to repair it. Perhaps I just need to find the golden middle...wherever that may be.