We're having a rummage sale with the neighbors, which has led to some basement excavation.

Before buying a house, we used to move every few years and that pretty much guaranteed that no matter how much crap we acquired in the interim, there would be periodic junk shedding.

Once I moved from the fourth floor of one East Side building to an apartment on the second floor next door. That was the best house cleaning ever because I had to pass the garbage cans on the way. After lugging something down four flights, I paused in front of the green carts to determine whether it was worth carrying back up another set of steps. A lot of stuff went bye-bye.

But living in the same house for a few years has helped space fill up fast. There are all those things we didn't need to own as renters -- yard and garden equipment and tools, for example -- and the ephemera that comes with parenthood and we need to get some stuff out.

So, we're having a rummage sale to help clear out the stuff.

Although we have a stash of lovely treasure (this is not cast-offs, folks, this is quality merch) for the bargain hunters, looking around the basement you can tell from our eyes that we wish we could ditch more of this stuff. But over there are years of family memories captured on Kodachrome slides, over here are boxes of holiday decorations, and in that corner are the things we'll use to decorate the basement ... you know, once we finish the basement.