when in doubt, de-clutter

This is my dining room table. I'm in the midst of New Year's cleaning/de-cluttering for the next round of showings/getting a head start on the packing process (since I know our house will sell soon). And I'm also a little bored with not having any real projects to do around the house--not counting the lamp incident from the other night. So right now I'm just piling up a bunch of stuff that I will point to when Alex gets home and say "that needs to go to the attic." Actually, I'm kind of surprised that the attic hasn't caved in on us yet. We've slowly been adding to its contents over the past 18 months that we've been trying to sell our house. Some days I'll randomly think of something--like the bench I bought for $20 at the golf store that was going out of business or the chair I bought on eBay and never removed from its packing box--and wonder if the squirrels have gotten to it yet. I won't even let myself think of all the shoes and bags I've relegated to the attic during an insane cleaning spree (or momentary lapse of reason). When the time comes to clean out the attic, it will need a U-Haul of its own. I wonder if the dishes that Alex and I used to eat off of in New York are still up there...