What to do with all these baskets

In the first few months of our marriage, my parents were kind enough to hire my husband as a handy-man. While sweating to the 50's for a nice wad of cash, he got his first glimpse of my mother's basement and her obsession with BASKETS. "There is an entire room of JUST baskets, and then the storage room...more baskets!!!" My Husband said in livid disbelief. I replied: "Baskets are great, so cute and so functional--you can do anything with a basket." Although I knew he was exaggerating the scale of my mother's basket collection, he did have a valid point. There were over 100 baskets against the wall one atop the other. Some stacks were brick-wall sturdy, while others were shaky and crumbled to a mess of twisted whicker, plastic, and wood. The collection was impressive and diverse--there were antique baskets, cheap dollar-store baskets, seasonal baskets, and even the Rolls Royce of woven baskets: Longaberger-- I own a few given to me by lovely mother. Apparently a little 12'' round can cost $150 +. Some dude was REALLY smart and banked on the idea that goo-goo eyed basket women would fork over ridiculous amounts of money for a "Hand made" jewel of their own.

I've never met a woman who did NOT like baskets, but personally, my gravitation towards the woven bowls tip-toes the border of unhealthy. My apple didn't fall too far from the tree, and sometimes I think my apple is still dangling. My mom has 17 children and sixty-something grandchildren (I've lost count, really, I'm not joking, I got tired of counting) So at least she could actually USE hundreds of baskets for gifts/gatherings etc, and she does, so her collection is in a constant flux.

Some women are purse people or shoe people, I am a container people, er, person. I know, I've heard, there is an entire store dedicated to containers. I've not been there, for, reasons. Just like some people who have parents with a drinking problem decide never to take the first drink, I've decided not to take the first step into the Container Store. But I do spend extra time in the plastic bin isle of Wal Mart and Target. If you are a dreamer, you understand the obsession with containers--so many possibilities. "Oh the things I can put in THIS one, and this one, and that one, oooh and those ones." I get into a little trouble when I buy containers preemptively. I say, "Oh there MUST be something to put in this," and pretty soon I have more containers than I have things to put in them.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket," the saying says. What about "Don't buy more baskets than you have eggs." I have never been one to put all of ANYTHING in one basket, I have what me and my sister call "Hobby ADD." There is reading, running (ish), writing, crafting--so many sub categories that I can't even begin, gardening, blogging, surfing, sewing, basket weaving (just kidding, but wouldn't that be perfect!), painting, scanning, canning, planning--so many directions to choose, so many Baskets to place what is most precious: TIME. With the little one on the way, I have had to think critically about putting too many eggs in too many baskets--spreading myself thin. (Haha, egg, pregnant, get it?) So I decided that I will pare down my "Basket" collection (places where I spend, or, waste, my time) into three categories: Family, God, and Self. If I am being completely honest, I have WAY too many eggs in the self basket--so many crafts, so little time. I do think it is important to HAVE a self basket, we don't want any ladies losing their minds, but I would much rather have my sense of self wrapped up in my family and my Maker. So now for the cleanup--anybody in need of a few hundred baskets?