The Blivet

I've been thinking a lot about the word "blivet." My husband's dad used to say it was "five pounds of poop in a two pound bag."

In other words, there's a whole lot of poopy in a bag several sizes too small. So no matter what you do with it, it's going to be a mess and probably stinky.

I wouldn't dream of trying to stuff myself into my size 12's right now and go out in public. Yet, I see people out in public who stuff large figures into small clothing... and as a comic on cable said the other night, "Even a tire has a pressure limit."

Sometimes we try to stuff large quantities of stuff into homes which were never designed to hold it all. We have ten pound stuff in 5-pound houses. Or size 14 stuff crammed into a size 8 closets. Or five years of paperwork packed into a guest room that was designed to hold a bed and a dresser. What are we thinking?

If you have the common sense to wear size 8 jeans when you're a size 8, you have enough sense to know that when you bring more stuff into your already-stuffed house, it's going to get crowded.

I like the idea of living in a home. Not a blivet. (...or maybe some size 8 jeans!)


(c) 2010 Sheri Smith Bertolini