Mom is moved back into her home, and even though it took far too long, it is absolutely perfect for her needs. When we first began excavations, we had to go through a seemingly insurmountable mess – decades of ‘stuff’ that she simply couldn’t part with…
We used four categories: “Keep” (put in storage during renovations), “Donate”, “Garage Sale”, and “Pitch”. The “Donate” pile was substantial, and Mom’s church had a great inventory that year. The “Garage Sale” items were parked in her back yard shed for future disposition.
This week, my niece, DQ began rooting through some of those items, and has been working on a family garage sale. i was surprised to get the following picture via text message last night.
“Another Box Full of Glass Shit”
DQ: I’m going to assume you’ve been through this box before?
daisyfae: YES! Definitely my handwriting!
Trailer Park Refugee 
I’m slowly excavating myself out of the bags and boxes from the bedbug episode. I swear I was better off to leave it all contained. Now it’s alp over the place as I decide what to keep and what I can live without. Sometimes I just want to bulldoze the whole mess.
Once again, seeing the amount of effort required to go through this stuff again has me on a ‘purge’ at my own place. i do not want to stick my kids with this stuff, or the headache of going through it… Mom has finally realized that the stuff she thought she needed four years ago hasn’t really been missed… As you go through each bag, try asking yourself “have i really missed this?” before making a decision…. but then again, i’m in full-on purge mode right now!
LOL @ “glass shit” – I am going through a downsize period as well 🙂
it’s just stuff…. and it is weighing us down! i’m re-energized for un-fucking my home again. gotta let it go! Good luck with your downsizing, too!
Oh the memories. And I labelled some of my mama’s boxes in very similar ways.
Glad she is home finally though. It has been a very long road.
It has been a long road, and in the end it all sorted out. As the need to bring in a hospital bed, and switch from a cane to a walking frame, happened, the new place was set up with wide doors and hard flooring to easily accommodate. Hard to believe that we purged the home in 2009… and that was 5 years ago!
Haha!
If we couldn’t laugh, we’d all go insane…
Haha… actually given I’ve a mild interest in glass blowing.. I did a short course some years back… now I want to see what is in there! lol
Just some vases, and candle holders, and generally ugly pieces picked up for a quarter here or there…. probably a few spiders, some mouse poo, too…. trust me, you don’t want what’s in that box!
i always wanted to take a scientific glass blowing class! there’s a renewed interest in glass art these days, and suspect that could be something on my retirement ‘to do’ list!
Do it… mine wasn’t scientific… it was a one day thing but I ended up with a couple of paperweights and a bowl I’m very proud of 😉
Was it actually ‘blown’ glass? That would be amazing! There are a few glass artists in town teaching… i think i’ll have to look into it! If not glass blowing, certainly fused glass… some really beautiful pieces can be fabricated without a true artistic eye!
There was “some” blowing the bowl I made was blown for sure although the guy helping did some of that I’ll confess.
That still counts! And i still want to try it! 🙂
I cannot believe she’s finally moved in. Hallelujah. Did you ever think this day would come? I had my doubt.
The actual move-in was last December, but they’re still consolidating the two households. This sale was triggered by the sale of the house next door, that they’d been living in before… Too much stuff to fit in the sheds, and a need to raise some cash to widen the driveway, have driven the need to sell off some stuff.
The timing has been good. Care for Mom now requires in-home visits from nurses, physical therapists, etc. The new place is fully accessible, and it has already made a difference.
and yes, i had my doubts that Mom would live long enough to ever return to her home…my rage has stepped down substantially since the move.
YAY! So glad Moms finally in her home! 😀
I only wish I could get my Dad to get on board with un-fucking his house! lol
*sigh*
Looking back at my posts from January, 2009, it was a fairly painful process for her to go through all the ‘stuff’. For us, too… if we didn’t need to get it out of there to renovate the house, it might have been kinder to just let it sit… “sigh” indeed…
NOTHING that’s been in a box for five years is necessary! Hope DQ and the gang can get through the rest of it, preferably without your presence and/or ‘help.’
Whenever I think whether to keep something or not…I ask myself ‘do my kids want to deal with this?’ and I dispose of it with a clear conscience.
Agreed! As i was working to get my place back in order after having the kids, and my mom, visiting for the past 6 weeks, i was able to unload a few more boxes of my own stuff Pretty sure i do not need the ‘really expensive’ rack audio system that my ex-husband and i purchased in 1980-something…. The motivation of NOT dumping this task upon my children is pretty high for me…
Sounds like those boxes are a candidate for an auction a la “Storage Wars”, sold to the highest bidder without being opened.
I remember when we moved to Missouri and received the shipment from the Navy storage of all the stuff we put in storage while we lived in the room in Jim’s folks’ basement. It was like Christmas all over again, and I was amazed at the things that I had forgotten I had.
I really ought to do some purging of my own, but it seems impossible. The worst offender here is the book collection. That and the music. Every once in a while I go through the rocks and put a few more outside.
I’m glad your Mom made it into her own home.
The Storage Wars folks would probably turn up their noses at this stuff. i have a friend returning to town after living in Germany for 5 years. She just got a delivery of all the stuff they’d put in storage before the move…. and i’m pretty sure she’s being liberal with the “donate” pile!
As i go through my stuff, the more i think about the long term challenge, the more i am letting go. Right now, it’s just a matter of making the time to do it… a few boxes here or there is about all i’m going to manage for the near term, but i hope to step it up when the weather gets lousy again!
As Cowboy said to the Dude in the movie i hold as gospel, “I like your style Dude.”
Well, I dig your style too, man. Got the whole cowboy thing goin’. And, of course, The Dude abides….
We’ve decided that a garage sale has become of utmost importance since the coconut krewe was here for Camp TCm, Summer 2014. There was much conversation about the quantity of items in the three 6′ cabinets in the garage. . .and the absence of a proper toolbox. I’m glad y’all’s Mama is properly situated now, sugar! xoxoxo
i’ve stepped up excavations in my own home – so much STUFF! Most of it i just don’t need… i try hard to be mindful of not bringing in more until i unload stuff, but that doesn’t always work out. Trying to remove 2 things for every thing that comes in the door… Works well in theory! 🙂