Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Treasure Hunting

It must be cabin fever or maybe longing for spring, but I've been sorting, organizing and purging this month in a big way.  I've unpacked boxes that got shoved in various closets and piled in the basement when we moved into this house almost 5 years ago.  That would make me feel bad, but remember the part in The Incredibles where Helen tells Bob that it only took her 3 years to unpack the last box?  I'm not a superhero so I think that means I'm doing pretty well!  Part of me was a tad overwhelmed and thought, oh you haven't opened these boxes & bags in 4 years, just donate them all sight unseen.  But I had open them because there were things I'd been missing and worrying about, like:
  • All my "good" jewelry (with the exception of my wedding band and gold bangle that was Nana Bertha's that I wear every day).  
  • My flower girl dress from my sister G's wedding when I was six.  My sister K. sewed it to match all the other bridesmaid's dresses.  It's blue dotted swiss with net sleeves.  (Do they even still make dotted swiss?)  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress.  I'd like to shrink myself so I could wear it again.  The only childhood dress I loved more was my "rainbow dress" from when I was 7 but we didn't think to save that one.  I think I'm going to put it in a shadowbox or display it on my bedroom wall somehow.
  • Ditto the little baggie of cloth diapers that came home with me from the hospital and the one decorated with pink ribbons that the nurses made for me to wear for the occasion.  There were no NICUs 45 years ago and these little diapers are a reminder of how much these ladies loved and cared for me for 3 months and how they wouldn't give in, especially after my twin Philip passed away.  These have to be displayed somewhere special.
  • 2 boxes of checks.  I knew I ordered them! 
  • 2 pairs of handmade gloves with fur trim and Athabascan beading.  A very dear friend made these for us when we lived in Holy Cross.  They're too nice to wear every day but I'm going to start wearing mine more often now that I've found them.  I also found some other beaded items that we got as gifts, some keychains, a credit card holder, some earrings.
  • Video of the boys when they were very little.  I found 3 tapes earlier in the month but I knew we had taken lots more.  I found 5 other tapes today.  I haven't watched them yet but I'm guessing 4 of them are of them egging each other on in the Jolly Jumper and the Exersaucer.
And the treasure hunter in me was happy to find:
  • 2 savings bonds
  • $100 cash ($50 in each of 2 sealed envelopes with the boys names on them, no note or card or anything and it's not our handwriting.)  I opened a bank account with it and I think it'll be the start of our Disney fund.  (I know I should put it in the college fund but if we don't start saving the boys will be in college before we get there!)
  • A bag of lightbulbs.  Considering that the kitchen light just burnt out and the drawer where we usually keep lightbulbs is empty, this is a good find.
  • Some silhouettes that an artist handcut at a craft show when the boys were about a year old.  I totally forgot all about these.  Just looking at them brings back memories of that time.  I need a frame for these.  I'll probably find one in another box :-D
  • My gargoyles.  I missed their ugly mugs.
  • A new pair of pants that I bought at Target in... the receipt says April.  I have no memory of buying them, but they're rather nice and they still fit.
And then there was some stuff that was easy to donate or recycle:
  • All the cards & ribbon bows from my baby shower.  I always had intentions of putting these in a scrapbook or something.   Oh well.  I've got lots more current things for the scrapbooks!  And I've still got the love, if not the cute little onesies and blankets.  Actually, we do still have some of those... remind me to post the photo of 6 yo M. wearing a 6 month size romper!
  • All the miscellaneous bedding that didn't match or was for the wrong size bed.
  • Lots of lots of crafts and stitching supplies.  I could probably get rid of a lot more but I didn't want the "now we can go and get more" instinct to kick in.
  • My collection of perfume bottles and little china boxes.  They're pretty but they're just not me anymore, you know?
  • Many years of Family Fun magazine.  Everything is online now anyway.  Ditto for all the other magazines I used to keep.  I kept the Simple Scrapbooks only because I do refer to them and they're going out of print.
  • A bunch of books I've finally admited I will never read again.  This was not as hard as it used to be.
  • Many plastic bags and other flotsam.  Apparently I packed our garbage.

2 comments:

Katie said...

Hi there! I hope that you don't mind me stopping in and leaving a comment. I saw your blog listed in your freecycle post. I know exactly what you mean about treasure hunting. I'm packing to move back to Michigan after living in Buffalo for almost 2 years and haven't even finished unpacking! Now, I'm sorting through my things, freecycling what I don't want and finding all sorts of great treasures in my own things!

thekreativelife said...

WOW! You wanna come to my house? You could probably make quite a tidy sum collecting the loose change running around here. ;)

Way to get organized! (Now you've made me feel bad and I'm going to have to dive in and start doing a little organizing of my own!)