This was the last weekend that Mama Kelly’s daughter, Miss Artistic, came over to help me sort the mountains of junk that have been in my garage and other places around the house (she had agreed to help out four weekends this summer).  She arrived Friday afternoon and was spending the night, I brought her home Saturday night and stayed for my monthly overnight visit with Mama Kelly.  My daughter Angelgirl went to stay with Mama Kelly for an overnight and to play with Princess Nibbles (Miss Artistic’s younger sister).

First a little background - Six years ago when we moved here the movers just crammed stuff in until the garage was floor to ceiling and completely packed with no room to move.  The old house we lived in had a huge back building, full basement and an attic and we are very prone to being pack rats.  The house we moved too had no basement, no attic, and no back building - so we had to leave a lot of stuff behind (I still have no clue what all we lost, I try not to think about it) and the stuff we did bring was way too much for the storage space we have here (a garage and some empty space under the eaves in on the second floor).  

Physically with my arthritis and other health issues it is not a job I can do myself and the mountain of choas and junk just kept growing.   But both Mama Kelly and I are determined to reduce the amount of clutter in our lives and clear away the old and to improve our lives overall.   This summer when  Miss Artistic agreed to come help me for a several weekends I was thrilled.  First two weekends we worked on the second floor where I found photos, special items I’d forgotten I had but loved, favorite books, and so much more.  And I was able to throw away tons of junk, donate a mountain of clothing, and make piles of semi-organized boxes of things that at least have been sorted and I just need to find a “spot” for the things once I clear some room in the rest of the house and the garage, and also a pile of items to possibly sell on ebay.

The past two weekend we worked mostly on the garage.  This is what the garage looked like before we started last weekend.

 

Last weekend we pulled out almost everything I knew I would be keeping and put it on my patio.  Moutains of boxes of Christmas and Halloween decorations, and a few boxes of Easter decorations.  And then started on the task of going through the mountains of junk and putting things to the curb (i.e. toddler bed, changing table, tiny rocking horse and so much more).  Most of it was picked up by folks so that made me feel good that someone would be able to use these things.  

Luckily the weather was nice all week and it didn’t rain so the items on the patio were safe.  This weekend Teacherman was available to help out so we really got a lot done.  The three of us were able to move almost all the boxes left in the garage that had to be sorted out to the living room and dining room, and then moved everything in from that patio back into the the now almost empty garage. So that 90% of the garage now only has sorted boxes of items I’m keeping.  (There is a small area of things that are just too heavy to move which I’ll deal with another time - four boxes of hard cover books and a hope chest.)

Here’s the garage now.  It’s not done yet of course - but very much improved. 

Some of the boxes I sorted this weekend contained wonderful treasures - photos of Mama Kelly and I together from 20 years ago with a group of our friends; jewelry pieces I loved and hadn’t seen in over a decade.  I also found pictures of Angelgirl when she was just a toddler.  But the most precious treasure of all was a photo of Helen and Dur holding Angelgirl.   This photo was taken in China about a day after she was placed in our arms.  Helen and Dur were the people who met our group in China, made all the arrangements for transportation, made the appointments with the officials and made sure everything went smoothly.  I cried for about 10 minutes, happy tears of reliving the joy and the memories of our little Angelgirl. 

It was extra special to be able to share those memories with Mama Kelly when I got to her house for our over night visit.  I brought a bottle mead for her that I gotten as a gift from the Renaisssance Faire, a little bit of incense I had found that we both loved and used a lot way back when - just smelling it brought back the memories; and of course the photos.   Mama Kelly got all teary eyed too looking at the pictures of long ago friends and of Angelgirl so small and tiny.

Do you have a photo that makes you weepy?   What makes you tear eye up with tears of fond memories and joy?

Health and Happiness, Lady Rose

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