mum's stuff

I got back from a quick trip to California a few days ago.  Both sisters were there.  It was a whirlwind trip, time to see each other briefly and go through some of mum's stuff before she gets rid of everything and moves in with Vix.  The moving in was a mutual decision, easier on mum, who is on oxygen 24 hours a day now, and more convenient on Vix who is not able to keep two households running by herself.

Many grown children meet resistance from parents when the time comes that they can no longer manage on their own.  I have to say I thought my mum would be one of the "oh hell no I'm not leaving my home" type of parents.  She has proven to be cooperative, and not attached to any of her "stuff" except for a few small items.  This has been quite a surprise for me.  And I am grateful that it has been an easy transition so far.

We actually had a good time sorting through mum's things, and a lot of laughs at the stuff she had collected over the years.  She had a few magazines with some really unique decorating tips, and I saved them.

Save the foil from the turkey, and create art with it!

Vienna Sausage and Velveeta cheese, magic on a Rye Krisp!

Ok, Martha Stewart and Julia Child it isn't.  It surprised me that someone got paid to think these ideas up.  Life was so much simpler when you could decorate with crumpled aluminum foil and serve Vienna sausage on a cracker as an appetizer. 

There was a plate no one seemed to want, although mum insisted that Vix had said she wanted it.  It's kind of pretty.  One of those things that no one remembers anything about.  It just appeared magically sometime in the distant past and planted itself in mum's stuff.

Mum had also collected a folder of things from school days for Dooj and me, and I had a linoleum block print that I had made in crafts class in high school.

I answered this 3 kids and 41 years ago.

I left two plastic bins of stuff that will require a road trip to get next fall.  My collection includes books I read when I was a child, a creamer and sugar set that was my great grandmother's, some shot glasses from mum's shot glass collection, a Fostoria crystal plate and candelabra set, a shot server that looked like an old time water pump (you pump it and it serves one shot at a time), and assorted other stuff.  Nothing worth a lot of money, and I tried to keep it to a minimum.  Most of the stuff I chose will be given to my kids immediately.  

I brought home a couple things with me.  A paperwork sorter that mum used at work for years, and the first racy novel I almost didn't get to read (I had to convince Grammy to let me read it).

Sort-All and Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor (pub 1944)

Forever Amber was the raciest novel I read as a teenager.  I actually read it when I was about 14 and loved it.  The novel was set in 1644 and was very descriptive, about the plague especially.  When I saw the book, I told mum that was MY book and it was going home with me.  The mystery was how she ended up with it.  I had read it at Grammy's, and don't remember bringing it home with me.  Also a mystery was why mum kept it.  She kept very few books.  It's a mystery.

As we went through mum's stuff I thought about what we all keep, and why we keep it.  And wondered how much stuff is buried in my closets.  My sisters and I laughed as we sorted, remembering some of it, and having fun trying to decide whether to keep it or Goodwill it.  Most went to the Goodwill.  The Cosmopolitan magazine centerfolds of Jim Brown and Burt Reynolds went in the garbage.  (Sorry Burt, you never were my cup of tea.)  My sisters and I are all of an age now that makes us shy away from collecting too much stuff.  A few things for sentimental reasons, and that was about it.  At our age we don't want to add to much to the pile of stuff we already have.

My stuff will get sorted through soon.  Mum was a neat person, and I am not.  I don't want my kids talking about what a pack rat I am.  I'd rather keep the laughs to myself.  

~cath xo
Twitter @jonesbabie

the grown up day

I was born in the Chinese year of the dragon.  Additionally, this year the element sign is water, which is also my element.  Because this is my year, special things have been happening to me, and around me.  This is for my grands.   It's a fractured tale, but it's my tale and I'm sticking to it.

Once upon a time there was a Gramps and a Grammy.  They loved their grandkids and loved to have them visit, but once in a while Grammy and Gramps liked to have a grown up day by themselves.  This was so they could spend some special time together and have some grown up fun.

the beautiful day

One weekend the day was so beautiful that they decided to get out and have some fun.  They talked about lots they could do, and finally decided to go to the state line and buy some lottery tickets.  Because this was Grammy's year, the year of the dragon, and she was going to win the lottery and build everyone in the family their own castle.

So Gramps spent the day before the trip washing his new truck, and polishing it, and cleaning all the mats so not even a blade of grass or speck of dirt could be found in it.  It was so shiny it looked like a new red apple sitting in the front yard.  

On Saturday morning Gramps put the bum's rush on Grammy to get her ready and out the door, even though she only took thirty minutes to get ready, and even though it had taken that shiny red truck eight hours to get ready.

They left the house and drove to the big city, stopping to get Grammy some of her special Starbucks tea.  Gramps got himself a big cup of coffee too.  They drove on down the road to buy the [lottery] ticket that would give them a pie-in-the-sky life.

Gramps' pants

A little way down the road, Gramps tried to set his coffee in the cup holder, and missed, even though it was a big cup holder.  The coffee bounced on his lap, then rolled down his leg, leaving a trail of hot coffee all the way down his left pants leg.  Grammy tried not to laugh, she really did, but she just couldn't behave like a Grammy should, and she laughed loudly as Gramps said some really ugly words.  (Gramps got coffee on his left sock too.)

They rode a little farther, and got to the place where they sell those special prize winning tickets that have Grammy's name on them.  Just as they exited the highway and turned into the parking lot, Grammy's tea fell off the top of the center console where she had accidently left it, and it rolled down Gramps' right leg, leaving a trail of tea stains.  Grammy made sure not to laugh this time, because she was afraid Gramps might get really mad at her for not having her tea in the cup holder.  By the time the truck stopped, there was a big puddle of tea in Gramps' freshly cleaned floor mat.

the real food place

Gramps got the special ticket that was going to make Grammy a rich woman, and found out that the store didn't have any paper towels in it.  Not one single roll.  So Gramps had to use his special window cleaning cloths to mop up the tea.

After he got finished, they rode to a nearby store to buy Gramps some new pants.  Then they drove back to the big city, and went to a nice restaurant and had some really good food.  They enjoyed the real food because they had been eating cardboard dieting for weeks.  After they finished their real food, Gramps took Grammy to the movie.  It was a very exciting movie (the kind men always like with lots of action).

Grammy and Gramps had so much fun being grown ups that day.  And Gramps learned an important lesson.

Never put the bum's rush on Grammy when she is getting ready to go out, or hot tea and coffee will always fall on your side of the seat.  Every time.  Because this is the year of the dragon, and Grammy's turn to laugh.

She didn't laugh too much though, because Gramps got her a second cup of her special hot tea on the way home.  Starbucks Tazo Chai latte.  And it never left her hand.

The End

~cath xo
Twitter @jonesbabie