More Stuff

             Tonight I ventured up in my parent's attic in search for more garage sale items.  We have a date set for October 22nd, so we are trying to stock up on anything we think will sell.  
             My search did not uncover anything that I felt like hauling down the ladder stairs for the sale.  In the first layer, I found Katie's leg cast from 1994!  Now, I understand and even appreciate the sentimentality behind keeping the cast.  It was a traumatic time in our family's life and Katie wore that cast for a good two months.  Lots of people signed it.  But, do we really, really still need it? 

             I figured that if the first layer began at 1994, I was in real trouble.  I told my mom that what she needs to do is just bring everything down from the attic someday and go through it all.  She agreed, that yes, someday she needs to do that. 

             I did discover a tub filled with all of my old barbies.  It was the only thing I brought down.  I immediately remembered when I use to play with my mom's old barbies and all the dreams I had once had of my little girl playing with my barbies!  Evangeline really had a good time going through the whole tub.  She especially liked playing with the baby that came with a stroller and swing. 

            Funny though that the barbies did not look the way I had remembered them.  For starters, most were topless and had funky hairstyles.  Also, several were missing limbs.  I had forgotten that one time I had left my barbies at a friend's house and her poodle had chewed several up, including my absolute favorite barbie, Maria.  I was obsessed with The Sound of Music when I was seven and named several of my dolls Maria.  Not sure where Maria the doll (aka "Kid Sister") is.  Probably in level 3 or 4. 

            Strange how I have blocked out the memory of Maria being chewed to bits.  I remember that it was a Sunday afternoon when I went back over to get them and that I cried and cried and then hid Maria under the bathroom sink.  The next day I came down with a bad case of the flu and my dad showed up with a replacement doll, whom I named Michelle.  I named all of my barbies "M" names- I could've been a Duggar.  I rarely got barbies "just because" so this one was really special.

             We took the baby, stroller, and swing home but left the rest of the barbies at my parent's house so that Evangeline can play with them when she goes over there to visit.  One day I'll venture back into the attic and pull out my mom's old barbies, which I'm pretty sure I spotted off in the distance in the attic tonight.  Hers are in much better condition than mine, from what I can remember. 

           

            

Stuff

           Today I decided to "clean out" my parent's shed in search for good garage sale items.  My mom basically told me that I could sell almost anything in there as long as they weren't currently using it.  

          I opened up the shed and began the task of sorting.  In one word: overwhelming.  My parents are border-line hoarders.  I can say that b/c I'm pretty sure that they will never read this blog even though I've emailed them the link.  Another reason I can say that is because a good majority of the stuff they've "hoarded" once belonged to me or my sister.  I have seen my mother take things to the Little Theater rummage sale every year since I can remember, so I really have no clue how they accumulated so much stuff.  The thing about their "stuff" is that for the most part I can remember it all once being inside the house.   And, at some point when the room in which it was located was cleaned out, someone deemed the "stuff" too precious to get rid of or determined that "we might need that someday."  Well, someday has come and we still don't need it.  

         I did find some really cool things like:  the mirror off my Nissan Altima I totaled my junior year of college, a square of the wallpaper that used to hang in my room, a shirt that I wore all the time in 7th grade, a brand new box fan that I quickly claimed for our bedroom, one of Jeanna's rubberband balls, some singing and dancing Christmas penguins, a plastic tub that I had obviously packed as I moved out of William Carey- dumped in my parent's shed and never touched again, and 4 different rodent cages.  

         My most exciting find was a Bible story book that I read every single night when I was a kid.  I have wondered where that book went for years and had searched for it in my bedroom at my parent's house with no luck.  I was just thinking about that Bible story book the other day as I was reading through the Bible.  So many of those stories I remembered from reading that book as a kid.  I am thrilled to have found it again!  It was in a box of stuff from Katie's room so she had obviously thugged it at one point after I moved out.  Since it's the Bible I'll forgive her.  :)

         In addition to searching through the shed, I also spent some time going through mine and my sisters' old bedrooms.  I found a letter that I had written to myself my sophomore year of high school to be read my senior year of high school, something our teacher Ms. Edwards had made us do.  I was disappointed to discover that most of the letter contained a detailed explanation of what was happening on The Bold and the Beautiful at the time.  I laughed when I read things like "the trial's still going on" (on B&B) like I would still know what the heck that was or even care.  I also spent a paragraph wondering if Ross would pick Rachel or Bonnie (the cliffhanger of Season 3 of Friends).  Man, I was so shallow back then.

         Katie's room contained mostly craft supplies, Phi Mu t-shirts, and Beanie Babies so I pretty much left it alone.  I DID go on ebay and price the Beanie Babies and discovered that some are being sold for quite a high price.  The problem is that no one is bidding on any of them.  We'll just let Evangeline play with them for now.  

         As I dug and dug through all this STUFF I kept thinking about Matthew 6:19, "Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal."  While few people would call my camp craft projects or fifteen dance programs, "treasures," I have definitely been storing up for years.  At some point (most of) this stuff was really important to me.  My priorities have definitely changed.  I don't even want these things anymore and they are MY things.  It's only been a few years compared to eternity.  How much sillier will all of these things appear from heaven?  What is important are intangible treasures that I am storing up for heaven- teaching my children about Christ, sharing Christ with others.  

           Then I began to wonder what will happen to all of this stuff in 100 years?  Where will it be?  In a dump somewhere?  Who will have put it there?  Who will come in and care so little about the box full of arts and crafts I made in preschool that they just throw them away?  Honestly, I'm okay with getting rid of that box right now, but still I'm "saving it."  For when?  For what?  For who?  I have no clue.  

           I really don't know if we will make any money at the garage sale.  I can't imagine who would want any of our junk.  Like I said before, it's my junk and I don't even want it! But, we'll give it a shot and hopefully at least cover the cost of renting the space ($15).  I did find two irons (one of which I assume belonged to me in college, the other to Katie), two baby gates, some doggy stairs that Cookie was too dumb to figure out how to climb, quite a few picture frames, and a couple of tables.  Keeping my fingers crossed. 

           As I've been typing Evangeline has been cleaning out the pantry, her favorite thing to do these days other than take baths or watch Wonder Pets.  Got another mess to clean up!