Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Trash or Treasure?


You never know what you are going to find when your cleaning out someone else's house. Over the last few months I have been pleasantly surprised, dumbfounded, confused, outraged, humored, shocked, disgusted, baffled, and yes, sometimes horrified. I have thrown away thousands of dollars worth of food and countless "free gifts" from sweepstakes companies. I have researched countless pieces of china and glassware on the Internet that, quite frankly, I find tacky and wonder why anyone would ever collect such awful items. I have found dead mice in unexpected places. I have laughed my butt off when I have found circa 1970's pictures of loved ones. I have found a few treasures--nothing of monetary value--but treasures all the same: a hand-painted wedding invitation from the 1950's, dusty old books (my first love), a Frankoma bee hive honeypot, dog tags from the family pet that died in 1969, baby shoes, a huge conch shell (that is now sitting beside my pool), kitschy bar ware, funky prints of Paris, and cast iron skillets.

I would like to strangle the sweepstakes people for leading the elderly down a primrose path of promised fortunes. And who told my mother-in-law that she should could retire one day on the proceeds of her Beanie Baby collection?! That person ought to be shot. What am I going to do with 5,678 Beanie Babies? Also, what makes a person want to hoard items? Now, I'm not talking about "collecting" items, but hoarding items. What would compel a person to save all the detergent scoops that they ever got? I mean I understand that you could buy a box of Tide and by some cosmic mistake, the company could have not put a scoop in the box. For this reason alone, I think that everyone should keep one extra scoop above the washing machine. But really, do you need 157? What is with old people and marbles?! My mother-in-law really "lost her marbles". I filled a coffee can with marbles I found in the kitchen and downstairs bathroom, and I found these marbles ONE AT A TIME!!! Why did she need the marbles in the kitchen and bathroom? I also found $687.32 in change in the kitchen, and you guessed it, I found it one coin at a time.

One person's trash is another person's treasure. Who am I to judge?

Anglo Girl

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