A Walk Down Amnesia Lane

My parents are hoarders.

Dad is the worst offender by far.  Collects bits and pieces from circuit boards to oil bottles.  He finds value in them and collects with the intention of churning them over, extracting the valuable component to sell and then discarding the rest.  He isn't too good on two things . . . the extraction process (collects more than he can handle) and the discarding process . . . it just never seems to end. 

My Mum, on the other hand, is simply a clutter bug.  Just loves to have 'things' around her more for looking at than for purpose.  And she too struggles to throw things out . . . having lived too long with my Dad perhaps or simply struggles to make that final decision. 

It has taken me years, but I have now come to a fairly healthy point of deciding what to keep and moving things along.  Last July, when we were preparing for our move to Hervey Bay, Rick and I literally gave away half of our belongings.  We didn't sell anything, just gave it away. To anyone who was interested.  It was the kerbside collection the week before we left so we had hoarders combing the streets and we happily contributed to their obsession.  We also gave to people who genuinely needed the items. 

What a feeling!  Seriously, it is liberating to simply give away your belongings.  In hindsight, selling probably would have been the smart thing to do as the money would be handy, but we have been on the receiving end of the generosity of family and friends that we simply couldn't sell.  I also would have liked to have been able to see into the future so that we wouldn't have donated almost all our winter clothes, thinking that we wouldn't be needing them anymore . . . I am missing a few warm tops as this is a cold spring.

So, it was a strange thing to find myself in an Op-Shop last week.  I saw one of my donated items still on the shelf but had no desire to re-purchase it.  What I did purchase were some sheets and pillowcases.  I'm still learning this whole quilting thing so cheap fabric is less stressful to work with!

But then I remembered my Mum has a stack of unused sheets at home.  So off I trotted down to my childhood home in Sydney and op-shopped there!

Sheets, kitchen utensils and a painting.  Woo hoo!  And Mum was only too happy to give them away.  Perhaps it was having someone else decide what to let go of, and knowing it wasn't just getting tossed.

And yes, that is a Smurf bedspread!  It's got a few stains on it but I think I can use it to make two little boys quilts!

And don't you just love that old icecream scoop? The melon baller (or so I think it is) and the cherry pipper?  I'm pretty sure they belonged to one of our grannies.  The forks and knife are the what's left from our family cutlery that we had when I was little.  Can always use more forks in the picnic set.  And I simply love the colour of the handle of the whisk.  The whisk is definitely not needed but adored.

The painting?  Well, Mum said that it turned up at the house and she didn't want it. . . ?  But I love it.  I love the colours, I love the 50's box frame, chips and all but I haven't got a spare hook in our rental . . . .

Apart from behind the dunny door!  But you know, the toilet has become my escape from my micro fellas, even though they are little toilet stalkers waiting impatiently outside the door!  At least I have something to look at now while I am hiding.