Long Lost Treasures!

As I mentioned, when we left for N. Ireland we gave everything away except for what we could fit in our 5x5 storage shed in AR, and there it sat for two years until 2 weeks ago when my parents came to visit us and brought our stuff with them. We have a shed on our property here, that was empty because we didn't own anything haha, so it was really convenient to just throw the items in there until I wanted to deal with them.

So, now we are unpacking about 2 boxes a day and it's just like digging for treasure and always a surprise because we honestly could not remember what all we had saved! And poor Alex, who does not remember Arkansas was so confused, he loved all his "new" toys (his old toys) but said "Where are these from? Did grandma give me these?"  I tired to explain what a storage shed was but he just said "Shed...at grandma's?" So, I finally just said yes, they are from grandma's to ease his confusion a bit. lol

I found my really nice pot set that I got as a wedding present, all our photo albums, (that stop in 2003 because that's when I got a digital camera. lol)  lots of blankets, tons of Jason's computer junk, tons of Rebecca's craft supplies, and tons of books even though we did give away 25 boxes of books when we left! Jason asked "Didn't you save anything...useful?" Not much, because useful can be replaced....special junk can't! :-) Though I did find a box with screwdrivers and an extension cord!

I found a few items that I thought would look cute on my new dresser, which I did end up filling with our photo albums and photos, they fit perfectly inside! So the top of the dresser is now a female alter of sorts, all things to do with the steps of womanhood. 

On the top is my wedding bouquet , the framed item in front of the mirror is a beautiful matrimony cross-stitch print my SIL made me, in front of that is a childhood book of mine called "How to be a mother's helper" that was written in the 60s and is awesome, in the front is a photo of my 3 children the day they were born, and my wedding photos, and my moon jar. I also have a pregnancy collage somewhere and when I find it, it will be added and of course my pregnancy cast needs to be hung on the wall nearby too. Oh, there are also rose petals from the roses Jason gave me while we were courting. :-)

Rebecca was excited to find some of her old stuffed animals, which she arranged on her bench because it was the only free spot in her room. lol (She's a packrat.)

We found Jason's old Nintendo, which the kids are just loving because we've never had a gaming system. Or TV channels. Or a cell phone that is not a pre-paid net10 one that the only thing you can do on it is talk. We're old fashioned I guess. lol Jarod has a TV and a dvd player down in the basement, Rebecca has a DSI, and we have a computer...but that's as technical as we get. Anyways, we did have a little TV that Aunt Alice had given us so we hooked that up to the Nintendo and put it in the playroom and it's been nice because it's helping Jarod with his hand-eye coordination! And the other kids enjoy it too. (And Jarod talks me into playing the games with him once in a while....though I'm horrible at it. lol)

We found our goose, dog, and bear that have outfits that you change each month. Fun!

We found Jarod's box of books! And Alex is old enough for them now so he was thrilled! I just put them in a huge plastic bin for right now, until I can build them a bookshelf. At bedtime Alex pushed it right up to his bed and read for a really long time.Jarod was also really happy to have his books back and even more special.... he can read them all on his own now!

I found a rag doll!

And my dehydrator! Which Jason used right away to make some beef jerky and then I made some banana chips! Yum!

I can't wait to see what else we dig up! :-)

Whew!

The past couple days have been intense!

I saw the ad in the paper for the house and a few days later it was ours! Perfect timing though as Jason and the kids were off for Easter break so we were able to move in on Friday!

Thursday I packed everything up, I have no idea where we got so much stuff! We came back to the states 5 months ago with 2 suitcases each but somehow ended up with 6 van loads of items! Clothes and toys mostly. Jason has a bad back, it goes out if he so much as picks up a sock, so I did all the moving while he took care of the kids and kept us fed -which worked out perfect.

Then I hauled it all over to the house, which was pretty dirty so first Rebecca and I cleaned it, she was a huge help! Now we had a nice, big, clean house...full of boxes and nothing else. lol

So I made a post of freecycle and had a massive response! Freecycle is the best concept, ever.

I took the van and made several trips to the big town picking up items and between freecycle, the in-laws, and Jason's aunt our house now had beds, dressers, little tables, bedding, dishes, pots, tupperware, and so much more. Lots of people also said they would have more items for us after Easter because they would be spring cleaning. Thank you everyone! How wonderful it is that a totally empty house can be filled in 2 days because of kindness and a desire not to support consumerism.

Our first night in the house was exciting, so much room! The had fun running around and around. lol

But soon tired out and complained that there was no living room furniture to sit on. heh

So I ran to a store in the big town that I had been told had really good second hand furniture at great prices. I was also hoping to find a kitchen table as sitting on the floor to eat is fun, but only for awhile.

They did have a lot of living room furniture but "great prices" must mean something totally different to me as the recliners and couches were over $100...and I had brought $25 in cash. lol The couches were pretty faded and worn too, some of them has little holes or stains.

But...then I saw it. At first glance I dismissed it as too hideous but then I took a second glance and thought "Hmmm". It was in PERFECT condition. Looked like it had just came off the sale room floor....about 40 years ago. It just screamed "Proud to be from 1970!". I'm guessing that some old lady had it sitting in her back parlor covered in one of those plastic covers. I sat down on it and it was soooo very comfortable. And then I saw that there was a matching avocado green chair that went with it. And I remembered that one of the thrift stores in town had an old coffee table that looked like it was also from the 70s and at the other thrift store there was one of those plastic bucket seats from the 70s..."Dude!" I said "You can totally rock a 70s living room!" The price cinched this idea...$20 for the couch and $3 for the chair. The clerk gave me a lot of funny looks when I said I'd take it and said "Are you sure...you really like it?" heh

I'll also have to find one of those huge ugly paintings to hang on the wall and a lava lamp. Perhaps shag carpet and wood paneling? lol The kids were happy to have a place to sit and all said it's very comfy. Which is all a couch needs to be. I didn't find a table but Dorothy let us borrow her card table until I come across one.

Saturday the kids had an Easter egg hunt at the school, inside because it's so cold of course. They were separated into age groups so Alex lucked out because he was the oldest in his group and he found 22 eggs!
He left those 2 year olds in the dust!

Then I ran back to town to get stuff for our Easter breakfast and their baskets. Then later ran back to pick up more freecycle items. I was soooo tied but the house was looking good!

This morning the kids hunted for their baskets while Jason and I cooked a huge breakfast, it took Rebecca a long time to find hers because Jason stuck it up in the rafters down in the basement. hah! After breakfast Rebecca hid eggs all over the house for Alex to find and then he hid them for her....all in one spot. lol

Now, I've got 5 boxes of freecycle kitchen items to wash and then....tackle the oven. I don't know what the previous owners did to it but it's bad. Really bad. Need proof? Yay, fun for me!

I will try to upload a video of the house on Tuesday, when the kids go back to school and I find some batteries for my camera. :-P

We LOVE having our own space again!