Swallowed Up by a Sea of Childhood Treasures

I remember being about 10 years old at my grandma’s house. There was an older lady who lived up the hill from my grandma whom my cousin and I would go visit from time to time. She lived in an old farmhouse all by herself and she was a hoarder. I had only stepped into her house once and at that time you could really only walk a few inches before being roadblocked by a huge stack of newspapers and a tower of milk jugs. Like I said, I was only 10 years old but even I knew this was beyond any mess I had ever seen.

Even though she wasn’t a housekeeper she was a very nice lady and strangely enough on one particular day I was visiting she took me with her to shop for a trailer to put on her land because she could no longer get into her house. Afterwards she took me to the local A&W stand for a hotdog and root beer and it was quite a lovely afternoon.

I often think of that dear old lady as I watch my own house filling up. I don’t save newspapers or milk jugs and you can usually find a path through our house, but the amount of stuff I save for my children is slowly engulfing our house. Someday I fully expect to be swallowed up by a sea of artwork, favorite toys and beloved baby clothes. If we had a big enough property I might actually consider buying a trailer to put in our yard to store it all and really that is just insane.

Instead of parting with all of this childhood nostalgia I just continue to add to it and with that comes more storage containers for it all. Our house is filled with tons of antique trunks and boxes holding all of these treasures and this past weekend I had to make one more:

The trunk I made this weekend for my daughter's treasures

The trunk I made this weekend for my daughter’s treasures

I also made a box for one of my daughter’s friends who is having a birthday this week. I figure we can’t be the only ones who need storage containers:

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A box I made for my daughter’s friend

And as I sat working on that trunk to hold more of my daughter’s treasures I pondered our whole storage problem and how we could have accumulated so much stuff and how many more years I have left in their childhoods to grow their collections. It’s really quite mind-boggling.

Even though I realize this problem; it apparently never truly sinks in because the very next day this is what I had my children do:

My kids painting huge canvases outside

My kids painting huge canvases outside

Someday, I will be that lady taking a visiting child to shop for a trailer with me because I can no longer walk through my own home. Afterwards I will take them for a hot dog and root beer and it will be quite a lovely afternoon.

I’m So Busy I Can’t See Straight

Hi Everyone!

You may have noticed that I have not been blogging as much and more than likely will not be able to for awhile. It’s not because I have writer’s block or creativity block. It’s actually quite the opposite! I have creativity overload right now and have so much I want to share but have so little time.

I have my daughter’s 8th birthday coming up and with that a big party with all of her friends at our house. I have been working on getting things ready for the big bash this weekend. Soon after that we will be hosting my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary at our house. Right around the corner from that is Bency’s 6th birthday and another party to plan. Two days after his party we will be leaving for a 2 week cross country trip to visit our family in Albuquerque, NM.

In between all of this exciting stuff to plan I have been trying to do spring cleaning. My attempts are absolutely fruitless I fear because everywhere I turn there are:

Spills everywhere!

Spills everywhere!

Kids bringing jars of bugs into the house....

Kids bringing jars of bugs into the house….

Besides kids spilling things and bringing jars of bugs into the house the weather is warming up and we are getting some rain so the house is constantly being tracked up with mud….

It's finally getting nice so we can play outside...look at all of the mud. Also notice Bency is only wearing socks!

It’s finally getting nice so we can play outside…look at all of the mud. Also notice Bency is only wearing socks!

Along with all of this fun stuff I am also working on a children’s book. Not to get published or anything mind you, just a fun book that I can give to my kids to read and I will also get an extra one made up to do a giveaway on my blog. I have the story written, 5 pictures done and 8 more to go!

Even though I am extremely busy I will still continue to read blogs. It’s the only way I can start my day. I try to wake up by 4:30 or 5:00 am everyday, grab a cup of coffee and read blogs. If I get behind, please forgive me….I will read them all eventually!

So I leave you today as I go start cleaning up all of the mud in the house that this weekend brought, make a snack for my son’s Kindergarten class that I will bring in when I go volunteer later and put the finishing touches on my daughter’s birthday party!

Best wishes to you all,

Melissa

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