Bins of memories

Mom and Dad have bought a bungalow near my house and will be moving in June. That being said they have been on "Operation sort, clean, pack, toss".

They pick a room or space, sort through close to 20 years of stuff, clean up the room and get is show ready to sell, pack what they are going to keep and toss what should have been tossed years ago.

This weekend was my turn to return home and sort through all the stuff that they have kept for me. Toys, books, games and school work from my entire life. That's right I spent a good 6 hours on Sunday visiting old friends and remembering the names of the dolls I once filled my spare time with. Above is a picture of my almost done pile. There were 9 large boxes [big enough to fit a fisher price stove in] and 7 Rubbermaid bins full.

There were 2 reasons for keeping this stuff. One, someday my kids will get to play with it all and 2 some items like my first doll and Christmas stocking are so filled with memories I couldn't bear to part with them. Many toys were in almost brand new condition that did not fit into either of these categories and were set aside to be donated.

This is half the pile of garbage that was either broken, missing pieces or of no use [not bottom left Simpsons puzzle at the beach glued to some cardboard, who keeps this stuff?]

A dear friend of mine came out to help too, Alter-Lisa. If you are related to me or a close friend of mine you may have met her. She is extremely anal and organized and doesn't speak softly, rather she barks at everyone around her, almost biting off their extended arms of help. No one was allowed to help or make suggestions. Innocent whispers from my parents and husband such as;

"you should keep that" or "throw it away" or "I'm just helping you take stuff out of the boxes" were all responded to by

"BACK UP, YOU'RE CROWDING ME"
"KEEP AWAY"
"THAT'S CRAP AND NOT BEING KEPT"
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING, YOUR CONFUSING MY PROCESS"

All toys needed to be sorted by function, i.e Fisher Price food, Barbies, Books, Games, Memorabilia toys that will not be played with. Some of them will have a new home on my Art room bookcase.

Barbie Bin

Fisher Price Food Bin

Kenrick is glad it is over and proud of of me for getting ride of so much stuff. I emptied 3 Rubbermaid bins, 9 garbage bags and 4 boxes of Goodwill donations. All the boxes and bins of items to keep were re packed and are now ready for moving day. Mom and dad said since I live so close to the new house, the moving van will bring me all my stuff. Phew! I was worried about where it was all going to fit in the Civic.