Trash or Treasure?

Sharing the good stuff, that's what blogging is all about. That's why I love going for my morning visit over to Janie's, she tells it like really is. She said genetics play a big role in explaining why they are driven to go junking. In their blood she says, also it's their livelihood since she is an antique dealer. On a fairly regular basis she loads up the car with daughters and grand babies in tow for a junkin' run. Janie is an open book, sharing her life with all of us, even the embarrassing stuff! Half the morning gone, her daughters noticed she had her shoes on the wrong feet, really! They were the forgiving moccasin type so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. She said her Mom on another run for goodies had her coat on upside down... you'd notice that, wouldn't you??? She did say it "felt odd!" I have to collect myself here, this is funny stuff................. OK, I can type again! You just have to go visit her post at Janie Fox Talks .

They say confession is good for the soul, I think I need to go to confession, I mean spill a little this morning! When we lived in California in the early 1970's, the apartment complex was huge. Fairlake was wooded with parks and pools. The apartments were in blocks, each with private enclosed patios and walkways, planned well with playgrounds and hidden areas set aside for garbage cans. Our daughter Stephanie was two, she toddled everywhere with me. Every few days I'd gather up our trash and walk down the path that led to the garbage area. Just inside the gate, there were  metal cans lined up along the sides of the walls. Sometimes when people would move, they would throw away things that they chose not to take. Things like lamps and tables and chairs. And sometimes the stuff would still look pretty good. Stephanie and I would see the booty and our hearts would race. "Det it Mommy," she too had inherited the junking gene! We did 'det it' many, many times! Lamps and dishes, vacumns and furniture. It became an event, going to the gahhh bage as Stephanie called it! Sometimes she would be playing in her room and she'd come ask me if we needed to go the the "gahhh bage!" Lord help me, this too funny to write...

True, every word of this, and I have to reach a stopping point! One thing we found was a true treasure, a sewing machine. There it was, like new, beside the metal garbage can. How could anyone throw away a perfectly good sewing machine? I picked it up (it was the portable in-a-case kind) and carried it back to our little 2 bedroom apartment. I knew immediately that this would be sent to my Mom in Arkansas. For my 13th birthday my parents had bought me a New Home sewing machine, so I didn't need it. Mom used that sewing machine for the next 35 years. It made pajamas for our families, it mended pants for my Dad and it even made doll quilts for the granddaughters. The sewing machine that was trash to someone else, resides at Stephanie's house mending clothes for her boys. I love that.