Post by W.T.Faulkner on Mar 9, 2014 11:38:01 GMT -5
That somebody else might mistake for trash? In other words, what item in your house has only a special meaning to you?
There is a scrap of newspaper from 1993 in my wallet right now. It's a clipping of a horoscope. My grandmom, who passed in 2010, used to clip pages and pages of newspaper articles for me the whole time I was growing up. We were close, and she died very suddenly, and I felt pretty directionless and heartbroken.
After she died, my aunt was cleaning out her house and found a horoscope she had clipped for me, but never gave me, from when I was 4 years old. The horoscope she sent said that Virgos are "born to do great things" and that they must follow their hearts. My aunt gave it to me just before I graduated from college, when I was applying for jobs, and it honestly felt like a hug from my grandmother, whom I missed so much. A few weeks later, I got the job I wanted and got into grad school.
It's still there, and it will be until it disintegrates.
A terry cloth robe that's about 15 years old and covered in bleach stains. It has seen better days, but it's so soft and comfortable. I'll wear it until it literally falls apart.
I have the little card that came in a bouquet my dad got me once. It just says "Love, Daddy" in his writing. I found it in a drawer in my old room after he died. I will keep it forever <3
A Mason jar of dried dead flowers. They are the dandelions my little boys picked for me all last summer. I labeled them, so hopefully no one will dump them.
These three golden plastic hummingbirds that have always hung over my bed at my grandmother's house. I always thought they were there to give me good dreams. I'll inherit them when she passes.
Post by BunnyMacDougal on Mar 9, 2014 12:25:01 GMT -5
Scraps of wall paper I keep - over 50 years old. It was stripped from my grandmother's house to sell it after she died. Its the craziest late 50's design of life-sized graphics of strawberries, mason jars, and utensils. And the colors are that 50's orangey red berries, robins egg jars, and puce leaves on a parchment yellow background. It looks old as hell and the scraps have jagged edges.
But I grew up in that kitchen helping her cook, talking about life, etc. Just glancing at it makes me feel like I'm at her house. I have two bigger pieces framed in my kitchen. But if anybody saw the other scraps, they'd definitely trash. I plan to do more framing or maybe something else with those other pieces someday.
It's not something in the house, but I have a specific type of cherry tree out in the yard that has looked dead for about 2 years now. From what we can guess, a deer stripped the leaves and bark and just shocked the tree and it never recovered. I don't want to get rid of it because the kind of cherry tree it is is the same name as DD, who I rarely get to see because she lives with her dad across the country.
Scraps of wall paper I keep - over 50 years old. It was stripped from my grandmother's house to sell it after she died. Its the craziest late 50's design of life-sized graphics of strawberries, mason jars, and utensils. And the colors are that 50's orangey red berries, robins egg jars, and puce leaves on a parchment yellow background. It looks old as hell and the scraps have jagged edges.
But I grew up in that kitchen helping her cook, talking about life, etc. Just glancing at it makes me feel like I'm at her house. I have two bigger pieces framed in my kitchen. But if anybody saw the other scraps, they'd definitely trash. I plan to do more framing or maybe something else with those other pieces someday.
That's neat. I wonder if you could scan the scraps to recreate the pattern in a file, and then you could have lots of options, like print to fabric for a throw pillow, or send it to one of those companies that makes woven throw blankets from images.
Scraps of wall paper I keep - over 50 years old. It was stripped from my grandmother's house to sell it after she died. Its the craziest late 50's design of life-sized graphics of strawberries, mason jars, and utensils. And the colors are that 50's orangey red berries, robins egg jars, and puce leaves on a parchment yellow background. It looks old as hell and the scraps have jagged edges.
But I grew up in that kitchen helping her cook, talking about life, etc. Just glancing at it makes me feel like I'm at her house. I have two bigger pieces framed in my kitchen. But if anybody saw the other scraps, they'd definitely trash. I plan to do more framing or maybe something else with those other pieces someday.
That's neat. I wonder if you could scan the scraps to recreate the pattern in a file, and then you could have lots of options, like print to fabric for a throw pillow, or send it to one of those companies that makes woven throw blankets from images.
A little light catcher that hangs in the kitchen window. It's about 3 inches long and has a humming bird carves into it. It was given to my by the subject of the first newspaper article I ever wrote.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Mar 9, 2014 13:07:59 GMT -5
In my wallet I have 2 pictures of my DH. One is from maybe 4th or 5th grade and the other is from his first IL driver's license. The young one is just so cute in a dorky way and the older one he has a massive white boy 'fro AND he looks seriously hung over. I keep them both for entertainment value .
Post by amberlyrose on Mar 9, 2014 14:53:27 GMT -5
I had little post it's that DH had scribbled on and put in my work locker when we worked at the same hotel I finally put them in a frame, but haven't hung it.
Post by Miss Phryne Fisher on Mar 9, 2014 16:04:38 GMT -5
I have a ribbon. Just a maroon ribbon. It is from some flowers my dad got me in HS. He died 12 years ago, I treasure that little ribbon.
I also have my great aunt's battered and yellowed paperback of Anne of Green Gables. I got it from her room in the farmhouse she shared with her brother her entire life, many years after her death. It looks like nothing to most people, but means a lot to me. She was a sweet and wonderful woman who never had kids of her own, but raised my grandfather (her nephew).
I recently got my Grandpas old pocket watch. I love it, and wish there was a way I could show it off. My parents have his old straw hat. I'd love it to be displayed somewhere nice.
I don't think anyone would mistake it for trash, but out of everything, it's what I would want the most.
My granddad bought my grandmother a cross necklace when they were newlyweds. Not expensive, not anything ornate or special. I don't think she ever even wore it because she didn't like it and he bought one she picked out a year or two later.
But on my thirteenth birthday, my grandparents gave it to me. My granddad purchased it out of love for my grandmother, and then they gave it to me.
My granddad died several years ago, and he was the kindest man I've ever known. Wearing that necklace reminds me of him.
I also have a small dry-erase board that, in 2007, DD traced her hands and feet, and made chickens out of the handprints and footprints, and wrote "Form (sic) your little girl" on it. It's gotten dusty as hell, but I don't want to risk erasing it to really dust it.
I have these two round magnets with a hole in them (think like lifesavers, the tops are white and the bottoms are black). They are from a game my brother and sister used to play, and by the time I was born all that was left was this roll of about 6 of these magnets. I used to play with them ALL the time when I was kid, and my siblings would play with them with me. Over the years all but these last two have been lost. I keep them in my fire safe, and my H thinks I'm nuts.
Post by karmasabiotch on Mar 9, 2014 19:28:51 GMT -5
I have a pillowcase its sort of plain that was on my bed when I was 7. Due to life circumstances its the only thing that I have from my childhood. I treasure it. Its almost see through its so old.
I have an old model of dental uppers with children's teeth exposed and one half of the side pulls off to show the growth pattern of adult teeth. I also have some old display teeth and dental tools. It's the only thing I ever asked my dad's wife to send me from my dad's house. He was a dental technician and I remember his old lab in our backyard, the lab he worked in with the dentist in town for many years and I worked with him in the lab my first year of college. I also remember doing a report on dental growth using dad's mold. I was a bit different as a kid.
Two things I wish I had were a blanket I helped my grandma crochet and a little critter I made in sixth grade she kept on her guest bedroom bed. My sisters didn't bother calling before they cleaned out Grandma's house and donated or sold the first and tossed the second. I learned this at the memorial service. I was not happy.
Post by gullterre15 on Mar 10, 2014 4:06:13 GMT -5
I love every single one of these. My aunt passed away in November of throat cancer and her partner gave me the only thing I wanted of hers which are bookends made out of her bronzed baby shoes. Also, I have dining room chairs whose seats were needlepointed with floral patterns.....he lovingly needlepointed every single one for my grandmother to go with her rosewood dining table.
I have an old model of dental uppers with children's teeth exposed and one half of the side pulls off to show the growth pattern of adult teeth. I also have some old display teeth and dental tools. It's the only thing I ever asked my dad's wife to send me from my dad's house. He was a dental technician and I remember his old lab in our backyard, the lab he worked in with the dentist in town for many years and I worked with him in the lab my first year of college. I also remember doing a report on dental growth using dad's mold. I was a bit different as a kid.
Two things I wish I had were a blanket I helped my grandma crochet and a little critter I made in sixth grade she kept on her guest bedroom bed. My sisters didn't bother calling before they cleaned out Grandma's house and donated or sold the first and tossed the second. I learned this at the memorial service. I was not happy.
I am so sorry your sisters didn't call you about that stuff. I am glad you have the memories though...and the dental stuff!
Post by themoneytree on Mar 10, 2014 7:13:48 GMT -5
A photo of my parents when they were still married. They are sitting surrounded by tulips, holding hands and look so in love. I wish I could have known them like that.
I would hope no one would mistake them for trash, but I have a box of letters my Grandpop wrote to my Grandmom from the time they were dating, into their marriage, through the birth of their children and beyond. They met for the first time when my Grandmom was eight; he gave her her first kiss on her 16th birthday (he was 27), and they married when she was 18. He died when my dad was 12, and my Grandmom never remarried. Those letters are invaluable to me - they are the only material thing I'd be sure to save from a fire.
I am undecided about their level of preciousness, but I have my kids ombilical stumps and my older kid's baby teeth in a ziplock in my underwear drawer.
Not trash but I also have the ring my dad proposed to my mom with. It is a simple gold ring with a knot and the two smallest diamonds you have ever seen. He upgraded it years later and my mom hasn't worn it in 30 years. She gave it to me on my wedding day as my something old.
Scraps of wall paper I keep - over 50 years old. It was stripped from my grandmother's house to sell it after she died. Its the craziest late 50's design of life-sized graphics of strawberries, mason jars, and utensils. And the colors are that 50's orangey red berries, robins egg jars, and puce leaves on a parchment yellow background. It looks old as hell and the scraps have jagged edges.
But I grew up in that kitchen helping her cook, talking about life, etc. Just glancing at it makes me feel like I'm at her house. I have two bigger pieces framed in my kitchen. But if anybody saw the other scraps, they'd definitely trash. I plan to do more framing or maybe something else with those other pieces someday.
Omg, that sounds like the wallpaper in MY grandmother's kitchen.