Tamara, I am really looking forward to doing this scrapbook, and the biggie is that I have to find things that USED to be in it, but have either fallen out or were ripped/taken out, and decide what NOT to put in, or maybe to add in some things …

This was an album that was setup as a scrapbook (pre-made sections to add data and pictures), back in the 70’s, so info is in it, but I have to make it look so much nicer. That much I’m thankful for, that most info is there.

I know that there are stories that I heard and are now lost since they weren’t written down. It’s something that was on my mind for years, but my mother couldn’t seem to get them written out. She did do a “Christmas Memoires” book for all the children some years ago. Other than that, there is precious little written down.

My mom wrote poetry and studied the Bible. That’s it. The poetry is useful, but her Bible study stuff is personal to her and not useful for anyone else. I lived at home until I was 26, when I got married. I did live other places here and there for pieces of time between 19-and-22, but overall I was home and tried to get things going, though my mom seemed to care about passing things on orally, she couldn’t get it going enough to pass oral stories on to me. I have some in my head, but not enough. I can’t clarify details of the stories either, as I once could have. 🙁

So Tamara, if I can pass something on to you it is this: Do not wait until … do it now. The legacies that can be passed down to you are Oral Stories, Written down stories, photographs and info to go with them, Important Documents. My “messy” house is getting worked on, but this “my mom going downhill” time had me and siblings going through her house looking for things and helping clean up. Mail piled up everywhere and things in disorder. Our house isn’t THAT bad, but getting old, becoming severely ill due to accident or disease … get the house in order beforehand. Not that it has to be perfect, just “in order” with things filed or thrown away. I’m a piler, not a filer. I like files, but have a problem filing. I can find anything in my horizontal piling systems, but I HAVE to make a change now. I saw how bad it can get (my mother’s stuff.)

I also realize how much my own self does things, and if something happened to me, my entire thought processes are gone from the family I am raising. So … I see, now I must do. There is a lot of work to be done. I thank God for computers, keyboarding. 🙂

I am a simplistic/ecelctic/victorian in style – so in our house it’s a strange place. I know that these things all clash. I am amused by it. How can you be a reductionist of things and be “victorian” in style? They [victorians] have a thing for every nuance of what you can do. I like that. 😉 But I also know there is value in paring down and having less. I love that cluttered victorian look. I love a seaside cottage look. I love a french country look. I love arts & crafts style. If you were in my house you’d see that I don’t have much of anything in “style” that it’s “all in my head” and I see it, though it’s not really there, yet. It’s an eclectic thing, picking and choosing from here and there and everywhere, though not much of anywhere so far. My walls are bare. I have ideas, but my walls are all bare, except for my one framed Monet print that changes places every once in a while, and a couple of mirrors.

I am so rambling, but I meant it to go together as “I’m motivated finally and fully” so very much. My mom’s decline helped me start and her subsequent death just so much more has been motivating. Years of watching “Mission Organization” on HGTV are finally really kicking in.

I’ve known for a long time that I had to pare down, but I just couldn’t get the power to do it much. I tried to be that from the start with the children’s things, but it grows out of control. I know that my children have too many toys, but they have way less than “most American children” and on and on it goes.

On this theme is building furniture to have a place to put things. I bought a book for DH long ago “Terrific 2×4 Furniture” which is an easy build sort of thing. There is an armoire in that book that I want DH to make for DD, and a wall system for our master bedroom. I think DH is now on board to say “I can do this”. We do have our family room in the “basement” partially done, mostly drywalled, partially panelled. We’ve moved the TV down, and it’s nice, even without a couch, without everything done, but partially done. I now have more room up on the main floor for the kitchen/dining room. 🙂 No more TV up there 🙂 So I have lots of revamping of the kitchen stuffage — I want it fresh and useful, not crammed full of old useless stuff. I never liked my mother’s kitchen, and her last one was just as bad as the one before and the one before that, etc. going backwards in life, the different places we lived. Being in THERE last week was not fun, and I want my kitchen to be a delight. So it’s in the middle of ripped out/change, but can still be nicer put-to-gether all the while KWIM?

Everything can be nicer, even the transitional stuff, which is all of life. I don’t mean it’s all gotta be put away and looking perfect. I mean it’s arranged nice, and the useless is gotten rid of, and being honest with self about what is useful and what is useless. 🙂 Just minimalism transformed to eclectic beauty standard bearing.

Take the known stories and put them on paper. Make new stories with the family. Write THEM down. Put them all down on paper, and file them.

🙂

Thank you Kelly, I really appreciate that, and ‘specially do continue to need it (shouldn’t we all anyway?) most absolutely.

*return*hugs*