I have decided I'm going to knit myself a new jumper - and it will be red! Not that wishy washy orangey red of British post boxes, but a rich, glowing blood red (it would look great on Ianto
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Honestly, I'm your sister. I live 3000 miles away, so I don't have to face it all the way she does. A few years ago, my mum broke her ankle badly and had to spend months in rehab -- the social services people refused to let her return to her house because it was so filled with "stuff" that she could barely move -- ironically, none of it caused her to break her ankle, she just tried to pivot on her foot, and one part moved and the other didn't!
Unfortunately, my sister is one of these rather sterile environment people -- every single room MUST look like it's really just a pretty photo from a glossy magazine. So when she went into clean up my mother's house, she simply cleaned it out. She didn't give a rat's ass what it was, who it had been inhererited from or even who it belonged to. Straight into the tip.
Now you tell me, if you opened up a dresser drawer and found a shirt-box, tied with a pretty ribbon, tissue-lined, and containing very carefully preserved hand-embroidered and hand-edged in picot lace hankies, and intricately crocheted doilies and antimassacers (that's not the right spelling -- back in Victorian days, when men wore such pomades in the hair and the chairs all had high backs, these were the pieces of decourative linens that protected the chair fabrics themselves from the hair pomades when the men rested their heads back)
Anyway, if you found such a box, so obviously lovingly preserved, what would YOU do with it? Would you ask your mum about it? Would you put it back where you found it -- after all, it's in a drawer in a dresser, out of the way, not collecting any dust, etc.
Or, would you simply TOSS IT OUT INTO THE F*ING TIP LIKE IT WAS A PIECE OF DOG SH*TE?????????
Geez, even after what three years or so? I'm still so angry about that little event that I'm pounding the living crap out of my keyboard!!!!! Ha ha haa!!!! I am such an idiot!!!!!
I know I shouldn't be upset, I wasn't there to help -- it literally was not possible for me to take time off work -- we were already running below minimum shifts at the jail, which made for safety nightmares, let me tell you -- so in her eyes, I have no say and no opinion on her actions. But still -- common sense or an act of revenge because she had to take care of things.
Anyway, my heart goes out to you, because I do understand how you feel and what you're facing. When my youngest sister passed away, I was left to deal with the majority of her estate, and I did have help from my older sister, but still, it wasn't the same.
I found myself holding on to everything I could -- stupid stuff, even -- which I then had to go back thru a few months later when I decided I had to move, and even now, two years later, I'm still unpacking things from the garage and finding stuff I shouldn't have kept in the first place.
George Carlin once said that our stuff defines us -- whether it's the stuff we treasure or the stuff we put in our dumps and land-fills. Can you imagine what alien researchers are going to think of the stuff they come across in the land-fills 5000 years from now???? Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall as they sort thru it all????? I sure would!!!!
I do often wonder what future archaeologists will make of our society! I've been interested in archaeology for a long time, so I can't help myself!
My aunt, my mum's sister who died 2 years ago, was a lot like your sister - never kept much, everything had to be just so. She got a cabinet full of treasures when another relative died, but wouldn't let mum have any of it, then sold the whole lot. Mum and I were both appalled at her selfishness. There were several small items that held memories for mum that she would've loved to have, but no, it was all got rid of.
I'd never throw anything out of mum's that meant something to her, but keeping stacks of puzzle magazines going back to 2003 is not on. The puzzles have been done! Plus she has tons of clothes that don't fit her... Other things I've come across, I've asked her - some she's kept, some she hasn't. It's the same with books (the non-fiction ones) Mum sorts out those she doesn't want, then I check she hasn't thrown out something of mine, since they're all mixed up. It's easy to tell who the novels belong to - mum's are Catherine Cookson and similar authors, mine are S.F., horror and fantasy! There's no confusion there...!
Still, mum's room is piled high with stuff and you can't get near the window without climbing over her bed... not that there's anywhere to stand on the other side! My room's not quite so bad, although 7 boxes of books are getting in the way. It's a slow process deciding which ones to get rid of.
Unfortunately, my sister is one of these rather sterile environment people -- every single room MUST look like it's really just a pretty photo from a glossy magazine. So when she went into clean up my mother's house, she simply cleaned it out. She didn't give a rat's ass what it was, who it had been inhererited from or even who it belonged to. Straight into the tip.
Now you tell me, if you opened up a dresser drawer and found a shirt-box, tied with a pretty ribbon, tissue-lined, and containing very carefully preserved hand-embroidered and hand-edged in picot lace hankies, and intricately crocheted doilies and antimassacers (that's not the right spelling -- back in Victorian days, when men wore such pomades in the hair and the chairs all had high backs, these were the pieces of decourative linens that protected the chair fabrics themselves from the hair pomades when the men rested their heads back)
Anyway, if you found such a box, so obviously lovingly preserved, what would YOU do with it? Would you ask your mum about it? Would you put it back where you found it -- after all, it's in a drawer in a dresser, out of the way, not collecting any dust, etc.
Or, would you simply TOSS IT OUT INTO THE F*ING TIP LIKE IT WAS A PIECE OF DOG SH*TE?????????
Geez, even after what three years or so? I'm still so angry about that little event that I'm pounding the living crap out of my keyboard!!!!! Ha ha haa!!!! I am such an idiot!!!!!
I know I shouldn't be upset, I wasn't there to help -- it literally was not possible for me to take time off work -- we were already running below minimum shifts at the jail, which made for safety nightmares, let me tell you -- so in her eyes, I have no say and no opinion on her actions. But still -- common sense or an act of revenge because she had to take care of things.
Anyway, my heart goes out to you, because I do understand how you feel and what you're facing. When my youngest sister passed away, I was left to deal with the majority of her estate, and I did have help from my older sister, but still, it wasn't the same.
I found myself holding on to everything I could -- stupid stuff, even -- which I then had to go back thru a few months later when I decided I had to move, and even now, two years later, I'm still unpacking things from the garage and finding stuff I shouldn't have kept in the first place.
George Carlin once said that our stuff defines us -- whether it's the stuff we treasure or the stuff we put in our dumps and land-fills. Can you imagine what alien researchers are going to think of the stuff they come across in the land-fills 5000 years from now???? Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall as they sort thru it all????? I sure would!!!!
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My aunt, my mum's sister who died 2 years ago, was a lot like your sister - never kept much, everything had to be just so. She got a cabinet full of treasures when another relative died, but wouldn't let mum have any of it, then sold the whole lot. Mum and I were both appalled at her selfishness. There were several small items that held memories for mum that she would've loved to have, but no, it was all got rid of.
I'd never throw anything out of mum's that meant something to her, but keeping stacks of puzzle magazines going back to 2003 is not on. The puzzles have been done! Plus she has tons of clothes that don't fit her... Other things I've come across, I've asked her - some she's kept, some she hasn't. It's the same with books (the non-fiction ones) Mum sorts out those she doesn't want, then I check she hasn't thrown out something of mine, since they're all mixed up. It's easy to tell who the novels belong to - mum's are Catherine Cookson and similar authors, mine are S.F., horror and fantasy! There's no confusion there...!
Still, mum's room is piled high with stuff and you can't get near the window without climbing over her bed... not that there's anywhere to stand on the other side! My room's not quite so bad, although 7 boxes of books are getting in the way. It's a slow process deciding which ones to get rid of.
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