Loss and Gain

When I compare
What I have lost with what I have gained,
What I have missed with what attained,
Little room do I find for pride

I am aware
How many days have been idly spent?
How like an arrow the good intent
Has fallen short or been turned aside

But who shall dare
To measure loss and gain in this wise?
Defeat may be victory in disguise
The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.

-Longfellow


I'm certainly not at 'my lowest ebb'
but I like the flow of these words.
Love poems that wrap around and contradict themselves

I found this while I was reflecting on what I have
it is certainly more than what I've lost.

and... in relfection some of the best times of my life were times when I was idle

must we be productive every moment?

Storage Tip #2

Don’t be passive:

These are things you should know:

1. What is the billing cycle for your storage unit? Does your employer pay an entire year in advance? Will they pay quarterly? Monthly?
2. When will the storage unit send out the bill?
3. When is the next bill due?
4. When was the last bill paid?

You don’t know do you???!!!!

I didn’t either.

Here’s what you can do.

1. Find out who will send the bill from the storage unit and at what cycle.
2. Find out who is paying from your employer.
3. Call after each billing period (once a month, once a quarter) just to make sure the bill was paid. Put a sticker on your phone, a memo on your e-calendar, an alarm on your cell phone – whatever works!
4. If there is a lot of turnover with your employer –arrange to pay yourself and get reimbursed later (hey, it’s better than losing your stuff, right??)

Make it a habit to just do it. Think about it one little international phone call every month or three could save you a great big investigation (and a little bit of heartbreak)!

The list continues 181 -190

181. Our wedding memorabilia

182. Letters from my grandmother

183. A letter that Rick sent me in college

184. Jewelry boxes

185. Christmas dishes

186. Filing cabinet

187. Alexandria’s ice cream maker

188. Arts and craft stuff

189. My miniature box (shadow box) and the miniatures

190. The bible given to me on my confirmation

Plates

Above is the photo of the collectible plate Grandpa gave me and Kelli. Obviously I didn’t have to look this one up on the google pictures or search it on e-bay because Kelli had hers and I just photographed it.

But it got me thinking about plates. I’m not one of those collect plates and hang them on the wall people. And really I don’t have anything that I collect passionately (except as I just noticed old stuff from my family and Terry’s family!)

But I like plates. I’m drawn to strange shapes like square plates for dessert plates and rectangular platters instead of oblong ones.

And if I find a collectible plate that I like I’ll buy it and use if as a plate. I have three in my sidebar right now that have the little hook holder thing on the back. One is a big black and white one from Wuerzberg, another is from some city I’ve never been to near Prague, and the last is a tiny blue plate with a bird on them. All were purchased second hand. And it makes me wonder (for the first time) –did they once hang on someone’s wall? Were they part of a collection – a city plate collection, a bird plate collection? Were they searched out? Ordered by catalogue? Purchased with monthly payments?

Another risk of remembering is more remembering. I didn’t originally remember this on the list but I had another plate in that storage unit. It was one I never hung up. It was just tucked away with our wedding stuff.

Terry and I were married in the tiny town of Warrenton, Oregon. We picked the church because it was on the coast and available on the date we wanted to get married. It turned out the day we were married the church was celebrating a big anniversary – 150 years or something and they were selling commemorative plates. So we paid around $17.00 for a plate with a picture of the church we were married in and our wedding date on it. So cool.

Now I wonder… did that that plate get sold somewhere secondhand? Is someone using it as a serving dish?

The List Continues... 171- 180

171 . Precious old clothes… baby outfits worn by me as a newborn the Mom brought to me when Alexandria was born. I shared them with Alexandria and Samantha too. (I will try to post pics)

172 . Photos from when Terry and I were dating and the first 7 years of our marriage (before Alexandria was born)

173 . Terry’s collection of antique alcohol bottles including a few great big ones – a three foot tall bourbon bottle on a swinging stand, another triangle one on a brass stand…many smaller ones.

174 . Coins I collected as a kid – silver dollars, half dollars, wheat pennies

175 . The newspaper article from the Chinese newspaper a photo of me and Alexandria with the caption “Ambassadors for Peace.”

176 . My old address books

177 . A lambs wool baby blanket

178 . The Santa Clause tree topper we bought in Savannah

179 . Alexandria’s rock and shell collections

180 . Set-list from concerts I attended in Atlanta

Memories (or not!)

It is really funny the things we remember and forget.

Terry asked me if I was sad to have lost the cookie jar shaped as a kitten.

I don’t remember owning one –or any cookie jar, ever! But, I always look at cookie jars. I mean, I have to plan ahead. I intend to be a grandma someday! I do think homes that have cookie jars are just, well cozy!

We make cookies a lot. They just don’t last long enough to really justify a cookie jar.

Nonetheless, Terry remembers a blue cat-shaped cookie jar. Moreover he remembers it was very important to me. I had to have it. I couldn’t live without it.

I got that line from my Granddad who loved to shop. I’m not much of a shopper, but he loved to wander the stores. He always talked me into going into the next shop by saying, “Hey, you never know, there just might be something in there you can’t live without.”

I’d counter that there really wasn’t anything I couldn’t live without (Ha! I’m discovering that right now, aren’t I?)

And he’d say, “Well there might be something I can’t live without.” And on we’d go into another store.

Apparently once in my life I wanted a blue kitten cookie jar and Terry bought it for me. Maybe if I’d had a chance to see it again, I might remember it.

Terry’s descriptions aren’t helping. “Don’t you remember? Its head came off!”

Ummm…. No.

Not all of it was precious 151-170

I realize not everything in the storage unit was wonderful, or even memorable. There was just a lot of regular household stuff and probably more than enough junk –stuff we didn’t have time to go through and toss. On that note, the list continues...

151. Plastic golf toys

152. Wooden blocks

153. Beach toys – blow up rafts, a GIANT shark, sand molds, buckets shovels

154. A tiny electric sweeper that I let Alexandria use (and pretend it was her REAL vacuum)

155. Winnie the Pooh pillow

156. Rubber seagull toy

157. Glow worm

158. Plastic chairs

159. Rocking horse

160. Baby plates (including the cool ones with the suction on the bottom)

161. Baby spoons and forks

162. Plastic characters – Winnie the pooh’s birthday and their furniture

163. Fun meal toys

164. Magazines – National Geographic Traveler and Gourmet

165. Baking sheets

166. Kit to make friendship bracelets

167. Plastic and wooden fruit and vegetables for toy kitchn

168. Mrs. Potato Head

169. An abundance of sippy cups

170. A really scary sleeping Easter Bunny toy. He was the size of a two year old and pink and furry and he snored, and spoke, and sang and genuinely freaked me out.