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.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
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.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The List Continues 141 - 150
141. The gas range that was our ‘stove top’ in China and we took with us on camping trips in the US.
142. The Coleman portable grill I won in a golf tournament
143. Two woks – one of which was REALLY great (and heavy! We spent a lot of yuan shipping it to the US from China
144. Bamboo steamers many sizes
145. Buffalo nickels I got as a kid –some where cut out
146. A marble rolling pin
147. My childhood dresser (walnut), matching bookshelf and hutch
148. The letter Terry wrote me when we were dating –insisting he could miss me even if we were apart less than 30 minutes (breaking my rule)
149. “Baby’s first Christmas” ornaments for Alexandria and Samantha
150. Sketches of me and Kelli with cats when we were kids drawn by Jon Lopez
142. The Coleman portable grill I won in a golf tournament
143. Two woks – one of which was REALLY great (and heavy! We spent a lot of yuan shipping it to the US from China
144. Bamboo steamers many sizes
145. Buffalo nickels I got as a kid –some where cut out
146. A marble rolling pin
147. My childhood dresser (walnut), matching bookshelf and hutch
148. The letter Terry wrote me when we were dating –insisting he could miss me even if we were apart less than 30 minutes (breaking my rule)
149. “Baby’s first Christmas” ornaments for Alexandria and Samantha
150. Sketches of me and Kelli with cats when we were kids drawn by Jon Lopez
Memory - Item #60 - Ceramic Christmas Village handmade by my mom
My parents were always socializing, but something changed when Kelli and I became teenagers. We found they were staying at home, watching TV and eating popcorn almost every night. Our friends noticed the same problem with their parents. It was like some sort of neighborhood watch turned against us kids --- a teenager watch.
But my Mom’s not they type to sit still for long. She scheduled a weekly ceramics class (only a block or so from home) and returned home with boxes of ceramic molds in various stages of metamorphosis.
And night-by-night she evened the edges, scraped, molded, defined and colored her creations.
A couple of years before we left the country she gave me her handmade Christmas village. Our last Christmas in the US, Alexandria was three and she helped me set each piece onto snowy cotton on our mantel. I showed her how my mom marked the bottom of all of her pieces with her initials DE and a smiley face. I’ll never forget Alexandria’s amazed face when I told her, “Your Grandma Donna made this village. Every piece!”
That year my parents and my aunt and uncle traveled to our home to spend Christmas. Alexandria zoomed out of the house to greet Grandma and shouting, “Our firesill! Our firesill! We have it! The village! On our firesill!” (She didn’t know the word mantle, but knew it wasn’t a windowsill!)
The home I grew up in had a large raised hearth around the fireplace where my mother displayed the Christmas village. Our mantle was narrow in comparison, but the village was still beautiful with a church in the center, Christmas tress, Santa, a small group of carolers, a toy store… she had even made a tiny black dog who looked like our family’s dog, Vicki.
My sister told me not to sweat the small stuff and that “the things you lose come back to you.” I can be optimistic at times. I looked on e-bay and did an Internet search, but I couldn’t find a Christmas village as beautiful as hers.
But my Mom’s not they type to sit still for long. She scheduled a weekly ceramics class (only a block or so from home) and returned home with boxes of ceramic molds in various stages of metamorphosis.
And night-by-night she evened the edges, scraped, molded, defined and colored her creations.
A couple of years before we left the country she gave me her handmade Christmas village. Our last Christmas in the US, Alexandria was three and she helped me set each piece onto snowy cotton on our mantel. I showed her how my mom marked the bottom of all of her pieces with her initials DE and a smiley face. I’ll never forget Alexandria’s amazed face when I told her, “Your Grandma Donna made this village. Every piece!”
That year my parents and my aunt and uncle traveled to our home to spend Christmas. Alexandria zoomed out of the house to greet Grandma and shouting, “Our firesill! Our firesill! We have it! The village! On our firesill!” (She didn’t know the word mantle, but knew it wasn’t a windowsill!)
The home I grew up in had a large raised hearth around the fireplace where my mother displayed the Christmas village. Our mantle was narrow in comparison, but the village was still beautiful with a church in the center, Christmas tress, Santa, a small group of carolers, a toy store… she had even made a tiny black dog who looked like our family’s dog, Vicki.
My sister told me not to sweat the small stuff and that “the things you lose come back to you.” I can be optimistic at times. I looked on e-bay and did an Internet search, but I couldn’t find a Christmas village as beautiful as hers.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Empty Pictures
Funny thing is... sometimes when I'm trying to remember an item for the list, I think to myself "I have a picture of it." And for a split second, I think that I do.
Then I remember that my pictures are gone too!
The List Continues 131 - 140
131. The T-shirt my friends signed at the end of 6th grade
132. A heavy oak entertainment center that was made by a carpenter my grandfather knew.
133. A weight bench and weights
134. Many pennies and a few nickels that were flattened by the train at Greenfield Village
135. A tape of Mindy and Dustin singing camp songs
136. Floor lamps
137. Our toaster
138. Two pieces of the great wall of China
139. Mrs. Liang’s recipes
140. Chinese currency, coins and paper money – including old Foreign Exchange Certificates –FEC (FEC’s aren’t issued any more)
132. A heavy oak entertainment center that was made by a carpenter my grandfather knew.
133. A weight bench and weights
134. Many pennies and a few nickels that were flattened by the train at Greenfield Village
135. A tape of Mindy and Dustin singing camp songs
136. Floor lamps
137. Our toaster
138. Two pieces of the great wall of China
139. Mrs. Liang’s recipes
140. Chinese currency, coins and paper money – including old Foreign Exchange Certificates –FEC (FEC’s aren’t issued any more)
Mailbag
I've received wonderful comments to this blog and kind messages at the newsgroups I belong to. Here I will share my mail on the topic of THE LIST.
From Linda C:
This is terrible and heartbreaking, Angela.
I think writing about it in your blog is a good idea. It must be at least some kind of comfort, and it will be a keepsake for your kids.
So sorry,
Linda
[Thank you, Linda!]
From S.E.
Ouch!
[I agree!]
From T.C.
Angela,I am sorry to hear about your loss. It must be particularly hard in that it was unexpected. I think the list is a good way to remember what you had, but more why it was important.
[That's exactly it!!!]
From Cathy;
I am so sorry to hear about this; it makes me sad to think of losing the pictures and keepsakes. I know it is just "stuff", but it is stuff full of memories. Don't give up hope though. You never know what might return to you. A friend of mine dropped her memory stick from her digital camera when she was changing it while we were camping. She was sure it was gone (in the woods, not labeled with a name or address, etc) and she was sad because it held some very meaningful pictures from that trip. Three years later she receives it in the mail with a note from a man who just happened to see it (three years later) and he was a retired police detective; he was able to find their name and address by a trailer license plate that was in the background on one of the pictures. So you never know.
[Great story!!!]
Angela,
Your lists are wonderful - you have a fantastic memory.
Was this a storage unit in the States or abroad? I know it's not the point, but it really bothers me more if it was in the States. (I don't know why. Unfounded expectations, I suppose.)
Keep writing!
-K
[I'm glad you like The List. Our storage unit was in the US near where we used to live]
Oh Angela! I'm so sorry to hear about your big loss!!! Your blog is truly lovely, a printed lemonade artwork made from the rinds of missing lemons. Hope the most important things lost find their way home to you soon. HUGS!! Emily
[Thanks Emily and thanks for linking to this blog!]
Angela,
I'm so sorry for your loss of items you put in storage for safe-keeping. I hope and pray those responsible for taking them will be found and prosecuted. I'm glad your memories have remained. No one can take those. Keep in touch!
J. P.
[Thanks J.P. at this point I'd be happy to forgive and forget if it lead us to some of our things]
And by far the most common question in the mailbox was:
"What happened?"
The answer remains - we don't know and we're trying to find out."
I listed less than half of the e-mails received, but will continue to include more in the future.
From Linda C:
This is terrible and heartbreaking, Angela.
I think writing about it in your blog is a good idea. It must be at least some kind of comfort, and it will be a keepsake for your kids.
So sorry,
Linda
[Thank you, Linda!]
From S.E.
Ouch!
[I agree!]
From T.C.
Angela,I am sorry to hear about your loss. It must be particularly hard in that it was unexpected. I think the list is a good way to remember what you had, but more why it was important.
[That's exactly it!!!]
From Cathy;
I am so sorry to hear about this; it makes me sad to think of losing the pictures and keepsakes. I know it is just "stuff", but it is stuff full of memories. Don't give up hope though. You never know what might return to you. A friend of mine dropped her memory stick from her digital camera when she was changing it while we were camping. She was sure it was gone (in the woods, not labeled with a name or address, etc) and she was sad because it held some very meaningful pictures from that trip. Three years later she receives it in the mail with a note from a man who just happened to see it (three years later) and he was a retired police detective; he was able to find their name and address by a trailer license plate that was in the background on one of the pictures. So you never know.
[Great story!!!]
Angela,
Your lists are wonderful - you have a fantastic memory.
Was this a storage unit in the States or abroad? I know it's not the point, but it really bothers me more if it was in the States. (I don't know why. Unfounded expectations, I suppose.)
Keep writing!
-K
[I'm glad you like The List. Our storage unit was in the US near where we used to live]
Oh Angela! I'm so sorry to hear about your big loss!!! Your blog is truly lovely, a printed lemonade artwork made from the rinds of missing lemons. Hope the most important things lost find their way home to you soon. HUGS!! Emily
[Thanks Emily and thanks for linking to this blog!]
Angela,
I'm so sorry for your loss of items you put in storage for safe-keeping. I hope and pray those responsible for taking them will be found and prosecuted. I'm glad your memories have remained. No one can take those. Keep in touch!
J. P.
[Thanks J.P. at this point I'd be happy to forgive and forget if it lead us to some of our things]
And by far the most common question in the mailbox was:
"What happened?"
The answer remains - we don't know and we're trying to find out."
I listed less than half of the e-mails received, but will continue to include more in the future.
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