Moving new furniture into our basement. Emptying furniture out of Grandma Calder's house. Storing my share of Grandma's books and puzzles and Christmas decorations in our garage. Lugging Kent's gifts from Grandma Calder to a storage unit. Dave and I spent the April 1 and April 8 weekends managing "stuff."
We redecorated our basement around the photograph of the Wasatch Mountains which we bought in Springville, near Zions Park. It is full of plums and golds. We added the plum-colored chair from Mom's living room, and a leather couch, ottoman, and rug suggested by our decorator, Bobbie from Bassett Furniture.
We bought a state-of-the-art, big-screen TV, hooked it up to Netflix and Direct TV, and suddenly we have an "entertainment center." This weekend Michael, Dave and I watched documentaries on Enron, Mugabe's Zimbabwe, meth, the Afghanistan war, and the Appalachian Trail.
Kent and Toshiko stayed with us the weekend of April 1, and we worked together to get their furniture and paintings from Grandma's house to a storage unit. Dave was in St. George and Michael saved the day by providing the muscle to move bookcases, couches, and a marble-topped table into Kent's "Cubes" storage unit.
The weekend of April 8 was the big Move-out, with Scott, Kent, Dave, Jean, Michael, and I all sorting and moving. We rented a 16-foot dumpster...
and a truck that Dave drove all over town--to our house, Scott's house, Kent's storage unit, the library, and Deseret Industries--delivering Grandma's "stuff" to its new home.
There were moments of sadness and tender memories as we entered Grandma's door with its familiar "God Save Our Troops" sticker...
and as we reminisced over the many marks on Grandma's family room door, showing the heights of all the grandchildren throughout the 23 years Grandma lived in the home.
There wasn't much left in the house by Saturday night, April 9, and nothing at all by the following Friday, April 15. The contractor can finish painting, and then we'll list the house for sale.
Scott, Dave, Michael, Jonny and I cleaned out the last things on Thursday night, April 14.
The happy side was that there were plenty of Grandma Calder's treasures for everyone--books and Ethiopian baskets and Calder ice cream boxes. We boxed up all the "family history" for me to sort through as I write the book about Grandpa. There were treasures there, as well, from scrapbooks of Grandpa's mission, to yearbooks from Utah State University edited by Grandpa, to letters he wrote his children.
Our garage is full of treats--a new Santa and wooden reindeer with horns...
a few vintage puzzles and the dining room chairs that Grandma Calder designated for Lisa.
Stuff--we tried not to get too fixated on the materialism of it, but to relish the happy memories it preserved.
Moving new furniture into our basement. Emptying furniture out of Grandma Calder's house. Storing my share of Grandma's books and puzzles and Christmas decorations in our garage. Lugging Kent's gifts from Grandma Calder to a storage unit. Dave and I spent the April 1 and April 8 weekends managing "stuff." 
We redecorated our basement around the photograph of the Wasatch Mountains which we bought in Springville, near Zions Park. It is full of plums and golds. We added the plum-colored chair from Mom's living room, and a leather couch, ottoman, and rug suggested by our decorator, Bobbie from Bassett Furniture. 
We bought a state-of-the-art, big-screen TV, hooked it up to Netflix and Direct TV, and suddenly we have an "entertainment center." This weekend Michael, Dave and I watched documentaries on Enron, Mugabe's Zimbabwe, meth, the Afghanistan war, and the Appalachian Trail. 
Kent and Toshiko stayed with us the weekend of April 1, and we worked together to get their furniture and paintings from Grandma's house to a storage unit. Dave was in St. George and Michael saved the day by providing the muscle to move bookcases, couches, and a marble-topped table into Kent's "Cubes" storage unit. 
The weekend of April 8 was the big Move-out, with Scott, Kent, Dave, Jean, Michael, and I all sorting and moving. We rented a 16-foot dumpster... 
and a truck that Dave drove all over town--to our house, Scott's house, Kent's storage unit, the library, and Deseret Industries--delivering Grandma's "stuff" to its new home. 
There were moments of sadness and tender memories as we entered Grandma's door with its familiar "God Save Our Troops" sticker... 
and as we reminisced over the many marks on Grandma's family room door, showing the heights of all the grandchildren throughout the 23 years Grandma lived in the home. 
There wasn't much left in the house by Saturday night, April 9, and nothing at all by the following Friday, April 15. The contractor can finish painting, and then we'll list the house for sale. 
Scott, Dave, Michael, Jonny and I cleaned out the last things on Thursday night, April 14. 
The happy side was that there were plenty of Grandma Calder's treasures for everyone--books and Ethiopian baskets and Calder ice cream boxes. We boxed up all the "family history" for me to sort through as I write the book about Grandpa. There were treasures there, as well, from scrapbooks of Grandpa's mission, to yearbooks from Utah State University edited by Grandpa, to letters he wrote his children. 
Our garage is full of treats--a new Santa and wooden reindeer with horns... 
a few vintage puzzles and the dining room chairs that Grandma Calder designated for Lisa. 
Stuff--we tried not to get too fixated on the materialism of it, but to relish the happy memories it preserved.
2 comments:
I like the comment at the end about not getting too fixated on stuff, but to enjoy the happy memories preserved by it. That's exactly how I feel about keeping a few of grandma's things.
Thanks for the post Mom! Jenny and I have a lot of fond memories in Grandma's house.
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