Cleaning Out Mother's House

We spent about five hours yesterday working at Mother's house. It was Daddy's house, too, but he's been gone longer than she has, so we started thinking of it as Mother's house. My sister and I started in Mother's bedroom, and made a lot of progress. We packed up all her clothes, and most of her shoes (my sister wears the same size). We found a box of old photographs, along with a big box of professional portraits of my sister and me, as well as our family. I remember having our pictures made at either Olan Mills or Tom Pogue studios, and Mother and her niece did some of the coloring with oil paints instead of letting the studio do it (for what was probably a big charge then). We found boxes of school papers and art work that Mother had kept--for all four of us (my sister, my niece, my nephew, and me)--in addition to newspaper clippings and pictures that she saved as possible art projects.

Dan worked in the kitchen for a while. He cleaned out the food that was still in the kitchen cabinets and the pantry. Daddy had made shelves by using crates turned on their sides, and had made labels to keep it all organized. Wanda and my DH had started this project back in the fall, and had accomplished a lot, including getting rid of the bugs that had overrun the place. Dan took several things out to the street, and they were picked up within five minutes. We'll do that again today; our teenaged workers are coming this afternoon, so we can clear off the porch and some other pieces that won't be put into storage.

We also went through the linens in the cedar chest, and found pieces of clothing that were probably my grandmother's and possibly some things Mother bought when she married Daddy. Then there were quilts and quilt tops--made by one or both of my grandmothers, and probably one that was done by Mother's favorite niece. There are also more unusual quilts that Mother did--the corduroy quilt and the velveteen quilt that she made for my sister. There are a couple of afghans that I probably made (since I'm the only crochet person in the family).

When we get to the lower part of the house--it is on two levels, with a one-foot step between--there will be more linens and all those books and magazines. I think Amanda and Dan are thinking about doing some E-Bay business with some of that stuff, and if they think they can do it, I'm all for it. The pump organ will go into storage, and probably most of the glassware. Mother and I intended to get it photographed and labeled, but never got that done.