Prowling

When I was a child and we went to visit my grandparents, often times there wasn't much to do as they lived in a small town. One thing I liked to do to amuse myself was to go prowling in their attic storage place. Maybe it was my childish way of exploring the unknown. Maybe you would just call it snooping. Either way it kept me busy for awhile.

What treasure was waiting there for me? Mostly old, forgotten everyday items. But for a child, sometimes that was interesting. Sometimes I would discover something; a jar of marbles, old school supplies, once I found my grandmother's college scrapbook.

While I was visiting my parents house, I reverted to my prowling in their basement storage area. First, it was to just see if I had any remaining stuff from my childhood there. (There was a small amount and I cleaned it out to donate what I didn't want to keep.) Also, to just see what was there. What treasure or memory was hiding in those boxes? After a while, I decided to just start organizing some of the stuff, as well, by putting like things together, consolidating and getting rid of empty boxes, etc.

I did find some "treasure" there. I found some eighties jewelry of mine, which included some bangles that looked just like the ones I had purchased for Anna to wear to the Junior High "Eighties" dance (apparently the eighties are back in style now). I happened to find them on the night she needed them, but she was in Idaho and I was in Illinois.

Below are some more treasures I found: old buttons from my grandmother (who at one time worked in a button factory), lots of thread, old table linens and aprons I can use for fabric.

I also found these old Pyrex dishes I thought I could use at home (I carried them in my airplane carry-on luggage.)

I didn't get very far in the organization of the storage area, but it did make some difference. Below is the "after" picture. There is no "before" picture because I didn't know I was going to organize anything, I was just prowling!