Charles and I have been very busy the past several weeks. Our internet has been in and out, each time we called to report the outage we would go through all the typical phone instructions and then we would get a recording telling us that there was an outage in our area and they knew about it and reporting it any further would not help. Sometimes they would suggest a time that it would be back up.
I free type my posts and click and save my work all along the way but if I had a few paragraphs written between save and the internet drops out I would lose what I had written and my train of thought. This is how I like to do my posts and I always say a prayer before I post and I ask God to use me as a tool to say something in my post that will help someone. I cannot pre type what I write because then that would not be like I am sitting here talking with you.
The internet seems more up than down the past couple of days, maybe they are finishing some line repair or whatever they are doing.
In the meantime we have been working very hard on a terrible draining job. Going through 70 years of stored paperwork.
Box after box, tote after tote... I could not take a photo of many years of family paperwork strewn all over our living room so I will post a more comforting quilt square.
Let me explain, Charles family believed in saving everything and every piece of paperwork. When Charles Grandmother died, Charles mother got her mothers boxes of paperwork. When Charles Great Aunt died Charles mother got her paperwork. All the while Charles mother was saving her own paperwork and she took saving paperwork much further than they did.
Guess who got all three of their kazillion bags and boxes and totes of paperwork?
We have tried going through and shredding off and on for quite some time but it is exhausting.
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Last week and the entire holiday weekend we did not stop from morning to night. This is not all of it either, the large city rolling can is full as well. We are using the empty greenhouse to store these until we can get them all disposed.
We cannot put this in our compost because it has bits of plastic, glitter and stuff we do not want in the compost.
We went through every envelope, ever piece of paper, and years of their bank statements, greeting cards, medical records, wills, letters, credit card bills, every receipt for their purchases. Their electric bills, water bills, tax bills, manuals to everything they ever bought. Their car repair receipts, those sticky envelope address stamps that come in the mail after donating to a cause. Hundreds of them. Madge kept every funeral pamphlet to every funeral she ever attended as well as every greeting card she ever received.
The inserts that come with the bills of advertising and such as that did not have to be shredded but why was it still in the envelopes?
I could go on, a reminder to think about the things we might leave behind because someone else will see it or read it eventually. Some people might wonder why did we not just burn everything or just throw it away. There was too much information in all of this mess to do that so we had to go through it.
I didn't mention the numerous amount of credit cards. I was actually shocked how many cards we had to put through our the card shredder.
We ended up keeping only a small file of paperwork. Some things we made copies of because the paper smelled too musty to keep. We also did this wearing gloves and masks and I had to deep clean when done. We kept to only one room and everything has been wiped down and this morning we opened the windows throughout the house to let it air. It feels that we have been freed from a weight and now we take the needed steps to not leave this problem behind for our children.
There were so many lessons that we learned from this. Many things we can turn a negative into a positive. When we go through difficult time, it is a good thing to sit down and ask ourselves what did we learn from this?
We could see the history of bills, how they changed over time, how the literal bills and see how purchases became greater and the bills became higher.
We learned how the banks, the insurance companies, the credit card companies, most everyone put encouragement to spend more and added flashy stickers, and gimmicks to get people to keep spending.
The insurance companies were constantly trying to convince why you need more insurance, much pressure with them. Some were almost intimidating.
After this experience, Charles and I will think long and hard before we make another purchase and how we organize our paperwork. What we do keep we will make sure it is kept in a clean container and the files in order.
Charles keeps hugging me and thanking me for pushing us every day to not stop. He was shredding, I was sorting, I was sorting and shredding when he was at work and when the shredders needed to cool off we both sorted. We are both so relieved to get this done. Now our necks, backs and muscles have to rest.
Now on the happier moments.
We brought the singer treadle machine back from being serviced and cleaned. I cannot wait to get finished up with things so I can sit down and sew on this treadle I named Sarah, sitting across from Clara.
When we oiled the treadle part of the cabinet we used our little oil can to do this job.
I actually shed a few emotional tears, it is overwhelming a bit when we reverse to back in time and see the workmanship of many things from the past. So much that was made long ago made more sense and they actually made them to last.
I took pictures of the machine threaded by the singer store in case this machine threads differently than my other machine, Clara.
We put on a new leather belt. It will be fun when we have visitors and two people can sew on the machines at the same time. My nieces have wanted to both sew at the same time but reluctantly had to wait their turn.
When we live more like the past we must give up some convenience. Using a treadle, we use our feet to make the machine work, it does not reverse or zigzag. However, it feels right and I am not using electricity.
Hanging laundry instead of using the dryer takes more effort but it costs nothing to dry the laundry. There was scratchy laundry many more years than there have been using dryers. Using a clothes dryer adds many kilowatts to the electric bill.
There is a quiet and peaceful feeling in our house from living more like the past. I am enjoying studying how they lived during the1930s. but this time I am living it more and the more I live it the more I want to live it. It is taking me time to get the house to where I want it to be but I have much inspiration this time around.
I will post this and get back to organizing our files, then tomorrow I will be clearing things in the kitchen to can some pears.
Please pop in the forum to let us know how your last two weeks have been. Have you changed anything? have you been preserving any food? Do you have any new projects?
My mind and heart are sad about the damage from storms all over the country and especially concerning the ongoing flooding in Texas and North Carolina and rescue and recovery. Please let us know how you are doing in the areas where these floods and storms have happened.
For those of you that do not know that I have a You Tube channel I will post one of my video links below. It has been a long time since I have posted a video but I have left them there so you can get a better sense of our home and the things we do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjtF1QXG-98
Grandma Donna
