Our Grandfathers' Things

This is not one of my blog topics that I had been planning and prepping for, but I thought it would still be nice to share.

Earlier this year, my grandfather passed away. He was a cowboy and a world traveler and a really nice guy. He and my grandmother lived in a house that was filled to the brim with items they had collected from their travels over the years. It wasn't safe for her to live there by herself, so the family gathered to empty out the house. It was very important to my grandmother that as much as possible of her many things would stay in the family.

Just this month, R's grandfather made the bold and courageous decision to leave his house of over 50 years to move into a new apartment in a senior community. The house he had been living in is where he raised his children, so it was full of all the mementos and artifacts of their life there.

In both cases, the houses were chock-full of stuff, and our parents did the heavy lifting of sorting through the trash and donatables. Our job was to sort through the things of value to pull out heirlooms we wanted to keep in the family and mementos that would remind us of our loved ones. We tried hard to only pick the things we really liked and would want to keep forever. Some items were great as-is, and a few others needed a little work.

My Grandfather's Things:

An elephant from one of their trips in the living room

A massive belt buckle turned object of art in the fireplace room (the white thing)

A bolo tie turned into a necklace

yay new necklace!

R's Grandpop's Things:



R's mother's step stool in the pantry
(with her name painted on the bottom in excellent 4th-grade cursive handwriting)

The big project: an old window that needed some love. 

I scraped off all the old pealing paint and loose caulk, and sanded

I recaulked so the panes were held in safely

Then I repainted both sides

I added little rings on both sides of the back

all done and looking fabulous on the living room wall

So, this wasn't exactly a project we were planning on, but it turned out nicely. Several of our rooms got a little upgrade, making them a bit more interesting and adding reminders of our grandparents throughout the house.

And- on the topic of family and multiple generations, our not-so-small-anymore kitten, Wally, has some big news this week. At 8 months old now, it was time for Wally to get snipped. Spaying and neutering our pets is an important thing to do to prevent more freezing little kittens in alleys, but I'm not feeling great about it today. The poor little guy is just miserable. We're crossing our fingers that he bounces back quickly and will again be the energetic little monster we've grown to tolerate.

Miserable Wally lounges sadly in his cone.

It's a little early for father's day- but seems like a good time to give a shout-out to the men in my life. Woot-Woot.