Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Hope everyone is doing well. It feels good to accomplish things even if they are small in comparison to the big stuff happening in the world. My brother and I started cleaning out my mom’s things yesterday. We got a lot accomplished in a few hours. We were able to get her clothes, shoes, accessories and jewelry cleaned out. My mama loved to buy nice clothes! She was probably in CVC & Home Shopping top customer list. I do wish our styles were more similar. She had some fancy nice clothes. Thankfully she also liked hippie/boho style also. I got about twenty pieces and one pair of shoes. It’s not about getting something for free. It will feel good to wear something of her’s. I bet we pulled out over fifty pairs of shoes. I have lotion of photos to scan and organize in addition to my own. My house is small and I don’t have a lot of room so I picked a couple nicknacks I can put in a curio cabinet. Maybe that will be a winter project. I found a practically brand new KJ study Bible and it’s not tiny so I can see the print. I’d rather have that than expensive jewelry. I found a postcard from 1979 she sent my dad from Paris. This man doesn’t keep anything! My brother has one stuffed animal & a big tonka truck from childhood and I have a baby doll. He’s a life long yard sale enthusiast. I gave him the postcard today & I couldn’t believe he wanted to keep it. It’s nice to see he’s sentimental about something. We have to get the bigger stuff out that was in the closet. She shopped for decorative items as much as clothes. She might have been a country girl but could out do any professional home decorator. Then when it’s cool we will go through the Christmas decorations in the attic, ugh that will be the worst of the clean outs.
I also connected with a distant cousin I was close to growing up. I hadn’t seen him since we were about twenty. I have tried to find him for many years but couldn’t remember his last name. He was my cousin on my mom’s side but he was adopted by his stepdad and I couldn’t remember his last name. Once I remembered I just couldn’t find him. Light bulb went off a few months ago I searched his mom and the town they last lived. I found her obit and then found him on Facebook. I procrastinated contacting him for one reason or another. So today I Facebook messaged him. He remembered me and we started chatting. He’s looking for his biological dad. Long story, he wasn’t there at all and he was a rambling man if you know what I mean. I told him his half brother’s name on facebook and said he might know where the dad is. Hopefully that will work out for him.
Oh also got some laundry done and did deep cleaning in the kitchen. Hubby cooked the dogs food and we have eight bags in the freezer. He bought a customized nice grill from a friend and sold one of his grills to a work friend. Had great bbq chicken for supper.
I drove yesterday for the first time since February of last year. Hadn’t been driving because cataracts were so bad. Have an appointment mon & tues, I’m driving myself, yeah.
Have a great week everyone☺️🐸
It's a difficult but necessary task, glad you had your brother with you ❤️
Thanks, Yes very difficult. It’s been nice having him around, especially when we find something old like a photo. The only positive in my situation is she didn’t keep a lot of momentous. Also my dad gets anxious not doing something and used to clean out her stuff just because he thought she had too much, something like makeup or skincare. It’s just how he is and I accept it. I cleaned out my grandma’s house alone. I’d just sit and cry after pulling out her stuff. She kept every card, recipe and family circus clippings. She even kept wrapping paper☺️ Everything thing I found brought back a flood of amazing memories but painful because she wasn’t there. The most difficult will be going through the photos. But also good because it reminds me of the good times. Just something we all have to do at some point.
Yes the photos will be hard but there will be lots of happy memories in there too ❤️