Busy Biddy, Busy Day
I don't think any of us realized how much jewelry Gram actually had. Not kidding, there was a whole cabinet full, and she had a jewelry tree. It was like, Wow Gram! Her bed was full of everything. Plenty of necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings. There was just about everything imaginable there, different kinds, different colors, and different styles, shapes, and sizes. I am not kidding. I guess Gram loved jewelry, and wore a lot of it. But besides the jewelry we went through the closets as well. All/ most of the clothes were going to be give away. There was a lot of clothes to go through. Not only the closet in the bedroom, which seemed to be pretty big, but also the closet in her office as well, and then there may have been clothes in the front room's closet. There were a few things we picked out to see if it was of in any interest of someone else. There may have been a suit or a sweatshirt, there wasn't much that was of much interest or it was but wrong size, something like that. You know and then some things are just that when you look at them they look nice but when you try them on it's a different story. Everything was going in bags. And I have to say by the end of the day the pathway in the front room was just about obstructed by all of the bags of clothes and stuff we had found. Not even kidding. Although I feel bad, when we were close to finishing when we realized that we hadn't checked all of the pockets. Although most of them just had tissues, we had to make sure. Finding tissues new or used isn't something you really want to find in a pocket. Besides the clothes and jewelry we were also sent on a search for all of Gram's Annalees. She had a lot of them, and it seemed like she had some for almost every holiday, and then there were some that were just around the house kinds. Joliene had found some in the Christmas stuff, and then Tanya and I found some in the garage. Of course the side they were on was packed with all sorts of things, so I had to do a little climbing over things and made sure what I was standing on was stable enough for me to stand on. I think there were three or four boxes out there. Once they were collected and found we took them out of the boxes and displayed them on the table so that everyone could see them. Then we had to write down a couple wishes. Which ones we may have wanted to have if we wanted one. They were wishes since there was a chance that we may not get our first choice. And I think that was the problem for one of them. I think Alyssa, Mariah, Mattea and I all wanted on in specific, there was only one of that one and four of us, so the other three of us were going to have to find a different one. At least that's a good thing, there were plenty of others to chose from. 
Like I said it was a busy day, and there was still a lot to come. My mom had also said to collect all of the blankets from around the house, because she also had a lot of those. I know Joliene had asked for the Christmas blanket Gram had and so if any of us had wanted a different blanket we could chose. There was one that I had my eyes set on, the one that Gram had been using around the house for a while, thought that would give me good memories of her. Although it was a little hard to collect them all seeing how some of us were using them for bedding. So they weren't all in the same spot, at least we knew where to look. Of course most of this was happening while the Shirley girls were at school or at work. So for the picking and choosing, it was mostly clothes, and the jewelry for Joi and Tirzah to take first. Then once that happened I think we decided that for the jewelry we were going to go youngest to oldest each round. Each time the next oldest would be able to chose. So Joliene chose one thing, then Tanya, then a wait for Brianna.
While we were going through closets, Corrinne was having fun playing dress up. A pair of clip on earrings from here, a necklace here. There was plenty of pink and she was fine with it. I think there was a shirt, a scarf of some sort (or maybe there was a couple scarfs) and a small sweater type thing.It seemed to put a smile on every ones face. She was just awesome playing around.
They slowly came in I think first was Mariah, Alyssa and Mattea. Just to get a look around and write down wishes. Mariah and Alyssa had to leave shortly after because they had mutual so Tirzah wrote down their wishes for Jewelry and the annalee's. Then later Bri and Will came by. I don't really think Will was interested in the jewelry but I know Bri was, at least a little bit. She wrote down some of her wishes as well as picking something since it was her turn. A little afterward she and Will went around the house looking at things they might want, and also in the pantry. Tanya was going to do some cleaning, and had done some already, but wasn't sure what to throw out and what they would want. So they all went downstairs to check it out and figured out what they would come back for. 
Everyone else was also asked to walk around the house and write down some things that we may want. I think mom or Tirzah said that most of Bri and Wills requests were practical, q-tips, wipes, things like that. Within some time Mariah had come back to Grams, they had gone to pick up another car and then drop off Joliene at the airport. Well, that airport trip took a decently long time. That took out mom and dad for a while, I guess while the rest of us found something for dinner.
So like I said others were also asked to look around the house for anything we wanted. I know Tanya and I both were wondering about the poster/picture above the water bed that said, All that I am I owe to my mother. It looked like someone had stitched it, and it is such a strong phrase. Although I think when Tanya asked we believed that someone had made it for Gram and so they may have wanted it back.
It had been getting a little late and so sorry for Corrinne, she had to go to bed. It must have been hard, the rest of us still up making noise and she had to go to sleep. I remember those days when I had to sleep while everyone else seemed to be up and talking, and I have to say I wasn't fond of them. And I do think it took her a while to fall asleep because there was so much noise. Sorry.
While emptying out closets on this day, Tirzah or someone found Gram's 72 hour kit/bag. Now, I have to say this bag was pretty big, and pretty full. I'm somewhat used to carrying heavy bags, and that one was a little bit of a struggle. Both Mariah and I were laughing a little we could barely lift it how was Gram going to lift it? Well, maybe in case of such an emergency all the strength she needed was going to come to her to lift it. At least I hope so.
Then we decided to go through it, well it was more like she was going through it and I was watching what came out of the mystery bag. There was plenty in there for the 72 hours that was needed, at least I think so. There was little pans, a little portable stove, dried or what is it called? Dehydrated food. There was two glow sticks, where you crack them in half and then shake and the light would last about 12 hours. We used on of them, just to make sure it still worked. It did! There was a little lantern that looked so cute but apparently doesn't show a lot of light. Then there was a canteen and packaged water I think. There were matches, which I guess are essential if you wanted the food warm, or the lantern lit. It was lots of fun going through, but like always I think it was a lot easier to take it out then it was to put it all back, but I think she did it some how.
While we were doing that Tirzah was going through the bags again, checking pockets, and taking a second look at a few things. I think she pulled out a top or two and a blazer type thing. Then she pulled out a skirt that I think she had offered to me and my sisters earlier but I don't think it was our type. Mariah was happy for it. It was a little funny, she had a plaid shirt on and a skirt. She looked like a ballerina/hunter kind of. The two didn't match, but it was fine, she was happy.
We weren't able to continue the jewelry picking until Jenna came back from work. Since she didn't even get to glance at them before heading to work. Although, Tirzah did try to save one of the rings for her and had mentioned a few others she thought her girls would like. But it seemed that after Jenna got back, she had a few other things in mind. I think the word that Tirzah used was vintage, Jenna was picking things that had a little history behind them. I remember her second pick, it was the watch Joliene was looking at earlier in the day. It seemed very old, and had a name, Ruth, engraved in the back. Both of them were pretty interested in who Ruth was, and I think there were a couple books in Gramp's office, and I think Mom was looking through one, and Jenna was looking through one. Mom found the name. Ruth was part of the family.
Jewelry selection continued. Tirzah had the list from the girls who were not there, and was picking their items, and since Corrinne was asleep Joi was picking for her. When choosing I wanted to try and pick like one of each. A pair of earrings, a necklace, a bracelet, and a ring. I think the only hard thing for me is that thinking that I might want to wear the ring it needed to fit, and with the rings there was a very small selection that fit. The other thing was that most of the earrings were (sorry Gram) kind of old lady-ish, or to be nicer, something I wouldn't wear.
The day was full of doing about everything. The sad thing was that Tanya and I were leaving in the afternoon, and so most of our good byes were this night since everyone would be in school or at work. I think we got to say Good bye to about everyone, and sorry to those we didn't.
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