Dumpster Diving
The news has been nothing but a dumpster fire all week, so Fodder and I decided to go dumpster diving.
Now, I am not a flea market or yard sale type person. Fodder is. The man lives for the hunt. I like to tell Fodder that I don’t want most of the junk that’s cluttering my house already, so why would I go buy someone else’s cast offs?
Yeah…He doesn’t follow the logic. Not when there’s treasure to be had.
One person’s trash is another woman’s treasure
He took me to the donation center of a large national charity under the pretense of offloading some of the stuff he no longer wanted cluttering up the barn. While he made the drop, it was suggested that I wait inside because the pickup has no A/C, and it’s August in Arkansas.
Mm hmm.
I have to tell you, I found it to be a very sad place. This is where memories go to die. They are tossed into a large plastic gondolas on wheels and rolled out into a huge warehouse space, where they are pawed through by strangers. I didn’t like it.
Fodder tried to cheer me up by telling me that these things were getting new life and a new home, but still. I couldn’t wait to leave. There’s were too many items in there that reminded me of thing my parents had around the house when I was growing up.
Then, I turned the corner and spotted this little lady in need of a loving home:
Her keys seemed to be in working order, her carriage proud. She’s lacking a ribbon, but I’m not above providing such fripperies. I checked the sign above the bin. All items weighing more than 5 pounds cost only $4.
Sold!
Fodder spent the evening polishing her up, and look how she shines.
Maybe all we need to take us from a sad place to a happy one is someone to notice us. A second chance. Some love, affection, and a touch of Old Gold polish.
Now my Underwood (Claire or Carrie? Her true ambitions are yet to be revealed.) is parked next to my super sleek Karmann Ghia.
Looks like this is the start of a colorful collection.
How about you? Do you collect anything? Did you start the collection yourself, or was it something that just happened?
This is such a beautiful story. I’m so glad you were able to give Carrie a new life! And holy moly, what a transformation! Did Bill do anything besides polish her? Some of the letters looked like they’d been completely rusted off.
As for me, I collect running shoes, sunglasses, watches, and hats. Oh, and hair products. 😀
So impressed with how beautiful it came out. Looks so great next to the other one. Remember how Sookie was Frog Girl? For a very long time I was Unicorn Girl. I eventually culled the herd and kept just the really special ones.
What a lovely post! Anyone who can take such a mundane happening – like repaving a parking lot, for instance – and turn it into into such a heartwarming reminder of how nothing lasts forever…Well, I think writing’s definitely in your future, lady! I foresee a romance blooming over the $4.00 bin any day now. As for me, I’m drawn to anything with bunnies or dragonflies on it, but the older I get, the easier it becomes to say no. One look at my attic is a good deterrent. Thank goodness for Pinterest. Now I just pin the pretty things I see!
Wow it really cleaned up on nice. So perfect to have you admire those typewriters. I could side with your hubby as I love looking at possible treasures. However I have really scaled back because I seem to be more like you now and I don’t want the clutter. In fact I have been slowing getting rid of “stuff”.
I am not a collector. I liked the book collection I once had but I have also rehomed a ton of books this past year. I loved collecting movies but I have even rehomed a lot of DVDs and only kept the special ones. I guess the only thing I have that is a collection would be my travel pictures. I fully want to keep collecting those! LOL