I'm giving my Mom back two things she recently gave me.
Now I know that on the surface this does not sound like a good gift. I admit, I will probably not win daughter of the year on this one. This is my reasoning.... OK, here goes...
My Mom is in SERIOUS CLEAN-OUT MODE right now. She is downsizing and moving to North Carolina, so all she can think about at the moment is getting rid of STUFF. As a result, she gave me her beautiful, teal bike (which my Dad bought her and she used to love to ride on the beach) and the dollhouse her grandfather ("Bepa") built her when she was a child.
It must also be noted that I have trouble with change. I like things to be the SAME. I always have. When my parents bought a Ford to replace our VW bug when I was a child, I refused to drive in it. When we moved only a half-mile away when I was 16, I threw a complete fit. (More than a normal 16 year old fit, that is.)
So in the back of my mind, as I project my own feelings on to my mother, she did not want to say good-bye to these items! She was just overwhelmed at the work it will take to make them functional again.
Therefore, for Mothers' Day, she gets them back. New and improved, of course (I'm not a total tightwad!), but back. So Agees of Carytown has fine-tuned her bicycle, and it is now like new and ready to cruise the Del Webb Senior Active Lifestyle Community circuit. The dollhouse, on the other hand ...
Here it is. Pretty cool, right? Bepa built it in the late 40s/early 50s to be a quasi-replicate of my Mom's house in Green Acres, Bethesda, MD.
My project space in the backyard - beautiful weekend...
Sydney, my brother's dog, eyeing me suspiciously. This dog is absolutely NEUROTIC about being left alone, so this is her way of guarding the inside and outside to monitor my presence.
Will I EVER possess an old house that someone has NOT painted over the wallpaper? Even the DOLLHOUSE has 2 layers of wallpaper under one layer of paint! Ugh.
I will be sprucing up the house with various new furniture pieces. Now, because I like to spend my money on toys (e.g. new silver set, dog and dog crate, red wagon, gumball machine, etc.), I decided to be cheap and order the $16 "furniture kit." Well, guess what? This means ASSEMBLY ... there goes 3 hours of my life. (PS - the gumball machine makes it worth it - it's so cute!!)
Wish me luck getting this cleaned and painted before the weekend!!
3 comments:
WOW! Sounds like FUN! Very neat. I think those are GREAT gifts! Mary
I'm loving the "giving back" idea for Mother's Day. Now, if I could just "give back" all the guilt, pressure and unreachable expectations for myself my mom gave me over the years! (sort of kidding...)
anyway.. the owl. Matt bought him to keep the squirrels away from our peaches, grapes, and strawberries. Which we've had the PLANTS for years, the fruit though? Not so much. Cuz as soon as any of it ripens...the squirrels, in ONE night, gobble it all up and you should see how mad he gets...it's comical, but kind of sad, too. I've begged him not to just shoot the suckers on sight, which was his first idea... So, he bought the owl. Which moves it's head and hoots this scary, eerie hoot whenever it senses motion. Matt's hid it a few times around the house to scare the kids and I whenever we walk in a room, sometimes in the dark!! I hate it. He needs to go ahead and put it in the yard, before I put it in the trash. :)
CAL!
That's IT! I've been throwing all this stuff away, when I should be giving it back! I wonder if that would work?
"Hello, Shopper's Food Warehouse, circa 1992? I have a can of egg nog for you..."
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