A Fellow Packrat

I found this killer antique Van Gogh book at an unbelievable estate sale last weekend.

It was so amazing, I went twice.

It turns out that it was the estate of my 9th grade English teacher, Ms. Mac.

Ms. Mac was.........different. I can't quite remember her as a teacher, as English was not my favorite subject, but I do remember many students thought she was a bit odd.

I could tell by her estate that she was an incredible and extremely interesting person.

I was taken aback by her appreciation for the arts, and her own creativity displayed through her quaint, eclectic, and artful home in the middle of the woods.

She was also clearly a packrat. She appeared to have saved everything.

Like little cracker jack toys and valentines from when she was a little girl.

She had a small library in the house that I spent over an hour perusing and picked out about 5 books to put in the shop.

Or keep.

Like Ms. Mac, I am also a packrat.

I do make several trips to Goodwill to donate things of typical household nature, like clothing, housewares and toys.

But, I tend to acquire and hang on to the things that I might be able to use creatively or decoratively.

Like the old rusty door parts I found and made into jewelry.

Hubby was going to throw out the other parts.

"NO!!!" I said. Or yelled. "I can use these. I want to learn how to weld."

And I am going to do something with those bowling balls someday.

And I really want to turn that antique red television into a side table.

And I know I can use those board games and pieces in my art.

He doesn't like that I want to save everything. I understand. It's totally annoying to see all the stuff I hoard that I might "make into something" someday.

But, it's who I am.

I get you Ms. Mac.