I Hit The (Trashy) Jackpot

A few days ago on my run I spotted something on the curb. It was a street I never run on, and wouldn't really have paid attention to. I just saw the corner of it behind a truck, but went over to see if it was really a) a doll house, and b) not totally trashed. I ran home as quick as I could and got the truck and came back and got it. That sucker is heavy! Every single missing piece was in the attic of the house, even down to the missing shingles. I am so excited to fix it up for Katie, and it further enforces my belief that sometimes God puts awesome things in the trash for us to find! :)

Proud Moment

James is officially a trash picker. And I am proud of it. I am pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but trash picking in the state of PA is a favorite pastime of many. There are even 'professional' trash pickers who make their living picking up things, like anything that can be used to sell for scrap. Anyway, lots of things can be had from the trash. Like kids' outdoor toys, records and clothes, and my kids' dream kitchen. We've found the aforementioned things, and more: a brand new solid pine door (not even stained or finished), a nice wooden two seater sled, a whole box of matchbox cars (now my nemesis), and lots more. So now, James has realized that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Last night he spotted what appeared to be a disassembled old cradle or something. He instantly identified the rail as a 'wadder,' and happily exclaimed that 'I've been wanting a wadder for a wong time!!!!' Now, he has a ladder, which he uses to climb up and down his bed, which of course, now, is a bunk bed. (since he has a ladder :)

And so it begins...

Ugh. We had two appointments to view the house today. The first appointment, at 10, was a couple whose husband had seen the house on Saturday. He said he was very interested, wanted to 'start the process,' and got an application. The other guy, whose appointment was at 11, I know nothing about. Anyway, guess what?! Yeah, you guessed it. No one showed. Or called. Or emailed. I sat there with my kids for 1 hour and 20 minutes waiting for nobody! Thank goodness it is a beautiful day out and we walked up and down our old street, picking up sticks and nuts and whatever else caught the kids' eyes. This is such an ANNOYING process!!! And I don't think I mentioned before, when we went over on Saturday, we found the house to be in bad shape. Its going to be a lot of work to get it back to where it was. Jeff is much more laid back about it. He just says 'this is what renting is about.' I say 'but I don't wanna deal with it! They trashed our house! Now we have to fix it! Waaaaa!' I try to remind myself that they have paid our mortgage and then some for the last year, which is a nice profit. But still...waaaa!!! OK. I'll stop whining now. Hope y'all are having a good day!

Yesterday's Happenings:

Yesterday morning found Mom and I doing this:


Technically, we were not actually dumpster diving. We were trash picking. Trash picking is a favorite pastime here in the land of PA. We got the heads up that it was the community large trash day in a neighboring town. We actually, unknowingly, hit this a few years ago. We found all kinds of cool stuff and just thought we were hitting a 'good trash day.' Geez. That really makes me sound trashy. But anyway, here's what we found: a picture frame, a bunch of records for Nate, two new sets of paintbrushes and oil paints, etc., a few name brand sweaters, one with the dry cleaning tag still on, and a few other random things. Oh, and I found a fancy purse with change and stuff still in it. Can you believe people throw this stuff out? There were some clothes with tags still on them! The funny thing was, when I got home, our neighbor came over and said that someone had stolen his whole trash can with trash. Now that would concern me too, due to identity theft, but I had to laugh. The police told him it was not a crime to steal someone's trash, and little did he know I had taken part in a little trash picking that morning. Although I was not rooting through peoples' rotten egg shells and credit card bills and such. Did I mention that during this whole ordeal it was poring rain? Mom and I didn't care; we had fun. That's how high class we are. And speaking of high class, we had a high class wedding to go to last night. So, after spending the morning trash picking, I had to get all gussied up for a wedding:


The wedding was very nice and the reception was a lot of fun. I even danced for a few songs! Jeff, of course, stayed on the side lines except for trying to dance with the groom to 'Jesse's Girl.' He was not too enthused about dancing with Jeff, although he did respond by singing a few lines of 'I wish that I was Jeffrey's girl.' What a way to end the day!

How Do I Love Thee, Trash Picking Edition

As if my bargains at Kohl's were not enough, my mom called me this morning to report that this was sitting on the curb in all its glory, left out for the taking:

Hallelujah! Do you here the angels singing? A kitchen has come home. So that's theologically way off, but you get the point: we are excited about the kitchen! And its official, James has almost as much counter space as me and his oven is almost as big as yours, Rach. As if that weren't enough, Mom found this on her way back:

I have fond memories of pushing our toy shopping cart around Mom's kitchen and going 'grocery shopping.' And hey, if the kids don't like it, I can put it out at my curb. But alas, the story isn't over. As I was loading up my loot, the guy whose junk was our treasure, said "There's lots more." He proceeded to show me through his trash: an toddler art desk, a toy box full of blocks, motorcycles, etc. He told me that depending on how much I wanted to dig, there were 'unopened' presents in the trash. Say what!? That's what the man said. Bags and bags of toys, some of them never opened. What a waste! I didn't feel like digging through too much, but I did snag the art desk, the blocks, a like-new baseball glove and this:

And like any good dumpster-diver would do, I alerted my dumpster-diving friend. She has a son who is the right age for all the stuff they had thrown out, so she was going to head on over. Good luck, Trish!!

Look What I Found in the Trash!!!

We went for a walk this morning and look what we found! A toy wheelbarrow, a metal Radio Flyer ride-on, and a toy lawn mower...all they needed was to be hosed off and tah-dah! Cool new stuff to entertain James.

I was introduced to the sport of 'trash-picking' when we moved here, and boy, is it a sport. Some people drive up and down every street before the trash-men come, looking for certain things. There is a guy who picks up metal, another picks up appliances, and some people get very territorial about the whole thing. I saw couple people once loading half of someones trash into their truck once without even looking at it, because there was another trash picker coming. They looked through it and put what they didn't want back on the street. I am not that crazy about it; I am just glad to have found some cool toys for James to play with!