I inherited a set of depression era glass for which I had no appreciation or use. I thought about donating it, but I figured the best thing to do in her memory was to make sure the collection was passed on to someone who would/could appreciate the collection as much as she had. There wasn't a ton of action on eBay, but in researching online I found several collectors/advisors with websites and even a forum dedicated to depression glass. I chatted up a few people, exchanged some pictures, and ended up shipping (at his cost) my great-grandmother's collection to one of these people. I didn't care if he kept it or sold it, I just wanted to be sure I gave it to someone who appreciated its value.

I lived in another part of the metroplex in the 1990s. Plano had that reputation back then, too!

I have a small little chest that I've had since I was 8. I called it my treasure chest. :) I put in it a lot of what you've already suggested. I also kept cards or notes from friends and family. I had concert and movie ticket stubs, too. And I had a small album to which I added my annual school picture every year. It's both fun and mortifying to flip through that. I kept adding a picture to represent each year until I had my second kid - I got too distracted at that point. I open my chest 1-2 a year, usually during emotional times, and the album is one of my kids' favorite things to see. It's really the only thing I let them see from it, I feel strongly that my treasure chest is ... like my little secret, or the one thing that's all mine. I kept a journal during my high school years. When I was packing up to move to college, I ripped out a few of the more important pages to pack into my treasure box. They were pretty dark, but when I flip back through them now it's so healing. It reminds me how far I've come, or if I'm in a bad place it reminds me that I can (will) bounce back from it. I like the idea upthread of you writing a letter 1-2 times a year to kind of journal her from your POV. She might even write a short note to herself every birthday or something, to reflect upon later. I know tastes and décor change, but it's also nice to have a few things in there - maybe an apron or cloth napkins that, if aren't to her taste later can at least serve as a reminder of what her tastes once were. She can donate them later if she chooses, but when she does move out it might be a fun lighthearted moment to re-live her past tastes. Moving out was hard and bittersweet for me; I appreciated having some unexpected laughs as I unpacked the hope chest my aunt presented me when I moved out. She had been collecting stuff my entire childhood, things I LOVED. I got rid of half of it, but it was a great trip down memory lane - tea cups, napkins, etc. And this guy didn't fit into my treasure box, but I still have my favorite stuffed animal. It's older than half of my siblings, and looks it. Probably smells it, too. LOL If she has any special items from years past, that maybe she's outgrown or feels to old to display now ... the chest would be a great place for those. The idea for a quilting project is great! I'm working on a project for my brother. He has always been a big concert goer. He has tons of tees, half of them too disgusting to wear (not that this stops him). I'm cutting up the squares now to sew a quilt of concert tees. I wish we had been doing this all along, saving a few squares a year as his shirts got holey.

I don't drink tea all day long, only in the morning and (during cold weather, also) late at night. I used to have a contraption that looked like one of those single pod coffee makers. Maybe it was one, I don't know, I don't drink coffee. But I won it from work, so I brought it home to use with tea bags. I rarely use it. I keep meaning to donate it. I find it easier to just boil water in a pan on the stove. I don't leave the pan (or anything) on the stove. The stove is on an island in the middle of the kitchen and is used all day long. I hate when people leave stuff on my stove because it feels like I'm always cleaning it off to use! When I'm done with the pot I put it next to the sink on the drying rack. At some point during the day I return it to the drawer beneath the stove. I don't feel put out. LOL

I think I'll try these for New Year's morning. Thanks for the extra tips, Jann in TX! And to you, Quiver, for the recipe that appears not-to-be-missed! :)

I have a small pocket accordion made of paper. I file differently than most people I know, though. I do: likely, less likely, not likely. Likely are the coupons I'll probably use. Since I access that section often, I know what's in there and where to find it quickly. Less Likely are those coupons like Bed, Bath & Beyond or the overpriced toothbrush I keep meaning to try ... but don't probably get around to. I keep them with me "just in case" I find myself going to a store or remembering to look for a product. Keeping those separate makes it easier to purge expired coupons without disturbing my Likely stash. Not Likely are the coupons I know my family or friends use. I know I won't use them, but I keep them handy in case I see someone who can or will - things like restaurants I don't frequent or foods I don't eat. Again, keeping them separate makes for easy sorting and trashing of expired coupons. If I had everything in one Ziploc bag, I'd get overwhelm and just skip the coupon rather than have to sort through the entire bag. I'm a disorganized person by nature, so loose and easy organizational systems are perfect for me. With the accordion envelop it's all in one spot but separated into few enough categories that I keep things organized and can easily find what I'm looking for.

I tell you what ... right now I'm rocking white socks with black sandals. It's my winter uniform. LOL I'm pretty sure your little piggies will look much better than the Asian grandma look my kids pray I'll one day outgrow. ;) Go bright and bold! Winter days are perfect for little pockets of color.

My unofficial opinion is that kids should leave out a shot of the hard stuff and a handful of those peanut-butter stuffed pretzel balls. The kids can keep their milk and cookies. And their Santa, too. LOL Leave Mom something for her efforts the weeks leading up to Christmaspalooza, ya know?

My ex-MIL mailed me a cowgirl skirt. She knows my style, and usually does a great job picking out clothes for me. LOL Even my ex-husband was like :huh: "WTF??" when I opened it. When I called to thank her, she said she thought my daughter would like it. My daughter is going through a cowgirl phase, it's true, but I don't typically dress for her whims! I'd totally trade it for the face/butt towel. I had to stop leaving my towel in the bathroom to dry because I couldn't trust the kids not to use it (the wrong way!) and I'd get icked out wondering if they had, in fact, used the unofficial face side to wipe their southern hemispheres. They don't share my issues, or yet see the importance of a really thorough cleaning. ;) I just shivered thinking about it.

I'm so sorry :( what a heart-breaking tragedy. It never would have occurred to me, either. Is that him in your avatar? He has such a playful expression on his little pup face, you can tell he loved you and knew he was loved. May he rest peacefully, and may you also find peace. It's never easy to lose a member of the family, but when it's so unexpected on top of it all? :grouphug:

That stinks! I learned the hard way to always do a trial run of a recipe. I've had a few fails for major meals, and worse - when I was supposed to bring a side dish to a non-family gathering. I'll be forever grateful for grocery store deli counters for that one. LOL I decided to try one of the crockpot breakfast casserole recipes posted here a few weeks ago. I did my trial run a week ago, with much success. Got the (second) batch in the crockpot before Midnight Mass, so it'd be ready when we woke up Christmas morning. Followed all directions exactly, except one: Turn on low for 10-12 hours. I forgot to turn the stupid thing on!! Fortunately Santa had brought apples for everyone, which we topped off with candy from our stockings. I was the only one bummed by my EFF (epic food fail).

I worked with a man who was a cross-dresser. Our jobs demanded many overnights away from home, so we saw him in drag quite often. It was unspoken but understood that this was something he did away from home. He had two "uniforms" - one for originating and terminating flights, and a second wardrobe that he wore for all other business in between. I knew his wife on a social basis, for more than 10 years. She and my roommate/colleague were very good friends, often vacationing together. There is no way she couldn't have known. And yet, I think she didn't. Whether that was self-preservation or denial, she's not unusual in only acknowledging what she wanted to. I don't know that it was ever spoken between them, but they evolved into a marriage where maybe this secret was better off being secret. And maybe not "secret" so much as "I don't know how to handle this, so you do what you want and I will pretend not to know you do." More like a shared secret in one sense, but is acted out in private - with both parties agreeing to and preferring that arrangement, perhaps implicitly if not explicitly. It all finally came to a head when he decided to move forward with a $ex ch@nge. His wife could not accept this, and divorced him. He was the ugliest woman I've ever seen, but you never saw one more at peace and happy. When it became official at work with his new name and everything, there was a lot of controversy. Those who didn't travel with us weren't used to seeing him as a female, and were incredulous on his wife's behalf: Those of us who did travel with him regularly had already spent years wondering about the situation at home - did she know? if she did, why did he have two uniforms? if she didn't, should we tell her because we'd want to know? My roommate had been especially torn during the early years, but had decided she'd offer nothing but would also deny nothing, if asked. It came out that the wife hadn't known, not really, though she had long suspected something was off. When she found out that we at work all knew, I know she was hurt but I think she was more embarrassed than anything. For him, for herself, for the illusion she had - and thought we shared - of her marriage. She needed time, but the wife is now much happier also - maybe because she's free of a burden she didn't realize she had been hiding when her former husband was closeted. I'd take my former roommates approach: don't offer, don't deny.

Where one sees personality FLAW, I see personality QUIRK. ;) I say that with the bias of someone who drives the people around me nuts, because I stop many income-earning hobbies mid-stream when the balance tips more towards WORK than HOBBY. I'm not one to marry my hobbies to business ... for long. When I start a hobby, I'm ALL IN. I eat, breathe, sleep it and put other hobbies to the side. And then one day, I'm done. DONE. And not in a give up kind of way, just a "well, that ran it's course" kind of way. Sounds like you're cut from the same cloth? I know myself well enough to accept that I lack sufficient motivation to build my empire. Martha, I am not - and have no desire to become. Maybe this means I'm wearing under-roos instead of "big girl panties" but you know what? They're Wonder Woman under-roos. So :001_tt2:. Big girls realize their flaws and quirks, and accept them - even when they're not the social norm. LOL Put your feet up, and enjoy that coffee. Actual under-roos, optional.

In my old house I had a convection oven, so I'd pre-warm the cup in the oven. In my new house I have a regular oven, so I pre-warm the cup with hot water. I just let it sit full for a few minutes while the tea is brewing. I usually pour a full cup, but the half-cup idea makes sense!

Walk around the neighborhood collecting canned foods to replenish food pantries ... or old blankets/towels to take to the Humane Society. Leaving a note for the garbage man, same as you're doing for the mailman. Secret act of kindness or service to any one sibling. I like the librarian idea; other options might be the fire and police stations - cookies, pictures, notes. Compliment someone (or everyone at least once) one day.

I agree with the obnoxiousness of the phrases. I wish it were my kids I was hearing it from so I could do the ear thump thing, but I keep hearing it from one of the moms on my son's team. Three days a week I get to hear her midlife crisis in the form of speaking like a Disney tween. As much as I dislike (hey, UO alert) midlife mom tattoos, at least those I can ignore. Also, hate the phrase "tween" - but find it so convenient to use. LOL

Not our tree, which I don't even put up every year, but we always have displayed a nativity set. And one year we did leave our outside lights up for the entire year. Not for warm fuzzies but because I got too lazy to take them down. My brother put them up for my son, who really wanted them, but my husband was deployed and I was traveling 3-4 days a week for work and had no desire to use my off-time pulling down lights. And my son liked them, so ... they stayed up about 15 months until we moved. LOL

I have a story like that. We were at a family dinner a few years ago, and we have a big family so there are about 50 people and it gets noisy. Lots of little side conversations, kids running around playing, etc. My brother and I are very close in age and shared a social circle as kids, and he mentioned that he had run into Childhood Friend at work a few days before. That segued into a trip down memory lane of this friend. My brother brought up the one major fight I had had with this friend, and since this was pre-internet and cell phone, the fight involved the two of us screaming at each other over a long-corded house phone. I got so mad at the end of that phone call that I slammed the phone down but it bounced back up, hit my mouth and chipped a tooth. Which amused my brother, naturally, both then and now. So my brother is re-telling this story, and it's hard to understand through his hysterical laughter, but he gets to the part where I slam the phone down and the room goes mostly quiet. Our nieces and nephews don't remember a phone you could (or would want to) slam down. A few knew cordless phones, and all knew cell phones, but the idea of slamming down a phone didn't jibe with them. LOL Darn youngsters today.

We follow the liturgical calendar, so we're just wrapping up advent. We put up our tree this Sunday, and decorated it yesterday. It'll stay up until Epiphany at least, and probably a bit longer (but more out of laziness than liturgical-ness. ;)) Epiphany is also my grandmother's birthday - this coming year, her 91st. She loves having the Christmas tree still up for her birthday. Or maybe I get my laziness from her, and she's just pretending to like it up that late. LOL

I'm dealing with this situation also. LOL I've narrowed my options down to two: 1. replace the doors only; gel stain the rest of the cabinets to match new doors. Ellie's suggestion to veneer is also an idea. 2. glaze the current cabinets - it gives some color, lets some wood show through, and is an easy enough for-now fix. It only took me hundreds of hours perusing HOUZZ to get here. And here I sit, still, trying to figure out how to settle my caviar wishes with my sardines budget.

I need to patch, paint, and either stain or lay down some kind of rubber flooring - all in the garage. It's way to dang cold, that's waiting until Spring. Yesterday I installed a new lighting fixture, so today I need to patch the drywall hole left from the old fixture. I was going to wait until next week, but it's driving me crazy to see it there ... with the former owner's icky ugly wallpaper taunting me every time I glance that direction ... today I patch, tomorrow I'll do the cover-up paint. Also, there's a 20' fabric wall one of the bedrooms. I need to remove that bad boy, and fix anything it's hiding :/ - that's on my January list of to-dos. We moved in this summer, and are tackling one big project a month. December was replacing 80% of the lighting fixtures, and boy I'm glad to be done with that!

See, I'd give it to her. I'd want it, were it me. It might sting for a minute that the house still wasn't officially mine, but it'd feel like my mom was still in the trenches there with me, hoping and expecting the best. I guess I still see my mom as my rock, or rather the lighthouse of my personal fog. LOL The ornament would feel like her way of keeping my focus on course, through the glitches. And even if it all fell through, I guess I'd still see it as more a reflection of our relationship through the experience, than of the experience itself. I think that once I did get a first house, if it ended up being a different one, the ornament would be more funny than painful. One of those stories you look back on when you're putting up the tree, you know? Like the fugly homemade dough ornament the kids no longer want to claim as having made for you! Totally a personality thing ;) LOL

My unpopular opinion: I don't see the appeal of the Dallas Cowboys. Where I live, those are fightin' words. Online, maybe not-so-much. LOL Also, not a fan of painted wood. This whole décor trend of repainting everything wooden is giving me an ulcer; I wish it would end already.

Ok, I'd eat it. LOL But only if the cookies were for us! If we were baking them for someone, or to share, I'd toss. Or save to eat myself later. (But how that'd really play out is I'd take a few bites out of a few cookies, get paranoid, then end up throwing the batch away anyhow. But my inner cheap person would make every attempt to save the batch, and would win until my inner paranoid person emerged!)

I am crafty, but I have a hand injury that's prevented me from partaking in my usual hobbies. While it heals, my new hobby has been to totally zone out - and to echo an earlier poster, to take the time to be completely selfish. What this looks like for me: I sit at Starbucks or McDonald's or McAllister's or somewhere I can comfortably spend a few hours. I either suck up some wi-fi and visit online forums ... or I put on my Beats and zone out to music. I have always loved music, but half of what I listen to isn't family friendly ;) I will literally sit in a chair listening to music, zone out, and a few times I've even fallen into a nap. LOL It's such a super-charge! I feel like I run ragged taking care of my family, stressing myself out with the day-to-day stuff, and so my hobby is like an anti-hobby. I just sit and do nothing. I'm actually a person who needs to keep busy, and is always multi-tasking, so it was hard to do at first ... I felt unproductive and antsy. But I couldn't do the hobbies I wanted to at the time (due to working outside the home and being a single parent, time was my biggest issue) and my friends suggested working out or yoga or meditative activities that seemed a little woo-woo to me. My anti-hobby cost no more than $2-10, depending on my order, and I could squeeze in a 20 minute or hours long session pretty much anytime I needed to. It was flexible, convenient, and inexpensive. I highly recommend it. LOL