Time Capsule: Part I

We finally decided that we had spent enough money on a storage closet over the past seven years.  We originally planned on having it for a short time and move the remaining furniture and various other things to Chicago when we got settled in.  It never happened.  We got there, found the apartment furnished fully and decided that we would keep the dining room furniture in storage until we moved off campus or back to Indiana.  Off campus was not an option once we realized that we could never afford anything close to where we worked or that was habitable.  And because it was all there and out of sight, it was just easier to pay a few dollars a month instead of dealing with getting rid of it.

So here we are, seven years later with a storage closet full of crap.  Literally.  We opened it up recently to give away the table and chairs - the house we bought doesn't have a dining room and the eat in kitchen isnt' big enough for a double pedestal table with a built in butterfly leaf and six chairs - and discovered that some vermin of unknown species had decided to use an antique upholstered chair as a litter box.  We also were only able to give five of the six chairs away when we discovered that the storage company had done some work sometime in the past and screwed the sixth chair to the wall from the outside.  It's unmovable until they remove the screw from the wall.

Over the weekend, we started pulling the rest of our belongings out of "climate controlled" storage unit.  I'm telling you right now that we would have been better off either putting things in a garden shed in a friends back yard or just setting things on fire.  Comforters were so riddled with mold and mildew that we couldn't really tell what color they originally were - into the dumpster they went.  Wood furniture has mold growing on the legs. Books in boxes are so stench filled that I'm hesitant to bring them in past the garage until I can figure out how to deodorize them.

Some of the stuff that I originally put into storage I now wonder why the hell I was keeping it in the first place.  I have a rocking chair that I had envisioned going into Riley's nursery.  It has rockers that are chewed up (they were that way when I got it) and an upholstered seat that just doesn't seem like it'll be worth the effort anymore.  It is an Arts & Crafts style that some wisdom filled person in it's past decided to "antique" with a faux paint job.  I'm guessing from the American Eagle decal that it was last done in the 70's.  Stripping it down to the original laminate wood veneer seems like such a waste of time that I am in short supply of anyway.

I've also been finding paperwork dating back over 15 years and pictures going back almost 30.  The pictures are a hoot.  The paperwork not so much.  What the hell do I need with a letter from BMG music service letting me know that I can send back a selection by filling out the attached paperwork?  What cassette-yes cassette-was it that I mistakenly received?  I have no idea, but I still have the paperwork to send it back if I remember and find it.  Yesterday was spent going through boxes deciding what stays, what is trash and what can be donated.  Most of it is trash.  Why do we/I keep a hold of these things for so long?  I may burn up a paper shredder before I'm done purging.  And if you know of anyone that needs a Frisbee collection, let me know.