My mom and I were looking through the goodies at Grandma's house again recently in preparation for my brother and his family moving in. Everything is getting sent to auction, except for the things we save. Some people might think it's a little bit sad to have your loved one's house torn apart to get ready for a new generation to come in...but for my mom and I it's like digging up a time capsule from times past and we're learning things about my grandparent's that we (or especially I) had never known before. My grandfather, who was an amazingly sweet and kind man died more than 10 years ago and my grandmother is living with my brother and will move back into her house with them. It's nice that the house is staying in the family and that the treasures of the past that have been sitting untouched for years are finally being given the attention they deserve once again.
On my grandmother's vanity she had a few jewelry boxes. My little sister claimed the fancy glass and gold one and I very happily rescued her shell box, which has a shocking number of missing shells. Luckily I found a good number of them inside and plan to glue them back on after removing the layers and layers of dust the gathered on and between the shells on the box.
Also inside the box was a nice collection of the jewelry and bits. The wooden nickle is a really neat advertising thing of the past and much of the jewelry is perfect and ready for me to wear always with thoughts and wonder of what occasion Grandma wore them or if she ever even did wear them.
Also stuffed inside (it barely all fit even with the lid wide open!) was a big thick stack of little papers. I think I'll give these back to mom...most of these things are papers that most people would have long thrown away. My grandfather was always known to be a pack rat...but it looks like some of his habits might have rubbed off on grandma too!
Some neat miscellaneous doodads from around the house: cake picks in a little vase on the kitchen window sill. Stirrers in the kitchen drawers. Cardboard angel ornaments in the dresser. Christmas pinecones upstairs. A shiny black mineral from the office (not a lump of coal...I think)...
Grandma had these three Santas on her kitchen shelf for forever! And I'll have to ask my mom if she made this Ukrainian egg as a gift for them.
I love this guy!! He was one of a collection of different face mugs in the dining room. And both Grandpa and Grandma were in the service back in the 50's (my beautiful Grandmother was even a poster girl for women in the military at the time!). This flag reminds me of that.
More things from her kitchen. Oh...and a troll from the bathroom. I used to collect trolls when I was a kid and have so many of them!! 
This little guy was in with the games upstairs. He was my mom's! A Dream Pet Skunk. She let me have him...Yippee!
Some pretty hardware they never used that I can use in our house.
These will be useful too. And my grandfather was a scuba diver...I think we'll find more shells before the house is all clean!
My great-grandmother was a dress decorator in New York City back in the depression era. She had a nice collection of old old beads and pearls, real glass from Czechoslovakia. I use them ALL the time when making my figures as buttons and things. This nice box of pearls will replenish my supply!
I am really loving books right now and filling my dining room shelves with them...it's turning more and more library by the week! And I'm currently reading a Robinson Crusoe book from the 1800's. These nice books will add to the collection. One on mushrooms, biology, an Easter themed magazine, a kids book and a book on mice (my mom used to raise them when she was a teenager).
Nice photos for reference for my paper mache toadstools! 
I remember doing all sorts of puzzles at grandma and grandpa's house when I was a kid. This one was well loved and has a few missing pieces. 
I don't remember playing this children's version of scrabble, but I can't wait to play it with my own kids and nieces and nephews someday!
This was also my mom's back in the day. A neat box of really colorful "grown-up" construction paper.
And I found more cards that I had completely forgotten about! The one with the photo is my cousin Stephanie and I who used to be best friends and were even college roommates. When we were younger I made Grandma this card for Mother's Day and sent it from Stephanie and I...maybe when we were away at college? I even wrote a silly poem. The Santa and boy is an amazing drawing my mom did that I had never seen before and she also made the birthday cake with a removeable candle man.
And I found the graduation pamphlet from when my brother and I graduated highschool!! (I skipped a grade so we graduated the same year.) It was stuffed in a drawer...I hadn't even kept one for myself! But I've got it for the scrapbook now.
Ooooohhh...Moon Dreamers! I LOVED them when I was little little. These paper dolls were well played with probably by soley me. Most of their heads are torn off! But they'll be mended when I put them in my scrap book.
And my most coveted inheritance...The box of Disneykins! 
My mom and her sister had gotten these on their trips to the grocery store in Long Island when they were kids. They were well played with and many broken by the time I started playing with them (I never broke one!). They were hidden away and I was usually too shy to ask for them when visiting grandma and grandpa so that my chances to play with them were rare and coveted. I told this to my grandmother several years ago and she said that I could have them one day. They are very much treasured once again! :)My brother and his wife have been doing a lot of work with the house and my mom and I are going over again tomorrow. Who knows what else we'll find!
Isn't it, ahem, beautiful? Ok...well it's not that terrible...but still. We have this carpet in all the other rooms upstairs, including the hallways. The rest will go in due time.
