Archeological dig.

This afternoon, Aaron continued working on replacing the basement's ceiling tiles. But first, he primed, and then painted white, the metal frames that the tiles sit in. Finally, a few of the new white tiles were put in to see the effect, and it looks awesome, people! The final touch will be cleaning the light fixtures. Then we get to pick a new paint color for the paneled walls (currently painted puke-pink beige) and then decide what to do with the floor (anticipate water damage at some point or go for the full carpet with padding?)

And believe it or not, I actually helped. Aaron insisted that I finally do something with all the junk that has been gathering in the basement. Which of course meant that I had to start by shuffling some things in my craft room...

...which lead to going through a file of memorabilia...and finally finding the lock of hair from Ben's first haircut!.....and lots of other cards & birthday quizzes.

...which lead to messing around with the kids' "baby" boxes. And THAT required digging out Leah's coming-home-from-the-hospital outfit to include in her box...and of course I had to get sappy about how teeny it is, and how she swam in it! Those three boxes, plus one of wedding trinkets, are destined for shelves in our closet.

Here are some other things I came across in the excavation process:

- a yoga mat, used once. We decided to keep it, as a pad for camping or something. I don't know. It'll come in handy sometime.
- four of my old 4-H trophies. Against advice from someone, I decided to keep them. What if someday I want to make a trophy for a game for the kids? Or they are needed for a theater production? Come on. You can't get rid of a little collection of iconic trophies - besides, they are the only ones I ever earned. I'm NOT getting rid of them.
- an entire set of stoneware dishes, waiting to be sold on Craigslist
- Six boxes containing all of my teaching materials. Someone said that if I'm not using it, I should get rid of it. But again, I'm NOT getting rid of that stuff. I know that when I finally get back to the classroom, I'll probably have to relearn a ton, and every district uses different programs to teach writing and grammar. But those boxes hold all of my reminders of what I USED to do. Looking through it all, even though I may not remember how to use it, makes me remember the me that DID.
- Two boxes of Aaron's college textbooks. TWO. Yes, he brought that up several times.
- Two boxes of a combination of Christian books & materials and theater books. Yeah. Not sure how that happened, but I separated those topics into one box of each.
- At least five Bibles. Those got put upstairs, so that when we host Bible study again, we won't be embarrassed by the lack of them.
- At least five anthologies from undergrad. Those are being donated - not sure exactly who's going to want them (English Lit, parts 1 & 2, American Lit, parts 1 & 2, African-Am lit, etc...) but they'll be at the Boys' Ranch soon! Couldn't part with my Mythology & Drama anthols, though. Maybe in another 10 years.
- Another pillow form, used to fill out that box of anthologies.
- A collection of figurines that Mom gave me over a few years. Hoping to display them in Leah's room someday.

Now pretty much all that's left is the huge pile of empty boxes, and stuff to sell at a garage sale this summer. Oh, and a few cases of audiotapes, and a bunch of empty picture frames, and a kids' easel, and a ping-pong table...

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What's hiding in YOUR basement (or other storage area)? What remnants of a past life are you unwilling to part with? Am I the only one with trophies taking up space?