Moving Mommy's Stuff

This morning, Bro and I headed out to Mom's condo to start moving her stuff. It's crazy b/c it's a lifetime of possessions...that she no longer needs nor wants to/can keep. We went a few weeks ago and that was the first time I had stepped foot into her place since 9 or 10 years ago. We gathered bits and pieces of reminders of our childhood -- mainly pictures that we had never seen both of when we were young and also before my parents had us. I didn't take much to keep except a sewing basket (not that I am a seamstress, but I always wanted one b/c of Gramma), a Little Twin Star and Hello Kitty washcloth that we used to use, and Mom's apron.

Today, my job was to go through Mom's closet and drawers and pack up her clothes to donate. It's weird because I don't remember Mommy wearing any of those clothes that I saw, save a few pairs of pajama sets and maybe a white dress that she wore for my high school graduation (only remember from pictures). Mom said I could look through and keep what I'd like. I found a beautiful traditional Chinese Qipau top in aqua blue and a beautiful, black traditional something outfit (bro and I couldn't figure out what country -- India? Thai?). I felt like I totally scored when I found Mommy's Hello Kitty mug in the dishwasher.

But the best keepsake was finding my Hello Kitty sticker diary from 1986-1987. It's pretty funny to see how I used to write and the progression in just a year. Obviously, I still lacked creative writing skills -- I'd choose a sticker from the front of the book and use it as a writing prompt.


Date: November 4, 1986
Sticker: I've got a secret!

I've got a secret place were my mother lives it's a nice place there to live in. And I love it and in my mothers place theres no bugs and whenever Ben don't come with me then I get to sleep with my mom. She is realy nice thats why I love her.

Date: September 29, 1987
Sticker: Fun with friends!

Today i'm going to talk about the first day of school. I got to be with my friends Some of them are new. Well today I went to the dentist witch is my Aunty Joyce. She is having a baby tonight she had to go to the hospital. And my brother got a instrument for a band he entered. He got a clarinet. Today was a fun day four more days then my birthday!

(That baby ended up being cousin Nathan. :)
(How I ended up with decent grammar, spelling, and language is amazing.)

We still have more work to do at Mom's but hopefully, we'll wrap it up in the next few weeks and then rent her place out. We made a huge donation to Good Will (clothes, furniture, and other stuff) and then headed to Little Tokyo for dinner, since I was craving Ramen.

We ended up having dinner at Orochon Ramen, a place that Husband and I had seen on Man Vs. Food. Much to our disappointment, it wasn't worth the hype. Our ramen ended up being too salty, the service was maybe a 3.5 out of 10, and my brother's ramen had so little in it (little soup, noodles, and barely any vegetables).

We redeemed our dinner by going back to my brother's, emptying both cars, and then having McDonald's sundaes and apple pie with Brian and Max. :)

Through it all, I am sooooooo thankful I have a week off for Thanksgiving!!!