Time To Clear The Clutter... Rather Re-Arrange

Today, I had some time off and was home alone.
Just felt like I needed to do some cleaning and getting rid of so much clutter!
Along one wall, we are blessed with wonderful bookshelves.
Do you know what happens when you have such a luxury and are a hunter/junker/collector?
You keep tucking and arranging until finally you don't even know what's up there.
That's how I spent my afternoon... and boy was I going to toss some stuff out.

I started by pulling off a lot of the old books we've collected over the years.
Had totally forgotten about these.

And this.

A book of Irish toasts. How fun!

Surprised? I know. My family and it's odd ball personality. When the boys were little, we
thought it would be fun to search out the tackiest souvenir on every vacation that we took.
You will find toe nail clippers from London, salt and pepper shakers from the Dells, a photo of us posing with wooden soccer players in Barcelona and plenty more.
Double click the picture if you must see more detail...

I'm not the only collector in my house... John can't help himself.
The above are some of his items. See the boxer? He's actually a salt shaker.
The pepper must have been the one throwing the punch.

San Antonio. It's an old dance hall that has live bands and they play country and western music.
You'll find couples, families with young kids and single scouting the place for a good
two stepping partner.

I'm telling you that everything you see here was in those shelves. I see this everyday,
but really looked at it again.
Click on it to read the sweetest saying.

John and I picked up these salt and pepper shakers... I bet 20 years ago in St. Charles.
They still charm me.

John collects unique ash trays.
Where do we put all this stuff?

One of my early flea marketing finds. Bought if for my husband at Kane County.

When we first moved into this house, we had a water line run to a building out back.
The boys and I had a great time being archeologists. We dug up bits and pieces of old
china. Notice the doll's ear.

Man zone. Liquor and drawers.
Opposite these drawers are John's hunting guns.
Tightly locked away.
Wanna cringe with me? When our youngest was in middle school, the teacher asked the
students where would be a safe place in case of an emergency...
One of the students piped up "The McMahons! They've got plenty of weapons and liquor!".
I still break out in a sweat when I think of it.

Let's open a drawer.... inside the handkerchief is a collection of
acorns that John and Ben collected at the state park when Ben was only three years old.

I'm going to blame John for the rumors going around the school.

Not a great shot of the room, but you get the idea.
You know what? After four hours of opening, sifting, cleaning and re-arranging, I didn't toss a thing.

Old books... good night.