In continuing my summer quest to declutter in a slow and sane fashion, I recently cleared a couple shelves in the laundry room cabinets (3 year old Atkins Pancake Mix, anyone?) so that I could bring some of the Depression Glass I collected as a young adult back into circulation. So yesterday, I went out into the garage to find the box with the Fiestaware. I was sure I knew where everything was in the jumble of boxes in the garage, but I was mistaken. It took me about ten minutes to find the tubs with dishes.
I brought one tub into the kitchen and emptied it on the kitchen table. It contained 7 Fiesta Ware plates, 1 Fiesta Ware Serving bowl, 5 Fiesta Ware saucers (no cups, but we have used these plates as small dessert plates in the past), a gorgeous set of matching amber etched dessert plates, cups, and saucers that are probably from the 1920’s, and a variety of mismatched pieces including a chipped Depression Glass Gravy boat and two very small but attractive Blue Carnival Glass coffee cups (no saucers). I stared at the dishes, trying to determine whether I really wanted to keep them. The amber set, for sure, was a keeper – it’s just beautiful. Ah, but those old fashioned coffee cups and saucers. NO ONE uses them anymore. I have trotted them out a couple times for neighborhood coffee gatherings and got the appropriate “oooohs and ahhhhhs.” But really, they are not very functional.
Still, I took all the dishes and installed them on a couple shelves in the laundry cabinets. A few minutes later, I called my daughter in – “Hey, look at these dishes. What do you think of them?” “Well, do you use them?” she asked, ever practical. “That’s the point in getting them on a shelf,” I said. “Do you think you might want these when you grow up?” I asked. “Uh, probably not, they’re not really my style. I like the dishes we use every day better.” And off she trotted. So my dreams of passing on my great Depression glass collection go the way of getting her to read all my old Nancy Drew books. Great. So now, I have to justify keeping these things solely on the basis of NOW.
I spoke to my husband about it later that evening. “Did you know that we probably have about 8 sets of old fashioned cups and saucers?” I totaled it up today and guess that there are about 42 of these small cups in the house total. “You know, they are all so pretty and several of the sets go with the good china, but really, they are too impractical to use much. I hate to get rid of them, but don’t know why I should keep them.” My spouse did not have an answer.
This morning I cleaned out one of the beautiful blue carnival glass coffee cups to use for my morning coffee. First, it was a major challenge to be sure not to over cream and sugar my coffee. Next challenge was to get the cup out onto the front porch without spilling. Husband says on the way out, “wow, that is a really pretty cup. Do we have a lot of them?” “Two,” I say, “But no saucers.” About a minute later, I was back for a refill. About a minute after that, I back for another refill and was struggling to carry a whole 4 ounces of coffee up to my office without spilling. Said cup is now sitting empty on my desk. I really don’t know what to do with it. Any thoughts?
Sometimes this decluttering business is harder than it looks! I think I’ll go thin out the backpacks in my office closet. Now there’s an easy task. If only I can part with the sturdy blue backpack with custom pulls that I paid $30 for as a college freshman and that my son used all through grade school. Ah, here we go again!
Best regards,
Lynn
