"One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I love this saying. I love this idea (now).

When my sisters and I were growing up we would always dread driving through towns on trash day. We would hold our breath, waiting to hear our dad say, "you girls jump out and grab that table (or chair, book case, etc.) and put it in the back of the van." We would do it and then slink down so no one could see us as we drove away. As embarrassed as we were, we never thought it was embarrassing when my dad would then give that table/chair/book case/whatever it was, a little love and a coat of varnish and sell it for big bucks a few days/weeks later.

As I got older I grew to enjoy looking for "trash treasure". Heck, both R.C. and my dressers were on the curb for trash in Greenville. Some Mr. Clean and a coat of paint later and we have "matching" dressers. We snatched a great plant stand (very big...holds 12 plants!), chair (that we use for a plant stand/table), foam mats for the boys bedroom floor, and TVs for R.C.'s studio and another for a friend, here in Providence. R.C. (Birdman) used to take old pallets from companies and make birdhouses to sell or tables for our house. There is good stuff to be found out there on Monday morning before the trash truck comes by. It really is a great feeling to know that you got something for free, and knowing that you saved it from going into a landfill feels good too!

Today, as I tried to do nothing so I could stay cool in this horrible heat, I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. What better way to do nothing, right? Well, we don't normally watch TV during the day, but I found that Rachel Ray has a talk show, and since seeing her face sends the boys into fits of laughter and yelling, "aahhh, not the peppy girl!!", I had to leave it and watch. Anyways...She had some guests on who get items from the trash for their home. Rachel seemed to think this idea was so great, new, and funny and all the members in the audience seemed to think so too. Well studio audience, this is not new. Yes, it is great and fun and something worth clapping about, but new it is not. It seems this studio audience has never used, or even thought to use, a jar for a flower vase or fabric from a dress to cover a pillow (I've never done this one because my dresses aren't too pretty...but I have thought about doing it if I had a nice flowery dress....someday....). Now that Rachel let the cat out of the bag about how great it is to get free stuff from the curb we're going to have to fight for the gems.

As we were watching this program, Russell told me, "mom we don't have to watch this, we already do that." YES!! He gets it, and maybe, someday, will enjoy it too.

(Pops, your legacy will live on.)