There is a reason all the organization guru's give you all those sorting pointers.  You are at high risk for getting sidelined which happens to me on a pretty regular basis these days.  But then I am easily sidetracked on a good day.  I jumped into yesterday's sorting area intending to be diligent but it didn't take long before I was swimming in reminiscences, some good and some less so.  Came to a complete standstill when I came across this:

..which is funny because I still love anything in this color.  ANYthing.  This jewelry box is as nearly as old as I am and held my grade school goodies for a lot of years.  Apparently when it was replaced some yrs later I didn't transfer much but rather stored the whole thing away intact, leaving a virtual 70's time capsule.  So what is inside….

Necklaces for starters. Some I can't remember owning.  I do still love the yellow happy face. : )  And I am a Taurus as you can see.  Sun and moon in Taurus it says in a junior high scrapbook also unearthed yesterday.  Can't tell you what vitally important information that was to me in my new age days.  Though long discarded now, I still have to laugh at this bit of zodiac 'profile' – "Taureans are often quite disturbed by sudden changes–they
prefer their lives stable and secure. You'd be hard-pressed to get them to move."  Yeah well, the joke's on someone here lol as we prep for move #14.  

Look.  Is it me or do we have a travel theme goin' here?

What else?  The little beadwork guy is no doubt from Wisconsin Dells.  We lived nearby that landmark long before it became a commercial monstrosity better known for its theme parks than its natural attractions.  All the years I lived there it was all about Native American dancing and boat rides through the rock formations along the river and I was fascinated by both.  Rebecca you know I thought of you when I found the owls. : ) 

Pins. There was a pin for all occasions I am pretty sure since this is just a sample. The Christmas season for sure was thoroughly provided for.  I had pins on my coat lapels and sweaters through the 70s.  A cowl neck really begged for a bejeweled pin to fix the folds just so.  The one on the right is a vintage 50s circle pin that was my mother's. Gotta admit that while I don't wear gold anymore I do still love vintage pins and earrings – though more vintage than most of these, save the circle pin.  I have a large aqua blue rhinestone pin on the front of my white baseball cap. : )

And then there were the bracelets.  More polished rock jewelry.  I was quite a junior geologist, driving my mother to distraction adding to my collection. I spent much of my childhood alone outdoors watching water bugs float downstream in the creek on the farm, dissecting tall strands of grasses,  and never came home from a walk without a rock.  Because, you know, there was always something different about it – layers of color, a glint of quartz, SOMEthing I couldn't leave behind.  And if it was polished and sitting on a souvenir store shelf forget it. It was comin' home, no question.

Then there were a number of coin purses, all of which managed to fit in the box except the teepee. (see above)  We must have had a lot of change because I find a lot of these. How many change purses do you carry?  Because I have none on me at the moment, though besides these shown I have come across a number of the plastic egg variety which opened like a mouth when you squeezed the ends. 

Maybe life has just sped up so much that there is no time at the checkout to sort your change into bills and coins?  We just cram it in a pocket and deal with it later, that is if we even paid cash to begin with.  Remember that credit card commercial where the world is humming along in perfect harmony with the citizens of Oblivious Town happily charging their lives away til the cash customer comes along and the world practically stops spinning on its axis while the checker has to, gasp, make change as the rest of the people gaze on in disgust.  Well y'all, I am here as a living testament to change making – figuratively and literally lol!

I am pretty sure the red plaid one came from my Gram when she went to Ireland (and Scotland I think) She brought me a matching pleated kilt shirt with leather buckles.  The coarse wool really takes me back. Seems to me the leather one had something to do with my Girl Scout uniform.

The little oriental one I can't place other than that Gram had a set of Golden Book encyclopedias and atlases which fascinated me.  I read a biography of Margaret Mead I found on her shelf and wanted to BE her.  I dreamed of meeting indigenous people in faraway places til I realized you had to fly to them. I still sorta mourn the westernization (homogenization?)  of the planet where Tommy Hilfiger came be found on every continent.  We have a fatal case of same as. Amazing to think that largely happened in my lifetime. But I digress.

We went to the State Fair every summer and I spent all my time at the international market watching the shows and winding through racks of Indian cotton skirts hanging in booths heavy with incense.  I bought Asian fans which I hung in my room. Tried on wooden shoes.  Was glued to the traditional costume section of the encyclopedia.  Probably explains a whole lot… Anyway, I think that is where the little satin coin purse came from. My little bit of the world of different. 

And then, we can't forget the Shrinky Dink jewelry, which debuted in my corner of the world in 1973. (seriously – they began in WI)  Tell me someone else did this?  It was a pretty amazing process and it looks like I could not shrink enough plastic.  Need a key chain thingie?  I was your girl. Say the word and I had marker in hand. It's funny the one that remained is a sailor.  He looks a lot like the plastic refrigerator magnets we had for years.

This is why the whole sorting process takes so long. I won't even tell you how long I got set back finding an junior high era diary.  Thank God it was only partly complete or I might still be in the closet now turning pages.  I don't always know how I feel about having these tangible reminders of very intense times, though until recently I haven't been able to let many of them go – literally or figuratively. Which probably also explains a whole lot.