Ample Time: Fun Finds

During the demo of the rooms on the main level, Mark has found quite a bit of interesting stuff. Unfortunately, most of his finds date back to the 70's or so and no earlier. After talking to one of the neighbors, he found that the people who owned the house from the 70's to the 90's are the ones who did most of the remodel and additions, so anything in the house before the 70's was discovered and removed by them. There were some pretty funny and interesting finds though.

Mark was tearing out the drop ceiling in the front bedroom, and a whole slew of cards dropped out on to the floor. Looks like someone wanted to hide some credit cards! The funniest one though is the card for the guy's band, The Mid-Night Raiders - perfect 70s/80s band name. Mark Googled the guy who's name is on all these cards and found that he's a financial adviser in Seattle now. Ironic!

In this same bedroom Mark found various stickers on the wall under the wood paneling. Apparently this kid had to live with the flowery wallpaper until the paneling was put up, so he decided to do some decorating himself.

This is my all time favorite find, and it's in the back bedroom that will be my craft room someday. Unfortunately the wall behind it is brick rather than drywall, so there's no way to save it. I'll just have to settle for a picture of it. Isn't this straight out of the 60's or 70's?

Mark found bricked in windows in both of the downstairs bedrooms. They even had the window shades on them still. What was odd was that if you looked on the outside wall, you couldn't even tell that there had been a window there. There was no variation in the bricks or anything. We found out from our neighbor that the Theobalds, the ones who owned the house in the 70's and the ones who had the credit card loving son, did brick masonry as a hobby and sometimes as a side job. Apparently they were very good masons because they were able to brick in those windows without leaving any indication that there was ever a window there!

Mark found these stuffed down in one of the heat registers in the living room. Guess someone didn't want these pictures to be seen. Can you blame her?

The ironing board in the kitchen. This isn't really a crazy find - it's quite typical of the era in which the house was built. It's just kind of a cute historic detail. We won't leave it in the kitchen because an archway is planned right where it is, but Mark hopes to remove it intact and relocate it.

This is the wallpaper in a little alcove in the kitchen that probably originally housed the stove. It's a repeating pattern.

My favorite find from the kitchen and a great piece of advice - pinch of ginger in all beans prevents gas. Feel free to use this little tidbit.

A close second favorite find in the kitchen is these pages from a book and the chapter on "How to Attain Sexual Maturity".

S&H Green Stamps found in the kitchen. These were given to shoppers between the 30's and the 80's based on the amount they spent at supermarkets, gas stations, etc. You could save them up and exchange them for a blender or other items in the Green Stamps catalog. I think I remember my mom saving these and letting me put them in the stamp book.
There's a new online program called "Green Points", and it looks like they'll take these old stamps. Hmm, guess I'd better enroll. Do you think I could save up enough stamps to earn a new kitchen?

We've found a ton of walnuts around the yard. Come to find out, someone down the street has a walnut tree, and the squirrels in the neighborhood pick them, then run along the power lines going through our backyards, sometimes dropping them along the way. The neighbor told us the power lines are the highways for the squirrels and an occasional rat...yuck!