Thank you all for your enthusiasm and kind words. I still can't believe the stuff people throw out. It never ceases to amaze me. Friends of ours saw it and said that if we were to go into a 'chi-chi' greenhouse/florist/gift store the price tag would be around $250. Works for me ;o)

Okay - I went and got my camera, took a couple pictures of the desk and here is the before and after: This before picture was taken in our garage before I started working on the desk. I already took the handles off. Notice the girly colors and the gaudy colors on the side. This definitely came from a girls room - no offense to those of you who have girls. Here is the after picture. We painted it with a slate blue-gray paint and attached new brushed pewter handles. Notice that my son already put his little stereo and a few Lego pieces on top. I think we'll have to find another place for that stereo since this will be a place where we want him to do his homework. ;-) And, yes, that is camo pattern we painted on that one wall.

I don't compare myself to my neighbors. That way lies madness. I do what _I_ can and that's that. My city contracts with the corporation Waste Management. WM provides the Big Green Can for trash and two regular recycling bins per household, one for paper and one for metal/glass/plastic with the option of buying more recycling bins for $5 each (we have one extra). WM won't accept very much plastic for recycling - for instance, they only take #1 and #2 plastics, but probably 75% of the plastic that comes into the house is neither of those types. Grrrr. They only take certain kinds of glass, too. Batteries are not accepted for recycling - ni-cads and lithium batteries have to be taken to dropboxes at most hardware stores, alkalines in the regular trash. We do not compost and I refuse to tear myself up about it. We do not garden, nor do our neighbors, and discarding food scraps outside attracts vermin we neither need nor want near the house. WM has no composting program, either with curbside pickup or dropoff at the transfer station. However, even if they did it as a dropoff option, the landfill/transfer station is almost half an hour's drive from my home and nowhere near anything else for sensibly combining trips, and from an overall environmental POV I think it's pretty stupid to drive nearly an hour round-trip to drop off a couple of bags of carrot ends and potato peels. I use the tote bags for groceries about 80-90% of the time (and I don't stress about using one store's bags at another store, the baggers can make all the faces they want but until they start giving the reusable bags away for free they'll use whatever bags I hand them to pack) but we use the regular plastic grocery bags for so many purposes that I don't castigate myself for forgetting. BTW, plastic shopping bags are usually #2 plastic and can go right into the recycling bin - stuff a bunch into one bag and knot it so they don't go fluttering away when the bin is dumped. The dog-poop pickup bags we use are compostable or rapidly biodegradable with exposure to moisture even in anaerobic conditions (like a landfill). And when they say "rapidly" they mean it - we tested them ourselves in the back yard. They're a bit on the pricey side but we consider it worth it. The "doggie dooleys" are a big PITA and useless half the year here anyway. The local Goodwill started accepting dead computers (I guess they make money somehow on parting them out?) earlier this year and I took over a station-wagon-load accumulated amongst my social circle, but it's very difficult to get rid of any other electronics here. Our city has one hazmat disposal day a year, for four hours on a Saturday, and if you miss it, too bad so sad, you have to figure out how to store it until next year's disposal day. Crazymaking. One of the local pack-and-ships will take styrofoam peanuts and airpacks but will not accept any kind of formed styrofoam (which is also unrecyclable here, so all you can really do is bust it up and either try to reuse it or cram it in a trash bag and fit it into the Big Green Can). We donate and Freecycle and regift and put things out on the curb with "free" signs on them. The trash can is the last resort for things that cannot be discarded another way with a reasonable level of effort.

Done! Thanks for all your suggestions - many of the ideas really helped. And we only needed to make one run to the store - for more bubble wrap. Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of volunteers and the craze that started when we all arrived that I did not give very good instructions to what to save or put aside. I am certain that some *treasures* were disposed of.... but I'm trying not to get too upset over it. After all, those tiny items would have probably just been transfered to a rubbermaid tote and stored (and forgotten about again) for years... I am the only relative - except for some far removed cousins. So, thankfully, there's no concerns about inheritances. And I did get all of her financial stuff out of the house a year ago when I accepted guardianship. Most of the papers left in her home were exceptionally old (some phone bills from 1972) and paperwork from school (as she was a teacher). I bet there were items with some personal info disposed of improperly (though I bought a shredder), but again - I'm trying not to worry about that. My volunteer friends probably were not as conscientious as I would have been - but without their help, I wouldn't have gotten through that day!!! We did finish in 5 hours - can you believe that? 9 people, 1 dumpster and $98 worth of breakfast! We did not clean a thing - just ridded the place of her personal belongings. The only things left are large peices of furniture. Everything else was either smoke/nicotine filled or in a state of disrepair (i.e. small appliances). And, being the only relative, I did not have the wherewithall to clean, box and transport much to charities. Between being a single mom and having a full time job, volunteer at the hospital, caring for foster pets and school, I have little time to get donations to appropriate places. My friends convinced me to reduce stress and toss the stuff. It was an emotional ordeal - sorry that my mom's life was reduced to a dumpster of stuff that was being rained upon as we departed. What a shame. She was in the Miss America pagent, was very talented and educated. Unfortuantely there was *something* wrong and she got into drugs and alcohol. She was befriended (or whatever) by addicts that took advantage of her in every possible way and she ended up with brain damage and friendless by the time she retired. I don't know how she kept it going for as long as she did.... Poster child for the devistation of alcohol.... But thanks again for all your suggestions - some I didn't get until too late. sigh. Now I'm going to start cleaning out my own closets & cabinets!!!