What Do You Have at Home that Others Think is Abnormal? ?

Essential for me but many may think it ridiculous. My stash of craft materials that takes in, art, patchwork, other fabric crafts, knitting and crochet, paper crafts , stamping, scrapbooking to name a few and of course cookery and baking books. I have a whole room for them.

Whenever I leave the back door open in the summer, I drag out DD2s life size cheetah from childhood to sit at the open door to ward off a neighbouring bullying ginger tom who pesters the life out of our cat. It works. ?

Mega-heavy wooden/bone-inlaid Elephant from India.

Two acoustic pianos in the music room and a digital piano in the conservatory (originally bought so that my children could practice when l was teaching but they have now grown up and left home).

Lots of bubble wrap that's had its bubbles popped. I hang on to it in case I've missed a bubble. It's such a satisfying pastime.

None of my boys understand the concept of the washing up bowl. In fact it's just not a thing here in Germany but I couldn't manage without one.

Also they dislike the headrests which came with our settees (I think I agree with them).

And then the house is cluttered up with stuff that DH has bought, intending to do various renovation projects, but never started on.

So: washing up bowl, headrests, bits of wood, Louvre doors, bits of insulation - can't explain them to outsiders.

Getmanshepherdmum, I’d love a piggy like yours!
Our 2 big fat wooden hippos also have their own festive wear at Christmas - felt reindeer antlers. Most becoming!

Nell8, my daughter is addicted (in my humble opinion ?) to popping bubble wrap. Although she's 43 and married, when she comes to stay with me on her own I bring out a huge roll of bubble wrap which takes up far too much space in my limited cupboards. I also have a stash of polystyrene which my little grandson likes to drill and cut, and that takes up more space. And makes a mess! Eccentric, but I wouldn't change it all for the world.

There's no way a standard removal lorry could get up to our house (ambulances and fire-engines can't either). We did warn them and sent pictures before they took on the job.

Baggs have you made your house insurance company aware of the lack of emergency access to your house?
When we had a house fire it took four fire engines to get it under control, and even then we lost most of the building and virtually all the contents.

Well I've got lots of books and art materials but that seems quite normal to me. One of my favourite possessions is an Ichthyosaur vertebra and DD has a very big model T Rex in her garden, does this make us odd?

Until recently I had a special freezer for my woollens to keep them free from moths.
I decided I couldn't justify it anymore so offered it on Freecycle only to find that the couple who came for it were going to keep it in their garage to put their beekeeping equipment in and stop wax moths!

We have the top of the gate post from our last house. Mo idea why!

Kalu

Whenever I leave the back door open in the summer, I drag out DD2s life size cheetah from childhood to sit at the open door to ward off a neighbouring bullying ginger tom who pesters the life out of our cat. It works. ?

Well, it would scare me if I popped round for a , Kalu!

A fireman’’s brass handbell that belonged to my firefighter father in WW2. Sits on the windowsill in the dining room.

A collection of about fifty hippos, miniature models of course. They are made of wood, glass, silver, pewter, ceramic, malachite, jade etc all collected when DH was travelling world-wide. A devil to dust!

A stuffed alligator. It's awful. Wrapped up in bubble wrap in the attic.

My great aunt lived rather a giddy life, travelling all over the show picking up allsorts of oddments

Music stands, ukuleles, a banjo, a flute, different recorders and sundry bits of percussion.
Oh and two electric bats for annihilating mozzies and flies!

We have a very large stuffed toy dinasaur which my then 18 year old son brought home having imbibed several beers. 14 years later he, the dinosaur that is, is still in the shed.

Nothing to do with me. Which goes first DH or Dino?

It’s not as if it is a big shed either. Our neighbours must think we are crazy.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202210/medium-145917-2c42c59a-8788-4023-b584-bf9dfb3712be.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202210/medium-631892-6d4f95f2-b433-46bd-a069-faed7a535a99.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202210/medium-578624-a4cf1a4c-013b-4ad7-b035-3db907021956.jpeg

I have spiders everywhere, keep meaning to get a house sign saying ‘Cobwebs’ to put up. Love peoples faces when the notice the one in the living room ?

My two spare bedrooms are studios...

aggie

I have about ( maybe more ) paintings that I have painted at classes , all framed , in the bottom of various cupboards and a few on the walls behind my chair , in a dark hall
My family can’t think why I keep doing them when I won’t sell them !
I don’t think they are good enough , but love doing them !
I can’t bear to bin them either !

Oh thank you, I thought I was alone in making things - crochet, decoupage, art, etc, etc, etc - and then not selling them as I think no one else will possibly find them good enough to buy!
We are a right pair!!

Elless

I have spiders everywhere, keep meaning to get a house sign saying ‘Cobwebs’ to put up. Love peoples faces when the notice the one in the living room ?

I love the sign on your gate, & definitely get that house name plaque, it's brilliant!!

I don't much care for spiders, though if they stay away from me I'll let them share my house happily. In your house, I'd be wondering if any were actually real and about to abseil down to me?!

aggie

I have about ( maybe more ) paintings that I have painted at classes , all framed , in the bottom of various cupboards and a few on the walls behind my chair , in a dark hall
My family can’t think why I keep doing them when I won’t sell them !
I don’t think they are good enough , but love doing them !
I can’t bear to bin them either !

You are me!!!I could write the above. My paintings cover 28 years of painting my grandchildren from babies to adults plus other members of the family.

A table tennis table.

henetha

Lots of shiny new conkers scattered around the house, which I picked up in the park yesterday, in the hope that they really do keep spiders away.

I found a spider resting on one of ours!!?

Juliet I very recently learned that you need to drill a hole in the chestnut for top notch spider deterrence. It’s the smell, I imagine
? ➡️ ??