Something similar happened to me when my father died. Mom moved in with us so merging two compete households was impossible. We decided a yard sale was the best thing. Her and I went through things and decided what we could keep and couldn't. Some things we left in the house for whoever would live in it such as Correll ware, Pyrex pans, dining set and a coffee table. Anyway, the problem is that she doesn't remember culling out her own things. When she thinks of something we may need she always says, " I use to have one of those" or "I bet that got put in the garage sale by someone else (me) because I wouldn't have got rid of that " Looking back I guess we had the sale too quickly after his passing, but I did the best I could with no family support. Anyway, my response is usually, "No, I think one of the grand kids needed it and are using that " It grieves me that it hurts her. I must say in my defense, we have a small house full of her things in my house, her room looks like a miniature version of what hers looked like. I put her china on display with mine and her favorite dishes on display in the cabinets. I love her so much.

Sara Jane, what a delightful story, thank you for sharing that :)

I remember years ago going through some antique shops out in the country... I came across a metal container holding some drinking glasses that had a black horse on each of them, and I just stopped and stared at the set. My gosh, this is identical to what my parents had at home.

I told my parents what I noticed in that shop and it turned out it my parents had donated the set to a hospital rummage sale years prior. Oh how I always enjoyed looking at those glasses as a kid. But the next time I visited that antique shop, the items had been sold :(

Now that my Mom had passed and Dad is in senior living, I am clearing out their house. I am up to my eyeballs in knick knacks, glassware, heavy china dishes, dollies, etc that most will be donated, but I still remember those black horse glasses.

My sister and I cleaned out my parents' house FAST after my father died and my mom went to live with my sister,then a year later, my mom came to live with me when my sister moved to Michigan. My mom , who had mild cognitive impairment but not dementia, ( she was in her 90's) became obsessed with a missing fuchsia jacket. She drove me nuts looking for that (blanking)jacket. I finally told her that my sister took it, knowing that my mom would never go to Michigan. I prepped my sister to say that she had it.