the true meaning of good fortune!

Sorry for missing my Recipe Box Wednesday post, but things have been a little crazy around here.

You may recal the attic project, begun out of necessity when mice moved into our home this winter.  It has been a massive undertaking, with many loads being donated to various organizations, and other donations being made directly to the landfill.  I still have boxes of ACES info to shred, or bring to our storage place.

But you will never believe what we discovered yesterday.  I can hardly type this.

Our attic has old wooden floorboards, and there was one area where things kept snagging.  So we pried it up, hoping for some old valuable stock certificates or some such treasure.  Incredibly, there WAS treasure. 

As Mike pried the wood up, I spied some dusty certificates, and a hint of something shiny underneath.  We held our breath, then gasped when we found GOLD BARS in our attic.  GOLD BARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   We ran to the internet, to determine just what we had.  Charlie was screaming and yelling through the house- "We're RICH!  We're RICH!"  My mind was racing to figure out just how this could be in OUR attic.  Our house was built in the early '30s, did a noted gangster leave it here with a friend, and then never return to claim it?  Was it stored there when our home was owned by the Catholic church, and the monsigneur who lived here received it from a grateful parishioner, and never revealed it's hiding place????

No matter, it is OURS.  So we carefully placed the bars in a box (cardboard, of course, we didn't want to attract attention....) along with the certificates that were hidden with them.  They identified the bar's numbers, so we knew these were the real thing.  We figured out that our bars were actually ingots, also known as biscuits, but we would have to take them to a dealer to figure out their worth.  (this photo is just a sampling of what we found...)

So we did, and our little house full of treasure will now be paid for.  We have set aside all of the money Charlie will need for college someday.  And to celebrate, we even went out for dinner.

Who knew that a mouse infestation could change our lives?

And if only this little fable were true, I would feel that way.  But it isn't.  April Fools!