More than Enough

Since I have no posts for December, I thought I'd better chime in with something . . .

Hm. . . . no pics, but I did give some Christmas ornaments (inherited from my grandmother) to my cousin.  As soon as we opened the box (actually, a large tin, which also did not come home with me!), one of the child-types of small cousins immediately pulled out some angel ornaments and started playing with them, essentially "playing dolls," making up little stories, having fun.  I'm calling it a win.

Of course, I promptly lost points by driving to an outlet center to buy a Le Crueset frying pan.  But, see, I need this pan because I have finally figured out how to cook salmon that is cooked all the way, but not overcooked.  My cast iron pan is too big to mess with for 4 oz of fish, and my non stick pans are disintegrating and also of course probably killing me. 

The shopping trip added just enough time for me to hit chain controls on the way home, so what should have been a three hour trip took nearly seven.  Fortunately, I was carrying chains.  I haven't put on chains in over a decade, so I was very lucky to pull off the road near one of the few installers who was taking credit cards.  I was able to get them off myself, at Truckee.  I mention this because when I moved here, I had exactly three months' driving experience when I found myself in a similar situation, but was mistaken in my belief that I could get the chains off myself, and furthermore, locked myself out of my car - with the engine running - in the process of finding this out.  So this trip was a lot more bearable.  It also helped that I was carrying a sleeping bag and driving a car with fold-down seats, meaning I could have slept in the car had I wanted to. 

Another improvement was that instead of nothing but a Philco AM radio (the only entertainment option in my 1976 Pinto), this time I had the luxury of a smartphone and loaded iPod, which I wound up not listening to at all, because I was tuned in to the unfolding radio coverage of the Sandy Hook school shooting.

So I figured I had the "stuff" I needed to keep me safe and healthy, and that in the scheme of things losing $40 and four hours of my time was really, really, a perfectly good way to spend my day.

Out the Door

Just what it looks like, a pile of random stuff.  It's been accumulating for a while, awaiting a trip to the thrift store. 
A few items of note: 

•     Aqua globes - as seen on TV! 
•     plastic food storage containers whose functions are being replaced by glass (and I'm not counting these on my 1000 things list, because they were more or less replaced one-to-one
•     a wooden tray, which I like in concept but have never successfully deployed in the real world.  It is not comfortable, for the way I sit, to eat off this tray, or even to have my laptop on it
•     a cheap manicure kit, a gift from the very sweet security guard at my office
•     a because-it-looks-cool coin purse, another item I like in concept but not in actual function.  I was using it to hold business cards for awhile, but that wasn't working out either
•     blue vases sent to me by my godmother, having supposedly been my brother's.  More stuff I don't actually remember myself, and of less importance than many many other items of his that I still have
  

Christmas is a Time for Giving

Specifically, for giving away holiday stuff I will never use again. Here is how it appears in my spreadsheet (where I am tracking my attempt to get rid of 1000 Things)

Christmas-small rugs	2
Christmas-boxes of glass ornaments	5
Christmas-individual ornaments	12
Christmas-tapestry stockings	2
Christmas-mugs	4
Christmas-gift bags	6
Christmas-decorative tins	3
Christmas-pkg gift decorations	1

Even with this lot, and another pile of my grandmother's Christmas things I will give to my cousin, I still have 3 bins of stuff, probably too much for a person who isn't really into decorating for Christmas.  But the things I am keeping are 1) sentimental and/or 2) small scale for the type of small scale display I might theoretically muster.  The only toughie in the to-go pile is the mugs - bought about a decade ago at a thrift shop, I've actually used them quite a bit - they are a good size, attractive, and dishwasher-safe.  But I really have way too many mugs* to justify having holiday-specific ones.

*And my uncle recently gave me two more, one of which was allegedly my grandfather's, aaugh.

Christmas is a Time for Giving

Specifically, for giving away holiday stuff I will never use again. Here is how it appears in my spreadsheet (where I am tracking my attempt to get rid of 1000 Things)

Christmas-small rugs	2
Christmas-boxes of glass ornaments	5
Christmas-individual ornaments	12
Christmas-tapestry stockings	2
Christmas-mugs	4
Christmas-gift bags	6
Christmas-decorative tins	3
Christmas-pkg gift decorations	1

Even with this lot, and another pile of my grandmother's Christmas things I will give to my cousin, I still have 3 bins of stuff, probably too much for a person who isn't really into decorating for Christmas.  But the things I am keeping are 1) sentimental and/or 2) small scale for the type of small scale display I might theoretically muster.  The only toughie in the to-go pile is the mugs - bought about a decade ago at a thrift shop, I've actually used them quite a bit - they are a good size, attractive, and dishwasher-safe.  But I really have way too many mugs* to justify having holiday-specific ones.

*And my uncle recently gave me two more, one of which was allegedly my grandfather's, aaugh.

Well. I'm back.

Been busy, then out of town, so not much posting lately.  but I have been filling boxes and making piles of things to go away.  More on that later.  As for these bits of random stuff - top pic, clockwise from 12 o'clock: 1) another eyeglass case.  I have discussed in a previous post why I do not use these.  Toss. 2) a spindle meant to hold receipts, purchased years ago at an antique store.   I actually used this for a long time, as I would use it's intended purpose prior to entering the data into MS Money or Quicken.  But I don't let receipts accumulate that much now, and the thing is kind of a hazard.  Donate.  3) a DVD recorded off VHS of my friend's yoga guru of choice.  Friend no longer does yoga, and I never managed to get into it.  Recycle. 4) Book I thought might have value on eBay, but then I realized I'd smacked a personalized bookplate into it, greatly reducing potential value.  Donate.  5) 2 bits of miscellaneous plastic, function unknown, and a lone earring.  Toss. Bottom pic:  Holiday address labels, from my previous address. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Making a Production out of It ((omg-I-have-too-much-stuff, recycle))

Programs from school shows.  The ones on the left are from middle school - I was in sewing class, of all things, and we put on fashion shows of our projects.  I'd like to think what I see here are programs from three differeent shows, but really those are all from the same show, just with different covers.  There are no pictures, just lists of the participants, and special thanks to parent to helped out.  My dad got mention in this one.  I have no idea what for.  Maybe paper we used for set decoration?  Anyway, I have no serious extra special memories regarding middle school sewing class, so bye-bye.

The other program is for some high school show I wasn't even in.  It doesn't even look like any of my best friends were in it.  What the hell?

Just b/c it's called a Trapper Keeper . . .

Doesn't mean I have to keep it.  These folders contained a lot of paperwork (which is now in the recycling pile) from high school.  As always, I did keep a little bit - but really, I can't justify holding on to my Latin homework, given that I can no longer even read it.

Media Blitz

This is about half of my pile of miscellaneous and mostly blank CDs, DVDs, and cases.  I found it unreasonably difficult to move any items into the "get rid of"  (Technotrash) pile, despite having just put several similar items in a "keep just in case" pile. This is troublesome, given that I haven't burned a disk in at least two years.  I don't even know how to on my current laptop.  The problem is, about five years I bought an external CD/DVD device that will digitally label the media, and I did in fact use it a great deal (at the time I was converting LPs and audiotapes and VHS tapes).  Now I am anchored in the idea that these are things that I use, even though I don't anymore, even though I expect that in a few years I will will be using some new storage format.  The blanks I am keeping can be labeled with a Sharpie.  What horrible overseer in my brain thinks it matters how neatly my backup disks are labeled?

After having watched this documentary I am kind of trying to target plastic, and this is all just plastic I don't have any real need for.

Photo Opportunity

Once I had the scanner out, I kept on going. So I've scanned about 200 photos I can toss. I'm keeping a few of the hard copies, less than 10% I'd say. Once I started rooting around the space where I keep photographs and photo-related stuff, I realized two of the photo storage boxes are empty. What with the photos I'm not keeping, I'm about to empty a third box. Those are going, freeing up space to take on the overflow photos/frames that has been taking up space in a bedroom closet. And I still have a lot of condensing to do, as I continue to scan. I'm sure I picked up those extra photo boxes thinking I'd put more photos and some kind of mementos in them, but that's sure not my goal now, and I don't expect to collect a whole lot of other hard copies of photos anytime soon. Anyway, it feels like a real accomplishment, as it is clearing real space.

Picture Perfect

Today's theme is camera-related. Ironically, I am not including any photos with this post.

1. Time to toss (recycle) the manual for the Canon Powershot A540, which I no longer have.

2. Way past time to get a stray roll of film developed. I had hoped it was from my visit to the Statue of Liberty (1993) or Prague (1994). Sadly, it was neither, but rather some shots around the condo that I think are from around 2002-2003. Mostly cat pics, but also some of a table which I had forgotten entirely. Another relic from Kurt's house, it is something I had around for awhile because it had potential, but I lacked the skill/money to get it fixed up. I have no recollection of when or how I disposed of it. But it is proof that such things needn't take permanent hold on my memory, and that their absence is not a mandate for regrets.
The cat photos were nothing special, so I just scanned them and threw away the actual photos. Once I had the scanner out, I had some momentum and scanned about twenty-five more photos - a small start to a huge pile of same, but a start nonetheless.

3. It was the right time, again, to delve into my drawer of labeled cables to get one for my digital camera. I had some problems with my primary laptop and wanted to upload some photos, well, for the last blog post. The old laptop doesn't have a port for the sd card, so I needed the cable to connect the camera. I'm glad that I kept the right thing in the right place that enabled me to actually use it when I needed it.

Kid Stuff

Childhood crap, what a minefield.  I will say things got easier a few years ago as it has been increasingly statistically impossible for me to have biological offspring of my own, thus freeing me from the pretense that I should be saving anything for my kids, either from them to play with, or reminisce over.

Exhibit "A" is my first real doll.  I mean,  I definitely had other dolls, stuffed toys and whatnot, but this was the one I would have been dressing up and giving a baby bottle and hauling around in a toy stroller or something.  I was late to the game wanting this, but but parents obligingly got her for me when I rather suddenly insisted I needed a doll.  A named her "Adora" because I adored her.  Someone, possible my godmother, sewed that little yellow dress.  The pink jacket was at some point commandeered and assigned to one of the cats, who did not care for it at all and would walk around backwards when forced to wear it.  Adora was joined shortly, at Christmastime, by "Wake-up Thumbelina."  My mother, trying to do the right thing, got me the African-American version, so my doll family looked a little odd, but so does my real one, so that was ok.  Thumbelina is long gone, abandoned I suppose when the mechanism that allowed her to turn over (that was her schtick) wore out.  See, this is why I decided i probably wouldn't be the world's best mother.  It's Adora's turn to go now.  She is blind and has some kind of plasticized version of leprosy.

Exhibit "B" is a rabbit puppet.  We were going through the booths at the county fair with my aunt and uncle and I really really wanted this and my parents didn't want to buy it for me (on principle or on account of cost, I don't remember), but my Aunt Florine bought it and gave it to me. I don't know why.  If I'd been whiny about it, I'm sure that would have put her off - we weren't close and I remember her as a bit harsh and strict, so I don't know what possessed her.  I think the thing was seven dollars.  My allowance at the time was probably about 35 cents a week.  So, I named the rabbit Annie, even though that was already my sister-in-law's name.  I conducted a little wedding ceremony between her and the same cat who was forced to wear my doll's jacket. 

Exhibit "C" is a hairbrush shaped like an alligator.  It was made by Avon and was once part of a set along with a green comb.  It got used to brush one too many cats and is pretty grungy now. 

Exhibit "D" is a copy of Gulliver's Travels.  Notable is that, although this is a children's version, it does not gloss over the method by which Gulliver put out the fire at the imperial palace.  I'm pretty sure I've seen a movie version that wimps out on that.

Dad's Drawers

I hadn't planned on it, but I wound up doing a fair bit of tidying up on/around the desk in the library/home office.  It is a bad place for clutter, since the long-haired cat (who has nine layers of fur and sheds as if it were an Olympic event) likes to sit there.  The surface has been pretty hopeless since the day I moved in, but as of last night I thought, this could look decent if I can clear some of the things off the right side.  Those happen to be things I definitely want to keep, but they don't have to be "out."  I know, I'll put them in one of the desk drawers!  Now, I knew at least one of those drawers was usable, since my spare laptop lives there.  Mistakenly, I thought the others were, too, but really, not so much.  They contain very random small crap, some of which is pictured below.  From left to right, a bit of everything - things to toss (1999 Pocket Pal calendar), relocate to my office (post-its) , donate (tape measure with Suburban Propane logo), or keep (sliding square, which is very cool and which I will actually use).

The reason I was working in that room in the first place is I'm trying to make progress on my curtains.  For now (and the last several months) the fabric in there has been just draped over the rods, but not actually made up.  I started some of the work yesterday (after finally hemming some of the ones in the living room) and that gave me the momentum to do a little bit more.  Today I'm going to try to sew the side hems.

SOMEDAY (there's that word), after I've finished the curtains and decluttering, I'll be refinishing that desk.  My father used it as a worktable for his model train hobby, so it's in pretty rough shape.  But it is from my brother's house (see multiple previous posts) and has potential and would really be perfect in that room once I have it fixed up.

DIY to go

This is a small (about 4"H) box.  I made it about 15 years ago out of scrap fabric and whatever it was I had bought in a round cardboard container.  It came out pretty well, considering my utter lack of talent with anything even remotely crafty. 
It has been in use for the whole time since I made it.  I think originally I kept cotton swabs in it; more recently, it held my vast collection of nail files and emery boards.

But . . . I'm looking to justify keeping other things, which can only be done by putting *them* to use.  I've moved my nail care implements to a blue and while ceramic tumbler - so this can go.

That reminds me of how I've gradually worked this out in my bathroom.  A similar tumbler holds thermometers - both digital, and the old mercury ones I like to keep (but obviously would never use).  A tall tumbler holds toothbrushes, a chocolate cup now houses the cotton swaps, and my grandmother's hair receiver holds a makeup brush.

I do something similar with the kitchen junk drawer.  Since I insist on keeping my parents' old chipped coffee mugs, I can at least use them to hold wire nuts and wall anchors.

In Hot Water

I have two, count 'em, TWO hot water bottles.  I think I bought one for myself, and then was given the other by either my mother or by my best friend.  I think the second one came with a fleece cover, long since gone (I hope).  I do kind of think my friend gave it to me.  I have a vague memory that I introduced her to the relief to be found in a hot water bottle, but she liked this other kind because it has a thicker construction, and for the fleece cover.  The thing is, that's exactly why I don't like it - to me, it doesn't transfer heat well enough or long enough.
It's not like I use one regularly, anyway - I won't use it during the summer, when it it hot, and during the winter, I don't want to stand around freezing trying to fill it with hot water, which I then need to dry off the bottle.  I'll try to use pain relievers first - the water bottle is awkward when I need it most, when I'm trying to sleep.
Going forward, how often will I need the thing?  I should be hitting menopause before the one I do use wears out.

Power to the People

A few weeks ago I wrote about what was being relegated to the Technotrash box (for recycling).  One of the things not going in was the backup power supply cord for the backup laptop.  Calling that a keeper seemed a bit excessive even at the time that I wrote that, but there it is.

Meanwhile, at work I have a project that requires use of a particular program, installed on a particular laptop.  At my office, I can set up the laptop on my desk, and have threaded the cord through the openings at the back of the desk to keep them out of the way.  But that is a bit of a pain to fish around and crawl under the desk to do, and I need the laptop to be mobile, as I want to be able to work on the project at home, and use it for demos.  I needed another power cord.  I thought, huh, this is a Dell, just like my backup laptop at home.  I wonder if the power supply is compatible?  Well, it is, so I can use the cord I already have at home while working there.  (If you are wondering why I don't ask my IT department for an extra cord, that because I try to save my requests for favors for important things, like last-minute access to the projector).

The point here is not that I should keep everything just in case, but that for the things I do chose to keep, they are a lot more likely to be useful when I can actually find them.  In this situation, because I had already gotten rid of so many cords and cables, I'd been able to put all the rest in one drawer, so when I went looking I only had to look in one place.  And this item was labeled, making it even easier to find.  If I can't find what I am looking for, I might just as well not have it.  Anyway, I am counting this as a win.

Case in Point

This is the case for a pair of glasses I lost almost a year ago.  Did I mention that I don't use these cases, even for the glasses I have?  If my glasses are in my purse, I wrap them in one of those little microfiber cleaning cloths.  Tossed.

Gilty as Charged

More from the brother's estate - two large mirrors. My mother had one in her home, and I had one in mine. Mine (which I have actually had on the wall in the condo) has kind of a nouveau look to it. It goes well with the period of the current house, it is a style I like, and I like it enough to have utilized it in the past. I'd like to think the main reason I don't have it up yet in this house is that I need to do some kind of touch-up on the frame. But the chances are decent that I will hang it eventually.

The other one, Mom's, is less my style. It is a gold gilt frame, something you would use to frame a portrait of your great grandfather or something. It is nice, just not my thing. It wasn't really Mom's thing, either, I know she only displayed it because it had been my brother's. When she died, it got boxed up, and it is still boxed (six years later), so no photo. I opened the box just enough to make sure it isn't damaged, but it is packed well and I don't feel like messing with it.

If I didn't already own the deco mirror, and saw it in a store, I might wish I could have it. The other one I would probably pass without a second glance. Right there is probably all I need to know.

Like so many things that I keep because they were at one time owned/valued by my brother and mother, I have to get real over whether they would have wanted me to feel that I HAD to keep these things, especially when I have many, many more items that meet these qualifications.

The mirror really is rather big. I hope it will fit in my car so I can get it to the thrift store.

Words Fail Me

And here is the flipside to the previous post.  This painting is from my late brother's house.  Maybe he painted it, maybe he didn't.  I have no idea who (or what) the subject is.  If this painting was displayed in his house, I don't remember it.  It was never displayed in my mother's home.  It never made it to the wall in my home, and I don't wish it to.  Zero reason to keep, now that I think about it.  I just hadn't thought about it.

So it is going in the "donate" pile . . . um, maybe someone will want the frame. . .

Roger That

So here is something that I am keeping.  In fact, I've bought additional stuff to support keeping this object.  But it was a mindful decision.

At some point, probably over a decade ago, I was buying and selling a lot of silverware on eBay.  I bought a page cut from a 1953 magazine advertising 1881 Rogers silverplate patterns, thinking, one of these days I'll frame this and put it on my wall.  Well, yesterday was that day.  I went to Aaron Brothers, bought a frame and a matte (and might I say I did a good job picking the colors) and came home and fiddled with the lot a good 45 minutes to get it the way I wanted it.  This morning I put it up on the wall in my kitchen, and I think it looks damned good, if I do say so myself.

Resolved:

Resolved: I don't need a portable DVD player anymore, as discussed in a recent post.

Resolved: I don't need 2 bicycle locks - I scarcely ride my bicycle anymore; one will suffice.

Resolved: I don't need to the lockset I bought years ago for reasons I am too tired to go into right now. And it doesn't match my current hardware in this house.

Resolved: I don't read the material I get from the Tahoe Rim Trail Association. The only activity in which I am willing to engage is 1) hiking, on my own when I feel like it an 2) occasionally contributing money to the cause.

Resolved: I don't know why I saved an unfilled Ambien scrip of my mother's (I know what you are thinking, but if I were going to abuse something, it wouldn't be this) and the label off of a box of prescription Lidoderm.

Resolved: I don't need old, used padded envelopes. I can utilize my ample supply of bubble wrap and brown paper bags if I need to mail books.

Resolved: I don't need the deco lusterware tea set that's been waiting patiently by the donation pile for months while I tried to think about something to say about it.

Resolved: I don't need the plastic over-the-door hangers that are a relic of apartment life. I can drill holes in shit now, if I want. Also, with less stuff, I shouldn't need to resort to much stored on hooks anyway. None yet so far in this house.

Resolved: I don't need the bracelet I bought when I hadn't waited long enough for the (pre-medical procedure) drugs to wear off.

Resolved: I don't need the little teapot ornament I bought at the airport, of all places, when I though I wanted to start collecting the stupid things.

Resolved: I don't need the rest of the shelf brackets I bought to fix the ones at the condo I'd sheared off.

Resolved: I don't need the jewelry-making supplies I bought for some one-off project a year ago.

Resolved: I don't need the extra phone filter devices I still have too many of. They came with my modems and I think I wound up with twelve. I need ONE, and one for backup, although I'm sure I could get one at Radio Shack if needed.

Resolved: I don't need the little stained glass piece I let sit in my kitchen for a decade. I've only kept it so long because it was probably made by my late brother.

Resolved: I don't need an aerial photo poster of San Francisco. I will never frame or display it. It was a cooler thing to have years ago, before I could call up satellite photos of most of the planet from my cellphone.

A Prescription for Clutter

I'm not posting a photo - I think we all know what a prescription pill bottle looks like. Anyway, I had four of them living where I keep seeds for gardening. Their contents have redistributed partly to a glass spice jar, last seen in a previous post, and also into a plastic film canister I'm keeping, because you really can't get those anymore.

The fallacy of a lot of things I keep is that they look like they would be good to store things in. And that's true. But if I have fewer things in general, then I have fewer things that need to be stored, no?

There's just the one small drawer of seeds, and I recently drafted into service a small wooden box ("it would be good to store things in") to hold the little paper packets that hold most of my seeds, so that area is fairly organized. But even organized, there are too many seeds, even for the huge yard I have now. I don't have the soil/garden beds/irrigation system yet to grow everything I want, and most seeds have a shelf life, and I can and do grow things that are technically past their optimum dates, but still.

Checking Out

On the left you can see the nice little writing desk my uncle made for me may years ago.  I think it's charming.  Inasmuch as I own writing tools (and I do), I keep them here.  It also seems like a good place to keep mailing supplies like priority mail labels.  Somewhat logically, I decided to keep mortgage and Homeowner's Association coupons here, since they were things that need to be mailed.  Somewhat less logically, carbon copies of my used checks land here, as well.

Um, I don't need mortgage payment coupons for the mortgage I paid off.  I don't really need the HOA coupons either, since I go to the office in person and pay that six months at a time.  I definitely don't need copies of checks going back to 2003, given that I track everything in Quicken, can get copies of checks from my credit union, and have never had occasion to refer to a check more than a couple of months old.  So, those seventeen (!) old checkbooks got shredded.  Also seen, address labels, Christmas ones at that, from my previous address. 

The thought here is that by removing these items from the writing desk, the odds go up that if I'm ever looking for something in there, I could actually find it!

Postdiluvian

Today's installment from the random crap generator is a booklet on "Repairing Your Flooded Home."  I likely obtained this while working at FEMA.  This dates it to around 1994.  Now that I finally own an actual home, I have concluded that I don't need this.  I'm not in a flood zone.  That guarantees nothing, of course, but there have been two significant floods since I've lived in this city (one was a 100-year flood) and this particular area was not affected.  I also can't help but think that if my house actually did flood, I probably wouldn't be able to find the booklet.                                                                                                                                    

Silverware, The Sequel

In a previous episode, I decided I didn't need the set of Pier One silverware that had supplemented the Fleur de Luce I was already using. So this episode is about the Fleur de Luce (FdL) itself. .  Recap: both are being replaced by my mother's "good" silverplate in the Queen Bess pattern.

The FdL must have entered my life, as so many objects have, by way of my brother's estate.  I honestly don't remember.  I just know that at some point, while I was still living in the apartment, I built my set off of eBay, and it's been my everyday silverware for more than 10 years.  It's perfectly nice.  And I am keeping a few pieces - small tea spoons, the butter knife, and some serving pieces.  Here it is worth repeating one of my show's themes, that I don't entertain much, no one cares what my silverware looks like, so I might as well keep, and NOT keep, whatever I please.  I have other random stuff, too - the spoon in my sugarbowl is yet another pattern, one whose name I don't recall at the moment.  And I have five or six pieces of my Dad's favorite silverware, from the Santa Fe railroad.  That little bit has large spoons the QB set lacks, so all is good.

Theoretically the FdL is "worth something."  I've got a few pieces listed on eBay, but there don't look to be any bites, so this pile may get a little bigger.  It's going in the donation box, and hopefully someone who recognizes it for what it is will score a good deal.

Cutting the Apron Strings

This apron was the class project for Home Ec in the 7th grade.  That means I've been toting it around for three decades now.  Do I need an apron?  No.  I just wear old tee shirts and old jeans if I  expect to make a mess cooking.  Do I, in fact, own another apron?  Why yes, I do.  I don't actually use that one, either, because it is "too nice," but perhaps I can get over that.  You can see it wadded up in the lower left portion of the photo, btw.

Although this was my very first ever real sewing project, sewing has never been a major part of my life, and I have no reason to get sentimental about it.  I have also held on to another project, from a year or two later -  a very nice wool skirt with pockets and a zipper.  It is as good as anything from a store, and still fits me (three decades later!) so I'm keeping that as my memory of middle school sewing class.  (Thanks, Mrs. Holm!)
It's a toss because I washed it, and it still has a small stain, and I can't imagine it having any value, even at a thrift shop.  I could probably compost it, but I think I need it gone.

Salt and Pepper (Compare and Contrast)

Bought the boxed (note yes, the original box)  shaker set a few years ago, looking to make my dining room table, such as it is, look more like it belongs to a grown up.  Didn't work, since, like many people, my table is mostly a place for me to store junk mail.  The shakers, specifically, were used mostly to prop up priority stuff I didn't want buried in the regular layers.
So I've gotten better at dealing with paper, and on the right you can see the shakers I actually do use.  The blue pepper grinder with the faucet handle sufficiently amuses my few guests, and the plain salt shaker is fine for my everyday salting needs (my last blood pressure reading: 90/65, thankyouverymuch)

Why, Why . . . You Masher, You!

OK, technically is it a ricer, not a masher.
Allegedly, the texture produced by putting potatoes through this device (it works like a garlic press) is vastly superior to that produced by the mashing/mixer method with which I was raised.  I let the thing sit around for several years before checking out its story, which I just got around to a few weeks ago.
Meh, not impressed.  I mean, it was fine, but nothing to write home about, you know?  And again, I have to examine the way I actually live.  I don't make mashed potatoes just for myself; I only did it this one time to test the gadget.  I think it would be a pain for a large quantity of potatoes.  I can't even think of the last time I made mashed potatoes for company, either. 

Let me speak here of another gadget, not shown, which I do use, just for a compare-and-contrast.  I have a mandolin ("It was a Gift!") which I use infrequently, but I get output that I am unable/unwilling to duplicate by hand, so it gets to stay.

Ain't gonna happen

Basically this is another episode of "More miscellaneous crap," and the star of the show is the photo album.  I bought this a few years ago when I thought I was going to get into scrapbooking.  Yeah, right.  I cannot think of any circumstance, under any condition, in which I would sit down with someone and go through an album of my childhood photos.  The real solution is to get rid of the album, scan the photos to ease my conscience, load them into a digital photo frame if I really wanted to look at them, and use a custom book application like Blurb if I really wanted to have a book at some unforeseen and unlikely point in the future..
The shower mat, a minor character, is a recent acquisition, purchased because the bottom of my bathtub is a little off-looking.   But getting a bathmat full of soap scum and my hair is even more disgusting to me, so I gave this a bleach rinse and am going to donate it.  Yes, I still had the packaging.
The photo frame and light string are just extras in the scene and will be receiving no credits in this production.

Books on the Go

More books.  I doubt this will be the last load.  I've already blogged about a couple of there.  Others are duplicates, things I will never read again, things I never read in the first place, the usual.  Some are cheap paperback editions of the classics - these are available instantly on Kindle should I need to read them again.  I don't really know when that's going to happen for The Digest of Roman Law. 
Off to Friends of the Library.
Having said that, I have plenty of books in the public domain of which I am definitely keeping the dead-tree version. In many cases, these are books that have been translated from other languages.  Some translations are better than others, and I've noticed that translated Kindle editions, especially the free/$.99 ones, get bad reviews on this score.  I actually still read 19th century French literature because I like it, so this is important to me.  So I got rid of Dickens and Shakespeare, but I'm keeping Zola and Balzac.

The Fabric of Our Lives

If you are any sort of crafter with wood, yarn, fabric, or thread, you probably keep leftover material in case you can use it for another project.  Yeah, right.  Either you don't really use it at all, or you use only a tiny fraction of what you save.  Since sewing isn't even my primary craft (I only make curtains, chair covers, really simple stuff) there is no real likelihood that I will have a chance to use leftovers.  That's what the middle two fabrics are.  The one on the right is a piece of fabric that floated around my mother's home, for presumably the same reason, for as long as I can remember, so it is at least 40 years old.  Anyway, I've packaged them up nicely and labeled them in hopes that they'll do some good in someone else's to-do pile.
The piece on the left is a bedskirt.  I don't have those colors/that pattern on my bed anymore.  I do still have the sheets, since I use them on the futon for guests (already a totally endangered species in my environment, anyway), but I'm not going to bother with the bedskirt there. 
The impractical comforter from this set was documented in an early March post.

Measure twice

"Measure twice, cut once."  Or not at all, in my case, because I did *not* measure properly for this custom-made bathroom mirror, and could not install it as planned during my 2010 remodel.  Tried to sell it on Craigslist, no luck.  It's been bumping from condo to storage to house for two years now.  Today, I dropped it off at the local Habitat for Humanity store, along with some window hardware and some other random bits of homeowner flotsam such as a 1/2" plastic elbow, a paint can lid, a faucet handle.
The window hardware consisted of: some drapery rods from the condo, and I'm using new hardware in this house, so it can go, and also two sets of vertical blinds from the extra bedroom, which I'm sure was fine when it was used as an office, which is what I think the previous resident used it for, but I'm going to put in something a little more decorative.

Misc Crap

The boda bag was a gift from my brother, who somehow retained the memory that I really liked using a boda bag for my water supply for hiking . . . twenty-five years ago.  It is kinda cool, but I use lightweight aluminum bottles now. 
The chain is for some panels of cheap stained glass I had in the condo.  From day 1 I installed those with small hooks, because of where I was putting them.  I will never use this chain. 
The handled object is one of those jobbies for scraping dead skin off the soles of your feet.  It doesn't work very well.  I kept it because it has a Dr. Scholl logo and I think it is from the days when my mother worked for that company. 
The eyeglass case is damaged (the metal bits that make it open/shut have fallen out and gotten lost).  I generally just wrap my glasses in a bit of microfiber cleaning fabric, anyway.
The foam is from Dad's model train storage.
The carabiner is a cheap giveaway from my company.

These Boots are Made for Walkin'

Don't know how long I've had these - 8 or 9 years, I would guess.  They are still in decent condition.  I didn't wear them at all this last fall/winter.  I have other pairs of boots (one brown, one black) that are more, well, work-appropriate.  I also have a grungier, lower-heeled old pair that is suitable for mucking around in. 
This pair can go to someone else who hasn't outgrown that look yet.  And yes, that is the original box.

Fantastic Plastic

This little plastic box was left behind when The Kidlet moved out.  I think she used it as a first aid kit.  I've been stuck thinking I could use it for something, and recently gave up.  It has a #6 recycling icon, so I'll save it for my next trip to Whole Foods or wherever I can recycle the unpopular plastics.

But wait!  I might be able to use it after all!  I was inspecting the corn this morning and discovered earwigs.  Reading up on the critters, it seems I can make a trap for them with a shallow container filled with vegetable oil (or beer, or soapy water).  If I don't catch anything, I can go ahead and recycle it.  (If it winds up full of drowned, dead earwigs floating in vegetable oil, I will probably throw it away.)

Unjustified

I purchased this from an online overstock bookstore the first week of February 2008.  It was $9.95 (shipping for this plus two other books was $4.70).  So, it's been sitting around for about four and a half years.  As I have a landscape now, it seemed like a good time to see if it would be useful.  Well, no, not really.  There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't have much that isn't available to me from other sources like the internet in general,  gardenweb in particular, a Guide to Vegetable, Fruits, and Herbs to which I refer often, and my mother's and grandmother's copies of the Western Garden Book, which are also likely to offer some useful region-specific advice.
So this gets added to the two boxes of books that will be going out of here in the next couple of weeks.  Nothing to justify holding on to it.

N.B.  When looking in Quicken to see when I bought this, I noticed a purchase the same week from Circuit City.  It was for an sd card, which of course now I could probably buy at a gas station.

Kindling

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion is available on Amazon.  Just saw the mention today in Slate, so haven't read it yet, but it looks like it covers some ground on the overconsumption/disposable goods/where-does-it-all-end-up discussion.

Also, The reviews at Goodreads.

It's a Gift

Getting rid of gifts, one of everyone's least favorite categories, I'm sure.  The Kidlet gave this to me for Christmas 2007.  It was a thoughtful gift, as she was aware that I am extremely fond of popcorn.  I have in fact been using it for its intended purpose going on four and a half years now.  But you know what? I can just as easily eat popcorn out of one of my many, many mixing bowls, just like I always did before.  Attempting to justify keeping this bowl, I tried to use it to actually pop the corn in the microwave (which I won't be trying with my other bowls - metal and/or pre-microwave era), but apparently it isn't made for that (it *is* labeled dishwasher safe, and is *not* labeled microwave-safe), and for my troubles I got some strange sounds and burned food. 
It also doesn't hold very much.  I would consider this a plus if I was worried about portion control, but I don't consider that an issue with popcorn. 
Off to the donation box.

A Fine-Feathered Mess

Just wanted to note that I fed another feather pillow (case and all, this time) to my compost pile. The trick is 1) don't try this maneuver while it's windy 2) dampen it down right away 3) get another layer of something heavier on top as soon as possible. Since I now own a lawnmower, I used grass clippings. I'm hoping that the clippings + some crumbled dry oak leaves will serve as insulation to keep the pile warm and help it "cook." The feathers themselves are nitrogen-rich and ought to generate some heat.

I think I'm going to need to build another bin. I'd like to leave this one alone to do its thing, but of course I will always be generating more compostable material, so I need another place to put it.

Silver Lining

This is a two-fer - really, a three-fer.  I was getting rid of something, which led to repair of a second thing, which in turn resulted in finding a third thing that I happened to really need.

Lemme esplain.

I have WAY too much silverware.  I have remnants of my first silverplate set, which, for whatever reason, I still have bits of even though I did technically get rid of that set years ago.  I have the "current" silverplate set (fleur de luce), which for about a year has lived side-by-side with a stainless steel set I bought a Pier 1 (to see if I liked that type of large-handled ware).  There's a box of my parents' stainless, which I will not let go of due to sentimental reasons.  There's also Mom's "good" silverplate (Queen Bess) in its own wooden box.  I've got several odd bits in other patterns leftover from when I fancied myself a silver/silverplate flatware collector - sugar spoons, pastry forks, gravy ladles, twisted butter knives, that sort of thing. And a small handful of silverplate flatware of my Dad's, which he loved because it was used on the Santa Fe railroad.

So, that newer stainless, I like it, but don't love it, and the knives are poorly made - I've broken two of them cutting butter (because it's not like like I'd use my actual butter knives for that . . .) so they are going (donation).

 Note that I kept the box, because I always knew there was a good chance I wasn't keeping this set.  I'm seriously thinking of dumping most of the fleur de Luce as well, so I took it all out of the wooden silverware caddy in the kitchen drawer, because the caddy was broken and needed to be reglued-renailed.  While I was looking for adhesive, which lives in the kitchen junk drawer, I came across the sliding window lock, which I didn't know I had and do not recall having acquired.

 I've been wanting/wishing for something like this now that it is warm, I am living on the ground floor with no A/C, and wanting to keep the windows open.  (This was never an issue in my second-story condo, but it is here.)  So, I promptly put the lock on one of the windows.  Here it is in action.  (that's my awesome compost bin in the background)

I know it won't keep out anyone determined to break in; I'm just trying to deter the opportunistic.  I plan on getting a variety of these and installing two or more per window so I can have airflow and some small sense of security during the night.

The Queen Bess has been promoted to everyday usage.  It is missing large spoons, but Dad's Santa Fe lot has three of those, and I'm keeping the fleur de Luce soup spoons, so I should be good.

So, something I don't need is going out, something I already had has been repaired, and something I'd forgotten I had has been put to good use.  Score!
I

The Peace of Augsburg

The Peace of Augsburg is one of the many, many topics on which I took notes in high school senior year history class.  I suppose it must have had some influence on me, as I went on to major in History in college, albeit more or less as an extra since I just kind of inadvertently piled up a lot of credits in it. 

So my notebook, now missing its cover, seems to have carried me through all of my senior year classes: Modern European History, Advanced Latin, Spanish 3, Computer Science, and Senior Seminar in English. I recorded what scores I received on various assignments and tests on each section facing/first page. 

The facing page for M.E.H. also lists every date from 9/6 through 1/22, followed by a minute count (e.g., 22 min) or "absent" or, just once, 10/2, on time.  I have no recollection whether I was tracking myself, my instructor, or some other student.  Anyway, someone was only present for 7 hours and five minutes the first quarter. 

The Latin section starts with conjugations (laudo, laudas, laudat, laudamus, laudatis, laudant) and continues into translations, some of which I translated into Spanish, as well.
Sample: "2 mules were going having been burdened with packs.  One was carrying baskets with (of) money, the other swollen sacks of much barley."
Poor Mr. Leddy.

The Spanish section looks like probably everybody else's high school Spanish notes.  Again with the conjugating - Digo, dices, dice, dicimos, dicis, dicen.
Oh, look,  a definition of quesadillas, an exotic foreign foodstuff. 
Vocabulary: Un destomillador, screwdriver.

For English class, it looks like we started out with The Plague.  "Why don't Rieux & Tarrou turn in Cottard?"  Indeed.  We read Crime and Punishment that year, as well.
    The Three motives of Raskolnikov:
        Manner not matter
        unity of present
        Epilog regeneration.
Well, yeah.

My Computer Science notes begin with "Class Hint: Don't ever trust Miss Bailey."  That wasn't fair; she turned out to be one of my best instructors, even if (ok, *because*) she did scare the daylights out of me. 
The text was "Oh! Pascal!"  which should give some idea of how much use I've gotten out of this class.  Why, I was declaring and referencing some arrays just yesterday.

All this is interspersed with anagrams, random language translations, bits of near-suicidal adolescent angst, and poems and passages I had memorized (from Jabberwocky, Ulysses, The Tell-tale Heart) and written out in my notebook to make it look as if I were being studious.  Some notes I wrote out with my non-dominant hand, for the same reason. There are also lots of bad sketches of bats, not unlike the Batman symbol.  I just liked the word in various languages: Fledermaus, vespertillion, murcielago, chauvenisouris.  This last came in handy when many years later I traveled to France and purchased their version of the Weekly World News.  Feature story: Bat Boy found in cave. (I still have that paper somewhere, and when it turns up, not only am I not getting rid of it, I might just frame it and put it on my wall.)

As for the notebook itself, I'm keeping a few pages I'll hopefully scan sometime, recycling the rest right now.

Last quotation on last page: "Blood is thicker than water.  So is toothpaste."

Griddle me this . . .

This griddle goes in the donate box.  It's been in my kitchen for about 10 years or so.
I think I once mentioned to a friend I wanted to try making crepes, and he brought this over.  It's used, but not by me.  I like crepes, but I know they're fiddly to make and not something I am likely to learn to make well.  I don't even make regular pancakes, really.  I will be keeping my waffle iron, since I do use it, and it belonged to my parents.
A griddle might be good to make bacon - and now that I think about it, I might have done so at least once - but I really prefer my broiler pan for that.

This Bud's For You

As Seen on TV, the Paint Buddy.  I think I must have started lusting after seeing these in a commercial in maybe the 1980s?   By the time I had a reason to use one, they were a little tough to find.  Maybe I got one from Home Depot, maybe had to order online?  They are OK, but just OK.  Turns out I'm happier keeping leftover paint in regular small paint cans, or even old spice jars if it is just for touch-up of a small thing. 

Ah, the free Apple earbuds that no one uses.  These are from my two iPod Nanos.  Even I, possessing not a single audiophilic gene in my body, don't like these.

I bought more "stuff" today, but it is all outdoor gardening supplies (planting mix & flower flats) so nothing that I need to make space for inside or that I will ever have to pack and move.

Un-

I just like the no-nonsense no-excuses attitude at Unfuck Your Habitat.  It's not totally my cup of tea, since I can already deal with straight up mess when I want too.  In fact, I'm probably a little too good at it - since I'm so good at hiding things, it's too easy to think I don't really have too much stuff.  But I do like the site's emphasis on dealing with specific, small, and/or manageable tasks, and that they are very functional goals, like making sure you are ready for work and can use your kitchen.

For advice on how to actually get rid of things, I go to Unclutterer, where there is a lot of emphasis on the emotional aspect of things.  For instance, there are a lot of articles and questions on how to deal with inherited items.  There is practical advice, too, like what items to avoid acquiring (site author Erin Doland calls these "Unitaskers,") but also what organizing tools can help you access/display the items you do retain.

Misery loves company

I wasn't planning more posts today, but I'm waiting for my drill battery to charge so I can put up a shelf in the garage to get some of the crap I'm keeping off the floor.  In this case, that would be leftover paint from both this house and from the condo, and also my painting supplies. 

Lest one imagine I'm getting rid of so much as to be soon left with nothing, have no fear.  Today I bought a big (huge) decorative planter, and I know I'll be back to that store. :-[    I also placed an order for a lawnmower.

But those things will live outside.  Indoors, I'm adding one of these to the donate pile, obviously.  I think I bought a copy of this once new, and really liked it, and then stupidly lent it to someone who never returned it, and bought a used copy as replacement, and at some later point bought *another* used copy, probably with the idea that the second one was "better" somehow. 

my Crowning Glory

2 magazines featuring Black Hairstyles, and some printouts of Halle Berry.  This stuff is circa 2004.  I had cut my hair short and suffered from the delusion that I would (or even could) style it in some way.  In particular, I hoped I could emulate Halle Berry, as we have a similar ethnic background.

The truth is that, except for keeping it clean and not letting it go rasta, I am never going to bother doing anything with my hair.  I don't know how to do most of those things in the magazines, and am not willing to commit to major heat/chemical interventions to make it behave significantly differently from how it naturally does. 

RTFM

Instructions for two items I have owned for 5-10 years.  I use both items on a regular basis, and don't really need the instructions anymore, if I ever needed them in the first place.  (I did review the epilator manual to make sure I was using it in the most efficient manner).  Not shown, but getting tossed, a couple of attachments for the epilator.

No Muffin Tops

For your consideration, two cupcake/muffin pans, and one popover pan.  The smaller muffin tin was my mother's.  I have fond memories of her baking cupcakes for my classes when
I was in elementary school.  She was good at it and actually liked baking them (she did hate to *cook* - that was different).

 

I don't know that I've baked cupcakes, ever, since moving out of her home.  I've made muffins a few times, but I am not really interested in them.  In either case, I don't like messing with the little paper cups, I don't like trying to get the same amount of batter in each compartment, I don't like trying not to drip batter everywhere.  I don't like applying frosting.

 

There's a woman in my office who makes very good cupcakes.  I can eat those when she brings them, and  I will stick with baking cookies, which I *am* good at.

 

So the regular tins can go.  I'll keep the popover pan for the time being.  I haven't made those in a while, either, but I can visualize myself making them a lot sooner than I ever would cupcakes.

On the Way Out

Just a partial list of things for the next trip to the SPCA thrift store.  There is another season of "Hoarding: Buried Alive" available on Netflix, so I'm feeling the inspiration.

First up is a lusterware set I've been trying to unload for what feels like forever.  I do like it, but I can't really display it properly on its tray the way I'd like.  (I didn't unwrap all the pieces for the photo - there are 5 demitasse cups, 6 saucers, and a creamer.) I've offered it on eBay a couple of times for a pretty low price, but the teapot spout is chipped, and the sugarbowl is missing, so no bites.

Oh, and I've packed the set into a boot box I've been keeping because it might be handy for something.  Well, it can be handy to help me get rid of something else.

I bought a set of splatter screens on a recent binge at Bed Bath and Beyond.  I actually do need some, because my stove is right next to a wall, and I don't want grease to build up there.  The set came with three sizes, and I can fit two of them on pans I already have, but don't need this one. 

Not sure at all how this entered my life - possibly from one of my mother's neighbors moving out.  I've probably had it at least fifteen years, and do not believe I've ever used it, despite fantasies of some kind of fruit pie to be made.  Really, I only make pumpkin pies, and I use regular pie plates of mine/my mother's/my grandmother's.

This little vase in the shape of a baby scale made its way into my home when a friend of mine started collecting scales (real ones, mostly).  As if I didn't already have enough vases, this one is not shaped to display any flowers I might want to have out.

Ginger jar from my brother's house.  I have another one (missing the lid) that I use to keep pens in.  But I don't need two of them, and since the one I use is lidless, I don't perceive this as a set that I'm breaking up.  That's a big problem for me with sets - I may really want only one or two items out of a group and feel it's an all or nothing thing.

These are both mini colanders - the larger one is about five inches across.  I bought the smaller one first, about five years ago, and thought it cute to fill it with cherry tomatoes and take close-up photos.  Now that that amusement is played out, I don't do anything with it.  I am keeping the "larger" one as I actually use it (for rinsing broccoli sprouts, and just this morning for rinsing blueberries.) 

Another compare and contrast - I blew probably $10 or $15 on the "beach glass" (tumbled broken glass, of the sort you could pick up yourself in a parking lot) because I thought it would be a nice base when I grow narcissus paperwhites.  I did use it for that a couple of times.  But I haven't grown paperwhites lately now that I have other gardening outlets, it is a pain to clean the little glass bits out of the plant roots  when the season is over, and that little jar on the right contains some perfectly nice small pebbles I could use if I change my mind and do want to grow paperwhites again.  For a few years, that little jar was in my mother's room with some lucky bamboo growing in it, which I know she liked a lot, so there's an actual memory there.

Pillow Talk

I haven't been dealing much lately with my inside crap, since that would mean being inside, and right now I am spending a lot of my time outside, because that is pretty much why I bought a house. I've been playing in the dirt, pulling weeds, and planting vegetables. But I also built a nice big compost bin. Anything organic can go in there. So, when I was looking for a way to get rid of old pillows (way too well-used to donate) I was delighted to read that not only can they be composted (most of my pillows are feather/down) but they provide a lot of nitrogen, which is exactly what my bin needs.
The compost bin is also a suitable resting place for my very old jeans, also too worn to donate. I've got to sort of dismantle them, since the poly thread and rivets and such won't decompose, but it's better than just tossing the whole thing.

Ashes to Ashes, Crap to Crap

Clockwise from the top:

1) Business card from my credit union, which I interact with online or via interoffice mail.  Should I ever need to visit in person, I can probably find their location, since it is housed, after all, in my company's main building.

2) Coupon for cat food I do not buy.  (This got recycled)

3) Rubber stamp of new address, freebie from my mortgage company.  Was tempted to keep until I remembered a) I bet I'll be getting (less bulky) free address stickers from some other advertising effort shortly (and I did!) and b) when I do address an envelope by hand, I still like to use the Cross pen that was given to me as a gift when I graduated from high school.  It was "just like Dad's" and I am very fond it it.

4) 2 packets of spiced cider, leftover from Kidlet (who moved out in 2008).  She was visiting recently, but she won't eat anything expired, not even dry goods one day past the printed date.  These have no date stamped on them, but she didn't trust them.  I make real cider when I want a hot cider drink, so these are useless to me.  Won't compost since I don't want to add sugar to the pile.

5) Keychain flashlight with corporate logo.  The battery is failing.  Will toss as after I remove the battery, which I will recycle.

6) Not sure what this plastic thingie is - possibly a holder for some corporate foam logo thingie circa 2003. 

7) Patch kit for the Aerobed.  The Aerobed is rarely used, I don't find it easy to find the leaks in the things, and if I ever really wanted to patch it I bet I could use my bicycle tire patch kit.

Wall-ow

These are things from my late brother's home.  I do like deco, and I do like some Asian art, but I can't say I totally love any of these particular pieces.  The mirror was on the wall of my interior stairway, and the piece on the right was on one of the wall upstairs, but neither piece ever had pride of place.   I have no specific memories of these in his house.  I nearly hung the piece on the left on the wall here in my new house and then asked myself, would I be tempted to buy this if I saw it in a store?  No, so that's the principle I'm applying to all three of these items.  Maybe they'll be a treasure to someone else.