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.