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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Turn of the Screw

The photo is of the old & new versions of the bolts under the sink that hold the faucet to the countertop.  I wound up replacing the bathroom faucet assembly due to a classic homeowner thought process of looking at a small problem and thinking, I can fix this in like five minutes.  The faucet handle (kind of like this one) was grody, so I thought I'd just pop it off and replace it.  The handle I bought was about $8.  But I was having trouble finding the set screws on the adapter piece (they were there, they're just really really small) and I was just taking the old and new ones apart and putting them back and generally fiddling too much until I'd stripped the screw of the old one and couldn't get it off at all, so decided to replace the whole thing.  Faucet assembly = $65.  I do know how to do this, and knew the copper supply lines are brittle, so I was very careful disconnecting them, but broke one anyway, and got to replace that (with flex-hose), too.  Four trips to two hardware stores later, it was all good.

For whatever reason I left he old faucet sitting in my kitchen sink.  The next morning, I was very surprised to see a very very large spider scuttle out of the thing.  It was very very very possibly a black widow.  I am not overly afraid of spiders and have a calm, cool, and collected method for capturing them and releasing them outdoors.  This method was completely forgotten as I invented a new process on the spot which involved hurriedly pulling on my dishwashing gloves, picking up the faucet, running outside, and, I am ashamed to say, flinging the spider over the fence into my neighbor's yard.  Then I headed directly for my outdoor garbage bin and dropped the old faucet in.  I guess that's one way to not wind up hanging onto old,broken things for too long.

Miscellaneous Tossables

This is basically a pile of crap.  All getting tossed.

On the top left are various expired foodstuffs, including cake mix circa 2007.  The chicken and rice was a misfire from Trader Hoes, the round jar contains mulling spices which I'm sure keep for a long time, but I think these were transported on the last move, too, so a decade may be a lot to ask.  The maraschino cherries are from god knows where.  The little foil pan may be a leftover from the days when my only baking option was a toaster oven, so that's more like thirteen years old.  The expired jar of oregano is especially pointless since I now grow my own and can have fresh whenever I want, which is practically never.
Moving clockwise is a can of dried paint, of what I suspect is the color of the kitchen in the condo.  I'm going to keep the label and toss the can.  The three metal cylinders are "new," leftovers from installing my dryer, and exactly the sort of thing I would keep around indefinitely for no particular reason. 
Next up is a padded envelope I thought I could reuse.  I do reuse and repurpose a lot of mailing material, but this has been with me for a long time without finding application, so it goes.
The stringy bits are my semi-homemade cat leash.  When I lived in the studio, I occasionally leashed my cat and took her for walks, which went about as well as you'd expect, but I felt guilty about making her live in such a small space with nothing but a parking lot to look at.  I stopped walking her when we moved to a better apartment.  Also, that cat died a few months ago.  I think about her every single day, and it's not like I'll forget her if I give up the leash.
Left of the leash is a failed knitting experiment.  I knitted the sweater, but it was just not right across the top.  Since the whole point of knitting my own sweaters is to make things that fit well, I ordered more yarn and started a new one with the intent of adjusting as needed.  That was about five years ago.  I started the second, and a few weeks ago tried to work on it, but determined I'd made other mistakes and unraveled it.  Meanwhile, I washed the one in the photo, which stretched it such that no one on earth could wear it, so it's going, because even if I ever finish the second sweater, I have a clear picture in my head of what was wrong with the first.
Lower left is seriously random:
Lid of paint can of what may be the deck color.  The HOA is currently replacing and repainting the decks, so I don't need to know what color it possibly was.
Plastic ring that held Mom's Tupperware measuring spoons, which I threw away years ago
Metal thingy from soft glasses case. 
Metal thingy from a collapsing steamer basket.  I kept it forever because I wasn't sure what is was.  Now that I know and know I don't need it, it can go.
Middle-ish: expired promotional coupon for some product I would never use, more fake nails from a kit I bought for its other contents, a foam block for packing/storing model railroad stuff, and, last but not least, a hair accessory I used to wear, but don't anymore, that is grungy and not really cleanable.

Going, going, going

MORE vases.  OK, the bottles aren't really vases, but I think I had it in the back of my mind that I could use them as such.  What I am keeping: the medium-sized blue one, which was my mother's, and which I can remember her using sometimes.  Also, the small clear glass one, origin unknown, just because I like it.  Going: the Sioux City bottle, origin unknown, the small blue/white vase, origin unknown, and the Coke bottle, which has a story:  My best friend and I had gone to lunch one day, were served Coke in these bottles, and took them with us, even though I suspect we weren't meant too, but no one stopped us and we thought they looked cool. That was about 1989.  I think my friend, who lives in much smaller spaces than I do, purged hers perhaps five or ten years ago.  It's time for mine to go as well.  I don't display it for its own sake, nor do I use it as a vase.

MORE pitchers.  These two were both my mother's.  They were both displayed in her home at one time or another.  I sorta like the cookie-icing decoration of the one on the right, but it isn't really my style.  The one on the left has been corralling my knitting needles for some time now and seems to be working out for that.  Also, I suspect it is Rookwood pottery, and thus may be worth something if I get into a selling mood. 

Mixers.  I use the one in the box - it was a gift from a friend (the same one from the Coke bottle story).  Apart from my box fetish, I also kept the box to hold the other beaters (hooks, in this case)  The other mixer was a gift as well - my brother gave it to me because he thought I would think it looks cool, and he is right.  BUT, I don't use it.  I didn't even use it during the holidays when I went on a massive baking frenzy, as I found it very easy to just clean the beaters on my regular mixer.  God bless bro, when he gave it to me (he had gotten it at a thrift store) he gave me permission then and there to not keep it if I didn't want too.  He is a minimalist my both nature and circumstances and wouldn't deliberately burden me with something I don't want.

Miscellaneous stuff. 
Taking it clockwise from the top - got the kitchen timer because I thought I should have one - after all, my mother did.  But looking back, she might have only gotten one after the one on her stove broke. She used it for the laundry (communal laundry room) more than for cooking. I have a timer on my stove and another on my microwave.  There are probably timers on my cell phones as well. 
Pudding dish?  I originally bought two of these - again, a habit of mine - I think for the cat's food, which, again, I have established I have plenty of other dishes for.  Not sure if I broke or donated the other one, I know I only have the one now.
Kitten puppet - In 1989 my father visited me at college - the only family visit prior to my graduation - and bought me a expensive stuffed cat.  I'm keeping that, it has strong memories attached.  Sometime later I bought this little puppet to be its "kitten" and the setup was cute but again, these are not displayed together, and the kitten can go.  They always find homes easily, anyway.
Mini-notebook - purchased in a tourist town a couple of years ago for the legitimate reason that I need somewhere to write little notes just like everybody else.  But about a year later it was supplanted by a similarly small notebook that was designed to have an attached pen, which I definitely need, and now also by an app on my smartphone.
Cheese slicer, origin unknown - I don't slice cheese, I either cut blocks with a knife, or grate it.  I've already gotten rid of a guillotine-style slicer I once bought my parents that they never used, and that I used only once in a while because it was a PITA to clean for what I got out of it.
Nutcrackers and nut picks - belonged to my parents, and I do have brief childhood memories of cracking walnuts with them.  They sat in the back of my parents' silverware drawer until they passed to me five years ago.  I eat peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, and pistachios, but not walnuts.  I am keeping the picks however, as they are small and look like something I could use as a general household tool.  It pains me a little to separate the nutcrackers from the nut picks, but I suspect I'm not totally rational there.
Some kind of implement ("Mini-whip"), unopened package, from Pampered Chef.  No idea how it landed with me - I've never attended one of their events. I am certain my mother never did, either. I've never been at my baking and thought, oh yeah, now is where I could really use that mini-whip thingie.
Butter pats - bought from eBay because they are the pattern of some of my father's Santa Fe Railroad plates (which I have since sold on eBay!) . They are too small to use for anything, and in fact too small to carry the backstamp such as seen on other items in the series.
Candle stuff (center) - these came from my brother's house.  I thought they were cool, and liked the concept of a candle snuffer, esp that this one is silver or silverplate.  But, I've done a post on how I'm not really into candles.  So the candle paraphernalia can go.

Exeunt.

The Replacements

What we have here are 3 sets of items that were replaced immediately upon moving into the new house.  The first was in fact already replaced by the previous property owner.

These I assume to be the fixtures that were in place when the flipper bought the house.  The bathroom at present has some nondescript Home Depot builder-grade lights, and these others were in the sink cabinet.  I suppose I could try to hunt down someone staging a 1970s revival project, but really I'm just going to throw them away.
(When I packed up my parents' apartment after my mother died, I did the same thing - we took down our fancy glass fixture, replaced it with something from Home Depot, and then I discovered the original circa 1968 fixture in the back of a kitchen cabinet.  I did leave it for the landlord, I don't know why - I'm sure he just threw it away, like I'm doing now)

Next up is the chain lock.  I'd bought one for the condo, being too stupid to realize I couldn't install it with my steel door.  But I kept it in case I needed it Someday, which turned out to be last week, because there was one one the house, but, crucially, it was missing the chain.  Out with the old, in with the new.

Last but not least are the plastic shower curtain rings, also probably vintage 1970 along with the lights.  I grew up with ones just like these, never minding that they were dull and uninspired, but minding very much that they were a PITA to get on and off when it was time to clean or change the curtain.  They are so outta here.

All toss.

Book Toss

25 books in this pile, and they are going in the trash.  It goes against every grain of my existence to throw away books, but these are too tattered and torn to be of any appeal to anyone.  Now, there are damaged books in my "keep" pile of sufficient sentimental value to warrant their retention, but the ones in this lot don't qualify. 

These are some of my childhood books, dating to the days when perhaps I was a little rough on my things.  To be fair, many of these came to me with the covers already gone, brought home by my father from his job at a paper recycling facility. 

Of note in this stack:
-Some textbooks stamped "obsolete" - I remember not knowing what that word meant, and having to ask my mother. 
-What were probably my first books about Columbus and Abraham Lincoln, the kind that depict them as men who can do no wrong.
-My Richard Scarry's Best Rainy Day Book Ever, which proved my lack of artistic talent rather conclusively
-A book on human anatomy that illustrates no nonwhite people whatsoever.

I'd actually scanned the Columbus book, then discovered there was a problem with the scanner and it hadn't worked.  Upon second thought, I realized I wanted to save only this one image:

Trash Day

OK, it's not really trash day for another couple of days - but this stuff actually went in the bin today, so I'm counting it.

Exhibit "A" - packing foam from a new bookcase.  It's been sitting there for about a month, mostly because I had a vague idea it might be useful for a display project (of shopping bags from foreign countries).  But that project is a long way off, I don't have tools to cut a straight edge in foam, there are other bases I could use, and I may in fact have gotten rid of the bags, I'm not actually sure!  So I filled up the rest of my bin with styrofoam chunks, after nearly sabotaging myself by checking to see if any local recyclers take the stuff. which they don't, thank god.

Exhibit "B" - mini-greenhouse parts.  The thing served well for a few years, then the cover disintegrated and I bought a couple more.  I was thinking to save the old as spare parts, then realized the vertical rods and shelves aren't the parts that would need replacing, so there is no use in keeping them.  What I am keeping are the horizontal supports, since those are the part that is likely to break.  The rest can go.

Exhibit "C" - coffee cans from Trader Joe's.  These are another example of something I do use, but got carried away with.  I have several in my kitchen I have decorated with wallpaper that are very nice canisters for flour, sugar, beans, etc.  These others, undecorated, get deployed as user-friendly containers for cat food.  For over a decade, I have been buying huge 15-20lb bags of dry cat food from the vet, and it made sense to have these smaller containers.  That special food was for a cat that died last October, and I buy smaller bags of food now.  If circumstances change and I start buying bigger bags again, well, I still buy the coffee, so I needn't worry about being short on the canisters.  I thought about removing the top and bottom in order to recycle the paperboard, but it is lined with something foil-like, so I don't know that it qualifies, so they just got tossed.

Close Enough for Government Work - 2/3/2012

So I have a lot these little bowls - mostly what are called "berry" bowls, some are bouillon bowls.  I don't use them for their intended purpose, but I do use them for feeding canned food to my cats.  Two of these, the ones with floral motifs, have been broken and mended and are perfectly suitable for the cats.  But the blue and whites are the right size, too, and have never been broken.  The cats mostly eat dry food, out of different bowls, and don't need this many of the small bowls.  I'm tossing the mended ones. 

These type of items are where I can sympathize with hoarders - I should keep them, they aren't very big, they're cute, they might be useful, they are useful -  but that doesn't mean I need so many.

The Clone Wars 2/3/2012

Here we have 2 dedicated staple removers (probably from my parents' home), plus my mini-stapler (purchased by me) which also has a remover on it.  So one of the removers will be released into the wild at my office. I'm counting it as a toss since it won't be in my home or even my cubicle anymore.  Considering that I do scan a lot to minimize paper, my needs to staple things and then remove the staples is pretty small.