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.