Storage box overrun by a mouse family.
And that sure turned out to be an easy thing to toss. Sadly, the storage container was purchased and filled and stored in the basement with the idea that the stuff within would be preserved.
Nope. Some mice got in, somehow, and chewed and nested and left the place a dump. So, off to the trash that all goes. Sigh. At least it was an easy decision.
How are you doing?
xo, LD
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Catching up on tossing out - and sharing!
(For Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, too!)
Candied citron, Easter candy, and groceries for foodbank
Wednesday: out from the cupboard goes a tub of candied citron (those little technicolor chunks that you find in fruitcake). I'm never going to use them. No one wants to eat them. Everyone in my family goes, "Huh? Those are food?" when they see them. All right, all right - I was thinking I would bake them into a festive biscotti - I have a recipe! - but I get the message. . . citron down the disposal, container into recycling, and a vow to make brownie biscotti instead. LOL!
Thursday: goodbye, leftover Easter candy. Yes, we have uneaten candy in our house! I imagine by now all the chocolates are grey and molten inside their shiny pastel wrappers. So long, little chocolate eggs and packets of jelly beans! This year, be glad that there's no compulsion to eat stale candy. Next year - buy less!
Friday: just saw a forwarded email from the local foodbank - they can't keep their shelves stocked with pantry basics, there are so many hungry families coming in to receive donations. Well, we have plenty, and then some, and there's more where that came from. Because we're blessed - our surfeit goes there today.
xo, LD
Candied citron, Easter candy, and groceries for foodbank
Wednesday: out from the cupboard goes a tub of candied citron (those little technicolor chunks that you find in fruitcake). I'm never going to use them. No one wants to eat them. Everyone in my family goes, "Huh? Those are food?" when they see them. All right, all right - I was thinking I would bake them into a festive biscotti - I have a recipe! - but I get the message. . . citron down the disposal, container into recycling, and a vow to make brownie biscotti instead. LOL!
Thursday: goodbye, leftover Easter candy. Yes, we have uneaten candy in our house! I imagine by now all the chocolates are grey and molten inside their shiny pastel wrappers. So long, little chocolate eggs and packets of jelly beans! This year, be glad that there's no compulsion to eat stale candy. Next year - buy less!
Friday: just saw a forwarded email from the local foodbank - they can't keep their shelves stocked with pantry basics, there are so many hungry families coming in to receive donations. Well, we have plenty, and then some, and there's more where that came from. Because we're blessed - our surfeit goes there today.
xo, LD
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
H.E. double Hockeysticks!
(Tuesday, July 22, actually!)
Hockeysticks - two pair.
Because the two hockey players in our family have grown at least three feet taller than they were the last time they used these hockey sticks to play a pickup game in our driveway. . . out they go!
Nobody wanted them, no kids, not even the guy picking through the neighborhood trash bags. Nor could I think of another use for them - our garden doesn't need any more stakes, for instance. I guess nobody could come up with a reason to keep them out of the landfill. Sorry, Earth!
I'm happy to report that the garage is looking a little emptier. . . one thing at a time. . .!
xo, LD
Hockeysticks - two pair.
Because the two hockey players in our family have grown at least three feet taller than they were the last time they used these hockey sticks to play a pickup game in our driveway. . . out they go!
Nobody wanted them, no kids, not even the guy picking through the neighborhood trash bags. Nor could I think of another use for them - our garden doesn't need any more stakes, for instance. I guess nobody could come up with a reason to keep them out of the landfill. Sorry, Earth!
I'm happy to report that the garage is looking a little emptier. . . one thing at a time. . .!
xo, LD
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Bye, Bye, Birdie (Clock)
(Monday, June 21 - really!)
Bird-song-on-the-hour Wall Clock.
Yup, it hooted, chirred, tweeted, or clucked on the hour, every hour - for the past ten years or so. This was a clock that, at one time in my life, I really, really wanted to have (oh, I don't know why! It just appealed to me.). . . and my in-laws, such good sports, gave it to me as a Christmas gift.
It delighted my kids and surprised our guests ("What? Oh, that's just the clock!") - once upon a time. Now, I don't know why, but the thrill is gone. The clock had fallen off the wall more than once and was battlescarred, not so very attractive anymore; and recently the birdsong was a little weirder than ever - for instance, the owl's "hoo hoo" had become more of a "hrr hrr," an irritated, angry sound. And hoo - I mean, who - needs to hear that, twice a day?
When I took the clock off the wall, I found the reason for this birdsong mayhem: one of the batteries had exploded! Eew! And so our poor, battered clock, once a treasure and now clearly trash, went right into the can.
Plus, I have to confess, this afternoon I ran into a pretty wall clock, on clearance, even, at Wal-Mart. Yes, I bought it! Oh, no! Does a toss count as a "declutter" if I replace it?
I'm not going to worry about that too hard - because something good happened when I hung the new clock on the wall. The wall looked different (duh!) - like it really needed a little something extra (besides a coat of fresh paint!). We have many nice pieces of framed art. . . stashed on the floor behind a chair in our sitting room. I chose one that was just right - and, on a roll, got a picture hanger nail thing and hammer from the basement, and, by golly, I hung that picture right then and there. And it looks good, too!
So I may have come out even on the decluttering, item-wise, but I came out ahead, stack-and-pile-wise. Sounds like enough of a small victory to me!
xo, LD
Bird-song-on-the-hour Wall Clock.
Yup, it hooted, chirred, tweeted, or clucked on the hour, every hour - for the past ten years or so. This was a clock that, at one time in my life, I really, really wanted to have (oh, I don't know why! It just appealed to me.). . . and my in-laws, such good sports, gave it to me as a Christmas gift.
It delighted my kids and surprised our guests ("What? Oh, that's just the clock!") - once upon a time. Now, I don't know why, but the thrill is gone. The clock had fallen off the wall more than once and was battlescarred, not so very attractive anymore; and recently the birdsong was a little weirder than ever - for instance, the owl's "hoo hoo" had become more of a "hrr hrr," an irritated, angry sound. And hoo - I mean, who - needs to hear that, twice a day?
When I took the clock off the wall, I found the reason for this birdsong mayhem: one of the batteries had exploded! Eew! And so our poor, battered clock, once a treasure and now clearly trash, went right into the can.
Plus, I have to confess, this afternoon I ran into a pretty wall clock, on clearance, even, at Wal-Mart. Yes, I bought it! Oh, no! Does a toss count as a "declutter" if I replace it?
I'm not going to worry about that too hard - because something good happened when I hung the new clock on the wall. The wall looked different (duh!) - like it really needed a little something extra (besides a coat of fresh paint!). We have many nice pieces of framed art. . . stashed on the floor behind a chair in our sitting room. I chose one that was just right - and, on a roll, got a picture hanger nail thing and hammer from the basement, and, by golly, I hung that picture right then and there. And it looks good, too!
So I may have come out even on the decluttering, item-wise, but I came out ahead, stack-and-pile-wise. Sounds like enough of a small victory to me!
xo, LD
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Once or twice a month!
A basketful of magazines.
They've gone to two places: to the recycling bin and to the "bookstore" at the public library, where they'll be sold for a dime apiece.
It used to be very, very hard for me to give up my old magazines. My collection included ten years of Gourmet, and many issues of Martha Stewart Living - each of them full of wonderful ideas. . . clever and beautiful, refined and lovely. No wonder they held such appeal to me, especially during the years when my kids were little and unpredictable and so dependent.
I suppose that those magazines were my alter ego, the me that used to be, and the me that I wanted to be (in my spare time, I guess). But I gave them away to recycling and to anyone who would take them.
And now I find that it's not so hard to do that with the magazines that show up in my mailbox every month. . . out they must go, after a couple weeks. More will be coming!
Even if practice doesn't make perfect, it does seem to loosen up old habits and help cement new ones, and I'm pretty proud of how I'm learning to let go of magazines. If there's something really, really compelling, I clip it and put it in a pile. . . that pile will be a toss, no doubt, on another day - wow!
And maybe one day I might even let some subscriptions lapse, and see if it's not the end of the world - my fantasy world, that is!
xo, LD
They've gone to two places: to the recycling bin and to the "bookstore" at the public library, where they'll be sold for a dime apiece.
It used to be very, very hard for me to give up my old magazines. My collection included ten years of Gourmet, and many issues of Martha Stewart Living - each of them full of wonderful ideas. . . clever and beautiful, refined and lovely. No wonder they held such appeal to me, especially during the years when my kids were little and unpredictable and so dependent.
I suppose that those magazines were my alter ego, the me that used to be, and the me that I wanted to be (in my spare time, I guess). But I gave them away to recycling and to anyone who would take them.
And now I find that it's not so hard to do that with the magazines that show up in my mailbox every month. . . out they must go, after a couple weeks. More will be coming!
Even if practice doesn't make perfect, it does seem to loosen up old habits and help cement new ones, and I'm pretty proud of how I'm learning to let go of magazines. If there's something really, really compelling, I clip it and put it in a pile. . . that pile will be a toss, no doubt, on another day - wow!
And maybe one day I might even let some subscriptions lapse, and see if it's not the end of the world - my fantasy world, that is!
xo, LD
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