January 28, 2007--Hug Therapy Book

I loved this book once, but I'm not super keen on it anymore. If anyone wants it, let me know ASAP. Otherwise, it's going to the thrift store.

January 27, 2007--Thank You book

This little book, illustrated by Mary Englebreit, is very cute, but not something I need. I think someone gave it to me as an elaborate thank you card and I don't always keep cards, so I don't need to feel obligated to keep this book, right? Especially since I can't remember who gave it to me. (sorry if it was you, dear reader.)

January 26, 2007--pretty placemats

i am ashamed to say that i have no idea where these placemats came from. they could be from a dear friend or i could have picked them up at the dig n save. but since there are only 2 and i don't generally use placemats (but maybe i should?), i think these will be going away. if you are the friend who gave them to me, please let me know soon!

January 25, 2007--"Grandmother's Remedies"

this little book was given to me by a high school friend named leslie who sometimes went by "weasel" (not because of any character traits--it was more of a far-fetched name morphing .... lesley>wesley>weasel (or most of the time, just weez)) she was a friend who had had an unfortunate life that included lots of shuffling around between different homes (both relatives homes and "homes for girls") but who always seemed to stay happy. or at least, she laughed a lot. she introduced me to chorizo on a sleepover one night (late night snack... with eggs) and once she was devastated when she accidentally killed a bird she'd earlier rescued (ok, well the bird drowned in the toilet and she'd only left the lid up, so it wasn't really her fault). she ended up having a baby (i can't remember now if that was before or after we graduated) and i think the last time i spoke to her, she was happily involved with some religious group that made her wear long skirts and possibly a veil. wow. that's a lot to wrap up in a book that she probably bought for a dollar at burlington coat factory. and since the book doesn't really add anything about our relationship and i'm just holding on to it because of the memories of her... i think i can remember her without the book. i think i wrote a poem about her and the bird.... i'll use that to remember her by.

January 24, 2007--plate

I bought this plate at the dig and save (for less than 50 cents, despite the price tag) thinking i would add collage to it or something arty. now that i look at it later, it's kind of ugly. and not really right for adding collage. back to the d&s!

January 23, 2007--little book of wrong shui

i think someone gave me this for christmas one year thinking it would be kind of funny. i haven't ever looked at it. it doesn't need to take up room on my shelf. it can be funny for someone else.

January 22, 2007--green thermal blanket

for some reason, when i was in college, these blankets were the big thing. everyone had one in a different color. i'd recently forgotten that i owned it. i'm not sure what the appeal was all those years ago--these blankets are full of holes, not that attractive and if my cats got hold of it.... well, it wouldn't be pretty. i think someone else will get better use out of it.

January 21, 2007--Russian Friendship Tea

Every Sunday that I made it to Sunday School in college, they served this warm drink called "friendship tea" or "russian tea" (depending on what part of the country you came from) that was made by combining Tang, instant Iced Tea powder and sugar (and maybe some cinnamon and other spices?). It was delicious! Or at least I thought so in college. So, i mixed some up here a few years back to drink whenever i got a craving. Well, here it is. That jaunty angle? Yeah, that's pretty much permanent. Some moisture got in at some point and it's not really a powder anymore. I think a part of me thought that if I ever wanted some, i could just chip some out into a mug, add water and it would work (and it probably would) but... perhaps it's the fact that i left the jar's original spaghetti sauce labels on? it just doesn't really appeal to me. ever.

February 20, 2007--frog

this cheery fellow was part of a smorgasboard of gifts from my grandma-in-law a few years ago. the family was doing a gift exchange where we each drew one name and then had to get a gift that was green. it was up to the giver whether they wanted to give a serious or a gag gift, but most of them were pretty funny. so, i don't even know if gma w. knows that my nickname is "phroggi" and that my family still has a habit of getting me frog-related gifts, but this guy was actually kind of cute, and i needed something to hold my scrubby things at the edge of the sink, so he lived there for a few years with a mouthful of green scratch pads. until this christmas when i got a beautiful new egg-shaped, baby blue thing that nigella lawson calls a "salt cellar" and which i call "a holder for my scrubbers" which is much less humorous, but much more attractive to me. so, i hope gma. w, that you are not offended that this froggy is going to hop on over to the thrift store where someone else will give him a new home.

January 19, 2007--honey bears

i LOVED these honey bears when a friend gave them to me as a gift (sarah s., was that you?). they look like gummy bears, but they're made from honey, so you can put them in a cup of tea to sweeten it. problem is, i don't drink much hot tea (other than the new aveda tea i JUST found out about which doesn't need sweetener). plus, when i tried to open this jar to see if they were all melded together into one honey bear lump, i couldn't even open the jar. plus, if memory serves, they're probably about 9 years old at this point and since they're looking a little shriveled around the edges, i'm thinking that they're probably not so fresh. so... sadly, i must get rid of them.

January 18, 2007--spotty mug

my dear cousin gave me this mug a few christmases ago. it had a matching bowl shaped like a tropical fish. i have a million mugs and i haven't used this one yet, so... sorry. i think it's got to go.

January 17, 2007--woven paper basket

i made this woven newspaper basket/box thingy after being inspired by some picture in a magazine or book or something. it was a good idea, but it was very floppy and somewhat broken and it's been in my way in the cupboard it was trying to live in and i'll never find a good use for it (and if i ever do, then i can make a new one, right?). into the trash you go!

January 16, 2007--shelf steps

a friend gave this to me once when she was downsizing. it is a set of plastic steps that extend to be wider or narrower.... sort of. i thought it might be nice to have in my cupboards, but once i got it, i realized that the only place it might be useful is a very deep, very tall shelf where you couldn't see the back very well. otherwise, it's just silly and takes up lots of space. since my shelves tend to be full of lots of the same things (5 cans of black beans, 4 cans of ro*tel, 7 cans of crushed tomatoes, etc.) i just line them up in the cupboard so that it's the same all the way back and i don't have to see the individual cans to know what i've got and what i'm low on.

January 15, 2007--coffee maker

we bought this when we got married (or maybe it was a wedding present?) and used it for a few years until i got wise to the benefits of a french press. they don't take up as much room on the counter and the don't need coffee filters and they look so much more sophisticated. possibly, they make better coffee too, but i'm no connoisseur. the one bad thing is that they only make a few cups of java at a time, so, we kept this coffee maker with the idea that if we ever hosted a brunch or anything and needed greater volumes of coffee, this would come in handy. this past weekend, we hosted a brunch and i asked my husband if he wanted to use the big coffee maker and he said, "no, it's crappy. plus, now we have two french presses" (thanks to my lovely sister who gave us a camping press for christmas that came with an insulating sleeve.) so, i've been given the green light and the coffee maker is out, out, out!

January 14, 2007--brown wool sweater

Terrible picture, sorry. this is a thick brown wool sweater that escaped being shrunk and re-purposed because i thought i might like to wear it. i did wear it this week and decided that since it's all pilly from about bust-level down that i could probably find a better brown sweater. somewhere. so i think i'll pass this along to someone else who might like it. it's very warm!

January 13,2007--tiny t-shirt

i bought this at the dig-n-save awhile back because it was so thin and soft. but it's way to small, too thin (see-through) and has a tiny hole. and i don't love it.

January 12, 2007--footie pajama bottoms

i bought these when i found them at the dig-n-save. if you can't tell from the picture, they are adult-sized footie pajama pants. i'd heard friends say at parties, "boy, i wish they made those for adults!" so when i found them i had to get them. then, of course, i couldn't remember which friend had said that. but i'm pretty sure it's my friend marnie, so i'm finally giving them to her. if she doesn't want them, she can give them away.

January 11, 2007--silver case

This is a jewelry case or maybe a makeup case that i found at some thrift store awhile back and thought, "ooh, this would make a cute box for some kind of gift for someone!" but... it's sat in my craft closet now for at least a year and i've done nothing with it and it's time to let it go.

January 10, 2007--2 issues of Weekend Magazine

I am a magazine junkie. especially new magazines. and especially ones with good photography, layout and design. I bought these two issues of Weekend magazine off the newsstand last year but decided after two issues that they are really written for someone with way more money and willingness to act rich than I have. Their pretty pictures have earned them the opportunity of outstaying their welcome in my home, but it's time for them to go to the magazine exchange bin at work.

January 9, 2007--charm necklace

This necklace was rescued from the lost and found at work. it had been there for over three months and was headed to the trash so i took it. never wore it. it's going back to work to be materials for a beading class sometime

January 8, 2007--blue corduroy pants

too lazy to figure out how to rotate this photo. deal with it. these are blue corduroy pants--another dig and save find. they are bright, sky blue and i've decided after trying them on several different mornings that they don't go with ANYTHING. they are way too bright for the bottom half of my body. plus, they're a size 16 and i'm not ready to go back to that size yet. they really are too big, i'm not just being vain.

January 7, 2007--the black couch

Ah, the black couch. Another Dig-N-Save find. Modern looking, sleek (compared to the vast majority of thrift store couches) and only $30! Sure, it had a few rips in the seat cushions, but I sewed new ones and it was as good as new! Except for the mildew stains under the cushions. And the fact that the cushions weren't quite big enough to cover the whole seat of the couch. And the lingering musty odor that made me sneeze if I sat on it for longer than 10 minutes. When I finally found myself sitting on the floor to read a book to avoid sitting on the couch... I knew it was time to say goodbye. We bought a lovely new couch that I adore and this one sat in our living room for another month of two while I tried to get rid of it. The thrift store wouldn't take it back (because it wasn't in good enough condition!) and I wasn't willing to put it on the curb. Finally, someone answered my Craigslist ad and picked it up. Hooray! Billy, I hope you get good use from it.

January 6, 2007--striped sweater #2

Another Dig-n-save find. this one is a bit of a no-brainer to dump. when i washed it and tried it on... it just doesn't fit. it's not that attractive and it's not particularly soft or anything. goodbye!

January 5, 2007--Citrus juicer

I was so excited to buy this juicer (in this picture it totally looks like something from the alien movies!) on sale a few years ago and i enthusiastically made orange juice for myself frequently. a little too enthusiastically it seems. i pressed so hard that i bent the metal and now the part that's supposed to funnel your juice into the cup below is flat. or possibly even a reverse funnel, leaving juice to pool inside the juicer and rendering it pretty much useless. i still want a citrus juicer, but this one has got to go. maybe someone out there will have a way to fix it (i tried popping the metal back into shape and that works--until you try to squeeze an orange again).

January 3 & 4, 2007--two bags of fabric

i took two bags of fabric scraps to work for the kids to use for crafts. I finally cleaned out my craft room a few months ago and culled the heaps. It helps me get rid of stuff if I think someone else might get some use out of it.

January 2, 2007--striped sweater

I actually loved this sweater for a long time and still have a hard time giving it up. The colors are fantastic (the photo doesn't really do them justice) but the sweater looks like a square on the bed and... looks like a square on me. actually, it pooches out around the sides which is just not an attractive thing for a sweater to do. I've tried to get rid of it before and just couldn't do it. But then every time I see it on the shelf and consider wearing it, I put it on and decide that the sides are too poochy. Time to let it go.

January 1, 2007--green wool sweater

I bought this sweater at the Dig-n-Save in a wool-sweater buying binge, then realized that it was still in wearable shape and that it was too thick to be useful once shrunk, so I decided to keep it to wear. Sadly, it's so thick that it's way too hot to ever wear and it's also short, which on my short frame just makes me look even shorter. So, back to the Dig-n-Save it goes!