March 31, 2007--herbes de provence

confessions of a kitchen hoarder: i bought these spices mostly because i thought the crock was cute. tonight, my husband was digging through the back of the spice drawer and i pulled out this crock and opened it to smell the herbes and... they don't smell at ALL. probably don't add a whole lot of flavor to anything at this point. and yes, the sticker on the side DOES read, "best before 5/31/2002" but even though the spices are on their way to the trash, i might still keep the crock. is that bad?

March 30, 2007--bike shoes

my dear husband went through his closet while i was out of town and gathered together a giant trash bag full of clothing he doesn't want anymore. (can i count that towards my 365?) he also added to the top of the pile my old bike shoes. he's right. i don't need them anymore. i think i was holding on to them as "back-up, emergency" shoes, but i'd have to switch the cleats over and ... it's such a pain, i'm pretty sure i'll never do it. plus, they're pretty worn out.

March 29, 2007--placemats

i bought these "rag rug" placemats at wal-mart when i was in college for 50 cents apiece. i thought they were such a bargain! (someone obviously wasn't getting paid enough) now, i'm realizing that i haven't used them for quite a few years, they're looking a little shabby and i pulled them out and put them on the table to see if i still liked them and... guess what? i don't!

March 28, 2007--lunch box

i think this was my first work insulated lunchbox (as opposed to school lunch box). i liked the pears on the outside and it was a good size, but i've now had two other new ones, this one is grungy on the inside and i think the plastic is a little ripped. i see no reason to hang on to it.

March 27, 2007--jeans

i'm really not sure why i hung on to these as long as i did. i hate the way old navy stuff fits me and these are now too small. and they also ride really high on my waist (and ankles) and they taper! ugh.

March 26, 2007-- rickety stair rail

yay! my birthday! let's list something really great for today. i know! this stair rail! we've been meaning to replace this railing since we bought the house 3 years ago. it's unstable (wobbly if you lean on it) and the space between the balustrades (?) is wAAAAAy too big (i can fit MY head through it, so you KNOW a toddler can!). well, we finally, this month, got our carpenter friend to come build us a new one. it wasn't particularly cheap, but it's beautiful and sturdy and since we opted to "finish" it ourselves, it's not quite done yet, so i don't have an "after" picture, but here's the railing we got rid of! (i think this picture was taken before the bottom post got shredded by the cats--another classy touch.)

March 25, 2007--Mooncake tin

isn't this a pretty tin? it's what the mooncake came in. but, i don't need it. and if i keep it any longer, i'll get emotionally attached to it!

March 24, 2007-- mooncake

some of you may remember this delicacy from my other blog. isn't it pretty? well, it's sat in my fridge ever since i first tasted it, and hasn't tempted me yet. i feel sort of bad, but i think it's time to get rid of it.

March 23, 2007--Spring 07 issue of Blueprint

see, here's the thing. i really WANT to like this magazine, but every time i read it, i just DON'T. i bought this one as a treat to read in the airport on my trip to see my sister. i read it cover to cover and found.... pretty much nothing useful. there was an article on making jewelry and belts out of chains (bleh.), articles on booze (yuk), articles on makeup (yawn) and articles on "hey you should buy this." (yeah, right). i was mildly interested in their small apartment make-over, but since my house is currently LARGER than what I need, their tips weren't really anything I could use. It seems like it's written for people who are exactly like the editors of the magazine itself--young, relatively wealthy people, living in new york city. i still love the photography, the layout and the general eye-candy-ness of the mag, but i had surprisingly little problem putting it in the magazine exchange bin immediately after reading it. am i becoming a fuddy-duddy?

March 22, 2007--apron

when i found this in a drawer i was cleaning out, i thought it might have belonged to my great aunt. mom looked at it and said she didn't recognize it. i'm getting rid of it. anyone want it?

March 20 & 21, 2007--2 vehicles

my husband doubted that it was "fair" for me to count these as part of my 365 things because we're also buying a new vehicle, but i think that since we're downsizing from 3 vehicles to 2 and since these are big possessions and since we've been trying to get rid of the truck for about a year now, they SOOOO count. here is a picture of my car:









i bought it right after we got married. it's the second car i've owned. when i bought it, it felt incredibly luxurious (you should have seen my first car! i loved it too...). i still liked my car, but it had left me sitting in a parking lot twice and on the street (!) once in the past 4 months or so and with the large amount of rust on the back fenders and the large dent in one of the front fenders (long story that makes me angry, so i won't tell it here. suffice it to say that the dent was created right in the carport pictured above) it was looking a little shabby. plus, it had 177K miles on it. i am a little sad to see it go, but my husband is not.

here is the truck:






my husband bought this vehicle while still in college. we'd been dating for a few years, so he was kind enough to sort of involve me in the purchasing decision, but it's pretty much been his truck. i think it's smelly inside, but it's been nice to have a vehicle that has some space to haul "stuff" when we're doing home improvement projects or going camping. when we inherited our third car last year, we decided that the truck was next on the list to go and tried (sort of half-heartedly) to sell it. no one bought it and in the meantime, the hauling capacity has come in handy once or twice and having three vehicles came in handy a few times (like when my car left me sitting!).

we are both thrilled with our new (new-fer us) honda element that will replace both of these vehicles. we are also both thrilled with the fact that the dealership was willing to give us some trade-in money for our two vehicles that allowed us to purchase the new one. we are probably mostly relieved that we do not have to try to sell either of them ourselves.

March 19, 2007--wool blanket

this one is a bit more difficult for me to get rid of. i've kept it in the trunk of my car for years (sometimes in the back seat instead) and occasionally used it when i got cold in the car. thing is, i now have a cute polar fleece one from my grandma-in-law that is much less scratchy and this one has colors that are rather dated and ... it's just not one of my favorites any more. the story behind it is that i found it at pier one when i was in high school and debated with myself for a very long time before buying it. i don't remember how much it cost, but i do remember thinking that it was very expensive, but on sale so it was cheaper than it had originally been and i LOVED it and thought it was the most beautiful thing ever and whenever i'd ask my mom if she thought it was worth the money she'd say helpful things like, "is it worth it to YOU? if so, then it's worth it!" the thing is, i struggled for a long time (who am i kidding--i still struggle) with determining the value of a dollar. especially in non-used stores. i am a pro at deciding if something is "worth it" to me at a thrift store or yard sale or at an antiques shop (most of the time, anyway) but my points of reference feel all out of whack when i go to stores that sell new things. growing up, i rarely purchased things at the mall and sort of had this feeling that EVERYTHING at the mall was expensive and that was just what things at the mall were worth and that it's okay to pay $16 for a turtleneck at the mall (which is a price i would never pay for one at a thrift store--even if the tags were still on it!). anyway, this blanket is from that era. i loved it dearly once upon a time, but i'm not really that fond of it anymore. yet another example of how even the things that i "love" can go out of fashion and lose their appeal.

March 18, 2007--neck pillow

a few years ago, for christmas, a travel neck pillow was on my wish list. i got two. both filled with buckwheat. this one is now faded and i don't really use either of them as much as i thought i would, but i'm not ready to get rid of both of them yet. secretly, i think i'd like one that's filled with "microbeads" and is squishy... but i probably wouldn't use that any more than the buckwheat ones, so i can't really justify putting it on my wishlist.

March 17, 2007--flashlight/radio

this also came from my car. in theory, in an emergency this would be a handy thing to have in your car. in practice, emergencies rarely come complete with fully charged batteries. my original plan to tape a set of new batteries to the OUTSIDE of the flashlight so that the wouldn't get drained when not in use was somewhat flawed by the fact that the batteries never stayed on. i think i'll use the crank flashlight my husband got for christmas instead.

March 14-16, 2007--car accessories

i've cleaned out my car in preparation to trade it in for a new one. i took these items out of my car and have decided that i should get rid of them. they are (were) cute stripey target auto accessories--a sunscreen, a steering wheel cover and a seatbelt cover. i bought them on clearance for next-to-nothing, and the two smaller pieces have faded beyond cuteness and the sunscreen is one of the pop-out things that are just irritating (they NEVER go back to their nice original small size!) so, i don't really feel too bad getting rid of them.

March 13, 2007--yellow futon cover

I apologize. this will be my first post with no photo. i forgot to get one before i gave the item away! this item is a full-size light yellow canvas futon cover. i bought it for 50cents a pound awhile back thinking i could use it either as a futon cover or as fabric to cut up. it's too big for my own futon and it's so nice that i couldn't bear to cut it up. then, last weekend, i realized that some of my friends have 2 futons and at least one room in their house is painted yellow (so they like the color) so i asked if they wanted it and they're trying it out! i hope it works for them. that's the joy of buying things "by the pound." in most cases, stuff ends up being sooooo cheap that you can afford to give it away and if no one ends up being able to use it, you can return it to the store (not for any sort of refund, mind you) and not feel like you're out much money.

March 12, 2007--instant tea, circa 199?

not really sure how old this tea is. i bought it to make the russian/friendship tea (see entry, Jan. 21) and didn't use it all. why in the world have i kept this in my pantry so long?! it's like it just disappeared into the background for me! i mean look at it! it's "Shur Fine" brand (which my husband always says it sounds to him like the brand is saying, "sure, fine, whatever" as though it doesn't really care if you like it or not), so it's not like it was expensive! i even had to soak the tea (which was no longer in dry crystals, but in one solid log) to get it out so i could recycle the container. good grief!

March 11, 2007--kitchen towel

let's see..... i THINK i got this one either as a wedding gift or in one of those kitchen towel chain letter things. It's a lovely towel, but not really my style. Maybe I'll re-gift it to my mom. It's still in good condition. But my towel drawer is getting full (and i secretly want new cute towels, which means i need to unload some of the ones i've already got.)

March 9-10, 2007--2 headbands

I have owned these headbands for several years, (at least!) and i pretty much never wear them. they look like they would be so cool, but they end up hurting my head or clanging around the earpieces of my glasses and getting annoying and ... they've got to go.

March 8, 2007--izze bottles

when this soda first came out, i was enamored of the packaging (is that grammatically correct?) and thought i'd use these as vases. y'know, i've got a collection of blue glass bottles and a collection of green glass bottles and clear glass bottles are pretty common. i think it's time to recycle these.

March 7, 2007--candle

i loved this candle and used it as decoration in many of my homes. i think it was a gift to me from my best friend in high school (although i think she gave it to me after we had graduated. i don't THINK i've owned this candle that long!). i haven't used it for a few years now and the flowers are starting to escape from their wax coating on the side. it's time to let it go.

March 6, 2007--shhhh.... a gift

One of my favorite little storytime girls gave me this package of bath salts for valentine's day. she is a total crack-up--almost always wears frilly little dresses (last week was the very first time i'd seen her in pants and i almost didn't recognize her!) with her hair up in a disheveled ponytail. doesn't matter what the weather is like--her dresses look like sunday best. so, i'm sad to give away her gift, but i really don't use strawberry vanilla bath salts. any takers?

March 5, 2007--glass container

this is a container from my most favorite moisturizer ever which has, of course, been discontinued. i stocked up when i found out and i'm working on my last jar (and trying desperately to find a good substitute) but this is an empty jar. it's glass with a plastic lid and i found the shape to be appealing and thought i might use it to store something or .... something. but inspiration hasn't struck yet and really, it's just garbage.

March 1-4, 2007--4 necklaces

Here are four necklaces from my collection (all made by me) that i don't really wear anymore. They are now up for grabs! I'll add them to my sale notebook with the subtitle "from my personal collection."

February 28, 2007--hairy hat

the hat isn't SUPPOSED to be hairy, but it's navy corduroy and my cat loves to lie on it. which means it gets hairy. which means i don't wear it. plus, i haven't really been wearing hats lately, so unless it's a hat that i love or that i have a lot of emotional attachment to... it's time to get rid of it.

February 12-27, 2007--16 things from under my sinks

whew! treasure trove of great things to chuck under my sink! here we find expired medications (at least one is over 10 years old), plastic containers i thought i'd use for travel, but have plenty others of now, let's get rid of some, a comb (i own 3 and use 0) some fancy soap that i don't use some shower curtain hooks that i've replaced because they fall off the rod, a cute brush shaped like a foot (i have 2) and a travel toiletries bag that i've replaced with another one i like better. also, from under the kitchen sink--a wire basket with suction cups that seemed like a good idea but mostly got in the way.

February 6-11, 2007--6 sweaters

ok, i fell a bit behind (c'mon people. your job is to nag me and keep me on track here!) so here are some catch-up photos. here are six sweaters that i no longer wear. some i aquired recently, wore once or twice and decided i didn't really like them. some, i got long ago and realize that i feel bad about myself whenever i wear them (too snug, too long and make me look pregnant (i'm not) or waaaaayy too fuzzy).

February 5, 2007--old keyboards

these dead keyboards were destined to be craft supplies. but i haven't used them and i'm tired of having them clutter up my closet.