May 3, 2007--table

we built a new kitchen island, so this table (which we inherited from our home's previous owner) went to a church friend. you can sort of see the two trashcans she took too, hiding under the table.

May 2, 2007--trashcans

our trashcans don't fit in the new island. i don't have pictures of them, but i gave them to a church friend.

May 1, 2007--blender attachment

this was an attachment that i picked up at the dig-n-save. it doesn't fit my new blender.

April 30, 2007--blender jar

this was part of a blender/food processor combo that i got for christmas a few years back. the blender doesn't work any more--the blades don't turn. so i got a new blender. i'll keep the food processor part for now.

April 10, 2007--egg slicer

stupid, stupid design. who makes an egg slicer where the wires don't even go past the bottom of the egg? i finally wised up and bought a new one (that's really cute AND works AND was cheap!).

April 5, 2007--pretty lunchbox

i really like this lunchbox, but the lining is tearing. since i bring my lunch to work pretty much every day, i don't feel too guilty about spending $7 to buy a new lunchbox every 2 years or so.

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 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 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 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 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.)

February 3, 2007--soap dispenser

i think this soap/lotion dispenser is beautiful. i bought it to dispense dish soap at my kitchen sink. sadly, i'm not sure if it's broken or just defective, but the pump does not work. for several months, i "dispensed" soap by pulling the pump out of the bottle and dripping soap from the end of it like a honey stick, but then i found a different, more effective way to get soap at the sink and stored this under the sink for just in case. well, my husband pulled it out the other day and i was reminded that i owned it. guess what--i'd never missed it. so, off it goes!

January 30, 2007--guandules

oh dear. my husband found this can of guandules verdes (i believe the english side of the label calls them "pigeon peas") in our cupboard the other day. he said, "what are these?" and i said, "oh, those are guandules--they use them a lot in dominican cooking. i bought a can while i was there to bring home and use sometime." he looked at the date stamped on the top of the can and said, " yeah. i think this is that can." if you can't see it very well, the numbers on the top of the can are 11 95. although the contents are probably still just fine, i cannot bring myself to open it. plus, i've loooong forgotten the recipe. [how embarrassing! we've been packing and moving that can for how many years?!]

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 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.