Dear Friends and Family,I am going to try and have 52 things meaningfully leave the mouse pad this year. What do I mean by meaningfully? No, it doesn't mean I'm giving away things loaded with meaning. It means it's purposeful decisions to remove something that has found a home in our home. In other words, clearing out old bananas doesn't count, they never found a home. Clearing out old toys counts since they would linger in the basement given no active actions on our parts.The List (most recent departures listed first):
- Originally I was going to list Lego Bionicles Tahu, but apparently that's worth $20 and now Mr. mouse is considering selling it on eBay. Now, we're bringing three PS2 games to drop off with my friend, Ben, the collector of all oddities.
- My favorite time of year. White elephant gifts. I'm bringing in a set of glass globes. You insert them upside down in your plants to water them. Mr. mouse got them, but agreed, we don't have plants, so glass globes aren't the most useful thing to keep. Unfortunately, I only got him to gift one box so you'll be hearing about another box in the future.
- This one's a surprisingly tough one. Four reels of LED lights. I don't like to color they emit. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume I probably won't ever like the color they emit. Three of them are unopened. I have no recollection of what I paid for them. They're labelled $40 each. I don't think I paid $160 for lights. But, perhaps I did. And, now, that's why I'm having trouble leaving them. It's as if, by keeping them, I'm justifying myself in having spent $160 on them (if I truly spent that much). But, today, I'm going to be brave and let them leave the house. Remember, mouse, you don't even like them and never will. Keeping them will not get your money back. Donating them lets another family enjoy them. Right?
- Back in 2007, five years ago, I was in a store and saw a Christmas tree marked down to $5.99. And, I couldn't resist. And, I bought it. Since then, it's sat in our garage as a reminder that $5.99 spent on something else would have been a better use of $5.99. I'm bringing it into work today for our office decorations. My colleague has promised to drop it off at Goodwill once we're done with it.
- Not sure how to count these. But I took two bags of old clothes (either too big or too small) out to the garage for donation.
- More not glamorous adds. I had "take down umbrella" on my list of to dos. Funny, that's the one winterizing thing I feel compelled to do. I went up the deck and the umbrella was knocked over. I tried to pull it out of the stand. I broke it in half. I considered repairing this old, faded umbrella. A week later, I asked Mr. mouse to throw it out.
- It's not a glamorous add. A cookie sheet. It's old and stained and apparently we have a new one that's nothing short of amazing. So, I discreetly put the cookie sheet by the garbage and so far Mr. mouse hasn't objected.
- You thought I had forgotten about you, didn't you? Actually, I've just been too busy. This one is a simple one. One evening, I needed a hangar to hang up some pants. There were no obvious empty hangars. I think Mr. mouse had brought them all down to fold laundry. So, I took three t-shirts that were languishing in our closet and took them down to the donate bag in the garage. Three down. Something like twenty or forty more t-shirts to go.
- This one hasn't been in the house all that long. But, minus active actions on our part, I could see myself having to deal with it sometime in the far future. It's an umbrella. I bought it for P for her third birthday because that's what she wanted for her birthday - chocolate cake and an umbrella. But, it turned out to be much too big for her. Since I bought it from some small store in Oregon (online), returning it seemed like more bother than it was worth. Our friend, Gracie, said she would take it. She likes it. Win. Win.
- My college graduation gift from my parents. Actually, it might also have been a house warming gift from my parents for my new apartment, my first home outside of theirs. Sounds like something you should keep forever, doesn't it? Except, it's a 27" tube TV that we no longer watch. We finally recycled it this weekend when our friends were over, since we could fit it in their truck.
- junk: expired stuff from under the bathroom sink
- junk: more expired stuff from under the bathroom sink
- junk: empty containers from under the bathroom sink
- baby gear: burp cloths
- baby gear: diaper bag
- odds and ends: stairs to the deck
- junk: old swimsuit
- baby gear: 2 old breast pumps, one box
- junk: peg toy we inherited (missing pegs)
- toy: set of giant pipe cleaners
- junk: Halloween themed cup and five empty boxes
- baby gear: two booster seats
- book: Cooking for Baby
- toy: toy computer
- toy: baby animal puzzle
- toy: bird house with four plush birds
- toy: Mega Blocks table and blocks
- junk: 4 planters, 1 watering can
- useful, just not for us: 1 hose reel, 2 hoses
- useful, just not for us: P's toddler pool
- junk: 2 rusty lounge chairs, 1 stool
- junk: 4 solar lights that no longer light
- junk: a bucket and a lid
- useful, just not for us: a basket
- books: Gone with the Wind, Brave New World
- toy: Mr. Potato Head MLB edition
- baby gear: the Boppy
- odds and ends: new drawer used for kitchen towels
- odds and ends: guest bathroom counter
- useful, just not for us: crock pot
- useful, just not for us: hurricane with almond candle
- junk: old bath salts and perfumes
- baby gear: foam roll
- baby gear: 256 2 oz breast milk storage containers
- toy: truck (combo riding and push toy)
- toy: dog security blanket
- toy: battery-operated toy train
- toy: stacking pyramids
- toy: hammer and eight nails
- useful, just not for us: cane
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