A few days, a month, and two to go....

My last post ended with the words, "See you in a few days or so." I guess a month must count as "or so". I have been keeping up, just not posting, so here's a month in one fell swoop. A boring post, though, as I haven't been taking pictures, just lots of notes.

I did have one more shopping spree, during which I bought a sweater, two skirts, a book and 3 CDs. So, if I add those 7 things to the 31 days I am behind and add in 1 poodle skirt and a pair of cat's eye glasses, I have 40 things to get rid of.

So, here's a list:
7 books, 3 necklaces, 2 candle holders, 1 wallet, 1 tv antenna, 1 radio antenna, 1 broken fairy trinket, 1 computer mouse, 1 cell phone ear piece, 1 pair headphones, 8 useless cords, 1 exercise ball, 1 toothbrush holder, 1 Palm Tungsten, 3 cookbooks, 1 CD player, 4 pair of jammies and 2 night shirts.

That's 41 things. So I'm good through tomorrow.

I am actually beginning to find it a little difficult to find things to discard. I have just under 2 months to go and Christmas is in there, so I'll have to toss at least 60 things. It's going to be interesting....

But there was a sale!

I have been so good; no new clothes or new anything really for SOOOOO long! Well, I just kind of broke tonight. :)

Here's what happened. I stopped in to JC Penny for pillows. I've been meaning to for a while now, and just decided to swing by after work. Well, you have to walk through the whole store to get to the bedding section!! Unfair!! And, of course all of the clearance stuff was 75% off. Double unfair!!

So now it's time to tally it. It's not really that much, but after a drought of shopping, it felt REALLY good. I bought 2 pillows, 2 fall tops, a sweater and 3 skirts. I have also acquired one other thing over the past week. My friends, drinking buddies, fellow rennies and Mischievites, Terrible Musicians, gave me their new CD.



So, with those items and 7 days added together, we have a total of 16 things.


15 CDs (donated to the library)

and

One very floppy, unsupportive neck pillow.

That should do it. See you in a few days or so!

A lazy, rainy Sunday

Well, autumn is certainly upon us. It's grey and rainy and chilly and there is Giants' football on the tv. A nearly perfect fall Sunday. I've been pulling out warm clothes, thick sweaters and flannel jammies; putting away summer clothes, flimsy tops and peasant skirts. It's baking season, crock pot season, mulled wine and apple crisp season. My favourite season of all.

I have just a few days to catch up. It has been a slow week. The only thing I acquired was a new curling iron, and I just made a straight trade ~ the one that died was tossed and the new one was put to work.

I do have 5 things to show you, things that have been waiting patiently, collecting dust, taking up shelf space. A pair of book ends, a bread machine that burns the bread every time, a broken food processor, a wooden paper towel holder and an iron spice rack.


These I donated to the library. They'll look cute in the Children's Room.


I regret losing these two. But I'll get a new food processor someday soon, and I'm thinking about learning to make bread without a machine. I do all my other own baking and cooking. It's past time to start making my own bread, too. Besides, I understand the kneading and punching is great for stress management. :)


I am slowly working towards no longer using paper products in the kitchen. I am moving to only having cloth napkins (not quite there yet), and using kitchen towels and rags rather than paper towels. It's my little bit to save the environment (and it's cheaper, too). So I no longer need this.


The worst place to store spices in in the open light and air. So, this is going. I love it, and it goes with my wine rack and kitchen shelves, but I'd rather have good spices than a pretty spice rack. :)

So, that's it for this week. We're soon moving into October. Happy fall everyone!

A Stormy Saturday

I have been sitting here enjoying the spring storm that is rollong across New York State, thinking of things I have to do before I go to Ireland on Wednesday. I figured I had better catch up here before I get so far behind I lose count.

I have actually been intentionally letting the blog slide, because I got rid of many DVDs last week. Of course, I lost count and let it go too many days. So, I have 13 days to account for, and I got rid of 10 DVDs. Every once in a while, I get in a mood and just go through and purge any movies I know I won't watch again. This was one of those times. No pics, just a list:

Tuck Everlasting, spider-Man, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Last Castle, Mona Lisa Smile, Miracle, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, The Haunted Mansion, and The Crucible.

That's ten. So, to get me through today I have these three tins that I have been saving forever, for something. One is a Christmas tin, one is a cookie tin, and one is a popcorn tin. And now they are gone:


That gets me through today. I'm actually going to go a little bit ahead, through Tuesday. Then, before I leave for Ireland, I will blog enough things to get me through the days of the trip. That way, when I get home, I will only have to get rid of the same number of things that I buy while I'm there.

So, for tomorrow, Sunday, I am tossing this pretty, but torn tank top:


And for Monday and Tuesday, two flower pots. They have killed the last 3 plants that they have held, so I figure it's fate they be shattered and discarded.


I also have a gift to make up for. Mom bought me a little tote for travel (it's packed already, and so is my camera, so no picture of it. But it's the greatest bag! It's a nice big tote that packs down to practically nothing and stores itself in its own little zipper pouch.

So, to balance that I'm getting rid of this:

Yes, that's a dust buster. (Dirt Devil, actually). It never worked that great, and has been completely non working for a few years now. Time to just toss it. I'll probably get a new one down the road; we'll see. For now, it's gone.

Okay, that's it for now. Have a great weekend!

It's all about the convenience....

The question was where would I get my news if newspapers went away...

I do read the news on the Internet. I admit it. I don't subscribe to a newspaper. Personally, I don't think my local fish wrap is worth the cash. I am thinking of subscribing to the Syracuse paper, but I haven't yet. And if I do, it will be weekends only, so I can get the coupons.

I read my news on the Internet. Does that make me a bad person? I don't think so. It makes me efficient, I guess. I am already on there, might as well read the headlines. Sometimes I even click on a link and read a whole article. It really doesn't take me long. I only read the score for sports, and the occasional article or editorial if it pertains to my team. I have very little interest in pop culture, and the new movie times and reviews are all available on my iPod. It's mostly the main US and World news; let's face it, I don't really want to read most of it. It's too depressing.

I get most of my favourite columns in either email or RSS, so there's no loss there. That way I can read a week's worth (or a month's worth) in one fell swoop without a month's worth of papers piling up. (It's bad enough I let the magazines sit there until the piles topple over.)

I also subscribe to several newspapers vie email. They are all from Ireland, Scotland and the BBC, though. What can I say, I'd rather watch the BBC shows and movies, too.

I will say, though; I miss the comics. They are just not the same online.

A productive weekend

This was a working weekend; actually it still is. A solitary weekend, just me and Bailey. A productive weekend. I spent yesterday ~ Saturday ~ cleaning, organizing, sorting through, and rearranging the bedroom. It was time. Actually, it was WAY past time. I had intended to do it that week I had off in January, but I spent more time away from home than I had intended.

It was a dusty, sweaty, back aching weekend. Moving furniture, vacuuming in places not vacuumed in over 6 months (oooh, the dust bunnies), and just all around deep cleaning.

I also found many items that will be discarded and logged here over the next weeks. Many, many items. And I am still going through stuff.

For today (actually, for today and yesterday) I am settling on 2 items long overdue for the haul out. My old comforter and my VHS/DVD combo.

The comforter has been long for the road; I just had to remember where I packed it away at the end of last winter. It is well used, well washed, much repaired and missing lots of the filling. It was time to say good bye.

The VCR/DVD player has been hanging around, collecting dust and taking up space for several years now. The DVD part stopped working about 2 years ago, so I have had a separate DVD player hooked up, too. I tested the VCR part yesterday, and it creaked and whined and ultimately stopped. So, I guess it's time to toss it.

And now I am off to more organizing and sorting and arranging and........

Getting a bit ahead of myself

As I mentioned in a few previous posts, I have a new iPod, a Touch.
And I love it! See, isn't it pretty?


Although it's only 16G, as opposed to the 40G of my old 4th Gen iPod, it does so much more!! Email, music, videos, games, ebooks, sports scores, WiFi, and lots of other things.

So now I have an older iPod, plus accessories, to get rid of. I was going to post each in its own blog entry, but that really makes no sense. So, instead I'm just going to consider myself done through Friday of this week. That's four days worth of stuff. See, there's:

The iPod, 40G, 4th Generation, Clickwheel


A Battery Backup Pack


A Media Reader


And a set of Firewire Chargers


Lots of stuff.


At least 4 days' worth. These are all being packed up to sell.
Perhaps to a co-worker, maybe on eBay. We'll see. Either way, they are going.

Hello, operator....

There is one practice I began during this project that is really helping. I have small boxes, bags and bins that I use to collect things I may or may not discard. I have a box for picture CDs that have unknown pictures on them. I have one for loose picture. I have a bag for stray gloves and one for stray socks. I have a tray for lose earrings with no visible match.

And I have a bin for extra and unknown wiring and miscellaneous electronic stuff:

There are wires that I have several of, wires I have no idea what they do or where they go, wires that go to things I don't even have any more, and a few that I am certain I will never need. I have been VERY careful to collect these and not get rid of any without being CERTAIN of what I am doing. But there are a few I am pretty sure I'm safe tossing out.
Like these:

Phone wires. From old phones? Old modems? Who knows.
I do know that I'll never need them. I'll never go back to dial-up (even my phone isn't dial-up any more). If I get a new phone, it will most likely come with a new wire.
So, out they go.