112: Still More Baby Clothes

The last of Coley's summer stuff, now that the weather has turned irredeemably chilly.

111: Misc. Board Games

A few board games we've picked up at yard sales that have not been as fun to play as they look like they might. The stack is out in the Invisibox and the only two I can remember are Grabbin' Dragons (they don't REALLY grab the little plastic rings, try as you might) and Flying Eagles (booooooring). Nuttsy Tennis though, that's a keeper.

110: WIne Chiller

I was inpired by that down with duplicates comment from yesterday, so I am scouting out other things we have more than one of. First up, this wine chiller. It's my less favorite of the two we own, neither of which we really use because we rarely drink white wine. We're red wine people, and we don't need no equipment for drinking our cabernet. The only reason I'm not giving the other one away as well is that sometimes I use it to hold flowers.

109: Stadium Bag

As much as I love the idea of this stadium bag -- it's an insulated zippered carry bag with blanket, for, you know, picnicking before The Big Game -- I don't see how we'll ever use it. We already have picnic blankets. We already have coolers, in spades. Down with duplicates!

108: Tinker Toys

As chief procurer for this family I have a pretty good idea as to the origins of most of our possessions, but these Tinker Toys baffle me. Anyway, I have given them to Jack several times, and he has been deeply frustrated by them each time -- these aren't actual Tinker Toy brand Tinker Toys but some knockoff, and the pieces are difficult to fit to gether even for an adult. So, let somebody else's four year old scatter them from hell to breakfast in THEIR living room -- I've picked these puppies up for the last time.

107: Little Tikes Walker

Forgot I even had this stashed out in the studio and, lo and behold, Cole is walking just fine without it. Going to donate it to the young family support center.

106: Mini Cooler

Whittling down the cooler population, one at a time. This one is a small lunch sized one and it turns out people actually want those, so, woo hoo! We actually got rid of a cooler!

105: Remote Control Airplane

When this project is all done I should tally up the number of things I gave away that were purchased by or for Jack at yard sales, just so I could shop in peace. This is a VERY LOUD model F16 fighter jet. You can use the attached command remote to make eardrum-shattering BLAST OFF noises, MISSILE FIRING explosions, and COMING IN FOR A LANDING shrieks. I could not get rid of this thing fast enough. But first I stashed it for several weeks to make sure Jack hadn't formed some sort of undeniable passion for this obnoxious toy. Looks like the coast is clear.

Day 104: Moldy FIlm

Moldy Film! I loved their first album!

Ahem. Um, I have a small fridge dedicated to photographic film. It's in my studio, where I don't often get to go, and so I didn't realize right away when the compressor died. Awhile ago, I'm guessing, judging by the advanced state of the black mold coating all the film boxes. I mean, this stuff has formed self-governing civilizations. It might be on the brink of inventing the wheel.

Anyway, who on earth would want a bunch of expired, moldy film you rightly ask. As it turns out, lots of people. I gave it to a woman from Freecycle whose son is in the photo program at RIT.

You know, it didn't occur to me to offer the fridge on Freecycle. "Free, one mold-infested nonworking refrigerator..." We just took it to the appliance reclaimation area of the dump intead. But I guess i should have given the Freeecycle community a shot at it first.

Day 103: Car Window Shade Film

Cling-on film to shade car interior. My van's windows are already tinted and so we don't need it. If I wasn't so lazy I'd return it to Babies R Us but I can't find the receipt and it was only $2.99 anyway, so with what gas costs these days it's pretty much cheaper to just give it away.

Day 102: Kiddie Art Supplies

Reorganized our art drawers and packed up the leftovers. Plenty of fun little shiny bits for art projects, plus paints, brushes, etc. Gave to another mom from my online group.

Day 101: Flash Cards

Math flash cards, for subtraction. My mom gave them to me for Jack a long time ago, I think they were left over from one of my nephews, but I'm just not a flash card kind of girl.

Day 100: Ceramic Cannisters

Black ceramic kitchen cannisters, come with free dregs of flour and corn meal!

Useful, but we deal in large amounts of the sort of things -- sugar, rice, flour -- one would keep in cannisters. Amounts that cause me to continually refill the cannisters. Plus they're not really our style, so I keep them in a cabinet. When you get down to it, it's ridiculous that we even own these: we don't especially like them, we need the cabinet space they occupy, and it's extra work to use them.

Sometimes getting rid of things feels soooooo good...

Day 99: More Canning Jars

What can I say? We've got jars to spare. This lady is buying peaches from Giant to can for her husband, despite the fact that it's going to cost her four times as much to buy them fresh as opposed to already canned from the grocery store. Not to mention all the work involved. Sometimes love makes you do crazy things.

Day 98: Fleece Pullover

Some days' giveaways are just too easy. My mom was here today (canning apple sauce, by the way) and it was chillier than she thought it would be. She mentioned that she wished she'd brought a sweater. I thought of this pretty lavendar Old Navy fleece pullover I'd bought for a quarter at a chilly early morning yard sale back in April -- it's too big for me, but it was only 25 cents and I was freezing my buns off that morning. I have never worn it again. It only survived my wardrobe purge because it was in the front coat closet.

It looks great on Mom and she's delighted to have it.

Day 97: Canning Jars

Jars i would normally recycle; spaghetti sauce jars that are actually mason jars and would seem to have more value in re-use than recycling. I know a little bit about canning jars these days, since I posted on Freecycle and Craigslist looking for some, and my mom did the same -- we're planning on canning some apple sauce, beets, and a few other homemade treats. I've gotten into local eating in a big way, and so I want to put away some of the CSA produce coming our way by the harvest-time bushel. The freezer is full and so I've been doing a crash course in canning -- a course taught by my delighted mother. It's been a labor intensive but fun and fulfilling project.

The reason we need new canning jars is because my mother's canning jars are all currently tied up, containing as they do batches of 25 year old dilly beans and pickles she can't bring herself to dump. I might just be the only person under 60 who still cans because we have been snowballed with offers of canning jars, all from senior citizens. One lady, down-sizing to move into a retirement community, gave me her life's collection of 64 DOZEN jars. Sixty-four. Dozen. That's 768 jars.

So, anyway, I sorted out a couple dozen that still have their labels on -- with 744 remaining jars to choose from, who needs to soak off labels? It's a tedious task that I dislike -- and offered them on Freecycle. At first I thought no on wanted them, but finally a lady emailed to say she'd be picking apples this weekend and thought she'd take a crack at making apple butter. I warned her about the labels but she didn't mind. Our apple butter came out marvelously, and I hope hers does as well.