I should have been archiving computer files or doing timesheets for the month, but I took a rare look into an upstairs closet this week and was reminded of the stacks of shoeboxes I have on the shelf, containing tax records and receipts for my business. There are boxes there from the late 90s — I don’t legally have to keep them anymore, so I can shred them any time I have a spare moment. Tonight I got in the mood to go through the box from 1999. Au revoir my phone bills, my salary slips, my cheque stubs.

Tags: office, May, paper

I have a couple of very nice old sewing baskets in which I keep my needles and thread. I don’t need a third, not so nice one. I believe I picked this up from someone’s yard sale leftovers for free. I’ve never cleaned it up nor put anything in it. So today, at the yard sale, I put it out in the free pile and someone took it. The sale was moderately successful. It all depends on who shows up looking for what. The vacuum (May 27) sold for $15, and the quilt (May 23) also sold for $15. That’s two large items I am glad aren’t taking up space in my place anymore.

Tags: household, May, miscellaneous

A very dear friend gave me this necklace a few years ago, but it is too short to go around my neck. I can’t even wear it as a choker, besides which, the style doesn’t suit being a choker. So much as I adore my friend, I am going to give this necklace up. I have other gifts to gaze upon and think fondly of her. And now I have a photo of the necklace if I want a reminder. This is one of the paths in our garden. The plant in the lower right is an epimedium. I much prefer its proper name to one of its common names, horny goat weed.

Tags: jewellery, garden, May

This is getting easier. I have been going through the bookshelves with a different mindset and am able to find two or three books at a time that I can part with. I don’t remember where the Stan Persky book came from – I got a few boxes of books from a friend of friend once, mostly reading texts from university courses on English lit and media studies. Or this could have come with the husband. The Stanley Elkin book came in when I was subscribed to a book club which would send me a book in the mail every month unless I sent in paperwork ahead of time saying I didn’t want it. Remember those days? The one cent books, get ten cds for one penny...anyway, I never would have picked Mrs. Ted Bliss out for myself, but I did read it after I had no choice but to pay for it and keep it. Hmmm. That was fourteen years ago. Random flowers are more pansies.

Tags: books, May, random flowers

We used to live in an apartment with wall to wall carpeting everywhere. Now we only have carpet up the stairs. So we haven’t used this vacuum in over 10 years. It still works really well, and we even have some bags left. The vacuum has been stored in back behind the hot water heater this whole time, so it hasn’t taken up much useable space. Sort of forgot it was there. I’ll see if someone buys it at the yard sale. Random flower is a rhodo next to some of my favourite variegated grass.

Tags: household, May, random flowers

This is too short to wear on its own as a shift — I did once upon a time wear it, but it must have shrunk, because it’s way too high now. Too long to wear over pants. Nice cotton fabric. If I was into quilting I would keep it and cut it up. Good news: the white cabinet (May 18) vanished from the front lawn today. Sometimes it takes awhile. Random flower is Ceanothus victoria peeking out between slats of a fence.

Tags: clothing, May, random flowers

I love it when something I’ve put on the front lawn disappears in a day or two. Slap a “free” sign on it and eventually someone takes it away, although the white cabinet from May 18 is still sitting there, waiting for a new home. (It hasn’t been out there the whole time, we had bad weather for a few days). But these chairs, which need repair and new fabric, went in less than 36 hours. Another project I realized I will never get around to, even though I like the old wooden style. Ah well, I don’t have time to sit in the garden anyway. I’m either watering or weeding or picking flowers or taking the cats for supervised visits to the front and back yards. They walk around, eat lots of grass, throw up, roll on the pathway, sniff around for dog poop (bad neighbours!) and then we take them back inside for their next long nap. Random flower is an amaryllis that went dormant after its first bloom. I replanted it and for some reason it popped out flowers without sending up the usual long stem. I am curious to see if leaves are on the way. Stumpy.

Tags: furniture, random flowers, May

I remembered the name Lara Fabian from a long time ago, when my brother recommended her. So when I saw these cds recently at a thrift sale, I bought them. Listened to them a couple of times, but she’s not to my taste. Very easy listening, but I’d rather listen to my other music. Random flowers are some gorgeous, fragrant white lilacs brought to me by a friend.

Tags: music, May, random flowers

I certainly didn’t buy these jeans new. They would have come from a thrift store. But they are tapered and Trini and Susannah tell me I am too old and have the wrong shape to wear tapered jeans. So someone else can have the Esprits. Sigh. They don’t fit anyway. I found a couple of other pairs I can live without. Random flower is a newly acquired aquilegia I couldn’t resist.

Tags: clothing, May, random flowers

Now that I know I’m participating in a yard sale, I can start posting stuff I was eventually going to try to sell on craigslist. Throwing it on a table on my friend’s lawn seems less hassle than writing an ad and fielding emails. This cushion, which heats up and vibrates a bit in an attempt to mimic a massage also has a port to plug in an mp3 player and speakers to blast out the sound. My husband received it as his Christmas present at a corporate party two years ago. There were lots of wrapped gifts under a tree and each employee went up to select one when their name was called. It soon became obvious there were only three variations of box sizes, and indeed, each box of a certain size held the same gift. I figured out pretty quickly which shape resulted in the home version of a chocolate fondue fountain and told my guy to pick anything but that! Ended up with the Homedics MP# Cush music playing 5 motor massage seat, with heat. I took it out of the box to make sure it works, but I prefer a massage from a real live person. If I want heat, I take a long, hot bath. It’s quieter. Random flower is Brunnera macrophylla “Jack Frost.”

Tags: personal products, May, miscellaneous, random flowers

This was up in my husband’s lab. He painted the inside black, put a bunch of holes in it, screwed some metal and plates into it and used it to house an experiment. (Don’t know the details — in his spare time he’s into quantum physics, he has a lab, he gets strange packages in the mail, he does experiments.) The experiment is over, he doesn’t need this anymore. And he’s willing to part with it. Normally I would have kept it out in the shed and used it for storage, but since we have to rebuild the shed, I’m trying to empty that out too. I put this cabinet out on the lawn today to see if anyone would take it, but then it started to pour, so I’ll try again on the next sunny afternoon. Random flower is a variegated aquilegia.

Tags: furniture, May, random flowers

Yesterday I took a big bag of stuff to the Sally Ann. Stuff that I’ve written about. I waited until I had enough to warrant a trip. After I’d dropped everything off, my neighbour said she is having a yard sale this weekend. I could have made a few bucks on the things I’d just gotten rid of. Oh well. I will see what else I can contribute to her sale. At any rate, I will help her out and try not to buy too many of her blouses. She has given me some great tops in the past, maybe there are some more that fit me. Her wardrobe is much more current than mine.

This week’s book. Almost six months into this I am finally finding it easier to get rid of books, though when I stand in front of one of my 13 bookcases, mostly holding books I haven’t yet read, I realize I have hundreds of hours of reading to do, and lots more books to give away. Some I will never re-read, but I still want keep them for many more years. I love the covers, I love being reminded of the stories they tell and where I was when I read them. I remember this one as being enjoyable, but not memorable enough to want to keep — though I’ve had it at least 15 years already. (Machine Dreams by Jayne Anne Phillips)

Tags: books, May

I have found a place to recycle pill bottles. Apparently they are used to package medicine for third world countries. Of course I have a huge stash of them, just like I still have a stash of film containers. Very useful to store small items such as beads and screws and seeds from and for the garden. While I don’t get any new film containers any more, I still do get pill bottles. Why are they called bottles when they are plastic? Random garden shot is Lewisia cotyledon in a couple of colour variations. I lost three of these plants this winter, but as you can see, the rest are doing very well.

Tags: personal products, May, random flowers

Yes I’m getting rid of this tomorrow at the recycling depot, but two months from now I will have just as much again. If I had a garage I could wait until there was more to take, but these bags and containers take up a lot of space in the laundry room. I just wanted to show what accumulates. At least it’s not going to the landfill. Pacific Mobile Depots takes milk cartons and styrofoam and old electronics, soup and juice boxes, toothpaste tubes, soft plastics and much more. Check them out at www.pacificmobiledepots.com. There’s one in North Vancouver now too.

Tags: household, May

My gardener showed up today with baby bunnies in her bra. She rescued them after their mother was killed by a cat. Stuffed them in her bra to keep them safe and warm while biking over here. They slept, they sunned in the wheelbarrow, they hopped around a bit. She feeds them every four hours, figures they might be three weeks old. Our city has a big problem in some areas with rabbit populations. Domestic rabbits that were abandoned and then of course multiplied. I have to admit that these little ones are pretty cute. We’ll see if they survive. Oh, and I’m getting rid of a small beaded necklace.

Tags: jewellery, May, animals

I bought these cards at the Salvation Army thrift store, to send out next Christmas. What was I thinking? I have saved out one to send to a particular person who might get a chuckle, but the image is quite grotesque now that I look at it closely. I will happily donate them back to the Sally Ann.

Tags: paper, May

The tin says Wild Berry Flavoured Tablets. Mmmm. Tablets. Good old English travel sweets were in here originally. Found old tea bags in there now, some nasty smelling herbal stuff that would probably give me palpitations or keep me up all night if I dared try it — I have absolutely no clue what kind of tea it is and it’s going in the compost. It’s hard for me to give away useful containers, but I have to believe I will still have enough containers for whatever I need to store after I’ve finished decluttering.

Tags: container, kitchen, May

I’m posting four things today to make up for the past few days. I’m much more intrigued by Lau’s poetry and later novels than her first book. Will never re-read it. Went through the sock drawer again. That’s seven more pairs gone. Also found more shelf paper (Jan 4) that I will never use. The hole punch works great on two holes but needs a bit too much help to push the third hole through. I just found a great old-fashioned desk hole punch for $2 at a thrift store, so technically this is a replacement. At least I’m not saving the original as a backup, my usual MO and how I end up with multiples of something.

Tags: office, clothing, books, household, May

Another bit of cheap jewellery to leave on the street for a kid to find. I can’t remember how this came to be mine. If you like the manicure, visit geminiesthetics.com and make an appointment with Myra!

Won’t be blogging again until Sunday. Ciao for now.

Tags: jewellery, May

I know exactly how I ended up with two hole punches. The one I had for ages was sticking and annoying me by not releasing (mind you, I only have use for this type of punch once or twice a year). I found another for 50 cents at a yard sale. Tonight, as I looked at both hole punches knowing I was going to get rid of one, I decided to put some WD-40 on the older one. (Having used WD-40 to fix a stuck latch on the patio door this morning.) What do you know, the old one now works again and I prefer it to the newer one. Bye bye to the 50 cents one.

Tags: office, May

Something big today. It’s an interactive light disc almost 2 feet across that creates patterns of light in response to touch, voice and music. A cool science toy that my husband bought and played with a few times. We are going to pass it along to a young boy we know. I hope he will enjoy the neat effects. It looks great in a dark room.

Tags: toys, science, May

I have not been able to bring myself to read this book. Not that I don’t enjoy and even seek out on occasion dark subject matter. Just haven’t ever been in the right mood for this story. A friend was intrigued though, so I gave it to her. (Cargo of Orchids, Susan Musgrave, 2000)

A very happy azalea.

Tags: books, May, random flowers

Where do they come from? Found another two pairs of headsets that aren’t as good as the ear buds I’m using now. I don’t even want them as backup pairs. I still have a fairly comfortable set in the drawer that I try to remember to take when I travel by plane. That can be my spare pair.

I’m going to add random flower shots to this blog. The garden is starting to enter its most beautiful time of year. The tulips are from my cutting garden. The bulbs were planted last fall, so this is the first spring I get to see what they really look like. They are lasting for days and days as cut flowers.

Tags: electronics, May, random flowers