When a local shopping centre built a new food court, one of the promo items I did artwork for was this mug. It's a blue enamel camping mug. I didn't drink out of it. I used it as a container. My mom took it. She also took the binders. But the pants went to Value Village.

Does it count as getting rid of something if my mom takes it? I'm not sure. I worry that I have just postponed having to deal with certain things for a second time when I help her downsize. So mom, I know you read this, please use the binders and mugs responsibly and dispose of them when you no longer need them. Thanks.

Tags: clothing, office, kitchen

This multi-purpose office stamp ends with the year 2000. One of those cool things I hung on to because I envisioned stamping envelopes to electricity or utility companies with "Backordered" or "Cancelled" just for fun. It sat in my office supplies drawer for many, many years. I used it a couple of times. Most of my bills are paid online now. I have a friend who does rubber stamping and I'll ask her if she wants this. I'm off to a Jann Arden concert tonight. Looking forward to it. Pretty sure her song "Insensitive" was written about someone we all know.

Tags: office, November

Why do I still have cheques on a bank account that was closed at a bank that no longer exists after being bought out by another bank? From at least six years ago. Papers get shoved in a drawer, I get too busy with other things like work and chores and sometimes plain old fun, and there they sit. The cheques have been shredded. Tomorrow is recycling day.

Tags: office, cheques, October

I have been keeping this just to look at. I picked it up from a box of free stuff down the street about a couple of years ago. It was jammed and wouldn't work anymore, but I thought I could bend it back into working condition. I couldn't. It's a beautiful object, the metal finish is very cool. It looks good next to my retro metal office fan. That may have to go too by the end of this project. Anyway, bye bye stapler. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Random flower is a dahlia. Someone else's garden.

Tags: office, stapler, October, random flowers

I have gotten rid of enough magazines (and more to go) that I no longer need these magazine holders. Anyone want the first two and a half years of InStyle magazine? Including the prototype issue with Kirstie Alley on the cover and the first official issue with Barbra Streisand on the front? How about a couple of years of Utne Reader. New Scientist? Just ask. My friend is setting up a new home office, so she took the magazine holders. Random flower is impatiens from a shady side bed.

Tags: office, August, random flowers

I picked this up at a yard sale for $5 as a replacement phone, but even though it works, the display has a defect through the centre of the letters and numbers, making it too hard to read. Didn’t find out about that until the phone was charged up. I stuck it out in a box, marked it free, and it went a day later. At least I put a note on it warning about the display. Whoever took it had fair warning. Random flowers are peonies from my yard. The pale one is Sarah Bernhardt.

Tags: phone, office, July, random flowers

Gave this office clock (IKEA) to my gardening helper. Lunch yesterday was first pickings from the fava bean crop, stir fried with garlic and green onions from my garden and purple sage from my neighbour’s herb patch. Yummy. Still holding vigil for my sweet little 16-year-old cat. Will discuss options with the vet tomorrow.

Tags: office, July, garden

Unless you’re like me and keep things, you won’t discover how long it takes for rubber bands to deteriorate to the point of being useless and crumbling beneath your fingers as you try to stretch them. Actually I haven’t learned that either, because I have no idea how many years ago I put this collection of rubber bands in a baggie. I only know they are rotten now. I’m reusing the baggie, but I’ve had to throw the bands away. I hate putting stuff in the trash. Random flower is Cephalaria gigantea.

Tags: household, office, July

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’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

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

These pull-out wire drawers have been in storage. I think they were part of a closet organizing system that was in the house when we moved in, or they might have been on someone’s lawn as free stuff, which I have a hard time resisting (I’m getting better at it though). Either way, this unit is out on my lawn now, hoping that someone will find it useful and take it away. It’s been a day and a half so far though, and no nibbles.

Tags: furniture, April, office

I remember my dad took a trip to the States in the early seventies and came home with one of the first Texas Instruments calculators — costing more than $100! Now they are free in cereal boxes. This Canon is an older model; it runs on a battery that needs replacing every couple of years. I haven’t replaced it in a long time and now I have to find somewhere to recycle that battery. All these years later my main calculator is coincidentally a Texas Instruments one, but solar-powered. It should last the rest of my life.

Tags: office, April

I have files and files — reference for paintings, articles, craft instructions, recipes etc. Today I had a spare hour, so I went through some files and tossed out a bunch of papers I don’t think I’ll miss. I recycled a few large stacks before Christmas — before I started this blog — but with only a bit of time here and there to sort through files, there’s still a lot of purging to be done. (I also trashed dozens of old work files on my computer today and deleted almost 100 emails — too bad none of that makes my living space look tidier.)

Tags: office, paper, February

It’s almost tax time. I should be entering receipts, but I’m going to go to a movie instead. Quicktax is what I use to figure everything out. But why have I hung on to the software from last year and the year before?

Tags: office, February

There must have been a bin at an office supply store. A pack of 10 shrink wrapped message pads for $1 or somesuch deal. Otherwise why would I have actually bought paper? I think I bought them when I knew I was going to do a 3 week stint at another studio and wanted to have an official system for phone calls. At home I use the margins in ad flyers for messages or the backs of envelopes. I have paper everywhere. If I don’t print on both sides of the paper for proofs or editing, then I use the backsides for notes.

Tags: office, February