Thrilling Thursday

Today was amazing. My first day as a long-term sub. It may seem odd that I am so excited about a temporary teaching postition, but a long-term sub job is very much like being a contracted teacher. You build a rapport with the students, you plan lessons, do the grading, interact with parents, get an email address, go to department and faculty meetings, accrue vacation and sick leave, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff!

Of course, I realize I am still in the "honeymoon" period. The students behave better, they do their work, and turn it in. I wish it could last forever, but I know it will not. I am grateful for the opportunity to do what I love, even if it is on a temporary basis :)

Okay, on to today's purge. I am still adjusting to my new schedule. I am not getting up any earlier, but I am definitely busier and unable to nap at will, yup. So after I got home from work, I had a snack, threw in some laundry, played words with friends, and then decided to find my purge. It had to be quick and painless. I recently acquired some new cookbooks for free. I decided that I needed to get rid of some of the cookbook's I already own and never use, if I wanted to keep the new cookbooks. So I quickly scanned the shelf and four I haven't used in forever and will probably never use. I also found my old Phi Theta Kappa membership packet from when I joined  five or six years ago.

The cookbook countdown from left to right begins here:

1) The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet -- A Month of Meals Made Easy. With the just the three of us, this type of cooking doesn't really work for us.


2)  Frightfully Fun Halloween Recipes. There are tons of fun recipes for kids and parties. I don't think I've ever used a recipe out of it...

3) Cookie Dough Fun. Similar to the Halloween cookbook, except the recipes all call for refrigerated cookie dough. Again, I don't think I've ever used a recipe from it.

4) Frozen Assets: How to Cook For a Day and Eat For a Month.

5) not pictured and not a cook book...my membership packet from Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society of the two year college.

I have a feeling there will bw a couple more days of cookbooks. I am pushing to challenge that mindset of "I might use that someday" which is so insidious and detrimental to my project!

Remember, if you see something you can't live without, I will gladly ship it to at my expense. It may take a little longer with the new job, but it will get there eventually :)


Thanks for reading :) TGTF! See you then....

My Last Day of Psuedo Freedom

Tomorrow I start teaching full-time. It is not a permanent position, but it is a long-term sub position starting tomorrow and continuing until the end of the school year. I have met most of my students, and I am looking forward to working with them and getting to know them better.

I am also a little nervous..it is in my nature. I do not like the unknown. I like to know what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, how it is going to happen, etc. I do not like variables, except in math. I know I have the support of the teacher I am replacing as well as the entire Special Ed department. However, in the end, I am doing the lesson planning, teaching, grading, etc. I am so glad my first "week" as the new teacher is only two days :)

Tonight's purge is a whole bunch of one item. Intriguing, right?

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a young woman became obsessed greatly interested in metal cookie cutters and baking sugar cookies. This devoted young woman would make dough, roll it out, cut cookies with her many different cutters, bake and frost them. Her family heaped lavish praise on her as they shoved cookie after cookie into their greedy eager mouths. One day the young woman thought about baking cookies but knew she didn't have enough time for the elaborate sugar cookies she usually baked. She put the cookie cutters in a Georgia Boot Co. shoe box, tucked them in a cupboard under the laundry room sink, and made a batch of drop cookies. The cookie cutters have not seen the light of day since that fateful moment...

Until today! Alas, years of neglect has taken their toll and some of the cookie cutters have died a rusty, corrosion induced death :( Fear not, however! Many cookie cutters survived the dungeon-like conditions under the sink, and only need a good bath to restore them to working order.

The young woman has grown and has no crazy ambitions regarding baking sugar cookies! She is ready to release the healthy cookie cutters into the wild of the thrift store.

So, after that amazing burst of autobiographical creativity, I am sure you have figured out what I am getting rid of today.

So, here is the short ans sweet list of today's purge...

1) Approximately 35 metal cookie cutters of various design, old and newer.

2) Approximately 10 nasty and corroded metal cookie cutters (not pictured) going straight into the recycle bin.

Remember, if you see something you can't live without I will gladly ship it to you :) Please keep in mind with my new schedule, I will not ship as quickly. Also, these cookie cutters are "as is". I am not doing a darn thing to them!

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow :)

Well...That Was a Good Nap!

Apparently I am out of practice with the get up at 5:00 a.m., work all day, come home and stay awake until bedtime routine...meh!

I didn't teach today, but I did stay at school the entire day (and then some),picked up my picture prints, came home and made dinner, did the dishes, and promptly PASSED OUT for three hours. I remember waking up a couple of times and knowing I should get up, but my body was having no part of that nonsense. So I slept until 9:30.

Tomorrow there is no school because today was the last day of the semester. Tomorrow teachers have a day to grade like maniacs, enter grades into the computer, and prepare for the next semester. No problem (read with heavy sarcasm).

I am so glad I have my three items already picked out, picture taken, and ready to go! Today's offering will go to The Red Hat if no one claims any of the fine treasures. Well, there is actually only one thing that's shippable, so we'll see what happens :)

1) A large 70's green genuine Tupperware storage container without a lid. I am not sure why I kept this...maybe deep in the recesses of my mind I thought I might come across a lid in my thrift store jaunts. Of course with the Tupperware in the cupboard, I forgot I needed a lid. Go figure

2) A largey 70's yellow/gold geuine Tupperware storage container WITH a lid. Woo Hoo!!! I think it was in the cupboard because I didn't like not being able to see what was in the container, but it was genuine Tupperware so I wasn't willing to get rid of it. My logic is not logical (shocking, I know).

3) An old pizza pan that used to belong to my roomie from six years ago. 'Nuff said.

4) A Christmas tin from Dollar Tree or Big Lots. I make a lot of Christmas goodies and share with friends and loved ones. I am sure I was thinking I was saving $1 by hanging onto the tin. Yay, logic...NOT.

5) A stainless steel frothing pitcher for steaming milk for espresso. Again, I haven't had an espresso machine in over 6 years, but I kept the pitcher for unknown but very logical reason...

You know, when I type what I am purging and how long I have had it, I wonder about myself...A LOT. I am so grateful that many of you have written either here or on The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook Page that you have similar struggles with getting rid of things. It is good to know there are "others" like me :)

I am so excited that in two days I will have purged and blogged for a month straight. I will have gotten rid of 155+ items from my home. It's a little mind-boggling. Even though the change in how my home looks is not very noticeable, I know that will not be the case in the coming months.

I am not tooting my own horn, but I am proud of myself. I used to be the person who committed to everything and followed through on nothing. I feel like I am shedding tha skin and it feels wonderful.

Thank you for being a part of my journey, and silently encouraging me to continue! You rock and I appreciate it :) Good night, friends. See you tomorrow.

Gettin'er Done Early!

Since I have a small block of free time and I've already got my five things to purge, I'm going to bust out my blog now! Maybe I will get to bed a little earlier tonight :)

I start my new job Thursday, so I went in today so I could meet some of my students a little ahead of time. I will go tomorrow as well to meet the rest. They seem like a great bunch of students, and I am excited to start teaching them. Most of my classes are small, which is such a blessing. I will have the continued support of the teacher I am taking over for -- she is the new President of the teachers' union and is moving to a half time support position at the school. I am sure I will regale you with teaching stories once I start, and hopefully not bore you to tears.

I have some cookies to deliver to the library and groceries to shop for, so I am going to stop prattling on, and get to the list :)

Today's purge is from the corner cupboard in the he kitchen, and it is the throwaway pile.

1) One half of a bag of smoked Gouda popcorn. It's been hanging out down there for quite a while, and I haven't eat any in bleems so its time to trash it.

2) One half of a bag of tortilla chips. I didn't even know these were down there, so that is a good sign they need to go.

3) Child's Play (the candy assortment). My daughter bought this from her work, and it has been down there FOR.EVER. I am sick of looking at it, so I made the executive decision to throw it away!

4) A sponge/scrubber for the George Foreman grill. The grilled died long, long ago, and the sponge had just been hanging out waiting to be rescued.

5) A 5-cup coffeemaker. I am the only coffee drinker in the house, and I don't drink coffee every day (well I try not to), so a coffeemaker is pointless. I use a pour over filter. This will be going to the thrift store

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you tomorrow :)

Supercross Sunday

I'm not a huge Supercross/Motocross fan, but my hubby is. I am a big turn-off-the-TV-and-read-a-book-or-listen-to-music fan :) For him. Supercross is a big deal. He sets a reminder, his little brother comes over, and they watch it together. Today, however, CBS thwarted his carefully laid plans...the golf tournament they were airing prior to Supercross went into extra holes (or whatever they call it), and so they did not air Supercross. Why am I telling you all this? Mainly because I felt my title needed an explanation :)

Today I tackled a corner cupboard in my kitchen that had been driving me crazy for several months. It was full of stuff I used and stuff I didn't use but didn't have abetter spot for. I know, I know...If I don't use it, why was I keeping it? Again, I have no idea. That mindset of, but I might need it someday... Someday rarely comes, and the stuff keeps multiplying in the dark recesses of my cupboards. This purge required the removal of almost everything from the cupboard. As I pulled more and more stuff from the cupboard, I was reminded of Mary Poppin's seemingly bottomless carpetbag. The only difference being that nothing coming out of my cupboard was fun or magical *sigh*

Once I had the contents of the cupboard strewn across my kitchen floor, I divided and conquered (I made piles). A pile for the recycle bin, a pile for the garbage, and a pile for donation. And the best part? Each one of those piles had five items, so I am ahead of the game with three days worth of purges :) This will be helpful with me starting my new job this week! Next week's purges might be straw wrappers, bread ties, dryer lint, empty toilet paper rolls, and hair from the hairbrush...I'm kidding, I hope.

Of the three piles today's purge is the pile going into my curbside recycle bin. Pretty boring stuff, but it is the means to an end. My cupboard is cleaned out, rearranged, and positively spacious. Now if I can only keep from refilling it!

Today's remarkable recyclables are as listed. Please hold your applause until the end ;)

1) A plastic cookie dough fundraiser tub...the cookie dough long gone! 

2) An empty Apex Brownie box. Not sure why this was still under there...maybe to remind not to judge others (like when my daughter/husband left an empty box in the bathroom cupboard and I ranted about it here).

3) An empty Dasani water bottle. yeah.

4) 3 disposable aluminum baking pans. They were not the right size for what I needed, and I haven't been able to figure out another use for them. They are big and take up too much space, so they have to go.

5) The plastic scraper for cleaning a George Foreman grill. My husband had one when we forst moved in together (almost 6 years ago), but it died probably 4 years ago. Maybe I thought we would get a new one someday...nah.

See you tomorrow! I hope your Monday is peaceful, productive, and stress-free :)

I love Saturdays...usually :)

And this Saturday is no exception. I love what the weekend represents -- freedom from the Monday through Friday grind. Not that I have a grind, but it's nice to have a break from the weekday routine. Weekends have their own routine, which tend to be more flexible. Tonight was one of the local high school's winter ball, so my daughter got off work early to get ready (she's a senior this year). I dropped off books and magazines at the library, checked out a few art books, picked up her boyfriend's boutinierre, made grape salad for my husband to take to his sister and brother-in-law's "winter olympics", and just relaxed :)

I decided for today's purge to continue with the magazines -- I have several stacks all over the house :( I followed similar rules as last time; it had to be pretty current and I had to have a GOOD reason for keeping it! Again, I purged more than I kept. Yay, me!!! I won't post a picture of the magazines, but I do want to post a picture of my daughter and her boyfriend. They are both wonderful young people with kind hearts!

If you must know stats about the magazines...I purged 18 and an old phone book :)

On a sidenote, some people have spoken for items I posted by commenting on the blog. I have responded to those comments, but have not heard anything back. It is much easier to communicate via email, which is why I have asked you to email me at penelopesamuel@gmail.com if you see something you want me to send to you. So if you requested something and haven't heard from me, you should check to see if I have replied to your comment :)

Thanks again for reading! See you tomorrow:)

Fast & Furious Friday

Today was an interesting day. Friday is my regular cleaning day for one of my clients. I have been cleaning for this couple for about 4 years. I park in the same place every single time. Can you see where this is leading? Today, the husband backed into my car as he was leaving for work. I am sharing this because I thought it was funny, and it could have been so much worse! This couple are really great people, and I knew I had nothing to worry about. About two hours after it happened, their company paint and body guy came to the house to check out my car and get all the info he needed to get my car fixed. He has already ordered the new fender and paint, and will fix it next weekend.

Last week the wife had given me three bags of books to trade in for credit at Powell's City of Books in Portland, OR. I trade my books to Powell's online for virtual credit. After I set aside what Powell's wants, I take the remainder to my local book store for trade credit, and the final stop is the library. I donate whatever is left to The Friends of the Library for their bi-annual book sale and the year-round $1 bookshelf. Between Powell's and my local bookstore I now have $58.00 in credit :) My bookshelves are full, so I save the credit for birthday and Christmas gifts...unless they have a book of poetry I "need" to add to my collection.

All this rambling about my day does lead somewhere, I promise :) In December, my father-in-law gave me a bag full of books and magazines that had been his wife's (she passed away in July). They are gardening magazines, Birds & Blooms, a few hardback mysteries, and some gardening books. The sack has been sitting in my foyer for at least a month, silently reproaching me as I swept and vacuumed around it. Tonight I decide to go through it and decide what I could part with. My first step was to categorize them, so they'd be easier to sort through. Then I decided I had to get rid of anything older than 2012 (just about everything in the bag!) At that point, I looked at the cover and asked myself why do I want to keep it? What information is in here that will be useful? How soon will I read it? Where will I put it until I read it? You get the picture. I am proud to say I only kept 6 magazines and 1 book :) The rest will go to the library's reuse, reduce, recycle magazine shelves tomorrow!

I do have a picture, but I am not going to list the magazines and books I purged. There is well over 5 items, and I am very glad to have one less bag of stuff on the floor :)

Thanks for reading my blog and supporting my project! Have a great weekend, and I'll see you tomorrow :)