Stuff-o-sphere day 1…again?

I have a bad habit of not blogging each day.  Others might think that I have a good habit of having better things to do than sit in front of a computer in my spare time.  Either way, I don’t blog every day.  My stuff-o-sphere project continues, however.  Yesterday, I got rid of some cyber-junk by deleting some e-mails.  Doesn’t sound like much to you, maybe, but it meant a lot to me (*sob*).

I just wanted to address some comments I have had when I have spoken, face to face, with real, live people (as opposed to the phony dead ones you might think I talk to or that you talk to or…you get the point) about the stuff-o-sphere project and the blog.  I find there are two main groups of people on this subject.  One group is nodding heck yeah while I talk about getting rid of one thing a day in a deliberate fashion.  The other group proceeds to tell me how they always donate things, file things, do not save papers, etc.  You know the people I am talking about here–nary a thing out of place in their homes, perhaps.  The world needs both groups of people.  Imagine if the second group had been given the Magna Charta or the Declaration of Independence–ah, that’s rubbish, let’s toss it!

People in both groups probably give a lot of things away (or toss them or recycle them)–some just do a better job of keeping the clutter at bay.  I know that part of my problem is space.  I have plenty of it.  So, when I set aside something for disposal, I can put it out of my way where it won’t bother me.  No worries!  The problem is, the out-of-the-way spots sometimes get to be in the way, and that can be problematic.

Whichever group you are in–try to be sensitive to the other group.  Just try.

Kitchen gadgets – Day 16

I got rid of a couple of gadgets from my kitchen collection. The first was a cheese grater where you put the cheese in a tube, place another smaller tube over it, and turn. This presses the cheese against a grater so you can grate cheese onto your meal as you cook or at your plate. It didn’t work well for me the first time I tried to use it (after owning it for about a year after buying it from a thrift store). It’s gone now. The second item is a nutcracker. I bought this from a thrift store, too. The premise is good, I think. It’s similar to the can crushers people sometimes mount on the wall of their garage to crush aluminum cans. I don’t tend to buy a lot of nuts in the shell, and had purchased this in order to crack some black walnuts I had gathered one year. Black walnuts are hard nuts to crack, and this did not work for that purpose. A hammer and a span of cement work much better. The nutcracker is gone now.

Plastic silverware…day 15

The kitchen got my attention these two days. On day 15, I tossed plastic silverware and chopsticks. I had collected an assortment of plastic silverware over the years (although not necessarily lately) and kept it just in case. You know, just in case I went on a picnic or went camping. As I looked at it jumbled at the back of the silverware drawer, I resolved to treat myself to real silver (read: metal) ware from now on. I tossed the plastic ware. As for the chopsticks, I had a similar assortment of those in various locations. I brought them all together and did some basic sorting. Those that were not rescued from a Chinese restaurant meal got to stay, as long as they were reasonably straight and had a partner. This resulted in some cooking-size sticks, some plastic/ivory sticks and a couple of pair of new sticks remaining. The rest of them are moving to the gardening department (which may mean compost or burning).

Days 11-14

Medicine cabinets need to be kept up-to-date. Old medicines, they say, can hurt you. I found a bottle of Pepto Bismol on top of a cupboard to toss on day 11. It was over a year out of date.

On day 12, I determined to toss some ibuprofen (also a year out of date), and on day 13, the culprit was low-dose aspirin (don’t even think about the age). I consulted someone who ought to know about what the current correct way to dispose of the pills would be. She told me to put them in a plastic container (like a juice container) with food scraps and just toss it in the garbage. (If the pills are capsules, she advised me to break the capsules so the innards would be dispersed.) This makes the pills undesirable for whatever or whoever might attempt to scavenge them. It probably has the side effect of dissolving the medications, too. Apparently in this geographic area there are no drop-off locations for such disposal otherwise.

So, for day 14, I am emptying the juice container, filling it with pills and food scraps, and tossing the lot out with the garbage.

Chopped–the home version

I don’t watch much television.  I have learned that I enjoy the show “Chopped”.  For those who haven’t seen it, this is a competition among four chefs (per one-hour episode) to create an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert from a basket of a few ingredients, plus whatever they need from the show’s pantry.

I have never witnessed an episode where all the ingredients used (by any single chef on any single dish) would feasibly be in my house at the same time.  I don’t keep sea kelp or antelope or star fruit on hand.  I know–it’s a character flaw.

What I do enjoy about the show is that it is a variety of the food experiences I can have on a daily basis in the comfort of my own home.

I like to garden.  I prefer low maintenance garden plants (like raspberries, rhubarb, horseradish and the like), but cheerfully plant annual plants, too.  I like wild foods.  I pick around the edges of the idea of foraging.  I tend to have wild rice, canned apple products, flour and other baking staples, white rice, and tomato products on hand.  This year I have an abundance of canned pumpkin and dried apples.  I visit Chicago (Devon Street) every once in a while and bring back something exotic for the pantry.  Otherwise, I live four miles from the nearest grocery store, which is about 18 miles from a large grocery store.  Maybe you get the idea…

There are times when I find myself gazing into my cupboards to create a meal unlike the last fifteen I ate.  Those are the times when I find myself thinking I experience “Chopped” in my own home.  I am writing this away from home (and I am hungry), and I can’t think of a particular example of a dish at the moment.  However, I will share some “Chopped”–the home version meals over the course of the year.  Don’t hold your breath–I don’t yet blog daily, but I am working on it.  Until then?  Enjoy your meal!

Day 10–wishbones

Day 10

I gazed at my counter-top as I prepared coffee this morning.  I saw the handful of wishbones scattered back against the wall.  Those were my target for the day.  I like to make wishes on wishbones, but it is a different experience to do that with only your body pulling in the two directions.  On this day, I made wishes on each of them, and tossed the pieces out.  I won’t tell you the wishes, but upon pulling for two of the wishes, the bones shattered, flying all over the place.  I took it as a good sign.

Days 5-9

Days 5-9

What a rush of days!  I have to admit, day 5 was a failure.  I don’t recall dealing with any single item in my house.

The next day, however, I reviewed some files from a board of directors I have been on for the past several years.  I kept a few documents (including the roster, so I can contact the friends I have on that board), but shredded the rest!  Ahhh.

Over the weekend (days 7 and 8), I continued the shredding process.  I had as many as six years of board materials to shred, so I think it is fair to allow that to spill over onto one of the days (and therefore count).  I also had a stack of other items to shred, so I will count those for the other day.  After all, I don’t want stack of things to do (on this project) either!

Day 9 was simple.  I have been trying to eat more from the bounty of my pantry.  You might call it part of an austerity plan.  You might call it overflowing cupboards.  That’s your call.  In any case, I have been enjoying pots of tea and cups of cocoa in the evenings as the winter progresses.  In the search for which beverage I would have, I sighted a tall jar of instant tea.  I vaguely recall when I bought the tea, and I know I have moved the jar at least one time, so it is at least seven years old.  Some might be disgusted at any point thus far.  I must share that thought a little, since I rarely drink instant tea.  However, I don’t like to waste food, either.  I considered making a tea drink mix out of it, and looked for a suitable choice in my cookbooks.  (I only looked at one book, which has maybe twenty-five drink mix recipes in it.)  I then prepared a different drink for the evening.  By the time I was done enjoying the beverage I had chosen for the evening, the decision was made to toss the instant tea in its entirety.

Day 4

I can see I may struggle with this project today.  My calendar is full, edge to edge.  However, even as I wrote those words, I thought of what I can toss today.  I have a small crate of potatoes on my enclosed back porch that need to go to the compost pile.  They have frozen solid, and it just will not be pretty if I don’t do something about them soon.  Getting them out of sight in this way will make the back porch more open (in a small way, but still…) and I won’t have to scoop them off the floor in the spring.  That’s a good deal all the way around!

Day 3

I am tossing out a vitamin bottle today.  B12—heart health.  I am not generally a consistent vitamin supplement user, and these vitamins have been around a while (although still within the scope of their stated shelf life).  I have successfully consumed all the vitamins.  Yea!  I won’t be replacing the vitamin supplement anytime soon.  I still have multi-vitamins, and I am always working on improving my diet so the supplements are not needed.

Stuff-o-Sphere Day 2

This may seem like small stuff, but I threw out the packaging around a new jump drive today.  That is just a piece of garbage, you say—unfair!  Well, you might be right.  However, the packaging sat around the jump drive that sat on my counter for maybe a year.  Wrapped and unused, the jump drive was a wasted item.  This is not to say it is a critical item, since I have others, and they are not yet full, but, in the spirit of this new project, I decided to release the jump drive from the packaging and use the jump drive to store this project.  Since I don’t have internet at home, this use allows me to keep the blog info in one place and accessible.

Yesterday, I don’t think I tossed out anything.  I didn’t celebrate New Year’s Eve in too outlandish a fashion, but I was exhausted on New Year’s Day.  I got up and attended church.  Then I came home, ate lunch and took a nap until dinner.  I was up for a while before going to bed and sleeping until morning.  I have to make up for this lost day.  Watch for how I did so in future posts.