Day 257 - Smurfs

Here is another round of toys from that last box in the basement closet. 

1 to 22.  Various Smurf action figures from the 1980s.  My favorite of this bunch is the Paul Revere smurf. 
23. Gargamel
24. Smurf collector's booklet with $.20 price printed on cover
25 & 26. Tranformers - likely from the 1980's, too.

Katie

Day 256 - Disney Pins, Garfield, Pinocchio

That box-of-goodies from the basement closet is full of small toys and I have another couple days' worth coming.

1. Really old Pinocchio doll
2 to 9. Clown figurines in various cosumes
10 & 11. Space shuttle toys
12. Fraggle Rock toy
13 & 14. Old Disney pins
15. Old Knott's Berry Farm coin
16. Another pin
17 to 20. Garfield figurines
21. Garfield sun catcher
22. Garfield pencil sharpener
23 to 26. Garfield "locks" from cereal boxes

Katie

Day 255 - Popeye, Poochie, and Carnival Toys

Remember that box-o-goodies from the basement closet on Day 246?  Here's more of those things.

1 & 2. Popeye and Olive Oyl hot pads
3. Electric Company magazine with Popeye cover
4 & 5. Popeye labels from cans of vegetables
6 & 7. Popeye advertisements
8 & 9. Toys labeled as "1950's carnival toys" by my Mother-in-law.  The Panda is filled with sawdust and the monkey is old molded plastic with eye stickers that "move."
10 to 14.  Poochie dog stamping toy - this must have belonged my sister-in-law once upon a time
15 to 20. small figurines
21 to 25. plastic pencil toppers
26. Muppet Baby rocking horse.  I think was Fozzy bear's.

Katie

Day 254 - Office Cords & Discs

1 to 7. Discs of various things including Map software and comedic music
8. A disc insert
9 to 14. Floppy Discs
15. Headphones with no headband
16. Floppy Disc case
17. Fan from inside a PC tower
18 to 25. Misc cords
26. A long cord (maybe 100 feet?) that we bought when first married.  It ran the length of our newlywed, super cheap apartment so we could have internet in the living room.

Katie

Day 253 - Kid Toys

1 to 7. Glow sticks that don't glow
8 to 10. McDonald's Madagascar toys
11. Penguin given as a baby gift to DD#1 by one of my favorite youth group girls. 
12. Chutes and Ladders Game
13. Paper doll clothes
14.Key (purse toy)
15. Baby pin
16. Magnet doll shoes
17. Clear fairy wing - a little hard to see, but it's just under the key
18 & 19. Broken "unbreakable" crayons
20 & 21. Dry markers
22. Party favor Rubik's cube
23. Mickey Mouth Clubhouse chalkboard
24. Broken sunglasses
25. Green braclet
26. Monkey disc for a kid's book

Katie

Day 252 - Office Finds

More junk out of the office today.  A lot of this is influx from the basement's old office closet.

1. Youth Group notebook
2. Whole box of business cards from when I first met DH
3 to 21. Greeting cards.  Most from DH's Bachelor's Degree graduation and his birthday that year.
22. Packaging for a mouse pad
23. Marketing material for something animation-related
24. Marketing material for a vacation club
25 & 26. Ink Refill packs for a printer we no longer have

Katie

Day 251 - Random Box

We cleaned up the garage in preparation for a big barbeque last weekend.  In the process I stumbled across a box of miscellaneous office-y things.   Ed kept only two things out of it.

1. Big molded plastic thing.  Unknown origin
2. Empty check box
3 to 9. Empty VHS boxes
10. Sheet of 3.5" floppy labels
11. Zelda/Link mouse pad
12 & 13. Nerf darts
14. Storage Case for 3.5" floppy discs
15. Some belt or band. Unknown origin.
16. Empty DVD case
17. Empty GameCube disc case
18 to ?. Labels for VHS tapes & cassettes.

Katie

Day 250 - Cleaning Out the Car

The last few days have been a bit crazy since we found out we had headlice!  I've been busy washing bedding, shampooing heads, and combing out 4 heads of long, little girl hair.  

Today we cleaned out the car and I easily found a selection of items for today's post.

1. Flower girl basket 2 years old.

 2 to 6. Caterpillar/butterfly wings & 4 magnets.

 7 to 9. More butterfly/caterpillar toys
10. Magnet
11. Princess crown magnet
12. Magnet doll shoe

13 to 17. Butterfly/caterpillar pieces
18. Magnet doll skirt

19. Magnet doll feet
20. Hair clip
21. "Unbreakable" crayon

22. Kids' medal

23. Pen freebie

24. Broken necklace

25. Dart toy

26. Tiana something or other

Katie

Day 249 - Mostly Kid Stuff

1 to 10. Really annoying puzzle with musical instrument sounds and sensors that make it sound off in the middle of the night.  Super annoying.
11 to 15. Another chunky puzzle.  It doesn't fit well in the puzzle drawer and I'm constantly picking up the pieces because it doesn't ever get put away.
16. Baby linky
17. Deflated toy
18. Empty doll bottle
19. Some sort of kid medal
20. Ladybug toy, broken
21. Paper doll dress
22. Lid to a cannister
23. Snow White paper dolls
24. Barbie paper dolls
25. Excercise band
26. Car figurine that was my Grandpas.  I'll offer this to my siblings before I donate it.

Katie

Day 248 - Mostly Clothes

1 & 2. Curtain panels I picked up from my Aunt's garage sale leftovers thinking they'd be perfect in the nursery.  They are the right color, but they're not long enough. Darn!
3. Toile photo album I love, love, loved but it was damaged in the water 3.5 years ago and it's just been hanging out in the basement.
4 & 5. Black dress shoes.  I found a pair of Chinese Laundry black, patent leather replacements so am parting with these.
6 & 7. Kid's shoes that have a destroyed toe. 
8. Dress I absolutely love the fit and feel of, but I just can't come around to the print on the fabric. 
9. Kid Easter dress that got green dry-erase marker in about 5 spots on the front when the motor therapist had my 20 month old drawing lines.  Oh well.
10. Black dress I've had for about 14 years . . .
11. Kid pants
12. Kid shirt
13 & 14. Kid undies - elastic separating
15. A sock with a hole
16 to 19. Stained baby washcloths
20. Pink, plaid baby hat that is too little for DD#4.
21. to 26. More undies.

Katie

Day 247 - MIscellaneous Larger Items

I've been collecting these photos for 7 weeks and finally have enough to make a post - Hooray!

1. This is a bookshelf I sold at the garage sales.

2. A little bike I sold at the garge sales.  It needed a new tire.

3. A big trike sold at the garage sale - we have another.

4. Shorter bookshelf sold at the garage sale.

5. Froggy umbrella broken by the kids.

6 & 7. Stackable storage drawers sold at garage sale
8. 2 drawer legal filing cabinet also sold at garage sale

9 & 10. Wooden planters

11. Book finshed on vacation and passed to my sister-in-law

12. Sunglasses broken by a kid

13. Growth chart I made at MOPS and the kids scribbled all over it.  

14. Bag of styrofoam peanuts from basement closet

15. Big box from basement closet

16. Bathroom mirrored cabinet from basement remodel

17 to 19. Boxes of air packs and bubble wrap

20. Burberry handbag - I think vintage.  

21. Full-size mattress cover without waterproofing

22 to 25. Tupperware deviled egg carrier - I have 3 and I don't need this 4th I found in the basement closet.

26. Kids' bathroom stool that cracked. 

Katie

Day 246 - Basement Disks & Crafts

1. New scrapbook - I won't use this
2. Painted, wooden picutre frame that was a bridesmaid gift from my oldest friend.  I decided I don't need to keep this as I have several other keepsakes from her that are more dear.
3. Alphabet stickers
4. Baking stamp
5. Pie stamp
6. Border stamp
7. Stamp with our old bank information
8. CD case
9. Souvenir keychain from Japan
10. Souvenir keychain from England
11. Cassette tape of a sermon
12. Norton Anti-Virus software
13 to 24. Old 3.5 floppy disks
25 & 26. Rings from long gone baby swing - they popped out and toys popped in

Katie

Day 245 - Basement Closet Box-o-Goodies

There was one final box of small things on the basement closet shelf.  It was chock full of old toys and stuff that has ebay potential. 

I'm going to go ahead and put them in the garage sale pile, but I might give some of this an ebay try if I can manage it before the next garage sale.  It's unlikely and that's why I'm just moving it out now.

1. Old duplo lego bag
2. Rubbing toy to make drawings of cars
3. Old leather poodle toy with real fur.  This came from my mother-in-law with a note that she thinks it's from the 60's.
4. Slinky
5. Gyroscope
6. Cool tiny camera that works
7. Camera bag the size of a hackysack
8. pencil pouch with old Disney art
9. Blue figurine
10 & 11. Garbag Pail Kid stickers
12. Popeye toy tag for the little animal, The Jeep
13. Miss Piggy Muppet Baby in car
14 to 16. More the little muscle figures DH had in his collection - M.U.S.C.L.E.S or something
17 & 18. Playskool Colorform doll shoes
19. Carving of a wooden fisherman
20. Little metal baby carriage with turning wheels and 3 little animals that fit inside
21 to 26. TRIX cereal magnets - probably free with box tops

There are more items from that last box, but I'm going to hold off posting them for now.  They're sitting in the corner of my bedroom.  I have to keep working on getting stuff out of the basement and these other toys will keep.

Katie

Day 244 - Basement Closet Lingering Items

Okay - My brother's arrival is imminent and I HAVE to get this closet cleaned out because I'm pretty sure it's getting removed in this visit.  I've already done a lot of work emptying it (starting around Day 169), but there are a few lingering items, as you can see in the pictures below.  Some are to toss, but some are to keep including all my photographs from my growing up years.  Some are even from my old 110 camera in the late 1980's and a trip to New York City.  I can't throw those away!

View at the closet door.

View inside, down the length of the closet.

Today's selection is mostly the stuff lingering on the closet floor.

1. An old Wheaties Box
2 & 3. Styrofoam blocks
4. length of 2 x 4
5 to 10. Carboard boxes
11. Piece of venetian blinds
12. Hardware piece of venetian blinds
13. Wrapping paper tube
14 to 26. Various bubble wrap, airpacks, paper for packing.

Katie

Day 243 - Desk Papers

I worked on cleaning out my little desk today.  It's not empty yet but here's a start.  This includes several dozen envelopes from billing statements.  I have always re-used these envelopes but I don't need to keep this many.  This is also another year of MOPS papers and a bunch of things DH cleared out of his desk for me. 

Now - I must shift my focus to the basement!  My brother is coming to work and I must move many things out of his way!  The good news is you'll have a break from all the paper posts. 

Katie

Day 242 - Joanna's clothes

First, a big shout out to my SIL, Dayna, who got on my case yesterday about not posting over the weekend.  It was a great motivator for me to get busy posting today now that I'm home. 

See, Dayna?  All caught up!
Today's selection - I can't believe I've been doing this for 242 Days! - is all from DD#3's dresser.  This kid has even more clothes than DD#4 from yesterday's post.

Joanna had 43 shirts in her drawer including 35 short-sleeved.  How does this happen?  Grandma Nikki!  To be fair, it's a little bit of mommy loving to shop at thrift stores, too. 

1 to 9. Shirts that fit, but we don't need.
10 & 11. Dresses that fit, but we don't need
12 & 13. Ballet outfits
14. Skirt
15 to 17.  Pants & capris
18 to 26. Training pants - I kept a dozen pair of the best condition.

Katie

Day 241 - Another Pile of Papers

Today I went through another stack of papers in the office.  This was almost completely materials from MOPS 4 and 5 years ago.  These are handbooks, newsletters, speaker handouts and notes, and lots of contents of my discussion group lead binder.  My goal is to sort through one pile per day.

Katie

Day 240 - Phoebe Clothes

We were in Maui for 10 days earlier this summer and had only 5 outfits each.  I was impressed without how few clothing items we really needed to get by.  As soon as we got home I had a look in the kids' drawers. 

Phoebe, DD#4, had 32 shirts.  Yep, thirty-two not including undershirt onesies. 

Do we need this many shirts?  Absolutely not.  I do laundry more often than once a month.

Do we need this many short-sleeve shirts (27 of 32 are short-sleeved)? Absolutely not.  Washington summers require short-sleeves for about 8 weeks in a good year.

And that's just the shirts!  So we're getting rid of some clothes.

1 to 7. Pants that still fit, but we don't need
8 to 10. Dresses that still fit, but we don't need
11. Shorts that fit, but we don't need
12 to 17. Socks that are outgrown
18 to 26. Shirts that still fit, but we don't need

I could at get rid of more, but at least all her little clothes will fit in the dresser now. 

Katie

Day 239 - Laundry Day

It amazes me that after nearly 8 months of Project TwentySix I still find so much to discard when I fold the laundry!  I should be encouraged that it's not more than twenty-six items like it was back in the beginning.

1. Gray pants with a stubborn stain on the leg
2. Turquoise shirt also with a stubborn stain in the tummy
3. Purple pants with a small stain I didn't mind for my kids but they aren't nice enough for garage sale, consignment so I'm donating to clothing recycle.
4. stained washcloth
5. thin sock
6 & 7. Worn heels on white socks
8 & 9. Worn heels on black socks
10 to 13. Worn heels on Nike socks
14. Outgrown puple Gap sleeper
15. Ourgrown pink leggings
16. Outgrown dress
17. Dry stamp pad
18 & 19. Markers that DD#4 chewed the tips of
20 & 21. Dry ball point pens
22 to 24. Lids
25. Lid with a code I was keeping for some reason - just tossing
26. Lid to unknown water bottle

Katie

Friday Narrative - Where Does This Stuff Go?

Recently Lisa asked what happened to all of these items I'm discarding.  I thought I'd answer that quickly for today's narrative.

I usually take a picture of everything on bedspread.  I immediately throw any trash in the trash, recycleable items in the recycling, and move anything still usable to the garage.

Once in the garage I sort items into a few categories.  I have a box for garage sale, a box for donation to the thrift store, and an area for consignment clothing.  Consignment clothing is further sorted by season/size, but it's out of the living space and that's good enough for the daily posts.

When I have a full box of donations I record the items for tax purposes, put the box in the car, and start a new box.  I will drop the box off within the week, usually whenever errands take me near my favorite thrift store.

Consignment items sit a little longer because I have to make an appointment in advance of donation and it's usually at least a month out.  I also am not too often near my favorite consignment store so it takes a bit more planning to go there. 

Garage sale items sit the longest so I'm very selective in what I keep for the garage sale each summer.  I try to donate regularly and take clothes to consignment to keep that clutter down.

Often I have a friend comment or send me an email when they see something they could use.  I am happy to pass the item along if I haven't already thrown it out or donated.  One of the original goals of Project TwentySix was to give freely and I try to do just that.

One that note, if you see something you'd like - please let me know!

Katie

Day 238 - MIsc. Kitchen & Office

I don't know what it is about going out of town, but I often can't manage to post even if I've already taken the pictures!  Oh well.

As I worked away on the office a few other things were collecting in that corner of my bedroom.  I'm making them today's selection - Day 238!  Cruising right along.

1. A baby blanket made for DD#1 by a 7th grader.  We volunteered with the junior high school at church early in our marriage.
2. A notebook/pad holder from an old employer
3. circular basket that used to hold pens/pencils
4 & 5. Flip-flops mom bought me in Hawaii 2 weeks ago.  The toe thong pulled through.
6 to 8. Blank Immunization records
9. Empty CD case
10 & 11. plastic bowls without lids
12 to 15. plastic containers with "freezer lids".  They don't match anything else and just are a kink in storage
16. plastic container that cracked.
17. old bbq scrubber
18. old bbq rusted tongs
19. headphones missing the earbuds (thanks kids!)
20. package of Hello Kitty party invitations
21. loose Hello Kitty party inviation
22. empty Skittles chapstick
23. Brown University bookmark (how long has this thing been hanging around?)
24. Ripped play money
25. Broken crown
26. Sticker paper doll

Katie

Day 237 - Legal Files

That's 82 file folders, Baby!  Whoo!  I'm offically moved into the standard size filing cabinet.  I didn't have to buy any standard size folders because I already had an abundance, so these count for Project TwentySix.

Katie

Day 236 - Filing Cabinet "F to J"

What a surprise!  It's more office paper! 

Today's selection includes paystubs from the "Job" file dating back to my college internship in 2001, lots of pamphlets and coupons from the "Home Improvement" file, some "Gardening" articles that I can now find online, and bills/statements from "Flagstar" one of the banks that has owned one of the mortgages over the years.  Also a few "Fidelity" mailings.

Katie

Friday Narrative - On Tuesday! Office Work

I was chatting with a friend at church Sunday.  She is very ill and has been receiving meals from lots of us at church to ease her burden  of cooking for her family.  I was asking her if she needed help with anything else, like cleaning or yard work.  She explained, with a little embarrassment, that they had had a water issue 5 years ago and they mess from that still hadn't been cleaned up.  She didn't want anyone to really see it or try to clean around it. 

I understood immediately.  We had our own water difficulties 3 and a half years ago.  We also are still cleaning up the mess.  The mess isn't water-logged belongings or wet carpet.  It isn't an unfinished construction job from pipe repairs.  It's simply the piles and boxes that were hastily packed and stashed far from the reach of water. 

For us, those boxes were almost all from our office.  It was in the daylight basement and the water was coming into that room directly.  We set up a makeshift office in our formal dining room on the main floor.  Our computers were temporarily set up on a 6 foot folding table and we decided we like having the office upstairs so near the main living space.  Three and a half years later we finally have moved our desks into the office and the folding table is back in the garage. 

We got rid of the legal filing cabinet at the garage sales and kept the standard-size.  Here is what the office looked like after we moved the desks in.



Right Wall: His & Hers desks and filing cabinet

Opposite Door: Bulletin board and thre boxes of files from legal-size cabinet

Left Wall: Bookshelves in front of the bookshelves, several piles of papers and office supplies

I have been sorting so many papers this week!  That's why there've been so many paper posts.  I am going through all the legal size files and transferring them to standard size, throwing out what I don't need to keep.  I'm nearly done with the files and am getting ready to move on to the stacks.  The stacks have been waiting until the file cabinets were sorted out so I can file as necessary.  I'm really looking forward to getting the office supplies organized, too.  I am weirdly in love with office supplies. 

It'll likely be another week of office posts before I shift my attention back to the basement.  After our water problem got sorted out we elected to not "move back in" and instead started a very slow renovation.  My brother is coming to work on the remodel a little more in a couple of weeks and I have to get more junk out of the basement before then.  He's going to demo the "ebay closet" under the stairs and cut some concrete which will make a ton of dust.  I want to get as much out as I can so I don't have to clean up the dust later.

Katie