The 600: Items 41 through 64!

Huge haul today!
I sold another book on Half.com: The Eleventh Plague! I neglected to take a photo of the book before I wrapped it up for shipment; so here is the one from Amazon.com.

Also, we dropped off our door prizes for the car show in April. Included in the door prizes were 4 sets of car placemats (each set has 4 placemats, so that is 16 items!), a helicopter kite, a table runner, a small quilt, a candle, a laser level, a 3-d wooden puzzle, and a poster set to color.









Only 536 more items to go!

600 Items (# 38, 39 and 40)

Today, I made a long awaited sale on Half.com. A DVD of Sommersby has now found a new home! (all say YAY!). Item number 38:
As I was searching for packaging material, I realized that I use new envelopes that were sent to me years ago by Terracycle. For a while, Terracycle had a glitch in their system. This glitch resulted in them mailing me a package of 4 recycling envelopes every week! Since I did not have a shipment to send out every week, let alone 4, I have quite a stash.

So, since these envelopes are all brand new, never used, does the envelope also count as an item purged?? I am holding off on that decision right now.







Items number 39 and 40 are the bike that I gave to Whitney and the bike chain that I will give her tomorrow.

I also identified several more items for the yard sale, which is scheduled for April 21st.

Parakeets!!

Several months ago, I was given two parakeets. I loved the idea of having birds so much that for Christmas, we purchased a larger aviary and added to our flock.

There are now 6 parakeets residing in our aviary! Here are three of them just hanging out:

From left to right you can see Blackie, Lute and Mellow.

In the photo below, you can see Yellow, Bird and Captain Bluebeak. Bird and Captain just lost their pinfeathers and you can see that Bird's head feathers are still white, while Captain's are turning yellow.

They are all an interesting blend of colors, which is one of the aspects that I love about them!

They can be noisy--chattering and yelling at each other, but I have found that playing classical music helps to keep them calmer.



Today, I introduced some turkey into their diet--the second photo above shows the white dish with this treat on it. They are on their second helping. Next will be fruits and veggies (but I have to go grocery shopping first!)

600 Items, week 2

Not much to dispose of this week, I dug around and located 12 t-shirts that need to find new homes. That brings the total removed to 37. Only 563 more to go!

I did clean up the garage a bit and found a few more items to put in the yard sale boxes. I am not actually counting items delegated to the yard sale piles until they are actually sold or donated somewhere at the end of the sale. That will be a photo opportunity!

The two items I listed on Ebay are still unwanted...the auctions end tonight. I will most likely relist them.

600 Items

We are adding an addition onto the house. This is a shot of the outside. This is where the new wing will be built. The window to the right is the bathroom window. Just beyond that is the window to the guest room.



Once built, the new wing will have a kitchen, living room and bedroom. The existing bathroom will be enlarged for her use as well.



My mother-in-law will be residing in the guest room until the new wing is built.





Yesterday, Vince informed me that the addition will add 600 square feet to the house. I said we should get rid of 600 items, one for each square foot.


He laughed.

I am going to track what we accomplish.

The basic rules:
1. Items purchased will count against this 600. So we should avoid buying anything else!
2. Trash and recycling do not count.
3. Consumables do not count.


I have started an excel spreadsheet to track and count what is removed. I will also attempt to document through words and photos how this experiment evolves!

Yesterday, I did sell two purses at the Expo, so that is a start. I just posted two items on Ebay last night and I have several items listed on Craigslist as well. I also have a load of boxes in the garage for the March/April yard sale, so I will be counting those items then!

Hopefully, I can motivate my spouse to go through his stash of boxes in the guestroom closet and in the garage!!!

Sunday UPDATE: Huge thank you to Jennifer for taking 22 children's books from my library for use in her classroom! She is also the proud owner of a new tote bag!
Now the total is up to 25 items!

Seussitis!

What I did today!

In the library this morning, I picked up a biography of Dr. Seuss. This (of course) started me thinking about reading lessons.
I just finished posting my newest DonorsChoose project for books written by Dr. Seuss! Since a number of his books are more than just silly story books, I realized that I could use them to expand my reading lessons into other areas. It is awaiting approval from the DonorsChoose elves. (They are finished with Christmas, so the elves work their normal year round job at DonorsChoose!)

Also today, I finished my lesson plans for Foreign terms and began my lessons on propaganda devices.

I managed to get out to the bank and the salon (to have my hair trimmed). I also ate lunch at my favorite local restaurant!

Otherwise it has been a quiet day here in the Carrabba household.

What did you do today?

Today, I finished my Poetry lesson plans for next week. It is a short school week, so we will not read a story in Reading class. Thus, I can do something fun with another reading skill. Next week, we are reading a variety of poems. We will learn about poetic elements, different types of poems and will spend time reading and analyzing them. It will also serve as a review of other types of figurative language that we have already covered.

Today, I finished my English lesson plans for next week. I really do not like the English textbook much and in the second half of this year, I plan to focus more on how to use the language. So, next week, we will be learning how to write an outline and conduct research. The students will have two assignments given. The first is their career speech for the 4-H public speaking contest in January. Since it fits with the standards Tennessee says the students must accomplish, it is always an assigned project. The students will also have a chance to choose a different research topic from the various Time for Kids news magazines we have in class.

Today, I created two study guides for Reading stories we will cover in January.

Today, I finished the laundry for the week.

Today, I washed the guest room linens and cleaned the guest room. I also gave Vince instructions NOT to clutter that room again.

Today, I made a batch of dishwasher detergent. I found a container of Citric Acid in the pantry and remembered that I purchased that so that I could make my own detergent, then forgot to complete that task. So, I found this recipe at DIY Natural and decided to give it a try. My first load is washing now. More information to follow.

Today, I finished marking the small pieces of Rob and Izzy's wedding quilt.

Today, I vacuumed the house (again!)

Today, I finished reading a book: At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks.

It never ceases to amaze me what I accomplish when I sit and make a list. When I think about it I always feel like I did not accomplish much, when actually I do.

What did you do today?