give stuff away

Gave away the massive 32 inch television that was in danger of becoming an end table in the library since Hydra invested in the new HDTV in early October.

Hydra even found the place to donate to through a coworker, a thrift store in Palmdale that benefits Valley Oasis, a place that supports battered women and their kids. They didn’t have a lot of good looking stuff in the store like some Salvation Army and Good Will thrift shops I’ve been to.

The guys were all really impressed with the TV and the fact that we brought along a plastic bag with the instruction manual and remote in it. I think the money from this will really help people.

And better yet, now Hydra’s had the experience of giving something big that was essentially his, and he’s all excited about going back tomorrow with the two bikes we have to donate. Good timing before Christmas.

Since everyone at work is worried about money this year as we’ll likely be laid off in January, I called and offered a friend/coworker and offered to bring in some of the nice tea ware I’m ready to let go of and see if she’d like to use it for Christmas gifts. She lives alone and will be trying to help her sister financially this year, and it turns out she’s thrilled at the idea.

She’s going to make lunch for us and I’ll take over some possible gifts and she can choose. Yay!

[I took the box to my office and people took about half of it, which was nice. Can’t believe no one took the Mona Lisa Salt & Pepper set. I just saw it online as a collectible for $32!)

Now the stuff I actually wear won’t be wrinkled from being crammed into my closet.

Also: a purse, two pairs of shoes, a bathroom faucet that didn’t fit, a couple of nice baskets (from flowers received), some dishes, a few baby toys (stuff the parrot rejected—run through the dishwasher first), a small photo album, etc.

All to Goodwill.

I am no longer infatuated with the BookCrossing thing since so few people play along and write anything about the books they’ve found.

I toyed with the idea of selling some on Amazon, but the price you can get is mostly not worth the effort of going to the Post Office. Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier is selling for twenty-nine cents!

I think the library is due for another donation.

There’s a guy in our neighborhood who lives alone with his dog, Oreo. We know him because he spends hours out on the hills following Oreo and we see him when we hike.

This cake was supposed to be four layers, but all four wouldn’t fit in my cake carrier, so I frosted a layer and topped it with the caramel and pecans and took it over to him. I was afraid it would seem weird or like I thought he needed charity, which I don’t.

But it was great! I told him I needed him to do me a favor and take this cake off my hands. He was happy and maybe even a little moved.

And I got to share the cake! Yay! Everybody wins!

And I’m going to continue it, but I want space for some other, holiday related goals.

We are actually trying to figure out how to donate a couple of bikes and a TV in some way that they will actually get to families in need in our area rather than just going to Goodwill. Nothing against Goodwill, but… We’re scanning the local papers for ideas.

to an e-friend who said she was interested in it when I said on my blog that I was done with it. It’s too big.

She just received it!

Put together a box and a half of tapes we can part with. Will try to remember to take them to our next camp out and put them on a table for people to poke through and take.

[EDIT: We got rid of ALL of them! That was great!]

Finally stopped at Goodwill last night and dropped off a big bag of (mostly Hydra’s) clothes that have been in my car for more than a month.

A friend asked if I had an old laptop I’d be willing to sell her. I told her she could have my old Hell—er, Dell. But I wouldn’t sell it to her. I had so many problems with it. It was only two years old and still under warranty when I gave up on it. (After two replaced motherboards, three RAM chips, 8+ hours on the telephone to India for tech support, and even an in-home tech support call!)

As I was deleting old files, I looked at it and the last e-mail was a lament about how I’d lost another chunk of my novel and Hydra said I should just get a new one!

So, she and her husband are still a little stunned, because it looks nice and runs well for hours at a time. But I couldn’t have taken money for it. Just glad not to put it in a toxic dump just yet.