Day 180 - Clock Picture Frame (Graduation Give)

This was one of those gifts the groom gives to the guys who are directly involved in the wedding as groomsmen or ushers or whatnot.  I won't say who gave it to me because he might be reading this!  (I appreciated it, but now it's time to regift.)  It's a nice little clock with a space for a picture beside it. 

I'm going to start making a pile of Gives that would be appropriate for graduation gifts, because I might be needing some this year.  And this would be perfect for that purpose, so it can be the first into the pile.

Day 179 - Walnut-Shaped Nutcracker (Give)

See ... it's a large, silver walnut ...

Not much to say about this. 

It is what it is.

I think I'll take it to school and give it to the first person who asks about it.





And a nutcracker!!



Day 178 - Stained Glass Wabash Sign (Throw)

My parents gave this stained glass creation to me many years ago.  Wabash is the college from which I graduated ... way back in 1990!  I'm sure they paid good money for it.

Unfortunately, I had it hanging in my classroom and last summer, while all the various construction projects were going on all over the school, it got broken somehow.

I came in one day to find it smashed and thrown on top of a filing cabinet.  No note.  No explanation.  No "Sorry about that". 

That sort of behavior irritates me.

So it's been stashed away in my classroom for nearly a year now and I had in mind that "someday" I would try to repair it. 

It wasn't a complete pipe dream.  I actually do have the means to repair stained glass, but it's a difficult process and it never looks "good as new".

I can't really hold onto it anyway, but it would have been nice to pass it along to one of my Wabash friends instead of throwing it out...

Day 177 - Tamarind Nectar (Throw)

I don't even know what a "tamarind" is exactly, so I'm not sure why I have its nectar, except that it was apparently a cheap souvenir from my mission trip to Mexico years ago.  I poured the contents of the can down the sink and it looked disgusting - all brown and chunky.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to enjoy tamarind nectar now!

Day 176 - Oil Painting Book (Give)

Real quick as I try to catch up:

I walked past the artroom at school a few days ago and saw one of my students creating a beautiful picture with oil paints.  I knew she was an artist, but I'd never seen any of her oil painting talent.  I found this book on oil painting landscapes, and thought she'd maybe get some use out of it.

Day 175 - LeMars Bulldog Pom Pom (Throw)

This is one of those things I dig up and throw away late at night before my 4 year old gets a chance to see it and latch onto it.  If I'm not careful, it will become one more item on top of the junk pile of toys which is her room.  We avoided spreading Easter grass everywhere this year, so why risk finding strands of this pom pom strewn about for the next two months.  It goes into the trash can at 11:30 PM so it doesn't get sidetracked on its way to the dump.

P.S. It's late Friday night (May 13, 2011) as I post this.  I'm several days behind in writing my blog posts, but I have continued my giving and throwing.  It was a crazy week and it was all I could do to keep my head above water.  But tomorrow morning there is NOTHING on the schedule - so we get to sleep in!  Yahoo!

Day 173 and Day 174 - Hats and Shirts (Give - to the Ginormous Clothing Drive)

I must confess that I was none too happy when Melissa informed me that she had signed our family up to help sort clothes during the "Ginormous Clothing Drive" that our church sponsored last Saturday.  The only upside I saw was the opportunity to get rid of some more clothing out of our closet.  Mainly I was irritated about the time commitment:  8:30 to noon.  We already had Dats' soccer game at 9:30 and I didn't want to "kill the rest of the morning".  Ha!  Shows you how mission minded I am!

Most of our small group families also showed up and, from what I understood, my older brother's small group was the one that got the ball rolling on this project and then organized it.

And it was quite the production, too!  Bags and bags of clothes had to first be sorted:  first, the unworthy clothes got tossed out, then the remaining clothes got sorted between Kosovo-bound and Honduras-bound trucks. 

Here are some pics from the day:



View of Dats from inside the truck.





Soccer break!  Unfortunately, Dats' team lost 4 - 0.





My niece Lauren ... looking a bit confused about
where to send a scarf.




The Princess takes a doughnut break.




My other niece, Kiersten, (aka "The Skunk") shows some shoes that were deemed fit for neither Kosovo nor Honduras.




My brother, Spencer, acting as jungle gym for Ida and loving every minute of it.




My sister-in-law, Kristine, a bit unsure about some of the clothing.



Keri seems to truly be having a good time. 
Or is she faking it? Hard to tell...



Melissa was somewhat upset that I didn't have any good photos of her to post on Facebook when I had everyone else.  Maybe it's because I didn't want to use my flash, so in order to get a good photo, my subject had to hold still for a few seconds - and Melissa was in constant motion. 




"Hot Pickle/Jelly Bean" looks thrilled to help out!



The truck with the shipping container in front of the church.