Bye-Bye Boxes

We spent as much of the day as i could stand boxing and bagging stuff for donation yesterday.

It is all outside, waiting for the truck that will make a run through the neighborhood today.

The cats are confused, as their hiding places and the boxes they used to play in and around are disappearing.

Closets are getting nicely emptied of clothes no one wears any more.

Thirty-four boxes of stuff, including lots and lots of books. Yes, i of the 5,000 + volume library am actually getting rid of books.

Seven bags, clothes and outgrown toys.

Two other boxes are going specifically to the hospital children's ward -- a whole set of nice nature books about animals (a Disney publication), and every children's movie on DVD that my kids have outgrown and that still play perfectly.

Two computer monitors that are not in current use will be taken to the recycling center. They work just fine, and the center puts together computers from what is donated and gives them to underprivileged families.

Yes, we could even get rid of more.

Why not a garage sale? Some might ask, and i will say, been there, done that, didn't make a penny worth making. The whole thing is a break even proposition around here because people come to a garage sale to get extreme bargains. I've had people argue over paying fifty cents for a brand new item with a tag on it marked $15. Not worth the time and trouble.

So, donate. Keep track, write off on taxes.


Today is:

Bairns Day -- Scotland

Begins the runic half-month of Eoh, the yew tree, which signifies the dead, so today is considered by some the unluckiest day of the year, and no work should be undertaken today.

Call a Friend Day

Childermas a/k/a Holy Innocents Day, various Christian traditions, called Inocentes in Mexico, and sometimes celebrated as Mexican December Fool's Day (Herod fooled himself into thinking he had gotten rid of his rival king born in Bethlehem.)

Dyzemas Day a/k/a Tithe Day -- Portugal

Eat Vegetarian Day

Fairy Academy of Window-Frosting Winter Exhibition -- Fairy Calendar

Flour Fight -- Ibi, Valencia, Spain

Fourth Day of Christmas

King Taksin Memorial Day -- Thailand

Kwanzaa, Day 3, Collective Work and Responsibility

National Chocolate Day

Proclamation Day -- South Australia

Return a Gift for the Cold Hard Cash Day

Unluckiest Day of the Year, various traditions state no work should be started today, for whatever is started today will never be finished!


Anniversaries Today:

Iowa becomes the 29th US State, 1846


Birthdays Today:

Denzel Washington, 1954
Edgar Winter, 1946
Don Francisco, 1940
Maggie Smith, 1934
Nichelle Nichols, 1933
Martin Milner, 1931
Johnny Otis, 1921
Sam Levenson, 1911
Lew Ayres, 1908
Cliff Arquette, 1905
Earl "Fatha" Hines, 1905
Hendrik Meijer, 1883
Woodrow Wilson, 1856


Today in History:

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, a/k/a Westminster Abbey, is consecrated, 1065
The reign of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins, 1308
Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly cataloged it as a fixed star, 1612
King Taksin is crowned as king of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as a capital, 1768
Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario), 1795
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Echigo, Japan, killing 30,000+, 1828
John Calhoun becomes the first US Vice President to resign (over differences with President Andrew Jackson), 1832
Spain recognizes independence of Mexico, 1836
South Australia and Adelaide are founded, 1836
Rangoon Burma, destroyed by fire, 1841
The United States claims Midway Island, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits, 1867
The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema, 1895
The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California, 1912
The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park, 1950