i'll give you away if you aren't careful....

i'm good at giving clothes away. i don't mind giving them away. sometimes i buy them because i think i'll like them and it turns out i dont. sometimes i give them away because they don't fit, and i can't return them because 1. too much time has passed while i decide if it fits and/or i like it, and 2. because it was a final sale/no-return item. lots of people have profited from this. from my inability to control my online shopping. americus's husbands, little-sister is the most fortunate, and has been given at least three pairs of very nice denim, treasures from banana republic, jcrew, calvin klein, and even a few things picked up at neiman marcus. others have been given great things too, friends, co-workers, sisters, salvation army, churches... i even like to give away food. (which is what i did right before eating out of the pantry, emptying it of cans of beans, corn, anchovies (YUCK YUCK YUCK), and like fifteen different salad dressings and jellies/jams.)

(note to self: only buy it if fits, and if its black, white, or grey. everything else, KEEP MOVING.)

well people.

i've recently become a member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase chapter of Freecyle and i am obsessed. and it feels soooooo good. Yesterday, my second day as a member, I gave away a TIVO. A working tivo, with all its parts. It went so fast. 15 people wanted my tivo. I gave it to the guy who emailed me first. I figured that was fair. I also posted two coffee grinders. BROKEN coffee grinders. Neither of which work at all. 10 minutes after, a guy says, i'll take them. and he did. Later that afternoon. And, I gave away a bag of clothes. Things that don't fit, etc... and I'm ashamed to say that I didn't give them to the first person who emailed me. Why you ask? Because this was the first email:

"Want these." and I go, "Want subject?" how about, "I want these."

"Can take." you mean, "I can take." and then you really mean, "I can take them home."

i'm judging these people's emails, their pleas for my free things. I gave them to a nice lady who said, "Thank you so much for offering these. I can really use them, and will be able to pick them up any time this afternoon. Thanks, C." and not " I am a single mom, and I really could use these clothes for my new state job." That way plays a little on my heart strings, and makes me feel like its a little desperate.

Today I gave away 15 gallons of paint. Not full, not empty. In various colors. and some stain. Same guy who took my two broken coffee grinders. What a small world.

Also, I gave away two 5-gallon buckets of joint compound. He wanted the paint too, but I'd already given it away. Poor guy.

In other news, I ran 5 miles and had creamy brown sugar polenta for breakfast, and I feel good.

i can't wait to see what i find to give away tomorrow.

i'll try to keep the house.