Unexpected gifts

Recently, I've had a bunch of things come into my life from other people. Mostly these things have come from my mom, but some have also come from a temporary houseguest who was moving away.

When I got all this stuff I'll asmit that I was a bit frustrated, if not a teensy bit annoyed. I've been trying really hard to get rid of clutter and unnecessary stuff, and all of a sudden I had almost half of the stuff I'd gotten rid of on my last big Goodwill run. Now, admittedly there's a lot of stuff in there that I can't or won't use, ranging from old magazines to gravy mix to chemical cleaners. But, once I relaxed a bit, I took a look and found a few things that I'm actually grateful to have now, and that I think can be put to good use.

- a water jug - more cold water stored, plus an increased chance that I'll drink more water

- a wire shopping basket - excellent for the back of my bike, and means that I can take the basket in and pick up just what I can carry

- a tea set - I find drinking tea rather calming and, while this isn't technically necessary, having a tea set is a nice luxury, especially when sharing with other people

- loads of plant pots - not all will be useful, I don't think, but there are some nice big ones that I hope to use for a bigger and better container garden on the patio this summer

- cutting boards - I broke mine recently, and multiples are nice to have for chopping

- board games - mom gave me whatever they had left, and while I orginally wasn't all that excited for them to come and live with me, it now strikes me that some more free, low-energy entertainment is a good thing to have around

- decorative towels - I dislike decorative towels and have enough towels for regular use, but I had a few sewing projects in mind that I needed terrycloth for, and now I have the materials to complete them, which is rather nice

- reusable bags - I might just have enough of these already, but I could gift them to friends or otherwise make use of them

- basic foods - I need to look over things to see whether they're still useful, but spices, flour, sugar, tea, and other bits and pieces have now come my way, and if I can put them to use, I will

I guess it's all in how you look at things. I was ready to pitch everything in one fell swoop just to get it out of here, but giving it a few days to think about and ponder was really useful. Some of it may make its way out the door yet, depending on whether I can fit it in or not, but I appreciate having (and not having to buy) a few more things that will be useful for me and for the life that I'm gradually setting up for myself here. Now, if only someone would send a nice grain mill my way...