Owl Soup Pellets @owlsouppellets - Tumblr Blog

Goodbye, best boots. I buy vegetarian shoes now so probably won’t see your like again, but I did love you.

This went to the wrong Tumblr, not that it really matters, but let the old boots be remembered just as much as the Mr. Tumnus placemat!

A cheerier parting with a table mat I made on a Brownie camp. I was such a convincing Mr Tumnus that I reprised the role on another camp!

Time to get back to the clear out. I made this keyring in Incheon airport, South Korea, which has an arts and crafts room.

Two skirts that have served their purpose. I didn’t wear skirts at all for about ten years, and these were the ones that changed my mind. On the right, a skirt that my friend Katrina made me when she was on a one-woman mission to persuade me that I had other options than an enormous baggy t-shirt + some trousers. On the left, my first purchase from the Boden catalogue, which encouraged me with its cheery wholesome whimsy to venture forth into the world of A-line knee-length skirts, of which I now have many. (And still many baggy t-shirts too.) Thanks, skirts! Venture forth into the British Heart Foundation shop and try to make some new friends!

C’mon, guys! Easter was at least six months ago, you can’t hide out in here forever!

It was always a good day when I’d notice a new Princess Diaries book in Waterstones - they are smart and funny and I very much identified with Mia Thermopolis with her social awkwardness, difficult hair and excellent but exhausting right-on best friend. I’m keeping the first three books, which have a terrific high school romance story arc, and book four, which merrily takes the piss out of the Princess Diaries film throughout. However, books five to nine are very much diminishing returns with the same plot devices over and over again, and book ten (which ripped up the satisfactory outcome of the series and gave it a completely different one) made me so cross that I never finished it. To the charity shop!

Goodbye, shiny red shoes! You came with me to many weddings and were always very cheering to look at, but you bit chunks out of my feet by the end of every evening!

Now my moving date is possibly getting closer (possibly), it’s time to get rid of my jam collection. I really like the idea of jam, but apparently I never actually get around to eating it. Most of these were made by my dad, except the blackberry and elderberry jam which was from my Livejournal friend Elly. It was made in 2006 and tasted excellent yesterday - more fool me!

My friend Sara left me all her camping gear when she moved to New Zealand, but it proved too bulky for a weedy backpacker like me to use. I offered it to a friend, but then it turned out that people were collecting sleeping bags and camping stoves nearby to take to the refugee camp in Calais, and we agreed that would be a much better place for it. It should be heading there in a lorry this week!

On the other hand, this wood carving (possibly a present from a great-aunt?) is the stuff of my own specific nightmares, and I am expecting it to show up back in my flat in the middle of the night, shouting my name.

For the most part, I haven’t regretted anything I’ve thrown out yet (except the kazoos! Oh well!), but I’m not sure I made the right call in getting rid of this mouse purse from my childhood. It’s a little scuffed around the eyes, but also rather chic.

The sturdiest shakers and whistles from my toy instrument collection have already gone to the playground I work at, where they were received with loud enthusiasm. Some which didn’t make the grade: a junior school recorder with toothmarks in the mouthpiece, a silly wire-stringed guitar from a Belgian flea market, and a sample selection of my many kazoos.

Part of my old badge collection. Look, the Blue Peter badge turned up and it’s quite shoddy and off-centre!

Toys that aren’t going to make it to the charity shop. Sorry, guys, but you really aren’t in good nick despite your winsome looks. That otter’s on his second pair of eyes already!

K. and I sorted through my old stamp collection to send it off to the RNIB: http://www.rnib.org.uk/donations-and-fundraising-fundraising-your-community-recycle-us/used-stamps-appeal

This seemed a good idea until I read the website properly and noticed that they got roughly £10 for 1kg of stamps. I think I’ve made them about 50p here.

Still, it was nice to gather up the stamps in a pile, like we were collecting for a Blue Peter appeal. I don’t really remember anything about collecting stamps; I presume my mum just bought me a bag of them and I stuck them on the right pages. There were a lot of birds, flowers and bridges - I liked the German chaffinches glaring disapprovingly at the showboating nuthatch. And somehow cheering to see Czechoslovakia taking pride in a roundabout.

Old place mats from Brownie camp. I quite liked being called Mr. Tumnus for a week.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Owl Soup Pellets