the tea kettle

the amount of furnishings i have as a 24 year old is pretty frightening to me. truth be told, i'm actually considered a small move for a one-bedroom apt (esp since mine is one bedroom plus loft), but to see everything piled up in my living room is astonishing.

anyhoot, in the mountains of stuff i own, i've come across a few weird dupes of things. two ironing boards, liquid measuring cups (of the same size), three cheese graters (thanks mom), and two tea kettles. go figure. when i moved here, of course, i did a mini-shopping trip around my parents' place for various items (way better than crate & barrel), so a good portion of my stuff is in fantastic condition, but has some history. one of those items is a general electric electric tea kettle that seems to have been manufactured about the same time as electricity. if that's too much of a hyperbole for you, the truth is i'm pretty sure this tea kettle was made before i was. it's a great tea kettle. works beautifully, boils a full pot of water in about 3 minutes time, and still has that delightful charming shine to it. but i don't need it. i got a 'real' stove top tea kettle a few months ago (which i prefer as it has the whistle), so into a back cabinet my old tea kettle went.

so now i clean out my apt, minimizing as much as possible, and i'm getting rid of the unnecessary dupes. yes, that means mr. old electric tea kettle goes too. so this morning i'm taking the trash out to the dumpster and i have garbage bags in my left, my tea kettle in my right, and some feeling of being the worst human being on the planet comes over me as i near the dumpster. i didn't have the heart to put my tea kettle in the dumpster itself, so i simply placed him in the little pile that forms every week of things that are still good for use but somehow unwanted. he sat right next to a rainsoaked scanner (which i considered taking for parts) and on top of a lovely old green air mattress. free to a good home who will treat him with the love he deserves.





...or at least that's where he was. two trips to the dumpster later, and i find myself picking my tea kettle back up and taking him home, apologizing the whole way for even considering such an option. i can live with two tea kettles. one for functionality and one for sentimentality.

sometimes i perplex even myself.