I had joined two overlapping Freecycle groups, but was inundated with email even by getting it as a digest. I might resubscribe to one for a while as I clear out some stuff.

A bit of a rant: It's amazing to read those requests from people--laundry lists of things they want, no holds barred, no matter that they're asking for big expensive things. I don't know how many people actually GET the big ticket items they request there. Maybe it is just Texas. I'm not complaining about the whole thing--there are a lot of very caring and generous people participating. But reading it for many weeks reinforces my belief that Americans have such an inflated sense of entitlement--and at the same time, such a skewed sense of the value and durability of things that so much is thrown out or given away with little thought. Just go buy more. For all of the big ticket items requested, there is likely to be someone just profligate enough to be throwing one out. I'm sure Freecycle solves a lot of problems, but it really is an eye-opener to the state of things in America. During this process I'm looking at myself also, and once again amazed at the amount of junk we generate as a culture.

My daughter is going to take the extra microwave oven, so it won't go to Goodwill. She said that the one at their house she doesn't care for--it has a dial, not a keypad, so times are not precise. I told her that if she takes this up there they should consider getting rid of the other one so they don't have the same problem I did here. Too much stuff.

SRS