027 LIVING THE DREAM

It’s funny how you see all of these memes and videos about the unusual people of Wal-Mart.  I believe they are called Wal-Martians.  I bring this up because lately Renee and I have gone to Wal-Mart quite a bit.  Three times in one week in fact.  I never saw one of the supposed Wal-Martians anywhere, but then maybe they were us.  I can say one thing though, when setting up a new household, it’s a great place to get those little knick-knacks and things at a reasonable price.  Things like towels, bathroom mats, jeans, cutlery etc.

We have also been shopping Staples and The Brick.  I got a really nice glass topped computer desk for $299.  You can’t beat that.  Now granted, like Ikea I spent most of yesterday setting it up.  The accompanying bookcase got commandeered to hold the bedroom TV and control boxes.  This freed up my former TV stand made out of pieces of 2x12, for Renee to turn into a set of stairs so Toby can jump up and cuddle on the bed.

DESK IS SET UP, STILL NEEDS PRINTER

The dining room table for our chairs arrives tomorrow, which means I have to make a real push today to empty or at least move the last eight boxes in the dining room.  I managed to get half of the island counter cleared yesterday and all of the dishes run through the dishwasher, but not necessarily put away as yet.

I was amazed when I bought this place, at all of the counter space, drawers and cupboards and wondered what I could possibly put in them all.  It seems, that isn’t a problem as they are rapidly filling up with stuff.  If I heard Renee say it once, I heard it a hundred times that I need to de-clutter and she is right.  I am doing it, but I have my own method for going about it.  We all have things that have a sentimental value and I have to look at an item and decide about its practicality over the sentimentality.

I have done pretty darn good I think.  Over the course of this move, I had 1-800-GOT-JUNK over twice and removed two small dump truck loads of stuff.  While loading the moving trucks there was plenty more things that went into the recycling bin or garbage can.  There was even more stuff that got left behind.  The near new lawn mower went to my neighbour Yoko and the leaf blower to the neighbour across the lane.  My old surround-sound stereo system with the 16 inch woofers went to my daughter as did the old family table and chairs.

Now as I am unpacking boxes, I have made decisions on all sorts of other things that have either been taken to the recycling depot or are destined for there.  The Maple Ridge Recycling depot is amazing.  They take everything including Styrofoam (and we had lots of that), cardboard (also lots) but they also take things like small appliances, batteries, cleaning products, pesticides, paint and so on.  It was actually kind of fun to unload the truck and take each item to the correct bin.

FIRST RECYCLING DAY

So yes, it still looks like a lot of junk around, but it is improving, slowly but surely.  Now that doesn’t count the hundred or so boxes still in the garage.  Just most of the boxes in the living area are gone, and so are some of the contents.  I have documents galore that need to be sorted through and either filed away (I’m getting a proper filing cabinet) or need to be shredded, like I did with all the leftover documents from my parents and grandparents.  It’s a daunting task, but it will be one document at a time.

Caitlin and Trevor are coming over this afternoon to see the new place for the first time and with the added bonus of actually having a place for people to come and visit and have a place to sit while doing so.  I also get my hair cut as an added bonus.  Karl got to see it when it was a total shambles, two days after moving in and pouring rain.  Caitlin will see it mostly cleaned up but still a way to go.

Speaking of cleaning, my Roomba robot vacuums arrive on Monday and the place is almost to the point where I will be able to turn them loose to keep the floors vacuumed, then I don’t have to worry about it.  Renee will be so happy, because I admit it, I’m not the world’s best housekeeper.  Part of that comes from the fact that it’s not fun to do, it’s hard work but it had a lot to do with my previous living arrangements.  That tiny basement was hard to keep clean because of the clutter and the age of the house didn’t help either.  The Roomba’s will make a huge difference.

I think I have been running up my electricity bill in the past week, also I think my water usage will be through the roof as every stitch of clothes and every dish and utensil has been put through their respective washers.  Not only do I have shiny new stuff, but shiny old stuff now as well.