Moving At Sixty: 030 PLETHORA OF PACKAGING

The one thing that has become abundantly clear during this move is the overabundance of packaging material. Not so much from the actual movers, although there is a lot of boxes, but the new stuff. Almost every new item I have added is packed in a cardboard box and inside the items have been wrapped in plastic, encased in Styrofoam and wrapped in more cardboard. It has taken one trip to the recycling depot with a pickup truck full of stuff and it’s going to take at least a couple of more. Thankfully the moving company will come and get their boxes back.

Along those lines the recycling depot in Maple Ridge is amazing in that they take virtually everything. They even take Styrofoam. It’s kind of a fun adventure to arrive there with a truck full of junk and then sort it out, find the proper bin and dump it in. My garage is almost half full of cardboard, plastic, and Styrofoam destined for there. Not to mention the old junk that made its way here with the movers and I’m now taking the chance to declutter a bit.

The furniture people from The Brick have been great. They bring in the furniture, unwrap it, set it up and then take away all of the packaging material. They are probably required to by law or something, but it’s still nice to not have to worry about it myself.

Some people wonder why I have gotten this new stuff. It’s because I have to. After 20 years of living in the tiny basement suite, I pretty much had nothing related to household stuff. I had no furniture other than a hide-a-bed that my son took. It was a nice hide-a-bed but the faux leather covering was chipping off after only 3 years (thanks Sears). Also I have slept on 3 different hide-a-beds over the years and so it was time for a real bed.

As for the couch, again, I didn’t have one as there was no room in my old place. I indulged myself with a recliner because I have always wanted one and the huge TV to relax in front of. Plus, I can now watch the hockey game downstairs and Renee can watch her programs upstairs.

NEW TOASTER

In the kitchen, I think over the years I prepared some pretty darn good meals with just a hot plate, electric wok and a BBQ, but I missed having an oven to bake things and cooking with gas is awesome. All of my few kitchen utensils and pots were hand me downs and if I am going to explore my “chefly” abilities, I needed the proper tools to do the job. Yes, in answer to some people’s comments, I could have gone upstairs and used Dad’s stove, but it’s a hassle running up and downstairs all the time checking on things.

"...AND IN THE MORNING WE'RE GONNA MAKE
WAFFLES." -Donkey from Shrek

I even got myself a waffle iron and I don’t like waffles. Renee does though and maybe it will be an enticement for my kids to visit more. Granted in the old place it was difficult to visit except in good weather months as they had no place to sit. When they were little it didn’t matter as we all sat on the floor picnic style. Now that they are grown up it’s a little more difficult. Karl gave me a great, so they say, recipe for waffles that I’m going to try out. He got it from his Mom.

MIXER FOR MAKING COOKIES

I plan on doing some baking as well. My World Famous Peanut Butter Cookies from a modified recipe of my Mom’s. Cinnamon Buns, just because I can. There will be a variety of other tasty treats and meals that I just didn’t have the option to do before. I’m actually a pretty good cook if I do say so myself, but I haven’t been able to practice it for a while. The only stumbling block here, is that I have to learn the nuances of the new stove and oven. Hopefully I won’t have any failures.