Room of Horrors

Okay, time for a little honesty... does everyone have a room that looks like this after they move? It's the 'second bedroom' but looks more like a room of horrors. It will eventually be a room where I can keep my sewing machine set up, and unpack my 'library' onto bookshelves.

The living room, bedroom and kitchen are all organized and sorted out (mostly - except for trying to figure out huge lazyboy sofas in a not so enormous room).

Today is D-Day though. Dan is working on a patio with his brother, and i've got the day to sort out the nightmare room... we shall see how it goes. Meanwhile, i'm...erm... spending a little time blogging. No, don't call it procrastinating!

Please, tell me i'm not alone in this!

Throwing Sofas

They don't make sofas like they used to. Seriously!

In the final stages of 'The Big Move' two weeks ago, the guys thought that they'd throw my circa 1960 sofa off the balcony - third floor balcony. I was getting rid of the sofa anyhow (it's remarkable - you can leave old furniture on the curb here!) and the guys deserved a break / some fun (it was 32 degrees C and horribly humid) so, out went the sofa. The sofa wouldn't die! They couldn't get the legs off of it, and it looked no different after hurling down three storeys than it did in my living room. Solid as a rock. And hey, I paid $10 for it three years ago!

Ahh... i'm sure that no one will be using my new sofas in 47 years... they just don't make sofas like they used to.

Now, my new sofas... hopefully they'll last at least 10 years. They cost a little more than $10, but they're great.

Too Much Stuff

So, i'm moving.

Packing all your belongings into boxes reveals things. Like - I probably have 70 pairs of shoes. Now, if you read my previous post, you KNOW I got a good deal on every pair!

However, yesterday was the day of reckoning for my kitchen. It's a little kitchen, so common sense would say it wouldn't take very long to pack up. I'm one person, right? (ha, ha, ha)

My friends Julie & Melanie helped me pack up the kitchen for 3 hours yesterday - and we're not quite finished. I am most definitely thanking God for these ladies - not just because I needed the help (I did!) and not just because working with them was a lot more fun than doing it by myself (it was!) but because they were good at being ruthless. We found a box of cereal that expired in 2006. Julie found an enormous amount of salt (& salt shakers). Melanie told me I had too many glasses. We found a 2 1/2 year old jar of pickled beets that scared Julie. We purged. There was even a dead spider in my cupboard. It was like "Clean Sweep: Herbert St. edition".

4 boxes & 2 bags of stuff are now in my car to take the thrift store. This is added to an already full trunk of stuff to go!

Dan, clever man that he is, kept his mouth shut and a broad grin on his face. He loved it. I think that he might give these girls an award. Melanie reminded him that "she's all yours".

It begs a spiritual question: I wonder what junk i'm holding onto that, if revealed, my honest and loving friends would tell me to dump? What stuff i'm hanging onto that is totally useless? Do I need a spiritual 'clean sweep'?

Hmm... just some thoughts.

(Postscript: The justice? We went to some garage sales yesterday where I picked up a few treasures - a filing cabinet for $2 - and it was something I actually needed!)

Dentist Bad - Coupons Good

Although today i'm suffering from the after effects of a painful dentist appointment (and somewhat like a bear with a toothache, I have to say - not my best attitude, i'll admit it) I was cheered up by some good new coupons on one of my favorite new websites - smartcanucks.ca

I love a good deal. A great item at an incredible price makes my heart pound faster and makes my blood pressure rise. And, although i'm being teased about 'becoming a good Mennonite woman', friends who are similarly thrifty are coming out of the woodwork - and my coupons are being shared and appreciated by more and more people. Aha! Saving money is infectious - and addictive, I have to say.

Right now i've found my favorites at smartcanucks.ca, healthyshopper.ca and save.ca . Now I have to stay home long enough to shop!

Oh, and i'm finding great bargains for my forthcoming move (if you hadn't heard - i'll be moving at the end of May - hallelujah!). Since Dan is at motorcycle training all weekend, i'm hoping to rope a girlfriend or two into some yard sales on the weekend, and even found a piece of furniture on the roadside last night. It amazes me how in Waterloo you can leave something you don't want anymore on the roadside, and by morning someone has picked it up! I still kind of feel like a thief throwing things in the back of my truck (we didn't do this in BC or Georgia!) but now I have a furniture refinishing project for this weekend. Like I needed something else to do with having to get all my packing done in the next two weeks!