Bless This Mess

Sorry, folks. Bear and I did not mean to be away for so long, but life happened and we were waiting on a very important piece of mail that hindered a lot of our efforts at working on the Home. What piece of paper could possibly prevent us from cleaning up some more and getting our Home into order?

Our security deposit return. It's no new fact that moving costs a lot, and that librarians don't exactly make bank. So, when it comes to a check in the mail totaling a rather large amount that could make or break our efforts, it's a pretty big deal. Well, on Saturday, we finally got the check and it was more than we really could have imagined. I did put a lot of effort into cleaning the old place, but I was pretty sure, based on old experiences and word of mouth about our old Warren company, that we wouldn't be seeing much of our security deposit come back. There was only one charge: the gas charge to shut off our account when we left. So with this minimal deduction, we ran to the bank and deposited the check and made off like bandits to some discount/cheap stores to get what we needed.

Around Big Town, we just got a new store called Home Goods. It's basically Marshall's or TJ Maxx for domestics, which means hit or miss on good deals. It also means you either find really awesome things or a lot of junk depending on their weekly/monthly shipments. You have to shop often, and in the meantime gird yourself in shopper's armor to make sure you don't leave with bags of stuff you really don't need. I do this by containing my search to the clearance shelves. Luckily we found a lot of stuff that we needed and that I felt were essential to getting started on settling things. Bathroom rugs, for instance, and some rug pads to keep the new rug (thanks Mum!) from slipping around on the hardwood floor, and a 3-tier basket thingy for fruits and onions/potatoes/garlic. On the other hand, we were still out a new set of towel racks/toilet rod/etc., curtain rods, bookshelves, etc, because those things were pricey at Home Goods and I wasn't about to pay $15 for a fancy toilet brush (we went to Target and found that a week after the students arrive, EVERYTHING domestic is basically on clearance and got a plastic version for $5).

Besides that, we also invested in mover's coupons offered by USPS, and then signed up on Bed, Bath and Beyond for mover's coupons. So, when the time comes to shop again after Bear has recouped from shopper's exhaustion (it takes about 1 hour of relaxation to every 10 minutes of shopping, and we were shopping for 2 hours), we'll be using those to get things that we missed or some more supplies for our next project: shelving.

Our new Home has one great disadvantage compared to the Warren: closet space. We have one closet, a "mud room" addition that is in bad condition due to poor construction, an attic, and a very dank basement. That leaves us with boxes of books, trinkets, and things that used to just go in boxes in the 4 closets we used to have at the Warren. I have one requirement now that we've got everything moved and lots of big stuff where it needs to be in the house layout, and that is to "get it off the damn floor and somewhere I don't have to walk around it. That's it. If you move perfectly, and everything is set up by the first week in, and you don't have boxes for a few weeks littering the place as you try and get things in order, you are a moving God/Goddess and I bow down to you. You probably also have movers, lots of money to spend on moving, and already mapped out the place and had extra storage space built before you got there. Probably. Otherwise, you are just efficient and I need to talk to you. Now. Because I sure as hell don't move like that and I need some moving therapy to get me straight.

On this rainy holiday weekend, we decided to build some shelves from free plywood we scored at the dump bins from our local furniture factory. They like to put out these bins and fill them with "scrap" that ranges in size from teeny-tiny real wood pieces to large veneered plywood pieces they just can't use, but know the community can use. It is very nice of them, and depending on their scrap levels that day and if people check, it's just like shopping at Home Goods. Either really bad or really good. Luckily, we got a good day in and brought home some walnut, red oak, and maple plywood. More on this after we finish today and I take some pictures to go with it. I really am horrible with picture-taking.

You haven't missed much here. Things have moved between rooms. It's like a very large, domestic version of Jenga...or Tetris. It's still crowded. We are totally working on that. And I suspect that today will be awesome because we'll get some physical work done that will clear up the floor and allow us to move even more stuff around until it finally ends up where its supposed to, or at least where I think it should. So, enjoy the holiday and I'll be back this week with our adventure in woodworking!

Yours,
-R