Finally! I'm online again!
Since my expected arrival in our new home was Sunday, my Dh made arrangements to have internet access ready for me on Monday. Only problem was - the modem didn't arrive. After making a few phone calls, he learned it got sent to his old address at the bachelor's apartment rather than the new apartment. When it still didn't show up, the IP arranged to send another one. Meanwhile, I got a call from the landlord's office today. They had the package that was sent to the wrong address. I wonder how long it's been sitting around before they got it? No matter.
At the moment, though, we still have no furniture, which means typing is incredibly uncomfortable right now, so I won't be making this a long post. I'll update on the trip out another time. For now, I just wanted to touch base.
Until next time, then...
Friday, September 23, 2005
Friday, September 16, 2005
one last post before we leave...
My phone is being disconnected sometime this afternoon, so I figured I'd make a quick post while I've got the chance! *L* Still, I shouldn't be gone long. Dh has arranged to have an internet connection set up on Monday, and we should arrive Sunday night. Sweet. :-D
This have been... exhasperating, frustrating, downright depressing... Ugh! The boxes I had sent came out to a mere 500 pounds - 1/2 of what I'd intended to send originally. Having moved those boxes and bins back and forth a few times, as well as the ones left behind, I figure I've easily got about 600 - 700 pounds waiting for a future date. And I'm still not done. It seems the more I get packed and sorted, the more I find! And I just don't know what to do with some of it. There are items that I want to bring along, but are oddly shaped and just won't fit in any of the boxes I've got left - at least nothing that I want to keep down to a decent weight! Then there's all the stuff I'm leaving that I still need to move out and put away, just so that I can clean the shelves they're in. It just feels so endless. I've made progress and there's really not much left to do, but it just *looks* like so much.
Well, ready or not, we're gone tomorrow. I hate to leave so much behind - it's just work for my parents - but I can't see myself getting it all done in time. Unfortunately, the kids are more hinderance than help. Getting them to help at all is hard enough, but I'm spending so much time explaining what they need to do (do I *really* need to tell them that they have to empty the drain tray before they can wash more dishes? Apparently so...), that I'm loosing time rather than gaining by having them "help." I can't really hold it against them, either. They're just as stressed by all this as I am.
Still, it's slowly getting done, and that's what's important.
Oh - gotta make some phone calls while I've still got a phone line, too. We're meeting family for brunch in the city on our way out, and we still haven't arranged where, yet!
So, the next time I post here, it'll be from out new home. Until then, take care!
This have been... exhasperating, frustrating, downright depressing... Ugh! The boxes I had sent came out to a mere 500 pounds - 1/2 of what I'd intended to send originally. Having moved those boxes and bins back and forth a few times, as well as the ones left behind, I figure I've easily got about 600 - 700 pounds waiting for a future date. And I'm still not done. It seems the more I get packed and sorted, the more I find! And I just don't know what to do with some of it. There are items that I want to bring along, but are oddly shaped and just won't fit in any of the boxes I've got left - at least nothing that I want to keep down to a decent weight! Then there's all the stuff I'm leaving that I still need to move out and put away, just so that I can clean the shelves they're in. It just feels so endless. I've made progress and there's really not much left to do, but it just *looks* like so much.
Well, ready or not, we're gone tomorrow. I hate to leave so much behind - it's just work for my parents - but I can't see myself getting it all done in time. Unfortunately, the kids are more hinderance than help. Getting them to help at all is hard enough, but I'm spending so much time explaining what they need to do (do I *really* need to tell them that they have to empty the drain tray before they can wash more dishes? Apparently so...), that I'm loosing time rather than gaining by having them "help." I can't really hold it against them, either. They're just as stressed by all this as I am.
Still, it's slowly getting done, and that's what's important.
Oh - gotta make some phone calls while I've still got a phone line, too. We're meeting family for brunch in the city on our way out, and we still haven't arranged where, yet!
So, the next time I post here, it'll be from out new home. Until then, take care!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Down to the wire...
Well, this is it. Approximately 12 hours from the time I'm typing this, a truck will arrive to pick up our boxes. I'm still packing (at least I will be, having just stopped for a few hours nap), but there is now a most definite light at the end of the tunnel. I just had to move a few boxes to see it.
The pile of stuff being left behind is definitely growing. Some thing are temporary - I have a sewing machine that I definitely don't want to get rid up, but just don't want to pack and ship. There's a growing pile of clothes for freecycling. I never did sell off the bulk of my furniture. I hope my parents will be able to enjoy at least some of it. I am constantly catching myself finding one more thing still on a wall, still in a shelf, hiding in a corner. Amazingly, I'm still finding piles of books to pack. I knew we had a lot of books, but I hadn't realized just how spread out they all were.
And then there are the last few things that won't be packed, but will go with us in the car. The computer. The bundle of boken, shinai and jo staffs. The sword. The badminton rackets. The golf clubs (my husband will have to share his caddy with his daughter, as there's no way I can fit two in there. We've got a big trunk, but not *that* big! *L*) Then there's the 3 bikes to go on a rack on the back - one of the very last things to be set up.
It's with relief that we were finally able to adopt out our rescued kitty to a sweet older couple from the city who's current cat is 15 yrs old and may not be in this world much longer.
My biggest concern right now is weight. My budget allows for 1000 pounds, and I don't have a scale. My little bathroom scale can barely handle me or the kids, never mind boxes and storage bins of the sizes we have. I'm hoping one of my brothers can come by with a truck and the old meat scale my parents have - that thing itself weighs about 200-300 pounds. It's on wheels and I was able to get it to the door of where it's stored (in the spare house in my parents' yard... gotta love country living. *L*) but we still need a truck, something to use for a ramp (we are NOT lugging that thing down stairs, then lifting it back up into a truck!) so we can wheel it directly into the truck, then directly into our house. Once I have that, I can weigh my boxes and if I do go over 1000 pounds, I'll have to decided which ones to leave behind. Ironically, it's the smallest boxes that concern me. Those, of course, are the ones with the heaviest items. Books. My FIL thought I was nuts when I told him we had two encyclopedia sets (that's not even counting the specialized sets). Don't we have the internet? He asks. Well, yes, but sometimes things are still easier and faster to look up in a book. Still, it looks like we might not have quite as many boxes as I thought. The fact that I'm using 4 large storage bins and a few other larger boxes probably made the biggest difference there. Most of the boxes I have are relatively small, and one of those bins would need probably 5 -6 boxes to pack the same things. Especially the odds-n-sots that would take up so much space while not allowing for very many other items to be packed with them. I still can't figure out what to do with our Spirit Shield. I don't think it'll fit in even our largest boxes. I hope I'll be able to get it into the trunk with the rest.
Meanwhile, I still have one last shift of work after this! It's the last night training my replacement, too. I really feel for the store. This guy is *not* ready, and the more time I spend with him, the more I think he won't ever *be* ready. He doesn't seem to have any short term memory, but won't use the notes I gave him where what he needs to do is spelled out step by step. After leaving my binder at work for him but forgetting to tell anyone why I'd left it, I came back to discover the store manager had photo-copied the whole thing. It seems she liked my notes so much, it's now going to be *the* book for staff to use. I found that rather funny.
Well, it's past 4:30 am. Time to get some food in me, then get back to work. The girls are still sleeping. Hopefully, I can be done before they wake up - at least with the stuff the truck will be picking up.
After that, it's count down time again. A couple of days to clean. One last pay check to pick up. One last family gathering to get to. We'll be on the road on the 17th.
I won't pack up the computer for a couple days yet. Since it's going in the trunk, I can keep it set up to talk to my husband on MSN while he's at work for a bit longer. Even he commented last night that we talk more now than we did when we were together. I pointed out that when we *are* together, we hardly ever talked at all. Real conversations were getting few and far between. He agreed that we need to keep that from happening again. We'll see. It's far too easy to get complacent.
Oh, I almost forgot. Once we're there - the car is going to be repossessed! We're still not sure what happened there. We'd made the arrangements and haven't missed a single payment since. No phone calls to worn us (or threaten us). Then out of the blue, my husband gets a phone call from a sheriff (yes, we do have those in Canada, but they're not the same thing as in the US). It seems he'd beed looking for the car but couldn't find it. Well, it being in another province might have something to do with that. My husband asked him why it was being repossessed, but of course, the sheriff didn't know. He gave my husband some toll free phone numbers to call, only they weren't any use to him - he got a recording saying the numbers couldn't be reached from where he was, so I assume they're in our home province. So my husband put a stop payment on the check he just wrote to the bank that's financing our car, called the sheriff back and told him when the car would be in our new city. The guy seemed pretty taken aback by our reaction to it, and actually told us to just call him early in the week I arrive with the girls, giving us a few days, at least, to settle in. I doubt he gets a lot of people who are so co-operative about getting their cars repossessed. Quite fankly, once we're in the city, we don't care anymore. We'll have access to public transit. Plus, if the bank is going to screw around with us like this - well, we don't play those games. They can have the car. We'll take the almost $1000 a month that will be freed up once we no longer have car payments, insurance payments, maintainance costs and, of course, gas to buy - not to mention the cost of a parking space at the apartment block we'll be living in. We like the car, but cars can be easily replaced. It's not worth the hassle. The move is stress enough, thank you very much.
Well, now I've really babbled on. It's almost 5 am. Got to go! I should be able to post at least one more time before the computer is dismantled and our phone line is closed. If not, then the next time I post will be from our new home.
The pile of stuff being left behind is definitely growing. Some thing are temporary - I have a sewing machine that I definitely don't want to get rid up, but just don't want to pack and ship. There's a growing pile of clothes for freecycling. I never did sell off the bulk of my furniture. I hope my parents will be able to enjoy at least some of it. I am constantly catching myself finding one more thing still on a wall, still in a shelf, hiding in a corner. Amazingly, I'm still finding piles of books to pack. I knew we had a lot of books, but I hadn't realized just how spread out they all were.
And then there are the last few things that won't be packed, but will go with us in the car. The computer. The bundle of boken, shinai and jo staffs. The sword. The badminton rackets. The golf clubs (my husband will have to share his caddy with his daughter, as there's no way I can fit two in there. We've got a big trunk, but not *that* big! *L*) Then there's the 3 bikes to go on a rack on the back - one of the very last things to be set up.
It's with relief that we were finally able to adopt out our rescued kitty to a sweet older couple from the city who's current cat is 15 yrs old and may not be in this world much longer.
My biggest concern right now is weight. My budget allows for 1000 pounds, and I don't have a scale. My little bathroom scale can barely handle me or the kids, never mind boxes and storage bins of the sizes we have. I'm hoping one of my brothers can come by with a truck and the old meat scale my parents have - that thing itself weighs about 200-300 pounds. It's on wheels and I was able to get it to the door of where it's stored (in the spare house in my parents' yard... gotta love country living. *L*) but we still need a truck, something to use for a ramp (we are NOT lugging that thing down stairs, then lifting it back up into a truck!) so we can wheel it directly into the truck, then directly into our house. Once I have that, I can weigh my boxes and if I do go over 1000 pounds, I'll have to decided which ones to leave behind. Ironically, it's the smallest boxes that concern me. Those, of course, are the ones with the heaviest items. Books. My FIL thought I was nuts when I told him we had two encyclopedia sets (that's not even counting the specialized sets). Don't we have the internet? He asks. Well, yes, but sometimes things are still easier and faster to look up in a book. Still, it looks like we might not have quite as many boxes as I thought. The fact that I'm using 4 large storage bins and a few other larger boxes probably made the biggest difference there. Most of the boxes I have are relatively small, and one of those bins would need probably 5 -6 boxes to pack the same things. Especially the odds-n-sots that would take up so much space while not allowing for very many other items to be packed with them. I still can't figure out what to do with our Spirit Shield. I don't think it'll fit in even our largest boxes. I hope I'll be able to get it into the trunk with the rest.
Meanwhile, I still have one last shift of work after this! It's the last night training my replacement, too. I really feel for the store. This guy is *not* ready, and the more time I spend with him, the more I think he won't ever *be* ready. He doesn't seem to have any short term memory, but won't use the notes I gave him where what he needs to do is spelled out step by step. After leaving my binder at work for him but forgetting to tell anyone why I'd left it, I came back to discover the store manager had photo-copied the whole thing. It seems she liked my notes so much, it's now going to be *the* book for staff to use. I found that rather funny.
Well, it's past 4:30 am. Time to get some food in me, then get back to work. The girls are still sleeping. Hopefully, I can be done before they wake up - at least with the stuff the truck will be picking up.
After that, it's count down time again. A couple of days to clean. One last pay check to pick up. One last family gathering to get to. We'll be on the road on the 17th.
I won't pack up the computer for a couple days yet. Since it's going in the trunk, I can keep it set up to talk to my husband on MSN while he's at work for a bit longer. Even he commented last night that we talk more now than we did when we were together. I pointed out that when we *are* together, we hardly ever talked at all. Real conversations were getting few and far between. He agreed that we need to keep that from happening again. We'll see. It's far too easy to get complacent.
Oh, I almost forgot. Once we're there - the car is going to be repossessed! We're still not sure what happened there. We'd made the arrangements and haven't missed a single payment since. No phone calls to worn us (or threaten us). Then out of the blue, my husband gets a phone call from a sheriff (yes, we do have those in Canada, but they're not the same thing as in the US). It seems he'd beed looking for the car but couldn't find it. Well, it being in another province might have something to do with that. My husband asked him why it was being repossessed, but of course, the sheriff didn't know. He gave my husband some toll free phone numbers to call, only they weren't any use to him - he got a recording saying the numbers couldn't be reached from where he was, so I assume they're in our home province. So my husband put a stop payment on the check he just wrote to the bank that's financing our car, called the sheriff back and told him when the car would be in our new city. The guy seemed pretty taken aback by our reaction to it, and actually told us to just call him early in the week I arrive with the girls, giving us a few days, at least, to settle in. I doubt he gets a lot of people who are so co-operative about getting their cars repossessed. Quite fankly, once we're in the city, we don't care anymore. We'll have access to public transit. Plus, if the bank is going to screw around with us like this - well, we don't play those games. They can have the car. We'll take the almost $1000 a month that will be freed up once we no longer have car payments, insurance payments, maintainance costs and, of course, gas to buy - not to mention the cost of a parking space at the apartment block we'll be living in. We like the car, but cars can be easily replaced. It's not worth the hassle. The move is stress enough, thank you very much.
Well, now I've really babbled on. It's almost 5 am. Got to go! I should be able to post at least one more time before the computer is dismantled and our phone line is closed. If not, then the next time I post will be from our new home.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Another dud...
Well, my second day of the sale was even worse than the first. I'm just amazed by how few people came out. I guess everyone was going to the festival or the beach or something. I've decided to just keep having them every weekend. I've got to get rid of this stuff, and I've got to raise more funds for the move, so I don't have much choice.
I've never particularily enjoyed having these things. I know people who hold garage sales every weekend of every summer - the troll other garage sales to pick up new stuff to sell at their own. It's a way of making some extra pocket money for them, rather than needing to get rid of excess and un-needed items. I doubt I'd have the patience for that. I couldn't put up with the idiots that often. :-P
The majority of people who come to these are nice enough, but you just have to wonder at the gaul of some others. I've had people show up the day before, expecting me to open my doors just for them. "I came all the way from X to be here..." they whine, even though X is only a 10 minute drive away. Funny, the people who came out from Y, which was almost an hour away, wheren't complaining.
Then there's the ones who ignore my signs saying that only the stuff in a certain area are available. This house has been used by my family for quite some time to store stuff, so some of the things in the room I'm using for the sale aren't mine to sell. I've also not finished sorting through things, while others are missing pieces I'm still looking for, etc. So I basically walled off an area with shelves and stuff an tried to make it at clear at possible that the stuff behind it isn't for sale.
Now, some people are making honest mistakes. They start digging around, then notice the signs or I tell them and they get kind of embarressed, apologise and start looking elsewhere. I've got no problem with that and pretty much expected it. No, what gets me are the people who litterally fight their way through the "wall" I created to get at the stuff behind it, and when I tell them that area isn't part of the sale, they make snide little comments about how it should be, or how it's "too bad" I haven't gone through them yet.
Message to people who do this... I may be moving and need to sell things, Folks, but that doesn't give you the right to tell me what I should be selling, or the right to start going through personal stuff and get offended when I tell you to stop. If you don't like it, don't buy anything. I'll happily give nice customers a bargain, but if you're an a$$hole, I'd rather not sell anything to you at all!
I've never particularily enjoyed having these things. I know people who hold garage sales every weekend of every summer - the troll other garage sales to pick up new stuff to sell at their own. It's a way of making some extra pocket money for them, rather than needing to get rid of excess and un-needed items. I doubt I'd have the patience for that. I couldn't put up with the idiots that often. :-P
The majority of people who come to these are nice enough, but you just have to wonder at the gaul of some others. I've had people show up the day before, expecting me to open my doors just for them. "I came all the way from X to be here..." they whine, even though X is only a 10 minute drive away. Funny, the people who came out from Y, which was almost an hour away, wheren't complaining.
Then there's the ones who ignore my signs saying that only the stuff in a certain area are available. This house has been used by my family for quite some time to store stuff, so some of the things in the room I'm using for the sale aren't mine to sell. I've also not finished sorting through things, while others are missing pieces I'm still looking for, etc. So I basically walled off an area with shelves and stuff an tried to make it at clear at possible that the stuff behind it isn't for sale.
Now, some people are making honest mistakes. They start digging around, then notice the signs or I tell them and they get kind of embarressed, apologise and start looking elsewhere. I've got no problem with that and pretty much expected it. No, what gets me are the people who litterally fight their way through the "wall" I created to get at the stuff behind it, and when I tell them that area isn't part of the sale, they make snide little comments about how it should be, or how it's "too bad" I haven't gone through them yet.
Message to people who do this... I may be moving and need to sell things, Folks, but that doesn't give you the right to tell me what I should be selling, or the right to start going through personal stuff and get offended when I tell you to stop. If you don't like it, don't buy anything. I'll happily give nice customers a bargain, but if you're an a$$hole, I'd rather not sell anything to you at all!
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Feeling wasted...
Well, yesterday was, pretty much, a bust. Hardly anyone showed up at my garage sale. I was hoping to take advantage of the long weekend crowds, but I guess everyone is just going to - and staying at - a nearby festival. Thousands come out for that and since we live only about 10 minutes away, I figured I'd see more people. Hopefully, today will be better. Either way, I'm going to have to have more sales if I want to get rid of this stuff and raise more money for the move.
My kids, meanwhile, got a chance to visit with some cousins we haven't seen in ages. My BIL came over to pick them up, showing up after 3. I was expecting him at about 1:30 :-S Ah, well. Once the kids were off, I went to bed and pretty much passed out. A couple hours later, the phone rings. In a sleep deprived delusion, I somehow thought it was time for me to get up, so I answered it. Bad mistake.
It was my mother.
First, she was all surprised that I was home. Turns out she'd swung by the house (yes, she *does* know I sleep during the day) and since I didn't answer, she assumed I wasn't home. Then she started giving me a hard time for being asleep rather than having the sale still open, since someone with a truck came by while she was there. Uhm... I do need to sleep, Mom, and if people can't be bothered to read the extremely clear and colourful signs I put up - making sure to highlight the times - then that's their problem. As it was, I still had occaisional people coming in while I was waiting for my BIL. I made $1.25 in the two hours I waited. :-P
Then she started giving me the third degree about what I was going to sell - making sure I wasn't going to sell the furniture she bought "for" us. Since we're moving, she wants them to stay. No problems there. Her "gifts" always come with very steep price tags, anyways.
Then the started going on about the kids, and why are my kids staying with my brother for the summer instead of me dropping them off at my in-laws when I go to work, etc. My kids are such a burden to them, you see, and they have to feed them ...
Somehow, she managed to cram all this crapp into a call less than 5 minutes long. She would have happily continued to tell me how useless and horrible I am for much longer, but I hung up on her.
I can't wait until we're out of there.
Of course, after that, I was too stressed to sleep. So I stayed up the last couple of hours before I went to the festival to meet my in-laws and the kids. At least that part was fun, but by the end of it, I was so tired, I probably shouldn't have been driving. I should have stayed up all night again, but I had to get some sleep. I ended up napping for longer than I should have, of course. Now, I'm just waiting until it's time to open up the front door and continue the sale. Then the kids are off in the afternoon and I'm back at work tonight. I really hope I'll be able to get some sleep this afternoon.
Reminder to self. Don't answer the phone. Don't answer the door.
Ah, well. Time to get back to reality, and the sounds of the cat trying to catch my daughter's betta fish through his jar aquarium. *L*
My kids, meanwhile, got a chance to visit with some cousins we haven't seen in ages. My BIL came over to pick them up, showing up after 3. I was expecting him at about 1:30 :-S Ah, well. Once the kids were off, I went to bed and pretty much passed out. A couple hours later, the phone rings. In a sleep deprived delusion, I somehow thought it was time for me to get up, so I answered it. Bad mistake.
It was my mother.
First, she was all surprised that I was home. Turns out she'd swung by the house (yes, she *does* know I sleep during the day) and since I didn't answer, she assumed I wasn't home. Then she started giving me a hard time for being asleep rather than having the sale still open, since someone with a truck came by while she was there. Uhm... I do need to sleep, Mom, and if people can't be bothered to read the extremely clear and colourful signs I put up - making sure to highlight the times - then that's their problem. As it was, I still had occaisional people coming in while I was waiting for my BIL. I made $1.25 in the two hours I waited. :-P
Then she started giving me the third degree about what I was going to sell - making sure I wasn't going to sell the furniture she bought "for" us. Since we're moving, she wants them to stay. No problems there. Her "gifts" always come with very steep price tags, anyways.
Then the started going on about the kids, and why are my kids staying with my brother for the summer instead of me dropping them off at my in-laws when I go to work, etc. My kids are such a burden to them, you see, and they have to feed them ...
Somehow, she managed to cram all this crapp into a call less than 5 minutes long. She would have happily continued to tell me how useless and horrible I am for much longer, but I hung up on her.
I can't wait until we're out of there.
Of course, after that, I was too stressed to sleep. So I stayed up the last couple of hours before I went to the festival to meet my in-laws and the kids. At least that part was fun, but by the end of it, I was so tired, I probably shouldn't have been driving. I should have stayed up all night again, but I had to get some sleep. I ended up napping for longer than I should have, of course. Now, I'm just waiting until it's time to open up the front door and continue the sale. Then the kids are off in the afternoon and I'm back at work tonight. I really hope I'll be able to get some sleep this afternoon.
Reminder to self. Don't answer the phone. Don't answer the door.
Ah, well. Time to get back to reality, and the sounds of the cat trying to catch my daughter's betta fish through his jar aquarium. *L*
Saturday, July 30, 2005
I AM GOING INSANE!!!
I've got 4 hours.
Four hours before my first garage/moving sale. At this point, I am *so* glad I work nights, because if it weren't for tonight, there's no way I'd be ready in time.
Ok, I admit it. It's partly my fault. I procrastinated too much. Some of this could - and should - have been done earlier. Still, the sheer volume of stuff I have to go through is almost overwhelming, and there's no one to help.
Right now, it's the kids' stuff I'm going through, and that's what's doing me in. I'd given them their 2 large storage bins and told them to put in whatever they wanted to take on our move. Everything else is going to be garage saled.
Neither one filled their bin. I could probably put the two into one and still have room.
So, that leaves me with everything else. I don't often go into the"play room" - I hang my laundry in there and, these days, that's all I've had time to do. There are shelves and boxes of stuff, and I'm ready to scream right about now. I can't *believe* the sheer amount of *garbage* the kids have shoved into there! It seems that, whenever they'd had to clean up after themselves, they've mostly just tossed everything anywhere. So I'm finding used up paper, bits and pieces from crafting, broken toys, wrappers and remains and, strangely, hundreds of pennies. I could probably roll about $15 in pennies by the time I'm done. I've had to get a bucket just for them, pouring them in from boxes, baskets, jars - even the bottom of a kite's storage bag.
When I'm finished, all of it will probably fit into about 10 of the boxes I'm using for their stuff - and these are small boxes. Spread out all over and needing to be sorted, however, makes it look so much bigger!
I still have go bring out some of *my* stuff, too. Can't do that until their stuff is finished, though, just for the space. I've already got the big stuff - the exercise equipment, a couch, an armchair... there's still more, though.
It doesn't help that for the last couple of days, I've been in a lot of pain. I don't know what's going on. Both my arms have been just aching in the joints, including my fingers. I've got a headache. I *never* get headaches, unless I'm sick or seriously sleep derpived. I am somewhat sleep deprived, but not all that much. My knees and feet are threatening to give out on me, too, but there's nothing new about that.
For now, I'm just going to pop a few more pain killers, hope they actually help, and take a bit of a break.
Wish me luck!
Four hours before my first garage/moving sale. At this point, I am *so* glad I work nights, because if it weren't for tonight, there's no way I'd be ready in time.
Ok, I admit it. It's partly my fault. I procrastinated too much. Some of this could - and should - have been done earlier. Still, the sheer volume of stuff I have to go through is almost overwhelming, and there's no one to help.
Right now, it's the kids' stuff I'm going through, and that's what's doing me in. I'd given them their 2 large storage bins and told them to put in whatever they wanted to take on our move. Everything else is going to be garage saled.
Neither one filled their bin. I could probably put the two into one and still have room.
So, that leaves me with everything else. I don't often go into the"play room" - I hang my laundry in there and, these days, that's all I've had time to do. There are shelves and boxes of stuff, and I'm ready to scream right about now. I can't *believe* the sheer amount of *garbage* the kids have shoved into there! It seems that, whenever they'd had to clean up after themselves, they've mostly just tossed everything anywhere. So I'm finding used up paper, bits and pieces from crafting, broken toys, wrappers and remains and, strangely, hundreds of pennies. I could probably roll about $15 in pennies by the time I'm done. I've had to get a bucket just for them, pouring them in from boxes, baskets, jars - even the bottom of a kite's storage bag.
When I'm finished, all of it will probably fit into about 10 of the boxes I'm using for their stuff - and these are small boxes. Spread out all over and needing to be sorted, however, makes it look so much bigger!
I still have go bring out some of *my* stuff, too. Can't do that until their stuff is finished, though, just for the space. I've already got the big stuff - the exercise equipment, a couch, an armchair... there's still more, though.
It doesn't help that for the last couple of days, I've been in a lot of pain. I don't know what's going on. Both my arms have been just aching in the joints, including my fingers. I've got a headache. I *never* get headaches, unless I'm sick or seriously sleep derpived. I am somewhat sleep deprived, but not all that much. My knees and feet are threatening to give out on me, too, but there's nothing new about that.
For now, I'm just going to pop a few more pain killers, hope they actually help, and take a bit of a break.
Wish me luck!
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Well meaning, blind arrogance
Yesterday I got to spend some time with my in-laws for a visit. Many years ago, they lived in the north African country of Mali, and even now I find myself hearing new stories of their time there. Their experiences there are high on my list of reasons why I have little faith in well meaning events such as the recent Live 8 concerts. I will also never donate money to any of the big charities.
Now I have yet another example of the pretensiousness and arrogance so many of us in developed nations have aquired. How easy it is to make assumptions! Many people, organizations and goverments offer their aid to African countries, believing that what they're doing is actually helping, yet they never even bothered to find out exactly what *kind* of help people actually needed! Yesterday's story was a prime example.
Mali is a French speaking country and my MIL speaks both French and English fluently. As a result, she was often called upon to act as an interpretor. One day, she was asked to interpret for a woman from England who's pet project seems to have been Meals On Wheels. She had come to Africa to share this wonderful project with the locals, and my MIL had the dubious pleasure of interpreting her speech. On and on she went about Meals on Wheels, how great it would be if they implemented this programme in their homeland, and how great it would be for their elderly to have meals delivered to them.
After the speech was over, my MIL approached the woman and pointed out to her that these people would have *no* idea what she was talking about. At first, the woman was rather insulted, so my MIL explained. Unlike us in our so-called developed nations, the people of Mali were not in the practise of hiding their elderly away into boxes, out of sight and out of mind. There were no Senior Centers. No "old folks homes." These people lived in extended families, and the idea that they would need some strangers to come around delivering meals to them was ludicrous. They had family to feed them, after all. Why would they need someone else to do it?
Can you imagine the confusion these local people must have felt while listening to this woman talk? Would they have been insulted that this foreign woman thought they didn't care for their own elders? Or what might their thoughts be of our own culture, to learn that elders would need such a programme to keep them from going hungry?
In our afluence, it's so easy to assume that what we have is what everyone else wants and needs. Maybe, every once in a while, we need to realize that we're the ones who could use the "help."
Now I have yet another example of the pretensiousness and arrogance so many of us in developed nations have aquired. How easy it is to make assumptions! Many people, organizations and goverments offer their aid to African countries, believing that what they're doing is actually helping, yet they never even bothered to find out exactly what *kind* of help people actually needed! Yesterday's story was a prime example.
Mali is a French speaking country and my MIL speaks both French and English fluently. As a result, she was often called upon to act as an interpretor. One day, she was asked to interpret for a woman from England who's pet project seems to have been Meals On Wheels. She had come to Africa to share this wonderful project with the locals, and my MIL had the dubious pleasure of interpreting her speech. On and on she went about Meals on Wheels, how great it would be if they implemented this programme in their homeland, and how great it would be for their elderly to have meals delivered to them.
After the speech was over, my MIL approached the woman and pointed out to her that these people would have *no* idea what she was talking about. At first, the woman was rather insulted, so my MIL explained. Unlike us in our so-called developed nations, the people of Mali were not in the practise of hiding their elderly away into boxes, out of sight and out of mind. There were no Senior Centers. No "old folks homes." These people lived in extended families, and the idea that they would need some strangers to come around delivering meals to them was ludicrous. They had family to feed them, after all. Why would they need someone else to do it?
Can you imagine the confusion these local people must have felt while listening to this woman talk? Would they have been insulted that this foreign woman thought they didn't care for their own elders? Or what might their thoughts be of our own culture, to learn that elders would need such a programme to keep them from going hungry?
In our afluence, it's so easy to assume that what we have is what everyone else wants and needs. Maybe, every once in a while, we need to realize that we're the ones who could use the "help."
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