a week

In one week, we'll be heading down south for warmer weather and relaxation, first with friends, then family. We need to resolve the hitch (Rich is making great progress). We need to decide waht to bring, pack, and get on the road. And I have two huge work projects - two be events - happening next week.

I've thought of another thing from my parents - an older one piece school desk. Elizabeth is a lefty, as am I, and when i was young my parents got, from a school closing, a lefty desk. Loved it. I wonder where it is now and if we can bring it back.

past

My life is sometimes cluttered with the past. If not for one of my past jobs, I'd probably not be good friends with a very dear friend. But that job wasn't good for me in so many ways. Nice to laugh about it now, but in too many ways there was too much potential for a serious detour in my career. So, very dear friend invites me to a reception of my former colleagues. It was actually nice to catch up. I was reminded of how much you carry with you from each past position.

Where to put the new....

vacuum cleaner? We have a perfectly fine vacuum cleaner that doesn't get as much use as it should. We also have a dog, a cat, two active kids who spit up and spill things with alarming regularity, and adults who wear shoes in the shoes. And a carpet that gets filthy. So every six months or so we rent a steam cleaner (from Store 2) and are astonished at the block gunk it picks up. At $50 a pop for the rental, Rich this go round suggested we buy one of the new steam cleaners on the market. The small models can be had for $50-75, so it would be a better value than the rentals, and if we use it regularly, we'll have cleaner carpets too. So we spent a rainy day today sucking up a rather disgusting amount of gunk.

Regular vacuum is stored in the hall closet. There's not really room for the new one, even though it's slightly smaller. So yet another thing for the basement. Our goal is to use it at least once a month.

cluttered mind

This blog is rapidly becoming the aww clutter of my mind, not of my house (or car). But why not, since decluttering the house isn't happening.

So today I went grocery shopping over my lunch break. This is a great example of too many choices being too overwhelming. I was thinking about all the clutter I keep in my head - the grocery rules.

We have three stores we can easily visit. Store 1 is running a special, spend a certain amount for a certain number of weeks, and get a free gift card. Store 1 has become our go-to store with this promotion, plus best prices/availability of organic milk and eggs. And, this week they had triple coupons, and they double coupons up to $.99

Store 2, our former go-to, has better baked goods. And carries quick cook grits in the canister, unlike store 1. Also, grape tomatoes are $1 a pint cheaper.

Store 3 used to be the go-to place for some specifics - the only place that carried vegetable bouillon cubes, stuffing mix in a choose-your-size canister, and my favorite bottle drink super cheap (organic white iced tea with a hint of peach). But they've remodeled, and no longer have the bouillon or stuffing mix.

So moving through the store today, I remembered we needed grits, but now I have to make a special trip to store 2. And I was in store 3 last week, but we still need bouillon. And then I can make a special trip to store 4, which is more of a pain to reach, but by far they ave the best prices on dried fruits, frozen goods, and wine. And that leaves off entirely store 5, which I tend to avoid, but they have by far the best prices on chai, carry 2 specific types of wine I really like, and have the best gingerbread.

Now add in the coupon clipping and organizing, and shopping list organization by the sale flyers, and my brain is quite cluttered with grocery thoughts.

more hitching post news

Rich spent some time on google and sure enough, hitches can be had for not as much money as from the dealership. Not a huge surprise, really. Now have to call around trailer rental places and we're back on.

Stymied

So we've run into a slight hitch in the Thanksgiving plans. Literally.

Our plan is to rent a trailer and haul the stuff back. But, we need a hitch put on the Subaru, which is something we've sort of wanted anyway as it might come in useful some day. You know, when we buy a boat and a travel trailer and start hauling stuff around on a regular basis from our urban house.

I always underestimate costs. How much could a hitch cost? What, maybe $50 for the part and another $50 to install it? Well, our dealership up here says $300 for the part, $300 for installation. Uhaul Florida says $275. Hmmm. Plus, how much can it cost to rent a trailer? What, $300, max? We've only called one place, but more like $450. So, while this was always going to be an expensive proposition, we'd get a bedroom suite and some other stuff out of the deal. But if we're looking at $700 or even more, heck, we can buy a bedroom suite. So, we need to find a cheaper way to acquire a hitch, and find a better rate on a trailer. Or, we bring back a lot of stuff (hahahaha) to make it more worthwhile. I've had my eyes on a china cabinet for a while, and my parents do want to downsize. I'm kidding. So, we're still thinking. More research to do.

the car

I realize it sounds insane to describe a car as cluttered as our is, except I've been in other parent's cars and it really does get bad quickly. You're mostly in the car with the kids, and so when you get home you've got them and the diaper bag and whatever stuff you went out to get and while you try to make a dent, it builds up. (Especially with a child who must, just must, bring her favorite toys with her.)

So today we went to the doctor and the grocery store, and so coming home we each had a kid and groceries and we scored a parking spot close, but not right by our house, so between each bringing a child in along with bags of groceries, that's exactly how the car continues to be cluttered.

Anyway, the point of this post was to say, as lovely as it was for Rich to bring in a small bag of trash, as I looked around the car today, I didn't see that it made any difference at all. Much work to be done!