Traveling Down Memory Lane

Today was extremely productive on a number of fronts. Early this morning, the Glass-Rite guys showed up to replace three windows and to fix an odd thing in our downstairs bathroom. Seems that, long ago when an unnamed previous owner of this house decided to enclose the patio to make a dining room, they managed to block off half of the bathroom window in the process:

While that ledge has been very handy for holding bottles of shampoo and so on, the unfinished look of this addition has always bugged me a little. So we put in a smaller window (which doesn't affect the light or air flow in the bathroom at all because it is a casement window) and had the guys build out the other side so that it can be tiled to match the rest of the bathtub enclosure.

But that's the next project. Here's a halfway picture:

We put a shower curtain over that wall to protect the work-in-progress from moisture. We don't have much choice about using that shower for the time being. With any luck, the Wizard and I will manage to go look at tile tomorrow afternoon so that we can get the bathroom projects underway.

But back to today's productivity. Future Vet called from a distant country to ask me to send him three pictures -- all of younger versions of himself. This request dictated the direction of the de-crapification today. We went through those 2 boxes of photos that were in the dining room. And because we couldn't find one of the pictures FV wanted in those boxes, we also dragged in the additional two boxes of photos that were still in the garage. The result was 7 photo boxes chock full of snapshots, Polaroids, and old Instamatic pictures and one book carton that is full of school pictures and studio portraits.

AND a whole lot of empty boxes:

This project was actually kind of fun because the Wizard and Sports Nut and even the Media Guy all got into the act. We found the rest of our pictures from the family trip to Israel in 1999, had fun deciphering which baby was in various pictures, and remembered past animals and family times.

And, just because I can, here is the picture that Future Vet said he wanted but that it was "okay" if we couldn't find it:

Yes, that is Future Vet his very own self, dressed up as the Damsel in Distress for a family costume one Purim many, many years ago. Big sister (Drama Queen) was an evil sorceress, big brothers (Sports Nut and Media Guy) were Knights in Shiny Armor, the Wizard was a dragon, and I was a castle. For the record, it's hard to sit down when you are wearing a castle costume.

Many thanks to Sports Nut, who actually located the picture.

But, as impressive as going through all those boxes of photos was, that was not all the de-crapification work for the day. I listed lots of stuff (mostly left behind by the Drama Queen) on Freecycle:

And I got rid of yet another entire box by listing these homeschooling magazines on Freecycle:

And then continued putting things on Freecycle. Anything to get them out of the house:

Do I really need books about kid's parties any more? I think not, though it was fun to look through the pictures of all the various birthday parties we did over the years. There was Drama Queen's Birthday Circus and Birthday Luau (two different years), Sport's Nuts cooking party and TMNT party, Media Guy's Pirate Party, Future Vet's Wishbone party ... among others. Plus we found all kinds of clues! We used to have treasure hunts at every birthday party and for the pre-readers, we used Polaroid pictures of the places where the next clue was hidden. Some of the picture clues were kind of obscure in retrospect.

But I digress....

I started the day with 36 boxes plus a variety of other containers. We emptied 3 boxes of photos (though we can only count one because the two boxes we brought in from the garage weren't in the original count). I Freecycled a box of magazines and the box full of things waiting to be freecycled. So that is a total of 3 boxes out of the original 36.

That leaves thirty-three boxes of crap in the house. Thirty-three boxes of crap.....

If only that were true. Thirty-three boxes seems manageable. But that's only the boxes in the public areas in the downstairs of the house. Don't forget the upstairs, Future Vet's bedroom, the garage, the two sheds in the back yard, and the dreaded Storage Locker.

Back from the Land Where Time Stands Still

Okay, time doesn't really stand still in Arizona, but at least they don't do the stupid Daylight Savings Time thing. I hate Daylight Savings Time. I hate that I spend 2 to 4 weeks twice a year adjusting to the sun coming up at a different time. That alone is enough to recommend Arizona as a place to relocate to. In my opinion.

First, a brief travelogue. Second, a preview of the wonderful things in store this week.

The Wizard and I traveled to Tucson, Arizona, to celebrate Purim. That was fun, but I forgot to take pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Then we did a little exploration. Like the cactus in Sabino Canyon.

This one appears to have a tumor:

And I don't care if it's called a Teddy Bear Cactus, I'm not going to give this one a hug and take it to bed:
The next day, we went to the Pima Air and Space Musuem, where we saw a lot of planes, including this rather curious one:

We couldn't figure out what that big hole in the side was until we were up close and personal:

It's where that big tire goes while the plane is in flight. We spent some time trying to imagine the inside of this plane, because the passage between the two tires has got to be somewhat constricting. Not our problem, just a curiosity.

As we were about to leave, we encountered this cute little critter:

Other visitors to the museum were sure it was some kind of chipmunk, but every chipmunk the Wizard and I have ever seen has some distinctive stripes. Later on, we found a Field Guide to Mammals of the Southwest. Sure enough, this is a ground squirrel.

Moving right along, we left Tucson after a very nice visit with the family of one of Future Vet's friends, and drove up through Sedona:

To the Big Hole in the Ground, otherwise known as the Grand Canyon:

Really Big Hole in the Ground.

We spent most of a day hiking along the Rim Trail, which is mostly level and has some spectacular views. I took some pictures, but my little Canon SureShot really doesn't do them justice, so I will spare you, gentle readers.

My SureShot probably won't do justice to these either, but seeing them was so unutterably COOL that I just have to share:

That's a California Condor. But wait! There's more!

Unfortunately, it's hard to get a good picture of birds in flight with the kind of camera we have, but in this picture I caught six of the nine condors we saw that day:

We saw other wildlife as well -- more squirrels of various varieties, a fair number of smaller birds, and a whole family of mule deer:

They kept an eye on us, but didn't seem to be too bothered. I expect that later in the year when there are more people, the deer are a little less obvious during the day.

I was going to post some other pictures, but let's face it -- you can see better ones online, in postcards, in books, etc. Unless you know what you are looking at, one person's snapshots just aren't that enlightening.

However, we did have one or two interesting incidents during the afternoon. I was looking down over the edge when all of a sudden I spotted something quite familiar to anyone who has lived in the Northeast US for decades -- SNOW!!

I took a picture, but it's hard to capture something as emphemeral as snow.

Those little white specks in the air are snowflakes. The bigger white patches on the ground are pockets of snow.

After the snow started falling, we walked a little further then took a bus down far enough to finally catch a glimpse of the Colorado River, far below:

After that, we went back to the Village (shades of The Prisoner!), used the bathrooms, had some lunch, and did a very small amount of shopping. The Wizard bought a t-shirt and I bought a dragonfly hanging. That is to say, we didn't add too much to the STUFF we are trying to get rid of at home.

Coming back to Dodge was exciting. It rained and/or snowed for most of the way and the windshield wiper on the Wizard's car decided to crap out on us. That's not an experience I'm in a hurry to re-create.

Since returning to Dodge, I have been trying to get back into the rhythms of daily life at home. Back to the box, bag, shelf, or pile a day thing, that is. It's been four days and today, the fifth day, I'm ready to tackle the STUFF.

But before that, a small digression. The Drama Queen bought a car! Or half a car, judging by it's size:

That means "her" old car has been returned to the bosom of the family, as soon as it comes out of the Volvo shop yet again. There's something wonky about the electrical system and the Volvo guys haven't managed to solve it yet. Once it is fixed, we are loaning it to Young Mom, a friend of the Drama Queen's who has lived with us off and on over the last 5 years. Her car got totaled not too long ago. As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, "It's always something."

Okay, now to the box issue. I went around the house this morning counting boxes. Here's what I found:

In the Living Room (also my office):
1 half-empty box of books
2 boxes of video cassette tapes (one of prerecorded tapes, one of tapes we recorded)
1 box containing some video cassettes and some game system controllers
2 boxes/cases of Girl Scout cookies (with 12 and 10 boxes inside)
1 box of audio cassette tapes and yarn
1 box of books, papers, and other stuff from my previous place of work
1 box of all kinds of unused papers
1 box full of things to Freecycle

In the Kitchen:
1 box of "Things Looking for Other Things"

In the Family Room:
1 box of softballs and Hanukka decorations
3 boxes of books
1 box of sci-fi and fantasy magazines
2 boxes of yarn
1 box of K'nex pieces, plus 4 additional containers of the same
stacks of books all over the coffee table
2 bags of toys

In the Dining Room:
2 boxes of books
9 boxes of papers, mostly from my previous employment
1 box of homeschooling magazines
1 box of "Thing to Save for the Next House"
2 boxes of photos
1 box of audio cassettes
1 box of the Drama Queen's belongings

By my count, that makes 36 boxes, 4 containers of K'nex, 2 bags of toys, and several stacks of books. Though I don't know if I should really count the Girl Scout cookies, which are going into the freezer until after Passover. If I can get through all of that this week (remember, it's already Wednesday), I can make up for the week I lost in Arizona, which does not condone Daylight Savings Time. (And neither do I.)

Enough for a week?

This is going to have to be fast because it's late and the Wizard and I are leaving in the morning for a week away from home without children. And neither of us has to work. I am not sure that we have ever done this before. Who do you leave four children with, after all?

Anyway, as I said this has to be quick. I have gotten lots of things accomplished, but you'll have to take my word for it because I didn't always take pictures when I could. By the time things are out of the house, it's a little late to photograph them.

First, though, things came into the house. When the Drama Queen moved to her new apartment, some things just didn't fit. I've filed a few things away, pending a decision on whether they get sold, Freecycled, or whatever. But there are still some extraneous chairs in the dining room. At least they get some use:

While the Drama Queen was around, we tooled over to the storage locker. And this time I remembered the camera so that I could preserve it in its almost-full state:

That's the Sports Nut, not the Drama Queen, obviously. And the locker was actually much fuller at one point. We had a young couple and a baby living with us for a while and they stored some stuff in the locker, too.

What's notable about this locker is that most of the boxes to the right of the picture (the ones that the Sports Nut is dragging down) are full of books. Sports Nut thinks he will sort through the books and decide which ones we should keep.

As the Drama Queen went through her many boxes of STUFF that had been filed in the storage locker, she kept coming across things that she did not want to keep:

I perceive a cat theme at work.

And while she was about her task, I looked for things that we would never use again. For example, I found this bin:

Twin-size bedding. We don't even own a twin-size bed and haven't for years -- not since before we moved here to Dodge. Is that what is really in that bin?

Yes, as a matter of fact. Fortunately, yet another charitable organization had announced a run through the neighborhood to pick up donations.

Other things in the storage locker were obvious candidates for de-crapification. Like this box of Hanukka decorations:

Then I removed the top layer:

It's another box of softballs! Do you suppose they multiply like coat hangers and Sharpies? For those who have lost count, this is the fifth box of softballs I have uncovered.

After an hour or so of such fun and games, the Drama Queen loaded her stuff into the car:

The Sports Nut and I also loaded things into the car:

And then we took it all back to the house and piled it around the place in strategic spots, like in the family room:

And the living room:

Thanks to the Drama Queen and the various articles of bedding that we no longer need, I had a good start on the next set of donated goods:

On top of all this, I wanted to bake cookies for Purim baskets, or mishloach manot:

In the background are pairs of Lucia's cookies, waiting for a filling. Here's a better look at the hamantaschen, filled with home-made mohn (poppyseed filling):

I also made gingersnaps, just as I promised myself after the dogs ate my last packages of Wild Oats gingersnaps. Here's the before baking view:

And after baking:

I emptied boxes through all this. If it weren't so late, I'd run upstairs and take a picture of all the empty boxes. But it is, so I won't.

And early this morning, I had an impressive pile of bags to donate to whichever organization came around today. Lots of the Drama Queen's clothes that she said to donate because she "hadn't missed them", plus lots of pristine bedding that we have no use for:

All in all, I think I'm on track to take a week off. I'm leaving the Sports Nut behind with a couple of boxes of papers and a lot of boxes of books to sort through.

Let's just hope I don't find something on the road that I want to bring home. There's already too much STUFF here!

On track or not on track? That is the question....

I feel like I am falling behind, that I am definitely off the pace I set at the beginning of a box, a bag, a shelf, or a pile a day. But things keep happening that give me new resolve. I won't go into details. Suffice it to say that yesterday one of the people who has been instrumental in my decision to get out of Dodge contributed more fuel to the fire.

Actually, I can't decide if I am doing too much or too little. Maybe I can't keep this up-to-date because I'm doing so much other stuff to help get us out of Dodge. Maybe.

Anyway, last week, the Sports Nut and I went to the dreaded Storage Locker and removed a bunch of boxes:

Most of that particular pile of boxes was either books I wanted to pass along to a homeschooling family I know OR papers left from my years of working with the youth group. I felt that I should go through all these papers and file some in the youth lounge and toss the rest. As I said, that is how I felt. Right now, I'm inclined to recycle the whole batch.

Also these boxes:

These boxes were also from my years with the youth group. Paper, envelopes, office and crafts supplies, and so on. Since I paid for all of that out of my family's budget, I decided to cart it all home instead of leaving it behind. I haven't quite decided what to do with all of it yet, though I expect there are some worthy organizations in Dodge who could put some of this to good use.

And one further box:

This was the box I decided was my Mission for the Day last Tuesday. And here is what was inside:


Cool! More art supplies, including lots and lots of fabric paints. And more Sharpies! (I really like Sharpies.) And, inexplicably, this:


A 1-gig memory card for my camera. And just in time -- later than same day, the card that was currently in the camera decided that it was too full for more pictures. (This de-crapification process is hard on memory cards.) Like so much else that has been uncovered during this process, I have no idea how the memory card managed to get dumped into a box instead of put someplace where it could be found and used.

I did a quick sort on some of the other boxes we carted in. Like I said, lots of youth group papers that need to be shredded or recycled (or possibly filed by the youth group):

And lots of books and other things that I can pass along to my friend who is homeschooling her children:

As usual, there was a bunch of stuff that could be Freecycled:

Though, I have to admit -- that tea kettle did not make it to the Freecycling round. That was one that the Drama Queen had had in her apartment and decided not to move because she never used it. In the meantime, our very loud, very red tea kettle fell apart and I managed to lose a crucial piece, perhaps down the drain. This black and very quiet tea kettle is in temporary use in our kitchen, even though it doesn't match and it's too quiet to hear unless you are standing right next to the stove.

The Sports Nut and I tried to sort papers together, but it was kind of counterproductive. I would be going through my pile and making decisions and the Sports Nut would be going through his pile and asking me to make decisions.

We didn't get very far before we decided that sorting through papers was an activity best handled by one person. That person could either be the one who had stuck all the papers in the box in the first place and (presumably) knew what to do with them -- i.e., me -- or it could be the one who had no idea what any of the papers were or whether they were worth keeping -- i.e., the Sports Nut.

In the end, I shoved all the papers back into the box and found something else for the Sports Nut to sort through. I gave him full power over this bag of who-knows-what:

I have no idea what he decided to do with the contents. I don't need to know. All is well.

In other boxes, I found all kinds of treasures, like the Memory game I made for my religious school class:

And these wonderful story-telling tapes by Jim Weiss that my kids listened to for endless hours when they were younger:

And a whole box of homeschooling magazines that I never managed to read before we moved here to Dodge, so I foolishly carted them across the country thinking that I would have the time or inclination to read them here. And look -- here they are, mostly still unread (by me):

And a complete collection of the homeschooling newsletter that I personally edited and published and mailed (with a little help from my kids ... and friends) for five years:

Those, at least, I read.

And a small, but crucial, pile of stuff I wasn't sure whether we should keep or toss that I put aside for the Wizard to look through:

Fortunately for our de-crapification process, he ruled that none of these were needed, so they either went into the recycling bag or the Freecycling box. And, by the time, I am actually writing this, both the recycling and the Freecyling are already gone.

The next step in the process was to cleverly invite my friend with the young children over for lunch and whatever. I persuaded them to take the Drama Queen's extra cat tree for the use of their cats. I gave it to her boys, and they managed to take it apart, even:

And then, while she wasn't paying too much attention, I snuck two whole boxes of books and tapes into the back of her car:

I haven't been counting. Maybe I am actually on track with the box, etc. a day business.

In other news, I haven't made much progress on the cassette tapes recently. This pile probably isn't going to grow until after the Wizard and I come back from a little jaunt to one of the cities we might move to after we leave Dodge:

And I haven't managed to felt the cat bed I knitted for the Sport Nut's cats. Every time I go grab it to toss in the washing machine, I am thwarted: