By god was our van filthy inside, holy-cow! What a mess. Beads, beads, beads, toys, and trash galore. A fair bit of mud, dust, and bits of pumpkin vine thrown in for good measure. Plus a mixture of spent kleenex, rock shards, and wrappers off of bite sized candy bars. A veritable trash heap of gross stickiness. Yuck!. Found some empty cups, a marking flag from the farm, and all manners of grotesque things.
Turns out my wife has gone ahead and bought our new vehicle, which we are to pick up on Friday. So I took an early swing at removing the most atrocious build up of crud from the van. It has near zero trade in value, but I couldn’t leave it as it was. Oh, don’t you worry, it’s still gross, but it has less physical lumps of grime in it. Still full of dog hair quills, and sticky messes in every single cup holder. Kids – gotta love them.
I also took the early morning to put all of our patio furniture away. The rains have managed to hold off, so while everything was dry I got it all squared away. Come the spring I have several items I’ll want to toss. A see-saw, tiny plastic toddler chairs, a pirate ship water table, and various tiny bicycles that both kids have grown out of. I have gotten rid of 2 of our three car seats. One went to extended family, and the other to the landfill. Mice got the green one, so it had to get dumped as trash. I have one more folding umbrella stroller I want gotten rid of, but it’s slim, and not bothering me at the moment. Out of sight, out of mind. Now if I could only get someone to take our old busted brine tank, and water softener unit, I’d be just a smidge happier. Take my wood cut offs too, whilst your at it, and I’d be even happier still.
Making room in the shed isn’t really a high priority, but it doesn’t need to become the new dumping grounds, now that I am trying to tame the basement, cold storage room, laundry / furnace room, and all of the basement closets, and the garage too. I do realize I have to keep some space for random overflow junk, but I’d like to keep that to a minimum, as it grows, spreads, and encroaches on all of our living spaces, once I do start to make allowances for things like that. One garbage bag of clothes becomes seven, and a small box becomes a refrigerator box full of stuff, on and on it grows, and morphs! Suddenly old broken toys get stacked up on a shelf, or on the floor by the shelves, and then the next birthday comes, and Christmas, and my kids want to keep ALL of the Amazon/toy boxes, and wrappers, ribbons, cards, and bags. Then I’m right back where I started, feeling closed in on by the house. Dreaming about the spring time purge, and driving around town dropping off donation boxes worth of stuff here, there and everywhere that will accept it. It never ends.
Having the Christmas tree up in the house brings into stark relief just how little room we have for even one extra bit of furniture, or oversized toy, or random “thing” inside the house. The dogs kennel sits in the front hall as we have nowhere else to put it. That has a significant footprint. We could go a size or two smaller, but I like that the doggo can turn around, lie down, and stretch out comfortably inside it as he gets closer to full size. He’s 10 months old, plus a few weeks, so he will be homing in on a final form soon enough.
I should start to see a few Christmas presents arrive in the next week or two. Gift cards, and experiences are the name of the game this year. I’ll have to hide items from prying eyes. I have a snooper or two here in the house constantly eavesdropping, and hunting for clues. Whilst I love the Christmas spirit, I could do without the subterfuge.
I’m still in shock that my wife went and bought the new car, after we only chatted about it once or twice. I thought we were getting quotes, and finding out numbers based on down payments, financing versus leasing, and all that kind of thing. I’m glad for a new working vehicle as the van is in rough shape. I’m just kinda shocked is all. C’est la vie! Needed a good cleaning out anyway. Trading it in is as good a reason as any. Happy pre-Black Friday Tuesday to you. I think next Wednesday is American Thanksgiving, so that could potentially be a quieter work week. Maybe. Ciao Bella!
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