Day: April 6, 2010

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Walmart Shopping Spree

WHEW. I sure made this trip to Walmart worth my while! My cart was overflowing with household goods and groceries by the time I got to the cash. I’d been working on my list for a couple of weeks now and found almost everything. Home Depot will hopefully have the rest, including a grommet kit. I’ll be going there tomorrow to get more trim and will ask about my missing items.

The cashier made my night when he replied “Amazing!” to my “How are you?” I told him I love to meet people who share my zest for life, no matter what job we’re doing. We shared a couple of laughs about his packing skills and lack of adherence to the rules. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun checking out at Walmart!

I’m glad I was able to go to Walmart tonight as planned because my boss asked me to come in to work a full shift today. I had said I would be available on standby (we knew this situation was going to come up), but there’s someone on spring break who was eager for shifts, so I hoped she would go in instead of me and she did! The money I would have made today wouldn’t have been worth losing all that home time. I did offer to go in at about 9:45 to lock up, and this was gratefully accepted. I suspect I will come home and crash after; spending a lot of money at one time always exhausts me. 😀

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Telus Customer Service

I want to be e-billed for my internet account rather than receiving a paper bill or, worse, having the money directly taken from my credit card. The person who effected the change of ownership of the account told me to go to My Telus and register for an online account using my account number, PIN, and postal code.

After putting away my massive Walmart order, I sat down to do the registration process only to discover that I was given an eight digit account number when I needed nine!

Right at the top of the page there was a link for ‘chat support’ for registering online. I decided to try it out. Within seconds, I was connected to a live person. He couldn’t help me out with the account number, but he was still helpful since he gave me the phone number to contact that I would have otherwise had to dig for. I called and within less than a minute I was talking to someone and had the information I needed. I’m impressed!

I am less impressed by the fact that their site is ‘having difficulties’ and that I can’t register. 🙁

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A Shocking Discovery

I’ve begun the study reorganization and was confident I knew what was behind every door of the overhead cabinets. I didn’t. Look at what I just found!

That is a serious amount of empty cabinet space! And I thought I had no ‘out of the way’ place to store extra linens and pillows!

I still can’t figure out how I went from being a packrat jammed into 750 square feet to finding empty cabinets in a 120 square foot RV!

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A New Desk and a Place to Sit

My desk was fine while I was only doing a little work from home, but its lack of ergonomics was starting to get to me. I also learned that the importance of drawers should not be underestimated. So, I started to troll Craigslist for a desk. It had to fit under the window within the bumpout, be reasonably lightweight, have at least three drawers, be cheap, and be attractive enough to not drive me nuts until I got around the refinishing it.

Yesterday, I found it. Perfect doesn’t begin to describe it. It looks like it was a Glendale option for the back room, it so matches the style of the rig!

Don’t mind the rat’s nest of wires, I have a plan for dealing with them. 🙂

I believe this was originally meant to be a child’s desk, judging from the low height of the keyboard tray, which I won’t be using. It was priced at $45, but my offer of $30 was accepted.

I have, for now, put the little bookcase next to the desk, but I’m not sure if it will stay there. I would love to leave it there with the printer on top, but I don’t know yet if I’ll be able to secure the printer. It is so heavy that it has never once moved from its perch on a piece of non-skid material at the end of the bed, but it would be just my luck to have it fall now.

The seller is downsizing to a smaller house and had a lot of things for sale. Something told me to go dig through her garage where I found this:

(I just noticed Neelix scoping out his new sleeping spot, LOL!)

It’s exactly what I was looking for! The chair is of high quality–solid metal joints and covered with genuine leather, but the fabric frame is falling apart and the whole thing looks hideous and worn. I convinced the seller to let me have it for $15, calculating that a can of spray paint and new cloth-backed vinyl would cost me less than $50 (I already have some foam that would be perfect for the padding). I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it pretty or not, but it will be a good project and not too expensive of an experiment. I would probably paint the metal frame dark brown and then recover the chair in blue vinyl.

(Neelix has given the chair his seal of approval!)

Here is photographic proof of why hatchbacks rock:

I got the desk, chair, and stool in the car and still managed to close all the doors. The seller suggested I come back for the chair, but I know that when you get a good deal you should run with it. Someone else could have come by after me and countered with more money.

I have lots of work to do in the study and the new desk is going to help immensely. I will have to secure it first using a few brackets screwed into the wall; all the drawers will need is a simple stick down through the pulls. I have to decide how I’m going to manage my wires and peripherals so that I don’t have to put everything away when I’m stopped and that will most likely involve moving the very badly located plug. I’ve been given instructions on how to do so, but playing with electricity always makes me nervous. 🙂

When I planned the renos for this winter, I would never have thought that I would pull out of Campbell River with all the furnishings and goodies I wanted, so I guess some things are just meant to be!