Homemaking

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Still Doing Laundry By Hand

I’ve been doing my laundry by hand with my Wonderwash since I moved into the apartment.  I got a lot of concessions and perks when I agreed to spend the winter here, but free laundry wasn’t one of them.

Doing the laundry with the Wonderwash is no hardship. It takes about 30 minutes start to finish (not all in a row since I always allow a bit of time for soaking) to get a couple of loads done with it. Moreover, I was also able to pick up Donna’s spin dryer when I was visiting last weekend (thanks!!!), so I don’t have to wring out everything. Even jeans dry in record time (about a day; it’s been damp and too warm for putting the heat on).

I have tons of space in the apartment for placing the drying rack and hanging things. When I do towels and sheets tomorrow, I will put the drying rack on the balcony so that everything will dry in a couple of hours.

The gift of the Wonderwash could really have gone both ways. It could have been a useless space hog, but I have really made it work for the space it takes in my shower. I think it really is a must-have tool for the frugal RVer who doesn’t want to feed quarters or loonies into laundromats. Of course, I have gone for very long stretches on the road where laundry was free, but I have also had some periods where it wasn’t. In those periods, I would say I have done my laundry by hand 75% of the time. So laundry really isn’t a major line-item in my budget.

 

 

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This and That

It’s been a busy week and I’ll definitely be putting in a couple of hours this weekend. Work is still going great!

Jody can attest to the fact that the apartment is definitely looking lived in. I keep bringing in things that I need (tonight it was the breadmaker). Moving out is going to be a lot of work! I’m still not that comfortable living here. The noisy fridge is a pain and I don’t like that people in the hallway can hear what I’m doing. My maintenance guy gave me some weather stripping to put between the door frame and the door as well as a door-sweep for the bottom. I installed them this afternoon (he’s got enough to do!) and noticed quite an improvement. You can still hear things outside, but the sounds are muffled. I have the second worst designed apartment layout; most of the others have an L-shaped hallway with the living room way at the back so there’s a ton of privacy. My hallway goes straight into the living room area.

One of my tenants came to let me know that one of his buddies is interested in buying Miranda. I let him know that MY RIG IS NOT FOR SALE!!!!!! She’s irreplaceable!!!!!!!!!! And priceless!!!!!!!! I went in Miranda this evening and had to leave quickly; I miss my home so much. 🙁 But I have almost a full month done of the six before I can go back.

The weather is still gorgeous with today being on the cold side of chilly. The sun is glorious! I still haven’t plugged in Miranda since I still don’t have enough extension cord, but I got good news: maintenance has been needing an outside plug near where Miranda is parked and it’s going in by early next week! I’ll only need one extension cord to reach it. Yay! Once I have heat inside, I’ll be able to set aside some time and budget for painting and fall cleaning. The weather has not been cold enough yet for me to be uncomfortable with there not being any heat inside.

That’s the latest scoop in Raeland!

 

 

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The Amazing Bottomless Tote

This afternoon, I decided to pull the ‘cold weather gear’ tote out from the basement of the rig. By this point, I had no idea what was in it. I vaguely remember doing a huge cold weather gear purge and consolidation back in Campbell River and the contents of the tote were a mystery.

Behold:

cold weather gear

There’s several warm skirts in there, gloves, mitts, hats, a full-length reasonably dressy coat, a snow suit, and another four-season versatile activity coat. That last one made me groan. I worked so hard to find a fleece coat for hiking the Chilkoot Trail and I had one all along! This neat coat uses a fleece coat as the liner, so you get three coats in one. It was my winter coat back when I lived in Lindsay, Ontario, from 2000 to 2002. I can’t believe I a) still have it, and b) forgot about it!

But the real find was that skirt on top, the plum and brown one with ribbons. I love that skirt, used to get so many compliments on it, and thought I gave it up for my nomadic existence. Now, if it’ll only get cold enough for me to pull it on! 🙂

As it ends up, I really won’t have to buy that much to be comfortable this winter. I need a bunch of tights and leggings and a few button down sweaters in neutral colours to layer over my long-sleeved cotton tops. I have a really cozy and cute pair of winter boots I bought for super cheap ($10!) in Omak last fall and I have to see if I can water proof them. If not, I also need a pair of warm boots.

I’m really impressed by how much I was able to stuff into that tote (needless to say, most of it needs ironing), and I think that I might as well hang on to the clothes since they are accessible but out of the way, and do not use up valuable space I could use for something else.

In other news, my boy has a new favourite place to hang out. If anyone can explain this picture to me, I will be very grateful:

Neelix chillin’ in the tub

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Feeling Claustrophobic

It’s amazing how, in three years of living in an RV, I have never felt claustrophobic. Miranda’s layout with its many rooms and areas makes her feel very spacious. This apartment, with one giant room for living, feels much smaller. It is unpleasant to have to sleep in the same room as the computer, cook with a toilet almost right by the stove, and stare at the front door while working on the computer.

While I am enjoying my three-flight commute to work, I am less enjoying the gauntlet I have to go through to get outside to my car. To be fair, my neighbours just say hello, but there are times I’d just like to be able to go for a walk without having to talk to anyone.

Complaining aside, there are advantages to being here, such as the aforementioned commute, having so many things to walk to, and not having to deal with holding tanks!

To mitigate the claustrophobia somewhat, I am taking half of Friday off so that I can drive to Cranbrook to visit with Ken and Donna this weekend! It’ll be nice to get out of town and drive that familiar route on my own for the first time.

I am really enjoying the October weather in southern Alberta. It is crisp, cool, and very sunny. The weather forecast for the next week indicates more of the same so I have plenty of time to finish off Miranda’s winterizing preparations, although all the crucial stuff has been done. I just wanted to give her a really good scrubbing and vacuum now that the cats aren’t in there so I can have a nice fresh home to return to in the spring.

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Sunday Brunch

The weekday time I have gained through the loss of my flier routes and commutes has slowly trickled into weekend time. This was the first Sunday morning in a very, very long time that I had the time to make my favourite Sunday brunch:

pita (I was out of sliced bread), scrambled tofu, sausage, tomato, coffee

I had a full day of work to do this weekend and stretched it out over two days. So I got up this morning, did an hour of work, then stopped for brunch. What a lovely way to define today as being about having a freedom of choice in how I parcel out my time. I’m not sure I’m even going to get out of my pajamas today. 😀