Like my new floors, new desk and filing cabinet, my new end tables fit right into the decor:
I’m glad that I have been patient in adding the new furnishings to the rig. The end result might not look much like an RV anymore, but neither does it look like a crazy quilt of bargains!
The vacuum JUST barely fits into this one!
The more I live in my ‘new’ rig, the more I find that the library is missing some storage. It’s just too open and stuff gets piled up in it. I’ve been keeping my eye out for a low lying piece of furniture to put right by the front door. I thought of a credenza, dresser, or storage bench, but also liked the idea of two end tables to keep the storage configuration flexible.
Earlier this week, I spotted two free ‘oak’ end tables on Kijijiji and quickly offered the owner $10 if she’d keep them for me till today. She did and I drove east to Coaldale (10 minutes from the north end of Lethbridge or 20 minutes from home) to pick them up.
The reason she was giving them away is that one of them was the victim of a candle fire and the top is ruined.
I had second thoughts about bringing these home when I saw that they were being stored in a basement. They are made of particle board and definitely have the ‘old basement’ smell. But they have so many nice features that I decided to take a chance:
extra surface (I have some lovely contact paper to cover it!)
cavernous storage with a handy door caddy
I am going to leave them out in the sun for a few days (after having cleaned them).
If they still smell after, I’ll give them a couple of coats of verathane.
I have some ideas for how I’m going to make up for the burned top, but I think the easiest thing would be to make a padded cover for it. The top has a lip that could hold an elasticized cover. Part of the point of getting the storage unit is to get a place for the kitties to lounge in the sun, so I would have added a cushion regardless.
I love the Lethbridge Safeway!!!
I have never in all my life shopping in Canadian groceries stores, a regular occurrence since I was about eight, encountered a grocery store that offers so many great deals on nearly expired and scratch & dent products. I didn’t start by going to the Lethbridge Safeway since my experience with the chain in BC was that it was much more expensive than Save-on-Foods. But there’s one located right near home and it just made sense to go there. I got the members card and make a point to only buy things that are on sale or for which the members discount applies.
But the thing that has made me fall in love with this grocery store is the half-price dairy section! I’ve never seen a dedicated half-price dairy section before! I get shaky as I start to approach it, wondering what fantastic deal I’m going to get on yoghurt that day (yes, I really love yoghurt. 🙂 ) They oftentimes have cheese, too. I didn’t like the yoghurt offerings today, but I got a huge hunk of a nice old cheddar for half off. Half of it will go into the freezer.
Today, I also found other surprises and have made a note to go back to the store next Sunday morning to see if this is a habitual occurrence. There was a huge rack of half-off bakery, most of which was fresh and only discounted because it was smooshed. I filled the freezer with really nice bread for just $3; at that price it’s not worth making my own! Most of it was whole or multi-grain sliced bread, but at 50 cents each, it was worth grabbing several bags of really soft, buttery dinner rolls.
Finally, after weeks of nearly fainting at the chicken prices, I found some that needed to be sold by tomorrow on sale for 30% off. I’m on a tight budget so I didn’t fill the freezer, but I did get two breasts, one for dinner tonight, one for the freezer. After at least a week on lentils, it sure was nice to have chicken tonight. I can’t believe I used to be a vegetarian!
Since I started going to the Safeway here, I have not paid full-price for groceries and have been able to eat very well for very little money, just like in the U.S. I just wish their produce was nicer. That said, I’m off to enjoy a juicy-looking 99 cent mango. 😀
Jody told me not to be shy if I need anything since she and Gary are decluttering. So, when I got tired of tripping over my step ladder and found the perfect place to store it, I asked Jody if she might have some eye hooks or another option for hanging the ladder.
She came up with the perfect thing! They’re padded hooks so the ladder fits snugly in them and won’t rattle around when I drive.
I’m hanging the ladder in the library on the passenger side under the loft (and behind the arm chair). I removed the soft padding that was there and screwed the hooks into the new loft floor. I have some (lots) of touch ups of yellow to do, so I’ll add this wall to the list and make it look a bit prettier now that the padding is gone. But it’s not a huge priority since with the curtain you can’t even see the wall.
Yay, no more tripping over a ladder that annoys me to no end until the couple of times a year that I really need it an am grateful for it. 😀
In February, when I moved to Blaine and had the coffee shop nearby, I thought it would be good to bring my travel mug with me instead of using a disposable cup. But I couldn’t find the travel mug; it wasn’t anywhere in the kitchen and I wondered if I’d left it somewhere.
For the next few months, getting a new travel mug was at the back of my mind. Just a niggle. And I couldn’t help but wonder about the fate of my travel mug, that good Thermos-brand one I bought for the Chilkoot trip. But I never thought about it at a moment when I had time to think about the last time I remembered seeing it.
Last night, being unable to sleep, I decided to raid the cupboards one last time even though I’d just recently gone through them. All I could find was the stainless steel non-travel mug with tea strainer that I had bought in Inuvik.
Waitaminute.
Inuvik.
Where I purchased the stainless steel mug with strainer because I’d bought a bunch of strong teas and didn’t like how they transferred their taste to my travel mug.
The light bulb that went on was as bright as the bat signal! I suddenly knew exactly where my travel mug was!
I grabbed a shawl and raced outside, never mind the rain and darkness. I opened up the driver’s side rear pass-through door, pulled out the water hose and miscellaneous hook-up gear plastic drawer, grabbed the tote with the camping supplies, and voilà!
See, if I’d been disorganized, I would have had no idea where the heck I put my camping stuff after I came back from Inuvik. But because that stuff has a home, I was able to put the tote away immediately in the rush of getting back to the madness of my second Klondike summer.
I really do need to get going on my ’empty out the entire basement and inventory it’ project. 😀