RVing

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Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Well, I start a full-time job as a cashier at a gas station on Tuesday. It’s five minutes from home on foot.

Sounds great, right?

Let’s just say that minimum wage in BC, an absurd eight dollars an hour, only pays the bills. And I have to start at 5:30AM for at least one training session. I tend to go to bed at 3AM when I’m following my circadian clock, so I expect to be rather groggy on Tuesday. There’s no way I’ll be able to get myself on an 9PM bedtime routine by tomorrow night!

I’m thrilled that I’ll have money coming in this month, but I’m still looking for something that will pay a living wage. I cannot believe that there are people in BC who make only eight dollars an hour. I can’t remember the last time I only made eight dollars an hour. But beggars can’t be choosers and considering the employment situation in Campbell River, I know I’m very lucky. At least, my fixed expenses are covered. Now, to find the extra income stream to cover renos and all that gas I’ll need to make it back to Dawson in the spring.

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Seawalk-ing

I stayed in yesterday as it just poured and poured and poured, but this afternoon the rain finally stopped and blue sky started to peak from the clouds. I bundled up against a blustery wind and went for a short walk of a couple blocks along the Sea Walk that passes in front of the house.  It’s going to be a great place to go biking and running; my only quibble is that crossing the highway can take forever!

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lighthouse in the distance

lighthouse in the distance

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this boulder is the bane of my existence as it blocks my view

this boulder is the bane of my existence as it blocks my view

blackberries

blackberries

at first, I thought the sea gull was a weather vane!

at first, I thought the sea gull was a weather vane!

I really like this statue

I really like this statue

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Appliance Joy

Here is a stock image of my newest toy. I don’t have room in the rig for it yet so it’s still in the car ( 😀 ):

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No, it’s not a microwave! It’s a DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just cannot believe that I own a Danby counter top dishwasher at this point in my life!!! They are worth about 300$, so I planned to do my renos and get one next winter.  Browsing the For Sale ads on Craigslist this week, I found TWO of these on sale! One was in Campbell River for 120$, which was still too pricey for my current financial situation. But the other one was in Cumberland, 50km away, for 70$. Even counting in gas, the latter one was a bargain that I couldn’t disregard. Since I won’t be buying groceries this week, I put my grocery money towards the Danby. I love it when things work out that way.

It’ll be great doing the renos with the dishwasher in my possession since I won’t have to guess how it would fit in a given space. It would have sucked to create a nook for it that wouldn’t work and have to start all over again. As it is, I think that my original idea was good, but will require some tweaking since the unit is a bit deeper than I expected. I’ve also  been advised that it gets really hot when it’s in the drying cycle. Since I usually just open the door instead of going into the drying cycle, this last bit might not be important, but it’s still useful information. One thing I will have to be careful about is plugging it into a socket that is not on the same circuit as the study as it is a 1260W unit, meaning it’ll draw almost 11A and cannot therefore operate on the same circuit at the same time as the microwave, vacuum cleaner, or printer.

Having had a dishwasher for one year, I know just how radically my life is going to change. I hate washing dishes. It’s the most onerous task in the universe; worse than scrubbing toilets or doing laundry. Being single, I have to do everything around my home. Why not let an inexpensive machine deal with the one thing I resent the most? I know from my experience living with a dishwasher that I’m going to cook more and eat out less. Needless to say, I can’t wait to set it up! The best part is that I have space for it, even if the space doesn’t exist right now. By keeping my rig relatively decluttered, I can, as I wrote in my ebook Sorting It Out, make room for things that matter. Until I find a human dishwasher, the things that matter include a Danby countertop dishwasher. 🙂

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Improving a Bare Room

I have a confession to make: I can’t remember the last time I saw the floor in the toilet room.

It’s crowded in there, with toilet paper stacked on one side, paper towels and kleenex stacked on the other. Today, I took a huge step to making this room prime storage real estate.

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The shelf is at exactly the right height to fit two rolls of toilet paper stacked on top of each other and is still high enough for a tall person to get up comfortably from the toilet.

I went to Home Depot to get some brackets to affix the shelf to the wall. This was my strangest Home Depot visit ever seeing as staff was super helpful! My first stop was to get the door catches for the over fridge cabinet (2.50$ total) and I hadn’t been two minutes in the hardware section that a helpful clerk was directing me to the door aisle. Next stop was braces and after finding what I wanted, I started to look at screws when yet another helpful clerk came to see if I needed help. I didn’t think I did, but this guy was clever and he managed to take me from ‘I’m fine, thanks’ to ‘I’m looking to screw something into motorhome paneling to hold a shelf’ in about thirty seconds. He talked me out of screws and braces and suggested I use an adhesive. So, having a tube of No More Nails at home, I left with my door catches only, having saved about 5$. Finally, I wasn’t even at the cash yet when a cashier waved and told me she could help me. Very, very, very strange. I noticed last year that service out west is better than out east and that seems to be holding!

I’m now giving the glue time to cure before I load the shelf.  I’m not putting anything heavy up there and the shelf is wedged in tightly, so I’m sure that the adhesive will be enough to hold the whole thing up, even under driving conditions. Time will tell.

Total project cost so far is $0.00 seeing as I had the glue and supporting pieces and Croft told me I could help myself to his plywood scraps. 🙂

When I get around to trim, I’ll add some to the front of the shelf to give it a nice finish. Paint will also happen sometime in the near future.

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Weather Forecast

I’ve found Campbell River to be very balmy so far. In fact, I’ve taken two blankets off the bed and am sleeping without socks, something I haven’t done since early September! I just checked the forecast for the next week. Now, I know those things are rather variable, but the lowest low it predicts is PLUS five and the highest high is TWELVE!

Needless to say, I keep reminding myself that Oliver was very mild until early December last year. *cue in horror movie music*