Virginia

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I Wish I Could Get Used To This

Going back to Canada after my current stay in the U.S. is going to be brutal.

My current level of income is enough to do just a tad better than scrape by in Canada, but it allows me to live so well in the U.S. because everything is so much cheaper here.

This evening, I needed to get groceries for the week and fill the truck. Filling my truck in Canada has cost me $80 to $90. Well, I spent $95 dollars this evening and this is what I got for my money:

– dinner at Tokyo Thai (spicy tuna roll to start ($5), then their shrimp pad thai ($12). Total with tip: $21 (Much more expensive than what I normally spend on a meal in the U.S., but that’s only because I rarely get a starter, and this is still CHEAP compared to what I’d pay in Canada! I would say the tuna was worth $10 in Canada, plus another $18 for the pad thai, plus tax and tip, so about $35.)

– groceries for the week at Farm Fresh and Dollar Tree: $25 (mostly just fresh fruits, veggies, meats, and mustards as I have lots of pantry staples right now. This would be about $50 in Canada.)

– 16 gallons of gas (what I consider to be a full tank since the needle is in the red by that point): $49 (This would be about $83 in most of Canada right now.)

Total: $95 (total I would have spent in Canada: $168)

These numbers are not exaggerated. My monthly budget in the U.S. for usual household expenses is about half of that in Canada. That means I can apply the other half of the amount to debt, entertainment, and items I put off buying north of the border because they are cheaper here (which reminds me that I really need to get going on finding some new house batteries!).

I know I’m a guest in this country and that I will need to leave. But I sure wish the U.S. would grant me asylum and let me stay. Pretty please?

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Feeling a Little Blind

My friend and I were both due for an eye exam and new glasses, so today we headed over to the optometrist at the Walmart to have our vision checked. I was very impressed by the office and also the cost ($69 for the basic exam + $10 for the peripheral vision test + $25 for the dilation test), much cheaper than I’d been quoted anywhere in Canada (but I never thought to ask at a Walmart).

I’ve been needing new glasses for ages, but haven’t been due for an exam, so I put off getting replacements as long as I could. Now, I can go ahead and order several pairs at Zenni Optical with my new prescription. I’ve never ordered from them, but several people, including my friend, have, so I feel very comfortable going that route.

My eye health is good and I need an ever so slightly stronger prescription than I’ve been wearing. The doc said that if I wasn’t due for glasses, I could even skip this prescription. So that was good news today!

As for the title of my post, my eyes are still painfully dilated and my vision is ever so blurry. I’m glad I didn’t have to drive home!

Feeling just a tad photo sensitive right now.

Before my appointment, my friend took me to lunch at Panera Bread. WOW! How come I have never been to this chain before?! From now on, if I need wifi and/or an electrical plug in, I will look for a Panera Bread before a McDonalds or Starbucks. The food is tasty, good for you, and inexpensive. I was very impressed!

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I’m Officially Too Old For That S$%@!

Donna has finally posted an update about the setup on her new homestead and a lot of her and Ken’s woes have to do with the weather. Winter has apparently settled in firmly in northern Alberta. Plumbing notwithstanding, they are doing fine.

I just can’t imagine myself fighting through another winter, not in an RV, not in a stick home. I am just done with it all. It’s 20 right now in Suffolk and like yesterday, the heat is off, the windows are open, and I wouldn’t think of putting socks or a sweater on. The forecast promises temps in the high teens to low 20s all week, with sun every day except Wednesday. These are the kinds of temperatures I dreamed of when I was shivering my way through damp BC winters. And I’m not even as far south as I plan to get this winter!

Not having to fight the weather is giving me the energy to do other things and to move beyond survival mode. This is going to be a life changing winter.

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Dealing With Electronic Cables Once and For All

Today’s project came together more easily and wonderfully than I would have thought! I guess I deserve an easy project once in a while. 🙂

Now, I don’t want to get into too much detail about my electronic set up, but the following pictures should give you a general idea of the way I got my electronic cables coraled once and for all!

I started off with another Closetmaid product from Target:

As delivered, the unit was too high for me to comfortably view my monitor. Before I cut it down, I spent some time at Walmart this morning looking for bins that would fill the shelf horizontally and depth-wise, and which would then give me an idea of how much of the legs to cut off. I also cut the second shelf-length-wise to get a front panel for my new shelf.

End result:

The only cables that are now visible are the ones that I absolutely have to plug into my computer.

Behind the front panel are bins that hold my  cables, with one of them being a charging station of sorts:

Now, the only cables running under the desks are the power bar cords.

I felt a little silly today sawing handles off beautiful storage totes then drilling holes in them, but they were the perfect-size containers for my project.

Next step in my office setup is to get an external monitor and then I think my workspace will be as near to perfect as possible!

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New Kitchen Cabinet

I gained a lot of counter space when I removed my dishwasher, but I really didn’t need that much more. What I needed was a cabinet to hold all the stuff that’s normally on the counter and which has no other home. So when I travel, that stuff ends up filling the sink, making using said sink a pain.

The problem was finding a cabinet that would fit into the awkward space between my stove and window. And I only just realised that I forgot to grab a before shot. Doh. This is the best I can do:

I needed something that would be about 12″ wide, about 25″ high, and no more than 12″ deep. It also had to fit around the window valance as I did not want to have to mess it up.

I spent quite a bit of time on the Ikea website then at stores looking at the buildable furniture. I was resigned to making something myself when I found the perfect compromise on the Target website:

This design would allow me to cut down the top part of the cabinet to fit it into the space while still having a good sized cabinet with a door.

Now, I knew that this was going to be a cheap particle board item that wouldn’t age well, but for the price, it was worth having it even for a short while. You can buy this item in a white version in store, but to get the espresso, you have to buy online. I thought the espresso colour would look nicer against my cabinets than attempting to paint white laminate.

Particle board isn’t an easy thing to cut cleanly, but I was able to do an excellent job of it:

The vertical cut isn’t as clean because I started and stopped with the saw while the horizontal cut was made in one motion.

To cut the particle board, I put a layer of tape over the area I wanted to cut, then I used a straight edge and a sharp blade to score through the laminate layer. I then sawed through using my jigsaw and a 10TPI blade. 20TPI is recommended for laminated particle board, but I forgot to grab one last night and the 10TPI did a good enough job.

It took a bit of fussing to get all my pieces cut to fit the hole since nothing was plumb and square. Interestingly enough, the counter I installed is perfectly level while the upper cabinets are not! Go me! 🙂

The area around the valance looks silly:

If I was working with high quality cabinetry (that I would have willingly paid for had I found something the right size), I would have probably cut down the valance and attached the curtain rod to the cabinet. But since this is a vantage point very rarely seen, I will be happy to close the gaps with a little trim.

Once I was happy that all the pieces would fit in the space, I assembled the cabinet, using glue in addition to the screws. I then moved the cabinet into place and mounted it with one bracket screwed into the wall and by screwing the base of the cabinet directly into the counter.

Valance area not withstanding, it looks pretty good!

The cabinet came with a crappy black plastic pull. I used one of my nice pulls that matches the rest of my cabinetry. That involved having to drill new holes into the door but, thankfully, the ends of my pull cover the original holes. I think that pull makes all the difference!

The inside of the cabinet has a moveable shelf. I did not use the top part of the cabinet, so I cut it down to make myself a second shelf in case I ever need it:

If you squint, you can see the roller catch I installed for the door (just below the shelf). The door came with a pretty strong magnet catch, but magnet catches aren’t good enough in an RV. The roller catches have never failed me.

I am going to look for some baskets to fit into the top portion to hold spices. I had thought to put a dowel across to hold whatever, but I don’t think there is enough space to put a dowel and still give me room to pull things in and out. The right baskets will make that space look really nice and hide the awkward valance area.

Everything but the pepper mill fits!

I could move the shelf up a notch to fit in the pepper mill, but then the other items on the top shelf won’t fit. The pepper mill can travel while stored at an angle!

Standing in the entrance looking at the cabinet:

And the ugly side:

I’m not sure yet what I’ll do to cover the hole in the counter (used to be a cup holder). Suggestions?

I’m really pleased with how well this project came together and how much better it looks than I would have expected!

Tomorrow, I am going to use another piece from the same collection to make some improvements in the study.