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Stuff about Stuff
So far it's been a very good visit, with lots of positive family interaction, plus we really have got my mom much further along with cleaning out the house. But OH MY GAWD does she have a lot of stuff.
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First, the journey down, where I didn't actually depart the house until 12 noon or so, since I kept finding "just one more thing" to do. And then I stopped at Target, because I wanted to try to get an iPod transmitter for the drive down. I ended up with a more expensive one, on the theory that more $$$ would translate into better performance... and for once I seem to have been right, this one shows you what number the transmitter is sending, and you tune the car radio to that, and the sound I got was very very good -- so whoo hoo on that.
And then when I got onto the Mass Pike, I remembered that I hadn't done anything about my Fastlane transponder needing the velcro stickies to be mounted on the windshied of my new car. The device lets you go through the tolls with the $$$ deducted automatically from your account, so I kept looking as I drove, since the Fastlane organization used to set up shop in one or more of the service areas along the way -- that's where I got this one in the first place, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sartorias and I were headed out to Old Sturbridge Village far too many years ago.
But now it turns out that their office is located in the far reaches of an office park right off of Exit 10 -- literally, I think you drive for like half a mile to reach it. And I got there, went up to the locked door and discovered that it closed at 2, and I was there at 2:06. I headed back to my car, and then decided to take a chance, went back, tapped on the class and gestured at the back of the transponder wehre the Velcro strips are supposed to attach.
Wonder of wonders, one of the people inside waved at me, grabbed his keys and came out to the door -- with the Velcro stickies in his hand. He was apologetic, because they do turn off the computers at 2, but the one thing they can still do is hand out the replacement stickies. I thanked him profusely and left, with much of my faith in humanity renewed....
The drive down was enhanced by both of these happenings -- the iPod music and the Fastlane transponder, because at least in the MA leg of the trip, the rain was intermittently monsoonish. In fact it wasn't almost to Hartford until it let up permanently. In the meantime, I played with the settings on my windshield wipers and cruise control. I felt very safe and comfortable in my car and felt very much that I have made a good buy.
Not much to say about Saturday night -- Mom was glad to see me, a bit upset by all the decisions she has to make about what to keep and what to toss, annoyed at the size of the dumpster in her driveway (it is an industrial-strength one, almost city bus-size) making it hard to park, and declaring occasionally that she'd just rather die than have to go through all of the fuss of moving. In other words, in a small State.
But I drove her out to get some take out, so she got to see the new car, and we ate with her Friend-In-Residence Ann, and she calmed down a bit, and thus I ended up going to bed early instead of getting online, which was really a good decision, I think, as Sunday was booked to be busy.
And busy it was -- my aunt and uncle showed up 10-ish, and we got to work. You have NO IDEA how much stuff (not really crap, but STUFF like old vases and bedspreads and down jackets and can openers and sports equipment and chairs in need of new caning and bird feeders and old Prevention magazines and Sidney Sheldon novels and dressers and console TVs (non-working and in one case without the TV parts) that can accumulate in 55 years in one place. And that was just the garage and the cellar... there's still stuff down there, and more in the attic.
The damn big dumpster? Is nearly 3/4 full. The garage is filled with garage sale possibilities and there's a room in the basement filled with perfectly good furniture in need of a home.
Also along for the work party today was the guy part of the couple who are contracted to buy the house -- he pitched in right along with the family, and was really very generally helpful. The wife and little boy (a very cute 3.5) also stopped by briefly to say hi. You know, I think this is really helping my Mom, who can picture them taking over and enjoying the house, so it's not like she resents the thought of giving it up so very much. That it's to nice people for whom it is going to be a First House (the way it was for her) is such a very sweet thing.
Me, I got the big wooden pedestal table -- the one that is at least a hundred years old and still going strong -- disassembled enough to go in the back of my car, which fit actually much better than I had hoped. I've also 'inherited' a couple of other things, including the in-window bird feeder, which is like the greatesting thing ever for Feline Amusement, since they can see the birds without the birds being able to See Them.
By five we were all so exhausted that I doubt we could have chucked anohter thing. But there are vast swathes of open area in the basement, some of the furniture there is now officially Spoken For.
I think I must have been up and down stairs -- down to the cellar, up into the attic, several dozens of times, not to mention the carrying, and the pitching things into the dumpster. It was definitely quite the workout, even if I didn't get to yoga this weekend -- tomorrow if I get back early enough to Somerville, I'll try to get to the 5:30 Basics class, which may just be overkill on the exercize, really.
In between the activity, I got some nice time with most of the family. The big missing person was my brother John, who is still struggling with his recovery, and I think also is just as loath to throw things out as my Mom, so I guess he doesn't want to join in on the "fun" since it would bring up a lot of issues for him. But I got time with my sisters-in-law, 4/5ths of the nephews and niece (including the 19yo, who came down from freshman year at college for this), my Mom, her friend Ann, and my aunt and uncle.
And tomorrow, the big drive home, this time not in rain at all, which should be even faster and easier....
[Unknown site tag]
First, the journey down, where I didn't actually depart the house until 12 noon or so, since I kept finding "just one more thing" to do. And then I stopped at Target, because I wanted to try to get an iPod transmitter for the drive down. I ended up with a more expensive one, on the theory that more $$$ would translate into better performance... and for once I seem to have been right, this one shows you what number the transmitter is sending, and you tune the car radio to that, and the sound I got was very very good -- so whoo hoo on that.
And then when I got onto the Mass Pike, I remembered that I hadn't done anything about my Fastlane transponder needing the velcro stickies to be mounted on the windshied of my new car. The device lets you go through the tolls with the $$$ deducted automatically from your account, so I kept looking as I drove, since the Fastlane organization used to set up shop in one or more of the service areas along the way -- that's where I got this one in the first place, as
sartorias and I were headed out to Old Sturbridge Village far too many years ago.But now it turns out that their office is located in the far reaches of an office park right off of Exit 10 -- literally, I think you drive for like half a mile to reach it. And I got there, went up to the locked door and discovered that it closed at 2, and I was there at 2:06. I headed back to my car, and then decided to take a chance, went back, tapped on the class and gestured at the back of the transponder wehre the Velcro strips are supposed to attach.
Wonder of wonders, one of the people inside waved at me, grabbed his keys and came out to the door -- with the Velcro stickies in his hand. He was apologetic, because they do turn off the computers at 2, but the one thing they can still do is hand out the replacement stickies. I thanked him profusely and left, with much of my faith in humanity renewed....
The drive down was enhanced by both of these happenings -- the iPod music and the Fastlane transponder, because at least in the MA leg of the trip, the rain was intermittently monsoonish. In fact it wasn't almost to Hartford until it let up permanently. In the meantime, I played with the settings on my windshield wipers and cruise control. I felt very safe and comfortable in my car and felt very much that I have made a good buy.
Not much to say about Saturday night -- Mom was glad to see me, a bit upset by all the decisions she has to make about what to keep and what to toss, annoyed at the size of the dumpster in her driveway (it is an industrial-strength one, almost city bus-size) making it hard to park, and declaring occasionally that she'd just rather die than have to go through all of the fuss of moving. In other words, in a small State.
But I drove her out to get some take out, so she got to see the new car, and we ate with her Friend-In-Residence Ann, and she calmed down a bit, and thus I ended up going to bed early instead of getting online, which was really a good decision, I think, as Sunday was booked to be busy.
And busy it was -- my aunt and uncle showed up 10-ish, and we got to work. You have NO IDEA how much stuff (not really crap, but STUFF like old vases and bedspreads and down jackets and can openers and sports equipment and chairs in need of new caning and bird feeders and old Prevention magazines and Sidney Sheldon novels and dressers and console TVs (non-working and in one case without the TV parts) that can accumulate in 55 years in one place. And that was just the garage and the cellar... there's still stuff down there, and more in the attic.
The damn big dumpster? Is nearly 3/4 full. The garage is filled with garage sale possibilities and there's a room in the basement filled with perfectly good furniture in need of a home.
Also along for the work party today was the guy part of the couple who are contracted to buy the house -- he pitched in right along with the family, and was really very generally helpful. The wife and little boy (a very cute 3.5) also stopped by briefly to say hi. You know, I think this is really helping my Mom, who can picture them taking over and enjoying the house, so it's not like she resents the thought of giving it up so very much. That it's to nice people for whom it is going to be a First House (the way it was for her) is such a very sweet thing.
Me, I got the big wooden pedestal table -- the one that is at least a hundred years old and still going strong -- disassembled enough to go in the back of my car, which fit actually much better than I had hoped. I've also 'inherited' a couple of other things, including the in-window bird feeder, which is like the greatesting thing ever for Feline Amusement, since they can see the birds without the birds being able to See Them.
By five we were all so exhausted that I doubt we could have chucked anohter thing. But there are vast swathes of open area in the basement, some of the furniture there is now officially Spoken For.
I think I must have been up and down stairs -- down to the cellar, up into the attic, several dozens of times, not to mention the carrying, and the pitching things into the dumpster. It was definitely quite the workout, even if I didn't get to yoga this weekend -- tomorrow if I get back early enough to Somerville, I'll try to get to the 5:30 Basics class, which may just be overkill on the exercize, really.
In between the activity, I got some nice time with most of the family. The big missing person was my brother John, who is still struggling with his recovery, and I think also is just as loath to throw things out as my Mom, so I guess he doesn't want to join in on the "fun" since it would bring up a lot of issues for him. But I got time with my sisters-in-law, 4/5ths of the nephews and niece (including the 19yo, who came down from freshman year at college for this), my Mom, her friend Ann, and my aunt and uncle.
And tomorrow, the big drive home, this time not in rain at all, which should be even faster and easier....
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Next time, definitely more time for some real exploring!
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If you're absolutely set on a garage sale, go for it but if your goal is to just get rid of stuff, call the Salvation Army or Volunteers of America and have them come and pick up the whole lot and then have your mom take it off as a deduction on her taxes. (Keep a detailed list of what you're donating and get a list from the receiver for how much the items are worth, and be sure to get a receipt.)
The dollar amount gained will probably be about the same and the time saved... whooo, lordy.
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I have one that works on a cassette deck and it works OK, but I'm not sure if the niece's car has a cassette deck. Besides, the one I have is probably oh-so-totally uncool, like it's a model used by middle-aged people or something.
FM Transmitter
Here is the one I got, the DLO Transpod FM by HP (http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=2-3/qid=1129649315/ref=sr_2_3/602-0053057-3627045?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B0001FV30K)
For what it's worth, I was pretty pleased with it -- I never had to change the station (I went with 87.9, which is the lowest possible on the FM band) and never more than a few moments of static like two or three times. I really really hate static (it makes me twitchy and I have hearing issues) so you know if I'm not noticing it, it's hardly there.
Re: FM Transmitter
It's a little pricey, but think of how grateful our niece will be! She might even make eye contact with us for up to three seconds, and mumble something that might be interprented to mean thankyou.
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It sounds as though you had a pleasantly productive, if tiring, weekend. And yay! to the music and velcro happiness part of the weekend.
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It's like an open adoption.
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It'd be hard enough to clean out our house, and neither of us KEEPS stuff. And we have nowhere to store it.
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Yes, I have gotten rid of a few things thru Freecycle. Terrific thing, tho almost everyone is asking for either moving supplies or computers.
Oh, and I may have close to 15,000 books. Gasp