Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Wifelessness & HungryMan !!!

...dropped Debbie off at the airport and as the saying goes, she left for Africa just as if she were in her right mind :) A year ago she went on a similar exploit, and I know she will be a big help to anyone who's path she crosses. 10 of them will be involved in a building project in Uganda with a Watoto Children's orphanage. Needless to say, I'm extremely proud of her. So myself and the boys will take advantage of the "ahem" lack of restraint if you will. First things first, we needed to stock up on some "quick and easy" food. Atlantic Superstore to the rescue with their Swanson Hungryman Turkey Dinners on sale for $1.88. Not bad for a 500 calorie snack containing one third of your recommended daily saturated fat...of course the closest Superstore only had one left, so I had to drive another 10 minutes or so. Then I figured I might as well buy the last 14 they had in stock. Upon returning home, I discovered that the lone one had already been eaten...


We also stocked up on some other staples: PopTarts, Blue Corn Nacho Chips, Toaster Strudels, Pizza, as well as less important things like milk, orange juice, apple juice, cereal, bread...


And then there were two...

Yeah...we now have two teenagers to remind us that we're getting old  :) James turned 13 earlier this month. He took his youthful vengance out on the likes of KartBahn. Lucky for me one of the guests was sick, so I got to drive a go-kart. Lots of fun for sure. Happy Birthday Pal !!


 

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Decluttering, Week 3

This is proving to be quite an undertaking, and I'm going to have to go the way of miserly itemizing things in order to keep up. Ok, this week we got lucky, since someone called alerting us of a family just moving to Halifax, and in need of basics etc.

  1. Bath Towels
  2. Fleece Blankets
  3. Comforter
  4. Canister Set
  5. Tablecloth
  6. Soup Mug
  7. Rescue Heroes Robot
  8. 2 grocery bags full of Rescue Heroes (& stuff) [to my little buddy Monei]
  9. 3 stacks of old computer magazines, recycling @curb (more to come)
  10. Old SCSI CD-ROM drive (don't ask).
 There you have it. Ten more things gone. To give you an idea of my pack-rat disposition, the computer magazines (#9) had covers with proclamations like "The new 486sx chip", "4x CD-ROMs" etc.

Brisebois retires, last of an era ?

With the retirement of Patrice Brisebois, and the recent departure of Mathieu Schneider, that leaves no players from the 1993 cup-winning Canadiens, unless you count Kirk Muller, who's behind the bench as assistant coach.
Time marches on...Oh well, there's always this year  :)

Blogging = Fad ?

It seems that more and more, I'm noticing that many of the Blogs I enjoyed reading are vanishing. The usual reason given is "I don't have time". This of course is a good thing in a way, for there's not much "health" to be realized from sitting in front of one of these goon-boxes for any extended period. Remember the old de-motivational poster on Blogging: never before have so many with so little to say said so much to so few.
I guess it's obvious that I enjoy this foolishness, or I wouldn't be at it. This post ponders the question, Is Blogging a fad? What do you think? Of course, I don't consider this to be a "Blog" in the pure sense, but more of a "site" with photos and other stuff that hopefully is of interest to family and friends, but maybe nobody reads  :(

Friday, September 18, 2009

Muppet Cloning...

OK it's time for a Friday Funny. The Muppet Show ran from 1976 to 1981, my "informative years".
No wonder my chances at normality are somewhat er...limited...
Go Beaker...

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Decluttering, Week 2

...hard to believe that another week has gone by. Since garbage day is every 2nd Friday, I may have to cheat a bit, and say "garbage", knowing it will go in a pile until next Friday. So, what are we ridding ourselves of this week:
  1. 2 garbage bags of clothes, gone to charity
  2. 2 grocery bags full of school supplies, gone to charity
  3. 50 or so old DC6150 computer tape backups, 10-15 years old. [tar -xvf ] :) (interesting that these tapes fill a plastic milk crate, but the contents of them all combined will fit on the tiny memory card in my Blackberry).
  4. Set of 4 Cordless Phones, VTech junk, less than a year old, warranty ??
  5. 2 Canon Ink-jet Printers, recycle / garbage.
  6. Old P3 700mhz computer (2001), recycle / garbage.
  7. another old P3 computer/tower, recycle / garbage.
  8. Old DVD Player (2001), recycle / garbage.
  9. 2 old sleeping bags, garbage
  10. old wooden chair, headed for the kindling pile.
That is actually quite a load, easily more than 10 things if I wanted to get picky :)
This is fun :)

UPDATE: We took the cordless phones back to Canadian Tire and they replaced them with a new set. (We got them at Christmas, and even in my clutter, I found the invoice).

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Friday, September 11, 2009

Decluttering, Week 1

Carrying on from my earlier decluttering rant, I have decided to copy the 10 things challenge from Simple Organized Life. Simply put, get rid of 10 things every week. To get an easy start, I'm going to cheat a bit and include some things that left us from last Saturday's Yard Sale. Here goes, and I like to start "large":
  1. 1991 Chevy Astro Van (gave it to a friend last night)
  2. Surplus car battery, went with number 1 above (cheating a little, I know)
  3. Sofa from basement rec-room (old 3-legger, out in today's garbage)
  4. Drum Set (put out with the garbage, snatched up by someone while I blinked)
  5. Combination Air-Hockey / Foosball Table (gone in yard sale)
  6. JobMate Laser Level (yard sale)
  7. SportRack 3-bike carrier (yard sale)
  8. Large Suitcase (yard sale)
  9. New (extra) circular saw blades (yard sale)
  10. Carload of clothes, skates etc that did not sell in yard sale (to Value Village)
So there. As they say; the first one is always free/easy. Let's see what I can report next week. Now that I have written this, I'm beginning to see real value in this silly exercise. Imagine the difference getting rid of the above makes in the available space. I think I'm hooked...

Thursday, September 10, 2009

How much is enough ?

For some time now, I've been enamored with the whole "Small House" movement. Economic forecasts and realities, energy costs, and my own propensity to accumulate stuff all cause me to question the need for a larger home. Perhaps the fact that seven of us grew up in a story and a half home that was pretty tiny by today's standards is adding to the wonder. It was certainly less than 1000 square feet in total, with no basement. By contrast, our present small home for just 4 of us weighs it at about 2200 square feet, if I include the basement and finished attic/loft space. Most folk refer to our place as "small". In addition, I have a 16x24 single garage (384sq ft), and a 10x32 lean-to/carport for additional covered storage. We had two yard sales this past summer, but the clutter is still an issue. 4 vehicles certainly don't help the matter, but hopefully that will soon change.
Like most, I'll need a basis for any real change. I'd like to base it all on the Biblical principle that Godliness with contentment is great gain, but even though I don't consider myself discontent, I do find myself falling short in the Godliness department. Nonetheless, like many others, I must press on. Environmental footprints aside, like Valdy I covet the Simple Life. however, my gadget lust tends to be at war with my desire to simplify and declutter. I read an interesting article recently on the staggering amount of rented storage space that exists. Read up on it here. It's amazing the amount of money that is being spent monthly to store paperback books, furniture etc.
Also, a good article below about down-sizing your household...
When Home Shrinks - NYTimes.com
All interesting stuff, but I need not wait for the next bestseller or guru in order to learn the truth. Jesus revealed the importance of this when he said "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Why did he say "all kinds of greed"? Likely because there indeed ARE "all kinds" of greed; even that kind that comes disguised as "I'm just providing for my family". So, back to my original question; How much is enough? Here's my answer: 500 square feet per person ought to be plenty. of space. That should include your share of everything, maybe except storage space. On that note, I MUST begin to declutter...perhaps I'll record my progress here. How 'bout you?

IVECO...

 This beauty has been roaming around Central Newfoundland lately. I just grabbed some photos of it for fun...

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