Briefcase

After two major moves, one from Ontario to the Vancouver area and the other just within the lower mainland, I finally found my briefcase. It, along with many other things, had been packed away by the movers in Ontario in September 2005. Luckily there wasn't anything that I needed immediately, just school documents and the like, but its been after my stuff came out of storage that I found it. When I moved into the place I had been living at in Surrey, I spent a year looking for one of the legs on the living room sofa, didn't find it, so auctioned off some of the living room furniture, some china and stuff and got rid of it. I found the leg I'd been looking for: in a box with china (that box had been in the recreation room, or rec room as its said for short, far enough away from the living room of the time). That was about two weeks ago or so. There was no breakage with the most recent mover but I can't say the same for the first move! You could probably tell me some stories of your own regarding moves and movers!

Weatherwise, it was a mix of sun and cloud today, not as warm as last week but still nice. There is some rain in the forecast for this week but I haven't seen any yet. If the long-range weather forcast is correct (don't hold your breath just yet), we're expecting better weather this coming weekend that we've had for a while. All the better to get that camera out and take some awesome pics. I'll post the first of the spring flowers here. The end of February can see some blooms emerging but my trusty camera will reveal the wonders of nature in due time!

Meantime, its back to unpacking and sorting what's left, what hasn't gone to the auctioneer plus I've got a new lamp to assemble, a lamp I bought at Ikea some months ago and didn't get around to assembling. Have a great week!

Apartment Pics

Things are shaping up well in the apartment as the unpacking continues. Its great to be able to sleep in a comfortable bed (double) once again, though this one needs to be made. I leave the sheets as you see them during the day so they can air out and then make the bed later.

The living room looks a lot less like a storage room now that many of the items nolonger needed have been taken to auction. That still leaves books and such to sort through. What's not needed there has its own destination.

Above is a view of the kitchen from the dining area. Once the dining cabinet is fixed up, the counter space will free up considerably. Below is a view of the cabinet (leftside & rightside) before these repairs begin. Its very sturdy, and very heavy! Now its off to the kitchen to make potato pancakes ("Kartoffelpuffer") once again with the left overs going into work tomorrow and Tuesday. Hope you're having a great Sunday!

Setting up

Today, I finally got around to removing the glass table top from the crate it was housed in during storage and onto the table its supposed to be on. I found the table cloth and a couple of placemats plus a glass bowl to dress it up a bit. The colour scheme on the walls is a bit drab for my taste but has to do for a while until I can dress up the walls a bit with some pictures. The dining cabinet isn't loaded yet since a leg on the base needs to be re-glued. I'll have to get someone to help me remove the large upper piece first so I can turn the base over to re-glue the leg. When that's dry, then its a matter of turning the lower piece upright and then placing the larger piece on top followed by installing the glass shelves and doors. Only then can I load the cabinet with china and glasses. My father designed and built that cabinet back in 1958-59 in the early years in Canada after emigrating from Germany, so the piece has some sentimental value to it eventhough it does need a bit of refinishing to make it look like new.

The dining set has been around since the early 1970s when my parents bought it for the new house they had just purchased a few years earlier. My mother, a pisces, loved the colour violet! By the way, my father was a gemini, my younger brother a capricorn and me, a leo. This made for an interesting household!

After removing the glass top and setting up the table, I collected the recycle material to take outside along with the crate. Since I don't have a crowbar, I used a hammer/large chisel combination to lift the particle board on the one side of the crate and then the claw on the hammer to remove the nails one by one but it worked though slowly. Inside I found paper matting covering the glass top and a couple of pads/blankets cushioning that. The movers should have done all this because the pads/blankets belong to them, not me!

After a supper of perogies (with cheddar) and tea (not very nutritous but it works for now), I got down to downloading these photos I took this evening and reading emails. A vegetable stew with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, garlic and herbs in a vegetable broth is on menu for Sunday. There'll likely be more potato pancakes Sunday as well with liftovers going to work on Monday and Tuesday. Payday is Friday which means the bills get paid and groceries are bought to refill the fridge and cupboard.

We've managed to have some sun today (Saturday), so I hope for the same on Sunday. Next weekend promisses to be even better as spring approaches here on the west coast. Hope you're have a great weekend! Have an awesome Sunday!!!

Progress

I'm making some progress in unpacking and sorting my stuff. The progress is good and about three quarters done. There are just four china barrels, a few mirror pack containing pictures and "mirrors" plus a small assortment of boxes. I hope to have this all done by the weekend and then call the auctioneer to pick up the stuff ready for auction (he holds his auctions on weekends). Once the sale items are out of the apartment, I can get it organized in time for Brad's arrival, well most of it. Its a challenge working that around a full-time job and other duties. However, its nice to have a largely organized kitchen and a real bed to sleep on instead of an airbed or a simple, hard mattress that's supposed to pass for a bed.

A leg on the dining room cabinet came loose, so I will wait with that until Brad arrives so he can help me move the top unit which is too heavy for me to lift alone. Then I'll glue the leg back on, wait for the glue to dry and then set the top unit back in place before loading the cabinet with china and other stuff. The glass top for the dining room table is still packed in a crate, so once the other items are removed by the crew from the auction house, I'll have room to set the crate on the floor and removed the wooden top to get at the glass top inside.

Various items like books and LPs are going to other places for sale where I'll likely get more money for them anyway. Slowly the place will get organized and have a degree of normalcy, what ever that is!

The weather has warmed to above freezing. It should be near 9+ Celsius tomorrow, and much of the snow has melted. Its overcast for the most part but neither snowing nor raining for the moment. The sun does make the odd appearance but not often enough for my liking. Spring flowers start showing as early as February which makes my friends back east just jealous and no fair when they still have snow on the ground.

Anyway, I'll update some later. Right now its time for a shower and some unpacking before heading to bed. Five in the morning comes early enough. More later!