Lookit me, being all posty ;)

[mousme]

Three days in a row, holy cow!

I am reconciled to not buying the pretty house. The more I thought about that train yard, the less enamoured I got of the idea of living there. I mean, there was a big old CN truck parked in front of my house with a loudspeaker on it. Not fun. I can't see myself living with that five days out of the week for years. Also, the resale value is crap. Not that I'm buying a house in order to sell it again, but it's something I have to keep in mind, since the odds are good that I will move again in my lifetime.

Today got sacrificed to the Migraine Fairy, alas. There was no house hunting planned, and no announced visits to the building either, so at least I was able to sleep unmolested. I took my pills, went back to bed with an ice pack, and three hours later I am better. That was my body's way of telling me that I've been burning the candle at both ends a little too much this week. House hunting on night shift and having people come by means I'm not getting nearly enough sleep.

So today is my day off. Completely. Sleep and food and relaxing is all that's on the menu.

Tomorrow there will be errands and more looking at houses, and Friday I go back to work.

Isn't my life exciting?


Actually, on a related note, I am hoping next week to start a major de-clutter of the place. I need to get rid of a bunch of stuff before I move, including things I haven't used in months/years. I also have paper clutter piling up in all sorts of places. The apartment is functional, and is tidy enough that I feel okay letting people in, but it's not nearly as tidy as I would like it to be.

I also need to roll up my sleeves and tackle the Amazon Rainforest that's grown up in the back yard. It's really appalling, since I haven't had much of a chance to get out there this summer.


:::ETA::: I forgot to click "post." Aren't I clever?

Hey, what do you guys do with old Christmas and birthday cards? I seem to hang onto mine forever, because people have said nice things to me in them. Except that over the years I've accumulated a LOT of them, and I should probably find another use for all that space, but I feel like I'm being a horrible, ungrateful person throwing away the lovely cards people have written. *facepalm*

Comments

[airea-dawn.livejournal.com]

Donate the picture of the cards to a daycare, the kids love them for art! BTW good luck house hunting! Love hearing about it! And i have to agree with you about the CN train!

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Good idea! I will have to find a daycare nearby that wants them. Or, barring that, poll my friends who still have daycare-aged kids. Fewer now than there were. Good idea, thanks!

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

"Give them to friends with small kids" was going to be my suggestion. If you weren't so darn far away, I'd get on the bus and come take them off your hands! My daughter can cut out pictures and glue them in her scrapbook all. Day. Long.

[primrose-1.livejournal.com]

Get a tag punch, and turn the cards into gift tags! I did it one year, and they looked really good! Mostly I keep them for awhile, then throw them away- which is sad because I make my own cards and I really don't want the people who get them to throw them out.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Gift tag? I don't know what that is.

[primrose-1.livejournal.com]

The tag you put on gifts to say who it's for and from. You can get tag punches at any craft store, and simply punch out the tags from your Christmas cards, attach it to your Christmas packages, and voila!

http://www.amazon.com/Mc-Gill-Tag-Punch-Scalloped/dp/B00161N2AC

This punch has tags of two sizes, so you can layer them, one with the Christmas card pattern, one with a coordinating paper color. Glue them together or, attach them by a punched hole at the end of the tag and tie with ribbon.

Sorry, kind of crafty girl here. :)

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Ooh, shiny! No need to apologize. That's a really good idea too. I love my flist. :)

[kiwano.livejournal.com]

Hey, what do you guys do with old Christmas and birthday cards? I seem to hang onto mine forever, because people have said nice things to me in them. Except that over the years I've accumulated a LOT of them, and I should probably find another use for all that space, but I feel like I'm being a horrible, ungrateful person throwing away the lovely cards people have written. *facepalm*

Burn 'em. I don't mean just chucking them in a fireplace or on a bonfire, like I do with >10y old tax forms, credit card statements, etc.; rather set up a little ceremony where you burn the cards in order to release the good will contained within. Once the good will is released, you can continue to spread it to others (before it becomes too tainted with the frustration of storing the cards). Of course, if there are cards that seem too precious to destroy, you can spare and archive them, to remind you of the quality of the good will that you have received when you need a little boost with the spreading.

A good way to identify these cards (as well as to have the ceremony bolster your sense of good will so that going forth and spreading it becomes easier) is just to re-read each card to loosen the sentiment contained therein, so that it can better break free in the fire. Then you spare the ones for which the physical form of the card embodies the sentiment so well, that you just can't break the sentiment loose enough to aoid the risk of consuming it in the fire too.

Keeping (some of) the ashes as a relic for use in future ceremonies is also appropriate. Since you're buying a house, and ISTR that you're into gardening, you could mix it in with the soil before you put your first plants in the garden. It would make both a nice reminder to care for the plants, and to share their fruits (sometimes even with the same people who gave you the cards).

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Good idea. I will wait for the next opportune occasion, since burning stuff in the city is harder than it sounds. ;)

[kiwano.livejournal.com]

Also living in a city, burning stuff doesn't actually sound all that easy to me. I tend to take the "sneak off into a large park in the dark of night and improvise a fire pit" approach. This approach becomes, well, unsafe once autumn rolls around (though it works great in the winter).

[diggerlicious.livejournal.com]

Wow, brilliant ideas. I wish to see the pretty house. But I can say, from experience, that living close to train tracks (not a YARD, mind you) is not a problem for me, at least. I like to be awoken by the steady rumble of a passing train and check the box in my head that says "the world has not come to an end" (dammit).