Castles in Spain (aka plans)

[mousme]

In my previous post I mentioned that Plans were afoot. I was going to write all about them in that post, and realised that the post was already hideously long and rambly, so I split off the plans into this post instead.



1- I decided that this summer I would get into shape. I've been slowly and determinedly working on eating better since January. While I've been up-and-down in that respect, I am in fact thinner and in better shape than in January. I started out with those microwave dinners, which are a step above the crap food that they serve at the cafeteria and, more importantly, much cheaper. For the past week I have moved a step beyond that and am now brown-bagging it to work. This is even cheaper, and even better for my health. I shall continue doing this, and continue phasing out food which isn't good for me. I've already all-but-completely phased out junk food like French fries and chips and most forms of soda pop, and find I'm not craving them nearly as much as I used to.

2- In the same getting-into-shape vein, I've been trying to get in more exercise. Thus far I've been getting all my aerobic-type stuff done while dancing. There is a gym near work, and I was going to look into a membership this summer, but that will obviously have to wait until my finances are in better shape. Nonetheless, I will do a bit of research into pricing and scheduling, and see how this might work in the future, say sometime in October or so. In the meantime, I will do my best to take advantage of the summer weather and go for a walk at least once a week, probably on Sundays. If anyone from Montreal wants to join me, I live right near the Lachine canal which is gorgeous in summer and has a path right alongside it for people who like to walk or bike or roller-blade. It's very child-friendly, so if my baby-enabled friends want to take their kidlets along in a stroller or something, that would work too. :)

3- I threatened a few months ago to look into bicycling to work, and the weather decided to piss rain all over my plans. However, it looks like the rainy weather is coming to an end, and so I'm going to start looking into that again. It will be cheaper than buying a $63 bus pass every month, and be better for my health, especially if I can make this a routine.

4- In the "one day, when I have money" category, I'm thinking of taking music lessons. I've reached a point in my drumming where I'm kind of stagnating, and I don't have the technical knowledge to be able to teach myself the kind of things I want to do. I'd like to have someone who knows what they're doing show me how to do more interesting and complex stuff with my drumming, which would in turn benefit my band. This will definitely have to wait until autumn, when I won't be paying for the car anymore. When that time comes, I will investigate ItalMelodie (where most of our band folk get their equipment and related gear), since I hear there are lessons available. I figure one hour every two weeks would be enough at first. It's not like I'm a professional musician or anything: I just want to be better at what I love to do.

5- Also in the "one day, when I have money category": I'm going to get my apartment repainted. I have already broached the topic with ashforestwalker who is exceedingly handy with all things house-and-garden related, and so when I have the money for paint and labour, things are going to change from white and off-white to happy new colours. (I have a kernel of a plan for a Not-So-Secret-Painting-Project, too, but I have to discuss that with the relevant people, first.) I've been living in the new place for a year and a half now, and it still doesn't really feel like home, the way the Festering Cesspit of Badness felt like home, even though it was falling apart around me and I wanted to kill the Idiot!Landlord on a regular basis. It's funny, because I never repainted in there, either, but I had managed to arrange the furniture and stuff in a way that suited me, and it really did feel like home. I figure that repainting and fiddling with furniture until I like what I see will help tremendously in the new place. This is especially important to me, because I really want to stay long-term in this apartment. It suits my needs, is cozy and pleasant, and is near my friends. If I ever move again, it will either be because ai731 and baronscartop are moving away, or because I will have found a permanent house in which to live which I will own all by myself. Otherwise, I don't want to move into another rented apartment.

6- After I get rid of a couple of unwanted pieces of furniture (a large white table and a tv stand thing that I never use), I'm going to look into getting furniture that I actually need. Like, oh, say, a chesterfield. I don't have one, and it would be highly useful to have one. That way I will actually have somewhere for guests to sit when they visit, and I'll be able to lounge somewhere happily with my laptop and my cats and not have the poor felines either feeling neglected or trying to claw their way up onto my shoulders all the time while I'm typing. I don't think I'd have room for more than a two-seater, but that's really all I need. I'd also, if I can ever find one, like to find a very small roll-top desk, where I can keep my craft projects. I have a few on the go, but they're hard to keep track of in the space I have currently. I have nowhere specific to put them, and so they tend to get scattered in the "safe" spaces I can find away from the cats (who have figured out how to open about half the cupboard doors in the place and the door to the bathroom, much to my annoyance). So I'd like to set up a corner of the living-room as a place where I can work on and store my crafts.

7- Also, and most importantly, I will be getting bookshelves! My current bookcases are the bane of my existence. They are large, heavy, unwieldy, and completely impractical for my purposes. They belonged to my father, who used them as displays for his very large and very small antique books. I have mostly either paperbacks or trade paperbacks, which means that my shelves are either much too large or much too small to accommodate most of my books. I cannot possibly find words to describe how much space my bookcases waste for me. So I shall be going to IKEA and getting the same bookcases that ai731 has, which are reasonably cheap and adjustable. Adjustable is the key word here. This also falls squarely into the "one day, when I have money" category.

8- There are a couple of things I need to get for the apartment which are small but significant. For one: a coat rack. I haven't had one since I moved in, and it's really starting to get annoying not to have an official place where I can hang my coat. The other thing I have to do is hang a curtain rod (and, consequently, curtains) on the back window. Once I have the new colours painted in the apartment I will worry about the permanent curtains. My mother has given me some curtains she's not using for the moment, and they should serve nicely until I can figure out the colour scheme I want in the place. I'm optimistically considering getting a small carpet, too. I gave up on carpets after I got my fourth cat, but maybe I could pull it off. Who knows?

9- Most of the apartment-related stuff would not, of course, be possible without significant progress in the Crusade for Cleanliness. The CoC progresses apace, and I am confident that the place will be presentable in the not-too-distant future. Once the apartment is clean, there will be one more massive push to declutter, because dear God do I have a lot of small junk that I don't use anymore. And paper. Good Lord, the paper. It's everywhere. I have no idea how I managed to accumulate that much paper. *rolls eyes* So I shall be mercilessly going through my stuff and giving away what I can give away, recycling what I can recycle, and throwing out what needs to be thrown out. Simpler is better, dammit, and I need the space. My apartment just ain't that big that I can accommodate all this stuff I don't use. By the time September comes, I want the place to be streamlined, streamlined you hear me? It will be a lean, mean, efficiently-functioning living machine. ;)


That's about it for my plans for the near-to-middling future. It's already a lot, I figure, and to plan more for that space of time would be a little too stupidly optimistic, even for me.

I do have a question for my fellow Montrealers: with whom do you insure your homes/apartments? I'm looking into switching companies, because I'm not especially thrilled with the service I've received from my current people, not to mention that they're kind of expensive. I'd like to review my options, and so if you have good people to recommend (other than AXA, because they suck), I'd like to hear about it, please. :)

Comments

[mellybean71.livejournal.com]

I might be able to bike with you once in a while if you like. As long as you don't mind Th'Boy tagging along.

[rosy1.livejournal.com]

Great planage.

1) I think it's cute you say "chesterfield". I grew up with a formal mother who said parlour instead of living room and it's a habit that stuck with me.

2) I usually go biking whenever I can on Sunday. Just say the word. I usually go along the river from Verdun to Dorval (although I have gone along the Canal from Lachine (near Rene Levesque Park which is nifty) towards the Vieux Port. I would like very much to meet up or go with you on any given Sunday that it is not pouring.

3) AXA does suck. They are the evilmongers who I fought with for 5 months after the house NEXT door burnt and the firefighters did $40,000 damage on my place. After that, of course I was the equivalent of a leper looking to borrow a towel and the only people that took me on was ING (like the finance company).

4) You are absolutely right re declutter in relation to your Crusade for Cleanliness. I went on a decluttering bender about 2 years ago and it changed my life. People would ask "have you started packing yet?" And, as someone who never moved much I would think "if packing is giving things away and throwing things out, then yes, I am packing." I sometimes worry that the new place looks a tad cold but it is so easy to clean! I am the only person I know who gets excited about garbage/recycling day (whee it's today and it's already out at 4 am!)

Wow, this is a long comment! Sorry.

[baronscartop.livejournal.com]

2 - I suggest that one of your first walks should be along the canal to the Centre Gadbois, ten minutes from us, to see what they offer in the way of Municipal gymmage.

4 - There are probably numerous online handbooks, after which it would just be a matter of practicing those exercises.

7 - Want to check out the bookcases in our shed?

9 - When's the housewarming party?

t!

[mousme.livejournal.com]

2- Shall do. Um, which direction?

4- Shall also check those out. I don't learn easily from books, unfortunately. I'm better when someone shows me how to do stuff rather than having to figure it out from illustrations/instructions. This is why I always need help with IKEA furniture.

7- You have bookcases in your shed?

9- Um, soon. Summer-ish. Maybe when curtana and forthright are in town. Since half my friends are deathly allergic to cats, would you and the wife object to my guests invading the back garden, with all due respect paid to the vegetables and plants therein?

[baronscartop.livejournal.com]

2. North of the Canal, East of Monk

7. Yup.

9. Okay by me. I shall have to confirm with The Wife.

t!

[toughlovemuse.livejournal.com]

re: Drum lessons -- if you want to do an hour every two weeks, you'll probably need a private teacher. Not that that's a problem, really. There are lots of signs up at the rehearsal space for people looking to teach. Italmelodie, like most of the "music conservatory" type places, will sign you up for a lesson a week (And they schedule in 1/2 hour increments from what I remember). That's just how they do their scheduling.

[karine.livejournal.com]

La Capitale was good when I had my apartment out east. I had car and apartment insured together, so I got a rebate; since you're getting rid of your car, that's not helpful for you. I also was insured with Bélair Direct in my first apartment. Since I had no need to claim anything (luckily), I never had any issues with either.

We're currently insured through Adam's company and get a group rate which is ridiculously low.

I'm told Wawanesa is good. I never dealt with them.

And I second the housewarming party comment. I've never actually been inside your place!

[luvenditti.livejournal.com]

you said chesterfield! you must be Canadian, eh?