Freecycle: I love it when a plan comes together!
The only thing more outstanding than the response to my request for recipes for homemade macaroni and cheese was the response to a couple ads I posted on Freecycle last night.
When we moved in, we left our plastic cooler on the back porch. After six months, it's grubby and needs a good scrubbin. It was previously clean, but it just needs some elbow grease now to fix it up. I realized that we really only used this for LARPing anyhow. Ian isn't the biggest fan of picnics, so we never use this thing. Time to let it go. I debated how to dispose of it. It is plastic, after all, but would the curbside recycling guys look favorably on it? In the end, I decided to advertise it on Freecycle with an ample description of its current condition. Gee whiz, I got 12 responses within a few hours! Hooray! So we get rid of something we're not using, something taking up space, and 1 of 12 people gets a new-to-them cooler which they're very excited about.
Meanwhile, since I was in a mood to post on Freecycle, I also advertised our mounting pile of 3-4 gallon plastic buckets with lids which our new cat litter comes in. I've been hanging onto these planning to "use them for something," but at Bucket #5, it got ridiculous. Much to my pleasant surprise, I also received several responses eager for those. One lady even offered to pick up more in the future as we receive them. Yay! I'd much rather see something reused in its current form than tax even our awesome recycling resources here in Austin. And even better, I reclaim a whole corner of my garage where I've been stacking these things.
(Speaking of which, did you know that styrofoam can be recycled? I did not know this until last week. Your curbside recycling may not welcome it, however.)
Inspired by this, I'm thinking it's time for a seasonal clean sweep. I've got some small piles of library and clothing donations piling up here and there. I've definitely noticed through the years that if I clean sweep in tiny amounts as I go, it's far less taxing when it comes time to move or make a major change. It's certainly much less taxing emotionally to jettison items a few at a time than in large mountains.
davetheunicorn, I'm pleased to report that it turns out that my Biology reading homework turned out not to be boring at all. In fact, I took advantage of some recently rare sunshine to sit in the patio chairs out back and listen to the windchimes sing to me while reading. It was really quite idyllic -- and I burned through the reading and got a lot done, too! I hope to head to campus to take the exam and turn in my labs tomorrow... The section I'm reading covers Nuclear Energy which I've never thought about too much. The plants themselves don't seem as dangerous as a child who remembers Three Mile Island might think, but the waste, what to do about the waste? Until we can come up with a really good plan for handling the waste, I don't think I'm a fan of nuclear power plants. The EPA says they need to find a way to guarantee the safety of the waste for one million years. Are you shitting me? What human can reasonably say they can plan anything out that far? That's just not reasonable. My textbook is about 1 year out of date, maybe close to 2. Maybe there have been some advances in this area since then. I might do a little research on this for my own edification, and for extra credit, of course!
OH! Bummer news. Double bummer, actually. First I learned that Spring semester registration begins this week. Since I just started at this school, I don't get to register until 10 minutes before registration closes. In fact, I think I might actually have to pay for classes before I register for them. (I exaggerate.) It really hadn't occurred to me that registration would be this soon. I'm torn -- I just don't know what to do about next semester. Since I'm unsure if we'll still be in Austin, that makes it necessary to plan around the idea that we might have to move. I could look to see if I can find any classes which are 100% online and don't involve the testing center. Although I could test at another college campus after a move, that would be the easiest solution. On the other hand, I'm getting down to the nitty-gritty toward my A.A. degree. I have very few classes left that I need to take. Really Math and Foreign Language are the only ones that I pretty much inarguably need to take wherever I land -- and those are classes better taken in person. So I'm in a pickle. I hate to waste a semester and not take anything. That seems silly. I'll take a Humanities class just for fun before that -- I just didn't think I'd have to decide so soon. As I said -- Bummer.
That's about it for me this morning. GOODNESS GRACIOUS! There was actually a job posting available to me this morning! First one in over a week -- no joke. Otherwise, more schoolwork, more studying, that clean sweep I mentioned -- and of course sorting through all the delicious suggestions of how to properly make homemade mac & cheese so I can shop for groceries later today and try something new for us later this week.
Trace
P.S. Today would have been my father's 85th birthday. He passed over in 1985. When I was little, he had a friend who published calendars repay a favor to him by moving "Sweetest Day" -- this silly mini version of Valentine's Day (like we need two since all the haters can't get enough of one) to his birthday in October. He had the friend change the title from "Sweetest Day" to "Sweetest Day of the Year." That's how we've always referred to his birthday, October 15, in my family since then. Today is the Sweetest Day of the Year!
When we moved in, we left our plastic cooler on the back porch. After six months, it's grubby and needs a good scrubbin. It was previously clean, but it just needs some elbow grease now to fix it up. I realized that we really only used this for LARPing anyhow. Ian isn't the biggest fan of picnics, so we never use this thing. Time to let it go. I debated how to dispose of it. It is plastic, after all, but would the curbside recycling guys look favorably on it? In the end, I decided to advertise it on Freecycle with an ample description of its current condition. Gee whiz, I got 12 responses within a few hours! Hooray! So we get rid of something we're not using, something taking up space, and 1 of 12 people gets a new-to-them cooler which they're very excited about.
Meanwhile, since I was in a mood to post on Freecycle, I also advertised our mounting pile of 3-4 gallon plastic buckets with lids which our new cat litter comes in. I've been hanging onto these planning to "use them for something," but at Bucket #5, it got ridiculous. Much to my pleasant surprise, I also received several responses eager for those. One lady even offered to pick up more in the future as we receive them. Yay! I'd much rather see something reused in its current form than tax even our awesome recycling resources here in Austin. And even better, I reclaim a whole corner of my garage where I've been stacking these things.
(Speaking of which, did you know that styrofoam can be recycled? I did not know this until last week. Your curbside recycling may not welcome it, however.)
Inspired by this, I'm thinking it's time for a seasonal clean sweep. I've got some small piles of library and clothing donations piling up here and there. I've definitely noticed through the years that if I clean sweep in tiny amounts as I go, it's far less taxing when it comes time to move or make a major change. It's certainly much less taxing emotionally to jettison items a few at a time than in large mountains.
davetheunicorn, I'm pleased to report that it turns out that my Biology reading homework turned out not to be boring at all. In fact, I took advantage of some recently rare sunshine to sit in the patio chairs out back and listen to the windchimes sing to me while reading. It was really quite idyllic -- and I burned through the reading and got a lot done, too! I hope to head to campus to take the exam and turn in my labs tomorrow... The section I'm reading covers Nuclear Energy which I've never thought about too much. The plants themselves don't seem as dangerous as a child who remembers Three Mile Island might think, but the waste, what to do about the waste? Until we can come up with a really good plan for handling the waste, I don't think I'm a fan of nuclear power plants. The EPA says they need to find a way to guarantee the safety of the waste for one million years. Are you shitting me? What human can reasonably say they can plan anything out that far? That's just not reasonable. My textbook is about 1 year out of date, maybe close to 2. Maybe there have been some advances in this area since then. I might do a little research on this for my own edification, and for extra credit, of course!
OH! Bummer news. Double bummer, actually. First I learned that Spring semester registration begins this week. Since I just started at this school, I don't get to register until 10 minutes before registration closes. In fact, I think I might actually have to pay for classes before I register for them. (I exaggerate.) It really hadn't occurred to me that registration would be this soon. I'm torn -- I just don't know what to do about next semester. Since I'm unsure if we'll still be in Austin, that makes it necessary to plan around the idea that we might have to move. I could look to see if I can find any classes which are 100% online and don't involve the testing center. Although I could test at another college campus after a move, that would be the easiest solution. On the other hand, I'm getting down to the nitty-gritty toward my A.A. degree. I have very few classes left that I need to take. Really Math and Foreign Language are the only ones that I pretty much inarguably need to take wherever I land -- and those are classes better taken in person. So I'm in a pickle. I hate to waste a semester and not take anything. That seems silly. I'll take a Humanities class just for fun before that -- I just didn't think I'd have to decide so soon. As I said -- Bummer.
That's about it for me this morning. GOODNESS GRACIOUS! There was actually a job posting available to me this morning! First one in over a week -- no joke. Otherwise, more schoolwork, more studying, that clean sweep I mentioned -- and of course sorting through all the delicious suggestions of how to properly make homemade mac & cheese so I can shop for groceries later today and try something new for us later this week.
Trace
P.S. Today would have been my father's 85th birthday. He passed over in 1985. When I was little, he had a friend who published calendars repay a favor to him by moving "Sweetest Day" -- this silly mini version of Valentine's Day (like we need two since all the haters can't get enough of one) to his birthday in October. He had the friend change the title from "Sweetest Day" to "Sweetest Day of the Year." That's how we've always referred to his birthday, October 15, in my family since then. Today is the Sweetest Day of the Year!