Trying to be cute.

So, yesterday, I ran off to IKEA for what was probably my last trip with my car, as I’m selling it tomorrow (found a buyer, yay!) to buy some shelves for my cellar. (I already had some, but no screws, and IKEA changed STEN into GORM, not compatible, long story, anyway.)

This morning, I got to work and emptied the cellar, threw away lots of old school stuff (the “it might come in useful one day” rationalisation doesn’t really hold when I can find it on the internet in less time than it would take to dig it out of the cellar), and built the shelves.

My cellar is now ready to welcome some of the stuff that is inhabiting my balcony and my flat.

technorati tags:cellar, homeimprovement, car

I was almost starting to fear I’d be leaving for the US without having managed to sell it. Finally, I have a buyer. Deal closing (money-car exchange) on Monday, but we already have an oral agreement (which, dear foreigners, is legally binding in Switzerland).

Bye-bye little car. You’ve been nice company during the last year, and you put up with a lot of very loud singing on my part. I’m going to miss not having you to sing in, though.

technorati tags:twingo, renault, car, singing

I’ve been receiving my brother’s mail as he is travelling. For the moment I’ve been dumping it in this box, but not sure what to do with the big furry parcel that just arrived.

technorati tags:cat, photo, bagha, fun, mail, box

Gosh, I can’t remember the last time this has happened to me. I got home last night, and I’ve already unpacked. Here’s proof (you can admire my brand-new purple suitcase, by the way):

Most of the time, I end up not unpacking, having the suitcase lie around my room for weeks, and really unpacking when I need to pack again for the next trip. Feels very good to be “unpacked”. Will remember the feeling for next time.

technorati tags:photo, suitcase, accomplishment, unpacked, unpacking, travel

I forgot to blog this before I left Switzerland for my two+ weeks in the UK, but I finally did manage to get over my doubts in drilling, and the last shelf is now on the wall in the hallway.

technorati tags:shelf, homeimprovement, drilling, accomplishment, gtd

I’d almost forgotten that years ago, I bought a coat hanger and shelf and left it miserably in the back of a cupboard because I was afraid of drilling holes in my walls. It’s now happily at its place, above the shoes.

Click on the photo to see all the entertaining notes.

Our regular drilling program was however interrupted earlier this evening by loud nasty noises coming from inside the wall, accompanied by little progress in the drilling itself. What’s in there? Not too sure. The other side of the wall belongs to the neighbours, too. Nasty noises, stalled hole-making progress, and somewhat past seven pm (higher likelyhood that neighbours or old ladies might become grumpy and start banging on door) — all that means that shelf number three will have to wait until Friday, probably.

In the meantime, if anybody has suggestions or bright ideas about the nasty noise and seemingly hard thing in the wall, I’m all ears.

technorati tags:drilling, homeimprovement, shelf, photo, wall, holes

Pre-lunch accomplishment: another shelf on the kitchen wall (that was the last one).

(click on the photo to view notes).

This morning’s accomplishment brought to you by Climb to the Stars Builders, Inc.

technorati tags:shelf, photo, kitchen, drilling, homeimprovement, accomplishment, gtd

Maybe a little too much, for the second set of kitchen shelves… (click on the photos to see notes and extra comments)

The hole:

The other side of the hole (oops):

“Home improvement” indeed…

technorati tags:oops, hole, homeimprovement, drilling

Yep! I finally did it. Here are shelves #1.

More to come!

(I’ve also added two new pictures to the cellar post.

technorati tags:shelves, kitchen, homeimprovement, photo

For a few months now, my dad has been emptying the house cellar and garage, and in the process, handing back to my brother and I a copious number of boxes filled with our old junk.

Now, I have a reasonably large flat for a person living alone, but a quite tiny cellar. When I moved in, I shoved a whole bunch of furniture and binders and boxes and ski boots into my dark 1m by 2m cellar. During the last five years, I’ve added more stuff (some balancing feat, I should have taken photographs!) but barely removed anything.

So, you can imagine that the prospect of finding the space for all the stuff that was still at my dad’s was not a very pleasant prospect.

However, my regular visits to my dad’s place have left me increasingly envious, particularly as I witnessed the extra space he was gaining and the transformations in the house.

Wednesday night, I came back home from the house with a really bad itch to start emptying my cellar and just throw away heaps of junk that had been in there for years. Unfortunately, 11pm is not the right time to start doing this kind of thing, particularly in Switzerland, and particularly in a building occupied by old ladies (not only, but there are a few of them and they like their peace and quiet — I do too, for that matter).

On Thursday, I unexpectedly found myself with a free morning I hadn’t planned with. Great! I started by taking all my electronic junk (old motherboards, sound cards dated 1999, partly-working CD/cassette player, dead DVD player…) to La Bonne Combine, a local association which gather spare parts and broken stuff, fix what can be fixed to sell it, and recycle the rest. That suddenly freed a huge amount of space in my living-room book-case.

Then I moved on to the cellar. More stuff for La Bonne Combine. A pile of things for Salvation Army. Furniture for Salvation Army. Things for the bin, like old broken compasses, rubbers, tubes of glue and my collection of fountain-pen cartridge beads, all dating something like 20 years back. Gone.

There is no light in my cellar, probably part of the reason why it got into such a state.

The feeling is great. I have an almost empty cellar. I’m going to put together a set of shelves that have been sleeping in it for five years to have some usable space in there. There are still things to process, of course: heaps of binders with maths classes from 1989, old memorabilia to sort through, all my university stuff, my teaching things, clothes (oh God, clothes!), and boxes of Oh-My-Got-What-Am-I-Going-To-Do-With-This living under my now too-big desk.

I’m starting to feel like reorganising my office/living-room too, see. Maybe after nearly seven years here it’s time I really settled down, finished moving in, got rid of the boxes, and decorated the flat.

Throwing stuff out sure feels good, and it seems like I’ve reached a point when I’m capable of doing it. Certainly, quite certainly, there are things of the past I’m ready to let go of now.

technorati tags:cleaning, life, past, memories, cellar, junk, stuff, things, belongings, salvationarmy, labonnecombine, house, flat, appartment

Now we know how they named the brand. My cat is irresistably attracted to my Hello Kitty laptop bag:

Oh, and happy Furry Friday!

technorati tags:bagha, photo, fun, hellokitty, laptopbag, bag, cat, pet, animal, furry friday

Fun With Whisher

Originally uploaded by Stephanie Booth.

Well, I just blindly filled in stuff, providing my address, etc… and Whisher places my router in the middle of the forest, out in the countryside!

A friend of mine actually IM’ed to ask if I was enjoying my scout’s camp out there…

It was this summer, in Sarzens, out in the countryside.

I was at MIgros this morning to buy a few random things. On the right, stuff I bought for myself (yes, the slippers are pink). On the left, stuff I bought with my “work” card.

Both have exactly the same total. Pure coincidence.