What Is Freecycle?

I know I mention Freecycle a lot here. I realized this morning that maybe not everyone knows about Freecycle. What is Freecycle? Freecycle is an organization dedicated to recycling and keeping good junk out of our landfills. It is a group of message boards sorted by towns and cities. People post on these boards things they have or things they want. Things that will otherwise go in the garbage and fill up our dumps, but are still good.

I became involved with Freecycle when I became involved in decluttering my house. I had a lot of stuff around that I would never use. I still do. A lot of it is too good to just throw away. I'm all for recycling. My husband and I both have trouble passing up on a good deal, even if we don't need it. Therefore we end up with a lot of stuff we don't really need. We used to go to an auction regularly. We frequent thrift and antique stores. We can't drive past a yard sale without stopping. Plus we inherited a bunch of stuff we still haven't sorted through. Freecycle is a perfect solution to too much stuff.

Everything on Freecycle must be free. It is not for selling items. You go to the main website and look up your local town or city to find your local site. Because I live in a rural area between towns I belong to multiple Freecycle groups. I would encourage anyone to get involved. And it can be fun. www.freecycle.org

Wednesday's Not So Wise Words

It's strange waking up alone. For the longest time, like years, Mr. Man slept on the couch because I simply could not sleep beside him. With all his snoring and mumbling and tossing and turning, he was never quiet or still. Lately, like the last few months, he's come back to the marital bed. Hey I'm not going to turn away the body heat. And with my sleep aids I am able to sleep. I think I've been taking my sleep aids too late. I sleep right through the alarm clock. I wake up and Mr. Man is gone. I don't like that. Like I put up with him all night long and he can't even have the decency to be there when I wake up. I don't wake up when he gets up, it must be the sleep aids. I need to take them earlier in the evening. It's a nice sense of security having him beside me again. And the body heat is awesome. In spite of all his noise and carrying on I think I sleep better with him there. Then again it could just be the sleep aids. This morning was one of those days, he was already gone to work when I woke up. It's strange to start my day without him.

We've had no tv for days because the satellite has been down. Yesterday out of pure boredom I went to bed to read and get warm and inevitably fell asleep. I woke up at noon to Mr. Man coming home and waking me up. He had an appointment with a doctor for some testing to do with the lawsuit, but that wasn't until later. He wanted to go do our taxes. So I got up, he made me a coffee, and I had a quick shower. We went to do our taxes. It was so fast you wouldn't believe it. We were in and out in half an hour, and left with a cheque for our refund. Sweet. Afterwards we went across the street to the Thrift Store. We should have brought stuff to drop off but forgot it. So we just browsed around. I got 3 books and a jigsaw puzzle, all for $2. The puzzle is more manageable than that 3000 piece beast I've got sitting out waiting to be done, this one only has 500 pieces. I find the 1000 piece ones to be the best. After rolling up the rim on my Tim Hortons coffee, to find "play again", he dropped me off back at home and headed off to his appointment.

It was supposed to snow all day. It snowed but it was very light and mixed with rain at times. So it didn't accumulate. That's a very good sign that spring is on its way.

Mr. Man got another call from Little R's school. She hadn't skipped any classes this time, it was to set up a meeting with the Vice Principal. So we are going to see her Friday morning. I mistakenly thought the Vice Principal was a man, nope she's a woman. Little R doesn't know about this meeting, we're going to spring it on her at the last minute. Little R told me she was called down to see another counsellor yesterday, they discussed credit recovery. I guess she needs to recover the credit she didn't get in the first semester. Oh well, we'll find out what that's about on Friday.

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with this Fridays Show and Tell. I don't know what I'll use. I can't think of anything I'd like to show and tell. I had fun last week doing it and look forward to doing it again this week. I'm sure I'll come up with something. Before I actually joined this show and tell I had no problem finding things to take pictures of and talk about. Now suddenly I'm having a problem coming up with something. Sigh. It's kind of like with this blog. As long as I think there's really no one reading it, I can blather on about anything. But as soon as I know people are reading it I get stumped. After doing one show and tell, I'm stumped.

I really don't get out enough. Mr. Man is still using my car, the truck still isn't fixed. All we need is some decent weather on a weekend for Mr. Man to change the fan belt. I use the word really, a lot, don't I?

I think we have tv again. I may catch up on my soaps today. As well as look around for something to show and tell. That's my plans for today. I'm almost caught up on the laundry, so I might try to get that finished today as well. Last weekend a lady from Freecycle was supposed to pick up a bag of purses and whatnot. First she was coming Saturday, she didn't make it. She emailed me and said she would come Sunday after church. She didn't show up. To save her from having to trudge through the snow and ice up to the front door, Mr. Man tied the bag onto the back of the truck and I wrote Freecycle on it. It's still hanging there. That's one thing we could have taken to the Thrift Store yesterday. I don't know why it is some people say they want stuff and say they will pick it up then don't show up. It's frustrating. I've got quite a lot of stuff posted on Freecycle and no takers. That's frustrating. It's good stuff. Yet people will take the strangest things.

Well, I'm off to start my day. Have a lovely day.

I Love Easter

I love Easter. It's the first long weekend in a string of several. It's springtime (or it's supposed to be). Who wants to think about war and Karla Homolka? I'd much rather have thoughts of spring flowers, sunshine, baby duck chicks, fluffy bunny rabbits, delicately adorned eggs, family feasts of turkey and ham, and of course CHOCOLATE. Lots and lots of chocolate.

It's like Christmas without all the stress. The kids get 4 days off school. You get to shop for gifts. You have a little holiday celebration. What's not to like?

A few years ago we had a pretty good one, when we first started hanging out with the neighbours. We got together and pooled our leftovers, there was turkey and potato salad, and wine. We ate our meal out by a bonfire. And then it started snowing on us. Not like this year though, it was just random light flurries. Good times...good times.

Last year, Big R and her entourage came up for a ham dinner, and they liked it!

I was hoping to have a bonfire this year, our pile of brush is quite extensive, but the weather is not permitting. We want to expand the firepit, but we need to burn what's in it first. Technically, we aren't supposed to burn until May, but I see people doing it all year round. Maybe they get special permits, I don't know. Burning season is May 1st? - December 31st. We didn't know that back in the day. Who knows, if the snowfall lets up at some point, maybe we can have a fire afterall.

I always feel good, well happyish, this time of year. I love Easter.

And I figured out how to wrap my heated throw around myself so it doesn't get tangled in the chair, yay me. I'm toasty warm now as it continues to blizzard outside.

It's Easter Sunday, I love Easter. It's STILL snowing, but nice and warm inside. It's a new day. I'm hoping to put that Freecycle fiasco out of my mind. How frustrating that the moderators won't even let me say anything about it on the board. I sent an email anyways and got a reply to that. I received a lame apology. I'll just have to remember the names and not have any dealings with those people. It's unfortunate that of the nearby towns that one is the largest, therefore it has the most activity on it's Freecycle site.

Ah well, new day, new mood. Enjoy your day.

Freecycle Disappointment

Another story about Freecycle. Again this happened with the ONE PARTICULAR group, thankfully they aren't all like this.

I had mentioned on here, that Hubby was one of two, chosen to receive a mobility scooter. It was arranged to be picked up on Saturday. Keep in mind, this was someone doing a favour for her nieghbour. It wasn't the actual woman posting the offer who had the scooter, it was her nieghbour.

So we borrow a truck to go pick this thing up. I went along to help lift it into the truck. We get there, to the nieghbours house, and she basically changes her mind at the door! There are other people needing this thing more, she says. Yeah but you promised it to me! Of course Hubby didn't say anything but, yeah whatever ok. I waited in the truck, if I had been at the door with him, I would have had something to say. He wasn't about to argue with her over it. This is just so wrong. It goes against all the rules and common courtesy of Freecycle.
I guess because Hubby was able to walk up to her door, rather than crawl, she didn't feel he needed it so bad. She asked him all kinds of questions about his injuries etc., which frankly, were none of her damn business. Unbelievable.

We were so happy to be getting this thing. It would have made a difference for us, it would have helped and improved our quality of life. Hubby and I could have actually done stuff together without him being in agony, like simply walking the dogs.

I think I'm done with that group. I don't need this aggravation. Like I say, there are other groups for other nearby towns.

I wrote an entry about this and the moderators haven't posted it yet, likely won't either. This is the dumbest group I have ever seen. They totally moderate the wrong things. They still don't allow photos. It's ridiculous. They don't know what they're doing and haven't got a clue what the concept of Freecycle is all about. I'm in other groups, I know the difference of a good group. It's a shame this is the town I live closest to. Oh well, I'll just have to stick with the other, better groups. Their loss.

It's getting ridiculous anyways. People are asking for big things and there's not much offering going on. If I had met some decent people I might stick with it. But mostly they've been flakes and freaks. The concept is wonderful, but once you add humans to the mix, it doesn't blend well.

Shopping In The Thrift Store And More Freecycle Flakes

Thankfully things settled down for me yesterday. That was brutal. It's been a while since I was so upset. And it was over nothing, really. Poor Hubby. But other than a lot of tears, I did manage to keep my cool pretty good. And after the Lorazepam kicked in, I was fine. We made tacos for dinner and watched another 2 movies. They were both quite unmemorable. I think one was called "Shattered Glass", a true story (I think) about a journalist who made up all his "news" stories. The other one was called "Dead End". They were both pretty cheesy, but Hubby enjoyed them, or so he said.
Today is sunny but still quite cool. We had been to town and back by 11:30 a.m. I had a 10:30 appointment. We got there way early so we browsed through the thrift store for half an hour, killing time. I bought 2 summer dresses there and guess what? They both don't fit. One is too tight and the other is way too big. Sigh. It still amazes me whenever I buy anything there, especially clothing (which isn't often), because I hated it so bad when I was a kid. And this is the first time I bought clothing there that doesn't fit. I don't imagine I can take them back, but then again, who knows, maybe I can. It only cost $10 for both dresses and the smaller one might fit Little R, not that she'd wear a dress. Ah well, I suppose I can try to sell them in my yard sale. When I was a kid I had a serious problem with my mother buying me clothes from a thrift store. I don't usually buy clothes there, but recently I've got a couple of good clothing scores there, so I thought why not. I usually buy lamps, chairs, books, odds and ends, that type of thing, there. I just like rooting through everything, looking for treasure. That's one store I can walk out of without buying anything.
When we got home there was a woman going from door to door, so we just sat in the car to see if she went to our house too. She did. She was a real estate agent looking for homes to sell, and she was handing out mints with her info on the package, like a business card.
Hubby just dropped me off and went on his way to pick up smokes. Too bad it's so chilly outside, I'd like to get back out there getting the yard cleaned up. But I'd rather stay in where it's nice and warm. There's plenty to do inside too. Hubby's been asking for clean laundry for days, hehe. I wonder if he even knows how to operate the washer and dryer. Doubt it.
When he got back, he came in with a brilliant idea for our home business. It would make it a whole different business, but it's a great idea, better than my original plan. He was so pumped and excited. I feel bad that I couldn't quite match his enthusiasm. Even though I too thought it was a great idea, my PMS controls me, and I couldn't have been excited over anything. I did help him do some online searching. I did tell him it was a brilliant idea. I just couldn't be pumped and excited. My PMS sucks the life out of me. All I wanted to do was sleep. And that I did. I had TWO naps today.
When I woke up from my most recent nap around 11 p.m, Hubby told me to go down and read the Freecycle posts he had left highlighted. Too funny. Someone had actually posted a "wanted" asking for a computer, but they were so specific, like how many gigs of RAM etc. and THEN, in the same post they asked for an "emissions tested" car too! I mean WTF? It was unbelievable. Well then someone posted a freak out about it. Apparently someone else has asked for a diamond ring (????) previously, I missed that, and now this. So the freak out was about how bad Freecycle has become and how greedy people are. The whole point of Freecycle has been lost in all the greed. It's not a shopping mall. Why not ask for a house while you're at it. They're probably just reselling stuff. On and on it went. I must say, I agree. I've already told you what a bunch of flakes I've come across. The one and only time I responded to a "wanted" post was someone asking for Easter baskets for a charitable fundraiser at a church, and they were the first flake I came across. They wouldn't come pick them up and couldn't agree on a time to meet that was convenient to me. So they never got the baskets. I ended up emailing saying "tell you what, come and pick them up whenever it's convenient for you" and never heard back. And today someone posted an "offer" of underwear! Where does it end? My goodness, underwear??? "In good shape" no less! OMFG LOL. There was also an offer of empty perfume boxes, I shit you not. Who would want that? Why would anyone want empty perfume boxes? Throw them on the fire for crying out loud. Same with the underwear. I do get the impression that some of these people are mentally ill or very lonely. I get the feeling with some of them that they do it just to have someone to talk to. It's bizarre. I don't know, I'm addicted, for now. I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually, like once it's truly spring and I spend the majority of my time outside. Oh well, I'm just hoping the folks picking up my TV cabinet tomorrow don't flake out on me. I really want to just be rid of this thing. It's so big and heavy, I don't want to have to move it out of my way ever again. We were using it until we got our big screen TV, we now have no use for it. It was given to me, from S.P when she had her store, and I imagine for the same reasons, it's so big and heavy, they didn't want to have to keep moving it. Unfortunately Hubby isn't going to be home at the planned time of pick up, which means I'm going to have to help carry it out of the garage to their vehicle, UGH. One more time, sigh.
Well, I should go and get some laundry done for Hubby. He has two appointments tomorrow, physiotherapy and an MRI for his knee. He may need surgery on it! I am so hoping he can get back to work SOON.

My Crazy Brain

I think I'm having allergies. As much as I love to watch the gardens grow, I get itchy eyes and sniffles and an irritated throat from the new growth. This only happens in spring, fall and with some cats. Allergies suck.

After Hubbys physiotherapy appointment today we went to Elora to pick up some books from a Freecycler. There were some weird books in this selection. A lot of kids books too. Not much that I'll actually read I don't think. Oh well, yard sale fodder.

We then went to The Bargain Shop on the way home and picked up some Easter gifts. It was then that Hubby made a remark that upset me way more than it should have. It must be PMS time. I mean I got chest pains trying to hold in my anger and tears. What he said wasn't particularly offensive or anything, I really don't understand why I got so upset. Then once we got home, I just avoided him because I didn't want it to blow up. I was in the bedroom reading through some of the books we had picked up, and something set me off. I cried. I cried for a long time. The thoughts that were bombarding my brain wouldn't stop. I don't understand why I can remember silly insults, hurts, humiliations and slights from when I was 5, but I can't remember what Hubby asked me to remind him of this afternoon! I don't understand how things that happened to me as a very small child can still make me cry if I think about them. I don't understand why I think about it. Something triggers these memories and thoughts. Lately I'm finding myself increasingly angry with my parents. Just about every day I think about calling my Dad, but I don't do it. I'm angry with him. For years I've justified to myself how things were, how they raised me. I can't do that any more. I used to believe they did the best they could, they did what they thought was right. I just don't believe that any more. There was a lot of anger directed at me when I was little. Things were so different back then. I don't think parents were forced to be responsible back then like they are now. There wasn't the same awareness that there is now. They damaged me. They broke me. And I just don't know how to deal with it now. I don't know how to make it go away. I don't know how to fix it, to fix myself. I have like zero coping skills. Today made me think about calling my therapist. It was not a fun day. It was random. Out of the blue. It left me feeling sad and angry. God bless Lorazepam, it calms me, and my brain. But honestly, where does this stuff come from? How can a random comment from Hubby, a random page in a book, bring on all this crap in my head? Then I get angry at myself for letting this crap ruin my afternoon. And what happened to the miracle medication? Why wasn't it working today? It's been doing a fine job of keeping this kind of crap at bay, but not today. I think it is PMS and the medication just doesn't overwrite that. I haven't heard from the doctor, so I'm assuming no news is good news.

On a lighter and happier note, I found more crocuses in bloom today. Now I have a white one too. They're calling for light snow a week from now, ugh. Enough with the snow already. Its finally just about all melted.

Oh, and someone is coming to pick up the TV cabinet on Friday, yay! I hope they aren't a flake and actually do show up as planned.

Heres pics of my newest crocuses...

Freecycle Flakes

This Freecycle shit is just starting to get on my last nerve. I guess it all depends on how badly you want something, or how badly you want to get rid of something. Currently I am trying to get rid of this TV cabinet and I am trying to find a bottom for this hutch we got last week or so. That was my own fault because I was confused thinking a hutch was actually a buffet, now I need a buffet to put the hutch on.
So my post to get rid of the TV cabinet clearly states WHERE it can be PICKED UP. Don't I get an email saying "it's perfect for me, can you deliver it?" WTF? Ummm...NOOOO. We also had the forethought to carry it ourselves from down in our familyroom up and out to the garage, for easy pick up. I don't know how many people have emailed me saying they want it and then saying "oh, you're too far away". Ever heard of Mapquest people?? Like why don't they look it up before they email me? WTF? Then there's the dame who was getting a friend to drive her here last night and I haven't heard from since. Yeah OK. Thanks a mill. How long am I supposed to wait to hear from her before I just offer it to someone else? Flippin flakes.
Now the guy who has a possible buffet for me, its actually a long dresser, but I figure I can work with that, he emails me today telling me this thing is 6 feet long and we'll have to carry it out of his basement! WTF? I'm tempted to tell him to forget it and throw the hutch on the bonfire.
Its just killing me, these people are fried. Anything I've offered, I've had ready to go, cleaned up, waiting by the front door or in the driveway, whatever. I wouldn't dream of making people carry stuff out of my basement or asking them to deliver it to me. Unreal. Also any pick ups I've made have been the same, uneventful, painless, ready and waiting. So there are SOME normal ass people out there. I think I should start keeping track of who is normal and who is a flake.
Its hard to explain without giving away my exact location, and that aint gonna happen. But there is a town that is very wide. I'm near the west end of it. A lot of the folks on the Freecycle site for that town are at the east end of it. Its very far away. In fact they are technically in East _______ NOT in _______. I live near _______ NOT East _______. They should have another site. And there must be something in the water out there, from what I've seen in emails from there. I don't think it would even occur to any of these folks to start a site for their area. Just like it doesn't occur to them to use Mapquest. I can't be any more specific than I am in my posts, but still get asked stupid questions. Now that that thing is out in my garage, I don't care if its here or not. I planned on having it in my yard sale anyways. The person who asked if I could deliver it even offered to PAY for the delivery! The site rules clearly specify NO MONEY is to be offered or exchanged. Am I the only one who read the rules?
This is why I am happy in my little paradise bubble world. I don't play well with others. I have no time for stupid people. I have no patience. And I've decided I'm going to send buddy with the dresser/buffet an email telling him to forget it. Let me know when its sitting in the driveway and I'll come pick it up. Until then, have a nice life. I don't want it that bad.
Freecycle is a great idea. It's a shame not everyone reads or understands the rules. It's a shame some people think its all about getting free stuff. Its a shame some people are just inconsiderate morons.
Ah well, its too beautiful outside to sit here getting pissed off over nothing. I'm going out to enjoy the day and get some shit done around here.
Have a great day.