Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning has been intense around here.  With Mom at Valley Health I took the opportunity to clean out the closets...which haven't been done in 20 years!  Yesterday morning I took 2 42 gallon plastic bags to Goodwill  full of my old blazers, skirts and slacks...in a wide range of sizes. Almost like I had my own department store in that closet! Then in the afternoon we loaded the utility trailer with 14 of those contractor size bags and went to the transfer station in Utica.  Jeff was careful to keep the load level as he loaded the trailer and Subaru performed beautifully with no trouble.  He was sure we were near our weight limit but the scale at the transfer station said we had only 320 lbs ($18). That worked out to roughly 25 lbs per bag but let me tell you some of them felt a lot heaver as I was dragging them out to the trailer. And there was no way I could lift them up into the trailer!  Not all had soft trash, there were shoes, books, a lamp or two...general household trash.   Last year Jeff noticed  that the solid waste authority sells compost so he decided to get some this trip.  The cashier explained that 12 bags would be the same as 1 bucket load ($20) so we got the bags.  Mistake.  The 12 bags put about 3" on the bottom of one of the new raised bed...not nearly enough.  He wants to go back and get a bucket load.  Now if I can clean out the last closet before he does he can take that with him...or I can wait until the end of the month and just take the bags over to the town garage for the semi-annual big trash collection.  

Fanny who is normally afraid of her own shadow, was terrified at the transfer station.  A small dump truck pulled up next to us as Jeff was unloading the trailer and Fanny hid...crouched on the floor in the back seat as it dumped it's load.  We stopped at Lowe's in Riverside before heading over to Jeff's sister's house to get some wallboard for her and construction on the arterial made for an interesting trip.  Between closed exits and city drivers...but we finally made it.  Jeff's getting quite good...with practice and a replacement set of tail lights...backing up the trailer.  Sherry's driveway is long and narrow and Jeff slid the set up back with no trouble.  Monday he had insisted I drive the set up over to his friend's house in Schuyler.  Now I use to tow our boat when we went camping so I do have experience but the boat trailer was longer and I think easier to tow.  Jeff was doing the navigating so we went 'the back way' up and down a couple of hills before getting on Rte 5.  I don't think I went over 45 mph the entire trip.  The trailer does pull well and there wasn't any trouble but Jeff did drive home...at bit faster than 45 mph.

Jeff's trying to get the last load of pallets cut up before getting another but there're a couple of nice piles at the places he usually picks and he doesn't want to lose them so I don't know if he's going to collect pallets today or not.  I'm going to mow some more lawn this afternoon.  He started Monday doing a practice strip after getting the lawn mower out and I cut along one side of the house.  I use to be able to cut the entire lawn in one day but now it takes 2 or 3.  Does that mean I'm slowing down or am I just getting old? 

I ripped out that yellow shrug and finished it a 3rd time...finally achieving what or close to what I intended.  I also got a size 9mo hoodie finished...except for the buttons. I don't like what I bought at Walmart but I'm smart enough 

Hoodie in need of buttons

Shrug finished at last...3 times is the charm!

not to ask Jeff to take the trailer over to New Hartford Shopping Center to JoAnn Fabrics for buttons.  Maybe I can find something in Cooperstown next week.  I got a new KnitPicks catalog in the mail last week and finally decided to order some yarn and try something new.  Since I have a good amount of baby & children's stock in the shop I thought I'd try some ladies fancy tank tops in cotton.  KnitPicks has a very nice fingering or lace weight cotton blend at a good price (about $9 for what I need) so I ordered enough for 4 tops.  (Free shipping on orders of $50 or more....)  We'll see how they go.  In the meantime, while waiting for the yarn to get here, I started another size 9mo hoodie...this time in blue and white terry.  Very soft and a real pain to rip out so I've got to be careful and not make any mistakes.  Oh, yeah.