Yesterday there were a couple of things on the list that I felt I had to do. We got rid of Brooke's desk the other day--gave it to Hilary and Dan for their new house--to free some space for a crib, glider, and changing table Brooke picked up on craigslist. Those things go into the current guestroom, soon to be Elliott's room. The desk is gone, and all the stuff that had been in the desk was on the floor, waiting for me to sort through it. What a lot of junk: about 75% of it went straight out the door, either to the garbage or to Goodwill. There is still some stuff there that I couldn't part with (but should). I created a defer decision pile and made some lame excuse to Brooke for why I couldn't deal with it that moment. She didn't buy it, but she didn't call me on it, either. So there it sits. Overall, I did not enjoy that chore.
Next on the list was to return a bed to Ikea. Brand new and yet-unassembled (but out of the box), we slogged it down to Southcenter (big box retail hell) to get it out of Elliott's room. That was the second unused new bed we unloaded this week. Ikea gave us store credit, since we were beyond the return period and didn't have a receipt. We walked around the store for a while and found some more crap to bring home to replace the stuff we spent the morning purging. New crap, though; the other stuff was old crap.
On the way home the first thing we did was get lost. Happens every time we go to Big Box Hell. After a slow tour of the Valley Medical Center parking lot, we inched onto the freeway and
eventually onto the I-405 HOV lane, which moved at about 60mph while the other three lanes literally sat still. Traffic was miserable all over due to accidents and a big police foo-faa over a stolen car.I hate car life. I would prefer to walk or bike or bus or run everywhere I need to go. But...but...you know I'd like to say now "that's just not practical." But...it IS practical. As Bus Chick points out every day, we've got great public transit. I could easily take Zoë around town on my bike, and the trip from here to daycare and work is all on trails or wide, dedicated bike lanes. And I've demonstrated to myself that running is feasible, having commuted that way nearly all of last year. But then I got a car. Terrible idea! Immediately I started driving, taking advantage of the free parking I have at work and the ease of just getting in and going. I've paid the price with ten pounds gained and physical fitness lost. If I can park a car at work, I can also park a jogging stroller.
Just takes a little planning, which will be easier when I'm not so sleepy all the time. Any day now, I'm sure Elliott will just sleep right through the night. Any day.
