1st moving day: keys

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At noon today, we collect our keys to our new flat and sign our lives (for the next 12-months, at least) away. Roomie E will, I believe, be spending time this afternoon running back and forth to get some bits & pieces into the space, but I've taken a shift at the cafe. I'll be doing my running about tomorrow.

I wasn't QUITE as productive in the packing department as I'd have hoped last weekend, but I'm not too bothered. I can take stuff over, empty bags & boxes and then reuse them. I'm leaving all the big stuff for the movers on Sunday morning.

It's been a bit of a funny week. Only three working days, but they were quite busy, which helps the days go quickly, but there was still lots of typing to be done when I left yesterday. But one thing I like about the job is that you can walk away from it at the end of the day and just not worry about what's there (or maybe that's just me...?).

I've had some really fab thrift shop finds for the flat this week, too. I've picked up a few more things for the kitchen - why does the kitchen ALWAYS need so much stuff? I found a utensil holder for £2, and some new tea towels for £5. I was beyond thrilled to find an entire set of GLASS Pyrex storage containers (with lids!) for £25 which means I can finally wean myself off the plastic containers I've got. It's ridiculously hard (and expensive) to buy glass storage, so this pleases me greatly.

A work colleague brought me some sofa cushions she didn't want anymore. They're navy blue with sea creatures on them (they're nicer than they sound) and will look great. I'm pleased with free acquisitions and am helping her out by taking them off her hands.

I also bought an actual cordless phone! I'd seen one in the electronics shop but when I finally stopped in to get it, I found that the sale on that particular one was over. So I settled for a slightly cheaper model (£19), one without nuisance call blocking. After a bit of a think, I decided to splurge and get the one I originally wanted - who wants to be bothered by telemarketers all the time? So I was prepared to pay an extra £20 for the upgraded model. When I went in yesterday, however, he only had the display model left, so sold it to me for the sale price of £24.99, which means it only cost me an extra £5! HURRAH!

Roomie E and I both want to make long-distance calls and much prefer a landline for that, so we've set up a contract with a provider for Internet and Anytime International Calls. With a small monthly fee, we get 300 'free' long-distance minutes. Quite a good deal. We have our mobile phones for UK calling 

I also found a necklace hanger that I liked for £2.50 at one of the thrift shops, but by the time I got home, I'd lost the hanger bit for it! Very disappointed, as now my necklace hanger is just a weird statue. I did keep my eyes peeled when I retraced my steps to the office yesterday morning, but no luck. It's gone, sadly.

I did, however, make a rather startling discovery when I went to look for the hanger in the back seat of the car: chicken sausages that had been under the passenger seat since FEBRUARY. Gross. Oddly enough, they didn't smell, which is why they weren't picked up on a lot earlier.

Yesterday morning I woke up to find all four hubcaps missing from my car. *sigh* Probably bored kids on spring break, but whatever. I spent half an hour at work sorting that out. Fortunately, it doesn't affect the performance of the car, it's just aesthetically displeasing (hee hee), and will cost me less than £20 to rectify. There are funds in my car fund I can use for that.

I've been enjoying my reading as well and have made my way through two more books in the past week. I need to review them this weekend, as I won't have (personal) Internet until after 14 June, which was the earliest we could get an appointment to get it set up. I'll try to manage...

I made myself promise me that I'd wait until we'd moved in properly before finding anything else to take home. Once we have it all set up, it'll be much easier to see what we need/want.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll make sure to take some photos of the new place once we're a bit organised.