News & Excitement

Well hey there, kids.  It's been a while.  I know that I probably should explain my absence and beg forgiveness but why don't we just agree to move on together?  There, isn't that refreshing?

Here's the update: After a three year exile, I am making a not quite triumphant return to the metropolis of Edmonton.  Now, this is a significant step considering I spent the greater part of my youth concocting plans to flee the place.  I spent a year in Europe and moved to Camrose just to get away from it.  And after all this time I have learned that, yes boys and girls, there are worse places to be than Edmonton.  So here goes, my top 5 reasons I'm excited to move back to Edmonton:

1. Household recycling pick-up
Oh yes, believe it or not, Edmonton is a champ at the recycling game.  I never really appreciated the joy of household recycling pickup until it wasn't there anymore.  The system in the borough of London where I lived in 2007 was similar and it wasn't until I moved to Camrose that I really learned how awesome I had it in E-ville.  The blue bag rocks.

I did make my best recycling efforts at the drop off location in Camrose, it's just such a serious pain in the rear.

2. Public Transportation
Camrose gets a bad rap these days for its lack of public transportation but the truth is that there isn't really anything that isn't a good 20 minute walk from just about anywhere in town.  That being said, I can see how a lack of wheels would be a major pain if you were a senior or disabled.  Or had to somehow get a massive bale of toilet paper home.

My rural counterparts don't often share my enthusiasm for riding the bus.   To a lot of people buses are associated with a lot of unpleasantries like smelly homeless people, smelly crazy people, and waiting in the elements.  To me, public transportation means not having to worry about parking, paying for parking or fighting traffic and for this I am more than happy to put up with the occasional stinker.  Plus, I'm really looking forward to walking off the 15 pounds I've gained since becoming a regular member of the motoring public.

3.  Backyard Gardening
Yes, I've had multiple gardening experiments in the last couple of years but it's a hell of a lot easier to maintain a garden when it's right in your backyard.  The new casa's garden is small but it'll do for some veggie growing.  The deck should also be helpful container experiments.  If only I didn't have to wait all winter to get started...

4.  Variety is the Spice of Life
Oh man, am I ever excited to live somewhere where a girl can get a half decent tandoori chicken. I was going to say "where the majority of restaurants aren't pizza joints" but that's the sort of thing that's difficult to verify. But seriously, how much pizza can a town of 17,000 people eat?

 5. Less Drive Time = More Free Time

Is it very obvious that I dislike driving intensely?  I don't want to say hate because I sure love a good road trip but man have I grown to seriously abhor the hour long drive between Camrose and Edmonton.  I may have exiled myself from Edmonton, but man is my life still there.  Between visits with family, errands for family, favours for family and the occasional thing I want to do, I've spent a lot of time in the car.  And I can't wait to not have to do it any more.  I also can't wait to not have to pay for all that gas!


I'd always had very romantic notions about small-town living and the rural life.  I guess I'm over it.  It can be cute and quaint but I'm an urbanophile out and proud.  It will be good to be home.  At least until I get sick of it again...

No One Wants Your Used Crap – And Other Garage Sale Lessons

It’s that time of year.  The leaves are out, the birds are singing, and people everywhere are trying to unload their worthless crap on others.  Yes, it’s garage sale season.  I have very mixed feelings about the phenomenon that is the garage sale.  On one hand, it’s a great exercise in re-use - all those bargain hunters giving a second life to all that unwanted stuff; the treasures waiting to be discovered.  On the other hand they kind of make me sick to my stomach.  If there is a hell, I’m certain that there is a special level where there’s a garage sale everyday (it’s probably near the top so it’s accessible to people who think that garage sales are DA BOMB).  

I’d managed to avoid helping my mother with any of her previous garage sale attempts – which is quite the feat considering what a champion manipulator she is.  My mother has a serious hoarder tendency and with my sister’s impending move to Vancouver this fall, she and I decided to take some covert action while Mother is on holidays and hold a garage sale with the goal of divesting the family of the excessive piles of crap that have accumulated over the years.  It taught me a couple of things that I’d like to share so that you too can learn from this horrific experience.

Garage Sale Lesson #1 – No One Wants Your Used Crap

Let’s face facts, People.  No one wants your used crap.  Well, some people do – but they only want the weirdest stuff and they probably want it for free.  But seriously, many people have a serious aversion to buying used goods.  It probably doesn’t help that most of the items that end up in garage sales really belong in the garbage, but just take a look at any thrift store and you’ll see what I mean.  There is more used crap out there than there are people to buy it.  I had a chance to attend the first day of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence Conference in May where one of the presenters shared the fact that approximately 70% of goods donated to second-hand stores ends up land-filled.  There just aren’t enough people to buy all of it.

This, of course, brings up some pretty philosophical questions about our consumer habits (like why do we buy all this shit in the first place?) which could be (and probably has been) a master’s thesis.  

Garage Sale Lesson #2 – There’s a fine line between “saving for reuse” and “hoarding like a crazy person”

My mother excels at re-use.  I suppose I could learn a thing or two about the 2^nd most important R from her, but there is such a thing as taking things too far.  For instance, why use the lovely re-usable aluminum water bottle that your daughter brought home from a conference when you can carry around an old mustard jar as a water bottle?  Or, why throw out this 1980’s crib when someone might be able to use it 30 years later?  BECAUSE IT’S NO LONGER SAFE IS WHY!!!!  (Also, see lesson #1).

Uh, I think the only person who still wants to play with this doll is Chucky.

Sorry.  I let my frustrations get the best of me for a second there.  Don’t get me wrong –
re-use is an important aspect to living a greener existence, but if your kitchen counter is so covered with old margarine containers and empty jam jars that the space is no longer useable, it might be time to let a couple of those bad boys go to the big recycling depot in the sky. 

The key part of the word re-use for me is USE.  If you’re not actually going to re-USE an item, then let it go.  My sister is a much better example of a re-user and I’m sure she learned some of her mad skills from dear old mum, but even she knows that if your living space starts looking like a trash heap, you’ve got to make some changes.  Or maybe become a mixed media artist and actually use the friggin’ shit.

Handsome example of reuse of old refrigerator drawers by Edmonton craft artist Roxanne Nesbitt

Garage Sale Lesson #3 – Anything you buy becomes instantly worthless the moment you pay for it

Okay, let’s talk economics.  One thing my mom never quite seems to grasp (aside from #’s 1 and 2) is that you will never recover the money that you paid for an item, no matter the condition on garage sale day.  She, and many other people I know, have a hard time letting go of stuff because she can’t handle the fact that stuff becomes nearly worthless the instant you buy it.  

When I was a kid, my mom used to take my sister and I on epic sale adventures.  My mom would go anywhere to catch a sale.  She’d buy in bulk – even if we didn’t really need the items (sound like something trendy today?  Cough, extreme couponing, cough).  She’d call it an ‘investment’.  Fact of the matter is that almost no consumer good out there appreciates in value.  Just as a new car depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot, so does everything else.  Resale value of that $50 coffee table book you just bought on Amazon – 50 cents.  Maybe a $1 or $2 if you’re lucky.  Those fancy dishes you asked for in your wedding registry – hell, I can get that shit at Value Village for $5.  

Garage Sale Lesson #4 – Garage Sales are a Waste of Time and Money

In some cases, your stuff could be costing you money.  This is especially true if you think about the opportunity costs of hosting a garage sale.  If you’re doing things on the level, you’ll probably need a license (requirements and costs depend on your jurisdiction).  Then you’ll need signs to direct suckers, I mean bargain hunters, to your sale – that means signage materials or premade signs.  Then you need labels for all your crap – more dinero.  

And then there’s your time.  How much is your time worth to you?  Consider what you make an hour.  There’s no way in hell that you’re going to make that in a weekend sitting on a lawn chair in your garage.  Even if you make an awesome haul and get rid of tons of stuff (which you probably would have had to pay for someone else to take away), you will never ever make as much as you could have doing something more productive.

Garage Sale Lesson #5 – Avoid Garage Sales at All Costs AKA Buy Less Stuff

I’ve recently discovered that I don’t want to turn out like my mom.  And by recently I mean it’s been my life goal since I was maybe 10 years old.  What I’ve actually recently discovered is that I don’t want my life to revolve around my stuff.  I really need very little to survive in this world beyond food, shelter and a little self actualization.  None of that really requires a lot of stuff.  So I’ve been challenging myself to live with less.  That means making a conscious effort to curb my spending on consumer goods including – gasp! – shoes, my one mortal weakness.  I hope that by reminding myself of this horrific garage sale experience I can avoid ever having to do it again.  And as green as re-use and buying second hand can be, buying less crap in the first place aka reducing is definitely greener.