No, I’m not talking about heaven. I’m talking about a free bus ticket to La Crosse.
After my driver’s license was misappropriated three weeks ago, and the bus driver took his own sweet time to get it back to me, the bus company gave me a voucher for a free ticket. So I went this weekend to the scenic bi-state area, where I ate at Big Ass Burritos and watched reruns of Pawn Stars on the History Channel. This led me to remorse over the fact that I haven’t found a 17th-century musketoon in my basement, as I would then be rich. The only antique I’ve found down there was some 1970s porn that a previous occupant had hidden from his/her co-occupants by stowing it on top of a heating duct running along the ceiling. I didn’t bring it to a pawn shop to find out its value; I just recycled it. It was really musty.
Companion said today that he thought I was making real progress in reducing the crap in my house, which may be the most romantic thing he’s every said to me. I mean that in a good way, as companion is more of a minimalist than the Minimalists and doesn’t usually distinguish between a large amount of crap and a medium amount of crap – it’s all too much crap to him.
I didn’t get rid of as much as I had hoped to this week thanks to a bunch of Freecycle no-shows, who will be going on my Freecycle shunning list (people who say how much they want something and promise to pick it up at a certain time and then don’t show up and don’t email an apology or an explanation that being hit by a car or contracting the flu prevented their arrival). Freecycle shunning is just like Amish shunning. It’s very polite and you never say anything mean; you just pretend the person doesn’t exist when they try to contact you. Although Amish shunning is a bit more emotionally fraught, since it involves people you know well; while Freecycle shunning involves people you know nothing about, except for their email addresses and first names.
There were some good Freecyclers who came through, though. Thanks to them, I got rid of:
- a bag full of old nylons and ripped silk tights
- two bottles of hairspray
- a grocery bag of fabric (destined for a rag rug, I’m told)
- a henna tattoo kit
Other than the free bus ticket, my other big thrifty win of the week was a five-pound bag of Haralson apples for a dollar. That’s the great reward awaiting those who visit the apple capital of Minnesota.