It is interesting to see the change in dynamic now Joan is more grown up. When she first moved out, we gifted (or fobbed off on) her quite a bit of stuff we no longer required (vacuum, ironing board &etc), and I’m always trying to press clothing or haushold items on her that I’m not using.

Now that she has been out of home for a good long while, the tables have turned quite a bit. Over moving weekend, we had quite a bit of the “why don’t you take x, you could use it for y“. I am helpless in the face of offers of anything and thus could not resist and, to Don’s initial horror (he believes we have far too much stuff already), ended up with quite a haul.

Don was more pleased when I announced that for everything I was bringing in, I would be chucking out a similar object, for example, folding chairs replacing mouldy deck chairs on balcony, nice galvanised bin replacing the gutted-computer-monitor garden bin (which had definitely seen better days) &etc.

After living with the tabletop from old ikea table of Joan’s perched atop our old coffee table for a week as a trial, we decided it was quite superior to what we’d been using and so yesterday I cut down the legs of Joan’s table and Don attached new wee wheels to them.

As an aside, we’ve decided to try to avoid visiting Bunnings ever again, because 1. it is a madhaus and takes hours and hours to get in and out; 2. they have loads of cheap, breaky rubbish; 3. their staff are, in the main, completely indifferent to the products they sell.

Instead we’re now patronising the local hardware store, where the staff are extremely knowledgeable and where they sell merch of amazing quality and which is less than 5 minutes away – yesterday we picked up a saw, wee wheels and screws and the whole operation was quick, painless and all-round delightful.

Back to the table … I love to saw and the new saw cut through the legs like butter, it was amazing! Again proving that quality tools are definitely superior – makes me want to run out and refit the whole toolbox.

Now we have a table that looks a great deal better and is the perfect size for board games!

Incidentally, if you’re thinking of buying the 25th Anniversary Edition of Trivial Pursuit, I would recommend not. The questions vary between disappointing and appalling (television questions in the history category! and that was just the beginning). We’re now in search of an old-skool version.

I also gave Joan my cheap, small ironing board and received my old, enormous one back, added a replacement cover and now the laundry is full of circles.

A dismantled butcher’s block cart remains in the garage just waiting for me to find a use for it.

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