Yes! I Will Pay $25.00 for Toast!

Moving into a larger home, particularly when it's located across the country, brings some considerable challenges.  When we first came to SF I thought the primary difficulty would be finding a place to live.  It was tough, but in hindsight, not really that bad.  Within a week we'd found a wonderful new home.  Shortly thereafter, our belongings arrived from New York.  And that was when the penny dropped.  We had a home, but beyond a couch, crib, bed, and stereo, there was nothing in it!

Equipping a new home is no easy task, particularly when that home is twice as large and located in an entirely new neighborhood.  Sumie and I now had about 1,200 square feet, but we had furniture for roughly 400.  We'd used the cross country move as an opportunity to purge some of those belongings that, while still serviceable, had run their full course was us.  One of these was our trusty, but now filthy, sticky, and smokey, toaster oven.  I had no problem parting ways with this faithful fellow in New York.  Little did I know just how much I'd miss him.

It was our second night in the new place.  Our belongings had yet to arrive from New York, so we were getting by with a card table, an airbed, and a pack-n-play.  Needless to say, little comforts went a long way in such spartan surroundings.  As such, I'd picked up some amazing hot pastrami from AK Meats.  I'd been dreaming of the sandwich I'd make with it all day.  Peppers and onions were purchased, along with spicy mustard and a loaf of fresh sourdough (yes, I know I should have it on rye, but, for some reason, rye and I have never gotten along).  Everything was set but for one thing.  I needed to toast the bread. 

Regardless of the city, toaster oven options are seriously limited after 9pm.  Without a Target or K-Mart in sight, I was reduced to the last ditch minor appliance option: the local drug store.  Walgreens was able to provide my fix with a $25.00 black beauty from Sylvania.  Even in the box it looked like utter crap.  But when a man needs a toast fix, he doesn't sweat the source.  All that matters is that crispy, crunchy, toasty goodness.  Despite Sumie's objections, and my own severe aversion to ever buying anything cheap, I plunked my money down. 

15 minutes later the claimed four-slice wonder, which barely fit two, was smoking away.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the toast that was smoking.  It was that black hunk of crap from Sylvania.  Brand new and already, on its maiden toast, it was on fire.  It was my own personal "Titanic" moment.  Granted, the scale was a bit smaller and no one drowned, but it was still distressing.  I pulled out the bread - not toast - once the fire alarm started blaring.  Thankful I had saved the box and receipt, I resigned myself to a soft-bread sandwich. 

I was frustrated that night, but had relearned a valuable lesson: buy quality or go without.  I've managed to stick by this mantra for the past three weeks, and I'm glad of it.  The majority of our rooms are still relatively empty as a result - one is occupied solely by an airbed, inflated to make the room feel a bit more useful - but the few things we have purchased we'll keep for years to come. 

And that's my basic strategy for our new home.  We're going to purchase items that we'll be proud to keep for the next 20 years.  It's going to take a lot longer, but it'll also be much more fun.  I've already scouted out some vintage furniture stores here in SF, one visit resulting in a score of two end tables from the 1960s at a very reasonable $50.00.  And today, our rug purchasing patience paid off with our discovery of Albert at Aladdin Carpets.  He runs a very small, very local shop with some of the best prices in the city.  Not only did we get a great deal, we helped to support a local business, which is definitely a plus.  It's going to take many weeks, if not months, to really get our place liveable, but, despite the inconvenience, I think we'll end up with some fantastic pieces and get to know our new city a bit better in the process.

Mimi Update:  The day after Mimi first walked she woke up having forgotten her new skill.  By the afternoon, however, she was once again tearing through the house.  She hasn't stopped since.  She still likes to use her walker from time to time, though.  With that in hand she can nearly run.  Here's a picture of her sprinting down the hall wrapped up in her mother's nightshirt.  I guess she missed mommy that morning.

We've also taken to playing in the backyard, which is much more fun now that Mimi can walk.  She loves strolling around the patio.  She also loves picking up leaves.  She likes her patio clean, I guess.  Here she is handing me one of her finds.

Unfortunately, she doesn't hand me all of her discoveries.  Some of them go into her mouth.

Well, at least it's an all natural diet.