Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Sun May 06, 2018 9:34 pm
I drove over to dd's and picked up the vacuum from dsil. Dgs was napping, dd was busy so I just thanked dsil and took off right away.
I picked up a diet soft drink at the store and had that while driving home. Had to stop at another store to pick up filters for the vacuum (the deal was I'd change the filter to make sure all the glass was out) and I shopped for a new table while there. Nothing was appropriate.
Once home I went to work on the balcony immediately, which was a good thing. It was sunny and warm but then the sun went away and it got windy again. It was a lot of work, first vacuuming between the tile and the edge of the balcony and then painstakingly vacuuming up the glass in the cracks of the wood tiles. I used a knife to loosen them with one hand while holding the vacuum close by so when it was loose enough, it would get sucked up. A few times the piece flipped out and landed in another crack.
Along the edge when the table landed, I pulled up the first row of tiles and vacuumed underneath.
Before returning the vacuum, I'll use it on the other other balcony and then lay down the green carpet strips that go along the edge. But that's for another day.
After all the vacuuming, I emptied it into a garbage bag and tied that off, put on the new filter. Then I wrestled the table frame inside (it barely fit out there with the movers doing it so I had trouble getting it back in through the door but it was light so I just kept trying different angles.) I took it and the light bag of glass down to the garbage room, got the dolly and came back up and took the heavy box of glass (double bagged as well) down. Since the locker was open to put the dolly away, I took the winter stuff from the car (back-up gloves, scraper, snow brush) and put those away in the locker.
Then I wrestled the chairs (which also don't fit straight through the door) back out onto the balcony and rested them against the western edge so the wind can't get at them.
I've spent a lot of the evening looking at options and there really isn't anything affordable. There are lovely $2000 sets but they tend to be too large. There's a great $555 one but I don't want to spend that much on something trendy. The last table lasted almost 20 years and never was stored inside. The chairs are only 15 years old. And I only have 3 of them now. I had bought the table and five chairs on clearance sale (the sixth was damaged) and then bought the two rocking/swivel chairs that matched. I split the 7 chairs between the balcony off the kitchen at the house and the deck on the back which had the table that just broke. When we moved, I gave away the matching table and 4 chairs and kept the mismatched for here since it worked.
When the table broke the other night I was all excited to get a matching set in the correct size for the space. Unfortunately, that's not made without a glass top so I will end up mixing and matching anyway so I won't give away the chairs as planned. I like sling chairs because they dry fast and I don't have to store cushions anywhere (nor tie and untie them when I use them.)
I'll go to IKEA after the accountant on Wednesday and buy something there. They have a number of options that work well. Smaller than we had, but that's better and we seldom had 4 people out on the balcony for a meal (it is too windy most days to eat out there!) The table is almost more for show, than to be used. Looking out and seeing the furniture on the two balconies gives one a sense of space beyond the apartment - a place to go. I love have plants out there for the same reason.
I still need to wash up the dinner dishes and then I'll head to bed. I slept well for 4 hours until dh got up and then again for another 4 hours after he left. It is a cool east wind now so that means that the bedroom is lovely and cool again tonight. So I should sleep well.