The Cleanse: Week 4 - Where Does My Cargo Go?

This rooftop tent may be the next step if we outgrow our sleeping quarters at home; but for now we just need to transport cargo on the roof when we travel.

It's amazing how much stuff 2 little girls require for just a weekend getaway! Who would have thought? Then when we bring our other 2 girls (aka the dogs) along for the ride we quickly run out of storage space in the car. So in anticipation of a car trip to Bear Lake we decided to investigate some rooftop cargo storage options.

Most rigid roof storage boxes were way out of our price range. Knowing we would most likely only require rooftop storage once or twice per year we decided to take the economical approach and just purchase this cheapo (relatively) rooftop cargo bag to get us through.

I guess it's true that "you get what you pay for" because as I was loading this thing on the car for the first time it began to rip at the seams with the first tug on the adjustable strap. At this point we were out of options and out of time so we just made due with our slightly damaged bag, loaded up the car, and headed out.

Fifteen minutes into the trip we were forced to test out it's claimed water resistant capabilities as we encountered high winds and rain on our drive through the canyon.

Two hours later at our destination we assessed the situation and were glad to see that we lost no cargo; unfortunately we did arrive with some damp luggage. (Full Disclosure: After further investigation my lovely wife pointed out that in my haste to get the car loaded I had installed this cargo bag backwards on the roof which played a somewhat significant role in the water infiltration issue)

Even after installing the cargo bag correctly for the return trip I still felt like it was a bit ill-fitting on our particular car model. Also because of the fact that is was already torn after the first use I decided to return it to the store asap.

Luckily I was given a full refund. REI is the best!

So does that count as part of The Cleanse? I didn't really get rid of anything, but I did avoid adding another rarely-used item to our garage storage shelves. So I'm counting it as a qualifying item.

Baby steps, people.

The Cleanse: Week 3 - No Time For Tea

My weekly Cleanse routine got off track already due to the sudden passing of my Grandpa last week and the resulting memorial events that happened yesterday; but I still managed to steer things back around today.

To give you an idea of the continued uphill battle I'm facing with this purging of unnecessary clutter around the house, here is a conversation I had with Breck regarding this week's item:

Pres: Do you want to contribute to The Cleanse this week by giving away this tea set? [while holding up a colorful stack of tea cups & saucers]
Breck: No, I like that.
Pres: Yah, but it's been sitting on our countertop for years and you've never used it even once!
Breck: Okay, I guess. But what will I put in that spot to replace it?
Preston: NOTHING! [with a sigh and an eye-roll as I realize not everyone in my household is fully grasping the concept of my project]

Since we really don't drink tea, the cups and saucers can now be found at the Sugarhouse D.I.

The Life and Times of Grandpa Jay

We say goodbye to Grandpa Jay today who left this earth and went away.
He lived and left in the same way; going away without having much to say.
But that's okay 'cause that's just the way he lived his every day.
Today we remember the life and times of Grandpa Jay.

I hope you are happy today and have finally found some peace and relief.

Jay Arville Croxford
1929-2012

The Cleanse: Week 2 - Is A Vacuum Supposed to Suck?

Marital Disagreement #57: Opinion 1--> It is better to clean the car before a road trip to lessen the disaster cleanup following the trip...Opinion 2 --> Why waste your time cleaning the car before the trip when you know it will just be a huge disaster cleanup following the trip?

Guess which opinion is mine?

I guess I understand Breck's point that it is nice to have a freshly cleaned car when packing up and heading out on a 3-hour drive; but has she forgotten that usually about 37 seconds into the trip our 2 year old will spill her entire bag of goldfish crackers down between the seat cushions?

Oh well, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. As long as we split the before and after cleaning duties between the two of us I guess we'll never really know who's method is better.

Yesterday, following a fun and relaxing 6 days in Bear Lake, UT and Star Valley, WY our sunburned bodies returned home in a filthy car to a weed-filled garden and a dead front lawn. Because Breck was busy, you know, mothering our children, I was tasked with car wash duties. After returning home from a high-pressure rinse to clean the exterior of the car I began the daunting task of cleaning out the spilled crackers and marshmallows along with the interwoven-into-the-upholstery dog hair.

When the vacuum abruptly shut off about 3 minutes into the task I discovered something: our vacuum sucks! Er, I mean, our vacuum doesn't suck. Whatever...our vacuum does not work. I guess this was more of a re-discovery since we knew this old vacuum was on it's last leg after essentially burning up it's motor from years of almost daily dog-hair cleanup. It had long since been banished to the garage only to be used for really dirty jobs and been replaced by a much better, much lighter, much more attractive Dyson. (wait, did I just refer to a vacuum cleaner as "attractive"...oh crap, what has my life become?)

So the old vacuum essentially worked it's way right into The Cleanse by giving up the ghost rather than making a futile attempt at removing piles of crumbs from the carpet of our car. It also made sense in the spirit of The Cleanse to get rid of 1 of our 3 vacuums. 

Who needs three vacuum cleaners? Maybe a household with 2 large dogs, a toddler, and a new baby? Even so, I suppose we'll survive with just two.

Full disclosure: Because we have been out-of-town and didn't get a chance to put our garbage can out on the curb last week, there wasn't room inside the actual garbage can to fit the vacuum. So it is sitting patiently to the side of the can waiting for it's journey to suck up that big dust bunny in the sky.

The Cleanse: Week 1 - Wakeboarding Mag or Bored of the Wake Mag?

In the spirit of simplifying my life (as much as one can do with two young daughters in the house) I've accepted a self-imposed challenge to give, throw, or sell at least one item from my house/garage per week for the next year. My life is getting too full of stuff -- stuff I don't want, stuff I don't use, stuff I don't need -- and I'm growing weary of the clutter. Breck has reluctantly agreed to allow me this cleanse and has even hinted that she may be willing to participate as well.

Despite that fact that the colorful spines made for a nice visual display on my shelf, I decided to begin The Cleanse by throwing out my collection of Wakeboarding magazines (note: don't panic all you tree huggers out there, this huge stack of glossy paper did go into the recycling container). I didn't realize just how long I'd been holding on to these relics until I began scanning the dates on the dozens of covers as I threw them out; the oldest issue I found was from the year 2000! That means that this habit had survived the initial purging of my childhood memories when I got married and moved into a tiny apartment in 2002; and had since survived 3 more moves to eventually reside collecting dust on the bookshelf in our current house for the last 5 years.

I'm not sure exactly my reasoning for holding onto this timeline of the wakeboarding industry for the last 12 years. When I stopped to think about it and couldn't recall even once going back to scan the pages of a past issue I decided it was time to let them to go.

Now I've just got to resist the urge to fill up that empty shelf with more stuff.