Keep on keeping on

My landlady showed the flat the week before last and the people wanted to take it but something fell through. She called earlier this week, she'll bring someone again on Tuesday night. This is actually quite useful as it forces me to keep moving, keep cleaning, keep clearing.


Exciting stuff I've been up to lately? Warning: not so interesting. ;-)

1. I sold my TV, TV stand, free to air box and antenna via kalaydo.de.

I've been pleased with the experience of selling things via kalaydo and ebay.de. I had started selling things a few weeks prior to my German test, partially to force myself to get my game up on my practical, daily German. I'm not a big fan of TV, but I bought one for educational purposes. No, really I did, in order to be able to hear spoken German from outside of this region. To that end, I bought the most basic one possible--a floor model which was super discounted when walmart was closing a few years ago in Germany. There was no way any of it was coming to the UK, so I gave it all decent prices and then one lower bundled price if someone would buy all. I listed it on Sunday and it was paid and picked up on Tuesday, under the bundled option.

2. Friday the desk and ikea floor lamp went out the door.

I had the most basic of desks, it was actually a table which I repurposed. It had an ikea look, all glass and metal. A woman found it on kalaydo after it had been there a few weeks, so I was happy. She was very happy, her 17 year old daughter 'is very into the simple ikea look, although I don't really care for it'. They recently redid their house to create more of a separate apartment for the daughter, so they needed to furnish it on the cheap. She was telling me, in her daughter's class, they were being asked, what is St. Nicklaus bringing you? Other kids are saying chocolate or whatever, her daughter proudly answered, 'a desk!'

As the lady was leaving she asked me if a lamp standing next to a stack of boxes was for sale.
-Yes, I bought it from ikea, it goes also. (Basically everything electrical is going, rather than dealing with the different electrical plug converters/fixtures.) Sure, for 7 Euros, it's yours.
'Perfect! My daughter will love it.'
Even better, you've saved me the trouble of listing it.

3. the sewing machine, out the door

My boss from the US didn't bring hers here. I had put it on the company J bulletin board and there she found it, duh. She has only been my boss since Sept, so I don't yet fully know her, but gosh, had I known she would have been interested it it would have saved me the hassle of photographing it, writing up an annoucement in English/German and then schlepping the announcement over to the main building to place it on said bullentin board. I live and learn on that one.

4. mashed potatos.

Actually D was on top of this one. D makes the best mashed potatos. I don't even try, it's one of the few veg dishes I don't do, mainly due to the excessive work. (I'm not a good potato peeler) I am a good potato buyer, however. I went to the potato farm and purchased 5 kilos of mashing potatos in advance of his visit and placed them in the cellar. He spent a few hours boiling, peeling, mashing and seasoning, so I now have plently of mashed potatos in my fridge and tiny freezer, enough to last a few weeks if I ration properly.

5. UK move

Since D had suitcase space, the first things are now off to the UK (my snowshoes and some German souvenirs). We had another big snow this week, but I'm willing to forgo the rest of the season as it's rare that we get a good weekend snow and I have so few weekends left...

What's next?
A. I'm packing for the US this weekend, to go next week Saturday.
B. More stuff I don't use to list, perhaps I can still get it out the door this week.
C. Lots of logistics, booking flight ticket to leave DE and some plans after that.
D. Booking a weekend to drive/ferry to the UK in late January. I'm still in job negotiations with benevolent company J to move my job to the UK, but I probably won't get moving expenses kicked in since it's a self-requested move.
However, I have a company J provided car and legally it is mine for personal use anywhere in the EU, excluding east of Germany. I don't have so many things but based on transport costs (in particular for my books), it will be more cost effective for me to pay up for the ferry, as the car + petrol are 0 cost (company J provided) and once I have more than 3 boxes of books, I break even.
E. Flat being shown again on Tuesday, so need to have things presentable again.