End of an Era, Countdown to a New Era

Posted by Chad Orzel on October 8, 2011
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This is primarily of note to a handful of family members, but it’s the end of an era at Chateau Steelypips:

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Well, two eras, I suppose, for the two items of furniture. The dresser dates from around 2002, and was bought when I first moved to Schenectady, so Kate would have a place for her clothes. I don’t recall if it was before or after we were married– I think before, but I’m not sure. It moved to Renssalaer and then Niskayuna with us, where it’s been sitting in our spare bedroom.

The really noteworthy item, though, is the brown chair. My parents got two of these back in the early 1980′s, to put in the living room of the house. My primary association with these has to do with our dog, Patches. I used to sit in one of these chairs reading for hours at a time, and she would flop up against it so I could rub her belly. When I stopped petting her, she’d sit up and user her nose to flick my arm off the arm of the chair back onto her.

When my parents remodeled the living room while I was in grad school, one of the two chairs made its way to Maryland. That got left behind when I moved to New Haven, but the second one came my way soon after, and it’s been with us ever since. It’s kind of battered, but what do you expect for a nearly 30 year old chair? And even if we haven’t been actively using it, I’ve sort of liked having it around.

So, why is it on the curb? To make room for this:

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I hasten to add that FutureSibling! is not actually with us yet– we’re still four weeks from the projected due date– but we’re close enough that we decided it was time to start seriously working on getting the spare bedroom turned into a nursery. There’s still a bunch of furniture to be moved out, moved in, or re-arranged, but should something dramatic and unexpected happen, we at least have a place for FutureSibling! to sleep…

Let the countdown commence…

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Comments

  1. #1 kate
    October 8, 2011

    ((sigh)) don’t you have Freecycle where you are? Someone would be glad to have that stuff!

  2. #2 Chad Orzel
    October 8, 2011

    Trash day isn’t until Friday. I’d be astonished if any of that stuff lasts that long– somebody who wants it will come along and take it.

  3. #3 oded
    October 9, 2011

    Best of luck to you. We have two weeks to our own projected due date, and are just now clearing stuff out to make room ourselves…
    She’eehiye bemazal!

  4. #4 Jake
    October 11, 2011

    I used to have one of those dressers. Actually I might still have one. I believe we bought it at Walmart for about $60. Not sure if the wife is still using one to store Bryer horses or not. I’m in Korea and she may have disposed of it while I’ve been away.

    Surprisingly sturdy actually (survived a military mover and a private move).

  5. #5 ObsessiveMathsFreak
    October 11, 2011

    This is outrageous. A perfectly good chair and dresser being thrown out for the sake of a one/two item. You do realise that there are space saving alternatives to infant care and storage.

    If nothing else, the obscene cost of most sofas and sofa chairs should prohibit such unnecessary waste. Yes, there can be an old chair smell, but you can’t beat that old chair comfort.

  6. #6 Eric Lund
    October 11, 2011

    I can’t speak for Niskayuna, but in my town there is a tradition of freecycling goods by leaving them on the curb at certain times of year. I have gotten rid of some stuff that way.

    Even better would be to have some kind of swap shop, as my town does, though that works better for smaller items than for furniture. The best place to put it would be the town transfer station. Here in New Hampshire it is not unusual to see people leave the transfer station with more than they brought (I have occasionally done so myself). I have acquired several books that way (and gotten rid of several that I knew I would never read again). I have also acquired some music that way (this is one reason I keep my tape deck around).

  7. #7 Kate Nepveu
    October 11, 2011

    Wow, people’s failure to read comments before rushing to post their own judgmental ones never ceases to amaze me.

  8. #8 Chad Orzel
    October 11, 2011

    And, in fact, somebody in a pickup truck just came and took the chair away. Problem solved.