RIP the Last Lousy Box
Sep. 3rd, 2026 05:14 pmI have just emptied the Last Lousy Box.
This is not, technically, the last box. There's things like "the Christmas box" and "the camping tub" which could both stand to be sorted through again but are deliberately permanent fixtures, or "the box with Pop's clock" which could likewise stand to be taken out and checked but is unlikely to be set up in this apartment or any apartment (it is Loud), but those don't really count. There's "a box of cords and cables" which is not a 2010s fantasy novel but does need to be likewise sorted through and put in a smaller box once I find one. Most significantly there's the box of bookshelf stuff, mostly stuffed animals, that remains full because I'm dragging my feet on wrapping up the living room.
So that's, what, three that want dealing with, only one of which is really a Box.
But this is, was, the Last Lousy Box. For years it contained a bunch of stuff that I didn't want to get rid of but didn't have anywhere to put. Now, thanks to some mild downsizing and moderate reorganization, I have an entire half-height bookcase on which to put Stuff. Some of it got chucked, though less than I'd expected. Most of it stayed.
This has been the Last Lousy Box for at least fifteen years. I know this because when the movers loaded everything from Virginia to Vancouver they wrapped all the bankers' boxes in packing tape, and the packing tape was still on this box so it had never been disassembled.
End of an era, or something.
I had most of the bookcases in place and filled by the middle of last week, because just seeing the piles of boxes was stressing me out. Sorting the furniture took longer. For the first time in a decade my living room is not "couch opposite wall of bookcases" and I'm not sure how I feel about that. (The couch is at a right angle to the opposite wall, providing some visual definition between the kitchen/dining area and the living room.)
The kitchen took longer but is mostly organised now. I knew I was going to miss my previous kitchen: it was a little too small but extremely well laid out, and the pantry and bar/shelf helped a lot. This one has more cabinets, no pantry or bar/shelf, a stupid linear galley layout, and about the same amount of actual counterspace. I'm making it work but it's a Process.
The only casualty of the move was my Instant Pot, which developed a significant dent sometime between being put in its box in Vancouver and taken out here. Unclear whether I'm going to replace it; I didn't use it as much as I would have liked to. C'est la guerre. I'm also missing one of my favourite card games, but there's still a couple of places where that might turn up.
There's still some amount of bigger stuff that needs homes, and honestly I need to just take everything out of the closet and put it back in again. But I'm basically moved in.
It's weird.
This is not, technically, the last box. There's things like "the Christmas box" and "the camping tub" which could both stand to be sorted through again but are deliberately permanent fixtures, or "the box with Pop's clock" which could likewise stand to be taken out and checked but is unlikely to be set up in this apartment or any apartment (it is Loud), but those don't really count. There's "a box of cords and cables" which is not a 2010s fantasy novel but does need to be likewise sorted through and put in a smaller box once I find one. Most significantly there's the box of bookshelf stuff, mostly stuffed animals, that remains full because I'm dragging my feet on wrapping up the living room.
So that's, what, three that want dealing with, only one of which is really a Box.
But this is, was, the Last Lousy Box. For years it contained a bunch of stuff that I didn't want to get rid of but didn't have anywhere to put. Now, thanks to some mild downsizing and moderate reorganization, I have an entire half-height bookcase on which to put Stuff. Some of it got chucked, though less than I'd expected. Most of it stayed.
This has been the Last Lousy Box for at least fifteen years. I know this because when the movers loaded everything from Virginia to Vancouver they wrapped all the bankers' boxes in packing tape, and the packing tape was still on this box so it had never been disassembled.
End of an era, or something.
I had most of the bookcases in place and filled by the middle of last week, because just seeing the piles of boxes was stressing me out. Sorting the furniture took longer. For the first time in a decade my living room is not "couch opposite wall of bookcases" and I'm not sure how I feel about that. (The couch is at a right angle to the opposite wall, providing some visual definition between the kitchen/dining area and the living room.)
The kitchen took longer but is mostly organised now. I knew I was going to miss my previous kitchen: it was a little too small but extremely well laid out, and the pantry and bar/shelf helped a lot. This one has more cabinets, no pantry or bar/shelf, a stupid linear galley layout, and about the same amount of actual counterspace. I'm making it work but it's a Process.
The only casualty of the move was my Instant Pot, which developed a significant dent sometime between being put in its box in Vancouver and taken out here. Unclear whether I'm going to replace it; I didn't use it as much as I would have liked to. C'est la guerre. I'm also missing one of my favourite card games, but there's still a couple of places where that might turn up.
There's still some amount of bigger stuff that needs homes, and honestly I need to just take everything out of the closet and put it back in again. But I'm basically moved in.
It's weird.
