Almost Spring Cleaning Time

I spent the day Saturday going through our garage (which is now empty) and various closets and storage spots in my house.  I got rid of so much stuff and while I absolutely hate doing this, once I get started I get on a roll.  When it’s done I feel so happy and I really enjoy looking at all the space I have to store more junk during the year.

If you’re like me and procrastinate even though you know you just have to do it, maybe you should think about a date in the near future.  Tell your family it’s the day and just do it.

At any rate, if you are able to sort through, throw out, donate your items that have been cluttering up your closets I wanted to point out a couple great resources here in Santa Clarita.

If you don’t already know this, there is a Goodwill truck that is always parked behind Kmart on Valencia and Soledad.  The truck is open everyday and  the guys that work there will help unload your car and will always offer to give you a receipt.

If you have things that are too big to load in your car and your staring at them cluttering up your garage or backyard, consider 1-800 GOT-JUNK! I had a huge home gym that we had taken apart when we moved over 2 years ago.  The thing was gynormous and taking up much needed floor space in the 3rd garage.  There was no way that this thing would ever get put back together.  It was like a huge metal puzzle with missing pieces.  I went to the Got Junk website yesterday afternoon and they were there at my house at 8am this morning to get rid of the home gym for me.  It took them about 10 minutes to load up all the heavy cumbersum pieces.  It cost me about $150 and was well worth it.  I now have so much space to sort out Christmas decorations and all the sports stuff we have in there (which I’ll probably get rid of next year).   The Got Junk guys were very friendly and professional.  They tell you to just point to what you want gone and they move everything for you.  Lastly, they try and recycle or donate all items that they remove.

I hope this motivates you to begin your spring cleaning and get rid of unnecessary items that are eating away at your space. 

Feathers are Gettin Ruffled

Recent news has reported that the Bridgeport HOA is trying to rid their community of the American coot.  A species of birds that has migrated from Alaska and have made their way here to our lovely Santa Clarita.  Specifically the waters of Bridgeport.

I have to laugh at this because as a side note, while I think Bridgeport is nice to look at, I always thought it was strange that they built a lake in the  middle of the city and often wondered what animals would find shelter there.  I assumed it’d be mosquitoes, but I was wrong, it was the coot.

Santa Clarita Real Estate Agent, Darla Vanderlip  has a nice write up on the story along with a photo of these lovely creatures relaxing  on what looks like a beautiful spring day (in January). 

Where I live (Tesoro) we have rabbits.  Lots of cottontail rabbits.  They eat my plants and leave their little pellet poops all over my yard. I don’t mind it.  I feel like it’s part of living where I live.  I just deal with it.  

So, in my opinion, to the Bridgeport HOA, cry me a river and poop on you.  Leave the birds alone.  Just deal with it. 

Waste of Parking Spaces

I was recently up at the shopping center on Haskell Cyn and Seco.  While I was driving around looking for a place to park I noticed these…

From what I could tell these were parking spaces reserved for motorcycles.  Since they were all empty, but all the other spots were full I can only assume this is a total waste of space.  I think 2-3 cars could’ve parked there if they were marked accordingly.

I had no idea motorcycle parking was so hard to come by. 

If anyone knows why these spots are like this, please enlighten me. 

When to Put Up Holiday Lights

Pulling into your driveway in early November to find that your neighbors have already set up and turned on their holiday lights can be irritating.  I mean when is a good time to set them up?  Surely there has to be a limit.

In my opinion, I’d say the day after Thanksgiving or even Thanksgiving at the earliest if you must.  If you have to get them set up the week of Thanksgiving, great, but wait to turn them on.

I love holiday lights and we have so many neighborhoods in Santa Clarita with beautiful displays.  I feel that putting them up too early takes the fun out of the week where most people put them up.

Lots of us drive through our neighborhoods after Turkey Day and see our neighbors put up their lights, new ones each day.  It’s kind of fun.  There’s always the one that does theirs first, but please wait til Thanksgiving.  Don’t put your lights up now (first week in Nov) it’s just too early. 

What do you guys think? Agree, disagree? 

After the Fire

I took some time yesterday to drive around a bit after attending my son’s football game over at Canyon High.  Sitting in the stands at Canyon you could see the damage on the hillside that the fires did and it was so sad to know that so many homes were lost in that neighborhood.  There was a helicopter hovering overhead for awhile most likely assessing the damage in the hills between Canyon Country and Saugus. 

Some good news is that Lombardi Ranch opened for business again and has lots of pumpkins for sale.  I drove over there and took some photos along the way of our town after the fire.

This sign is hanging over the new Vincenzos on Plum and Bouquet.

You can see that the fire burned right to the hillside behind them.

Here are some more images driving back from Canyon Country over Plum to Lombardi Ranch.  BTW-If you haven’t gotten your Halloween Pumpkins yet, go to Lombardi and support the Ranch that has been around for us for so many years.  Let em know you want them to rebuild! 

SCV Barbie Dolls

These dolls have been going around emails all year and I dropped the ball on posting them before.  Sorry!  Anyway, here they are all together.  Like I said, I have no idea who created these, but they are great.

Back in Parking in Newhall

I read in the paper this weekend that the City Council will be re-evaluating the infamous ‘back-in-parking’ in Newhall at their next meeting.  This parking situation has caused much drama, loss of business and confusion. 

Seriously, why wait?  It was a dumb idea.  Just shut down the street in the middle of the night and re-paint the lines. Why sit around and wait until a meeting on Sept 25th?  Why make people continue to suffer and be aggravated over it? 

All the he said, she said’s that goes around is ridiculous.  Can’t there be an emergency meeting called to vote and resolve this now?

One of the merchants that is impacted says they lose $400 a day in sales due to the parking situation.  So if the city council waits until 9/25, that’s about $6000.00 in estimated losses.  Then, hmmm, will they have to vote and negotiate who will paint the lines?  What kind of paint will they use, hmmm, hire a consultant to see how they show go about re-painting?  $400 a day will add up quick as I’m sure it already has. 

Give me a break. Get it done and move on.