It's a Mess!

Day Two of moving in was somewhat less wearying than Day One. We went out first thing in the morning and ran errands. First stop was the bar downstairs for cappucini and pasty. Then we were off to Mercatone Uno where we bought a small microwave. True fans of Abbastanza Buono will recall that just before we moved out of our Partigliano house, a lightening strike blitzed our microwave as well as a few other things (hot water heater, satellite dish, modem, etc.). I think it is just the perfect size--large enough to warm Dom's milk for coffee in the morning and cook veggies for two at dinner time. That is about all we use it for plus the occasional defrosting of meat.

Our next stop was the Condominium Administrator's office. We were looking for a key to the old furnace room because we thought we might be able to store bikes there. The administor did not have a key but she called our neighbor who loaned us one to copy. The old furnace room is pretty full so not sure if we will be able to get bikes in there. However, there is loads of vertical space and we might just put hooks on the wall.

Then we stopped at Brico Center (sort of like Home Depot or Lowe's) for another round of miscellaneous items--tub mat, tv antenna cable, etc.

Back at the apartment Dom went back to installing lights while I went over the the garbage office to figure out what we were supposed to do. When I arrived I was number 65 and they were only on number 45! However, a few minutes later I saw that someone had left number 60 on the ticket machine so I traded my number for it. Lots of numbers were skipped (as the people just could not wait) so it was only about 15-20 minutes before 60 was called. The gentleman I spoke with was very nice and I learned that I needed to go to another location to pick up the requisite bins and bags.

Here I will explain that Capannori has raccolta differenziata porta-a-porta (door-to-door garbage and recycling pick-up). What this means is that they have taken garbage and recycling to a new level. There is pick-up Mon-Sat of a different type of waste--multimaterials (bottles, cans, plastic), food waste of all types, non-recylables and paper. Food waste and multimaterials are each picked up twice a week. It is very confusing and there is a different bin and/or colored plastic bag (biodegradable of course) for each type of waste. It's a good thing we have a pantry and a patio because we will need all the space for the different bins. Tonight we took down a bunch of paper/cardboard and we will see if they collect it all. It's actually a great system but it will take a while not to have to think quite hard about the whole thing.

After that I picked up some bread at the bakery plus focaccia that made great sandwiches and two tiny nutella cannoli. After lunch I decided to do a load of wash but the washing machine that came with the apartment decided not to work. So, I switched it out for the one we already had. It turned out to be a bigger project than I anticipated but not too onerous. I even cleaned out under the sink next to the washer and made sure all the connectors are not leaking. Then I put contact paper under the bathroom sink. The surfaces under the sinks were not looking to good but the contact paper hides all those flaws.

Later in the afternoon I went off to pick up the bins and sacks, got some more keys made and made a major grocery store stop. When I got home I reorganized a few things (aka stacked boxes), hung laundry and then made dinner. I got the garbage bins organized and then decided to take a few more pictures. Here they are:

Eventually this will be the main guest room. However, we are using it now as it has the only dresser and armoire in the apartment.

New light in the hallway!

This will eventually be our bedroom but right now it is laundry and storage. We actually have a guest coming this weekend!

This is the small bedroom/office. Tomorrow I am going to put together the secretary and maybe the daybed. That will provide some storage and allow us to get rid of a few more boxes.