I found the counter in my part of the garage, putting as many soft drinks and bottles of water into the fridge as possible, throwing stuff away, and consolidating. You can actually see there is a counter there now. I will do more at a later date, but the main focus today was finding the garden irrigation system timer.
The good news is that my area is much cleaner now.
The bad news is that the timer is still missing. I have no clue what I did with it. It isn’t in any reasonable place. I’ve even looked in some UNreasonable places…
So – we’ll have some lunch, I’ll rest a bit from all the pulling, hauling, and cleaning, and then we’ll go to Yeager’s and see if we can buy another timer.
I’m reading Life Force by Tony Robbins. One of the suggestions is that you drink half your weight (in ounces) of water daily. My eyeballs are already swimming, but I’ll work on it. (He says that coffee actually dehydrates you. Since I’m a coffee-a-holic, this is a sad thing to hear.) So I’ll try to cut back on my coffee and TRY to drink even more water.
Another is to eat a more plant-based diet. My husband tends to dig in his heels, so I just talked to him, telling him I will include more veggies in our meals. Since he told me last night he LIKED the way I cooked the broccoli, I’m encouraged that I can do more of this type thing without riots. Small, gradual changes in a good direction.
I’ll go out later to visit our new early spring garden to see how our new plants made it through the latest rain. I’m hoping that the rain was greedily slurped up and that all are feeling happy. I’m reading about growing cauliflower better, since I’ve only been minimally successful, growing very small heads before having to harvest. Fingers crossed. I’ll take some pics.
Shutterstock
I’ve been neglectful regarding saving stuff on my computer lately. SO neglectful that I actually had to refer to my NOTES on how to make a new system disk and save my data to another. I’m embarrassed, but I got it done. I’ll put it on my calendar now so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Norman Machine Tool
I told you that our air compressor suddenly quit working. My husband took apart the top of it, finding the part that he thought was causing the problem. He ordered what he HOPED was a replacement part, and it arrived yesterday. So when we got back from Lunch Bunch, he took it out to the shop. He spent a couple of hours, and he FIXED it! He replaced the part, put everything back together and tested it. It worked perfectly. So now we’ll be able to change our snow tires on the truck for the regular tires once we really believe we are finished with snow and ice for awhile. :0) Another wonderful thing was that he fixed the compressor for around $80. If we had had to buy a new one, a much smaller one would have cost around $450 plus tax, plus shipping. He’s a miracle worker.
Giphy
I’m starting to feel a difference in my efforts to move more. I’m feeling less creaky in my afternoon old lady yoga practices, and the working in the garden is definitely getting me moving more. I’m going to see if I can increase this as the weather improves.
This photo above is very similar to what we saw going to town and then returning from errands this morning. It felt almost as if they were running along side us, like a dog tries to chase cars. Happily, they didn’t try to cross the road or crash into our truck. Beautiful animals.
Postal Store – USPS
Did I tell you that I hate to do anything involved with the IRS? Our son lives in Thailand, but still has to file income tax stuff for the states. I try to handle the stuff for him. I mailed a self-employment deferred Social Security ‘whateverwhois’ certified with return receipt for him this morning. I’m hoping this is the end of things for him for awhile. My eyes glaze over whenever I try to read letters from the IRS. I send images of whatever it is to our CPA, who ‘translates’ it for me and tells me what I need to do. I do it, send him copies, and breathe a sigh of relief until next time. You would think I was an embezzler or something with the huge negative gut reaction I have to things like this. :0)
The NY Times
We have a cell phone with base that acts like our house phone. We have extensions all over the house. I thought about changing carriers recently, thinking maybe we could save some money. Though I could get less expensive coverage for my personal cell phone, I gave up because we would have to buy another cell phone system and couldn’t get the extensions we have. The system also has an answering program that we love that requires callers to push # or something to indicate they are a real person and aren’t selling anything before we hear a ringing phone. It really cuts down on calls we don’t want. I’ve actually had people laughing when I answer, then wanting to know where we got the answering thingie.
Recently we got a letter from AT&T saying they wouldn’t cover our house phone cell system anymore because it was only a 3G. They said they would send us a replacement phone that they WOULD cover. We have no idea whether the new phone is anything like our present one, our answering program, if it will have extensions, or we can use the ones we have, etc. The only thing that MAY stay the same is our phone number. UGH. We really don’t like change.
Cards Recycling Service
Under that same heading of not liking change is that we got a letter saying our trash contract was bought up by another company. The new service started 1-3-2022, according to the letter. We have no other details as yet. We put out our trash as usual this morning, hoping for the best….
Amazon.com
While trying to put in new fluorescent tubes in a fixture in the kitchen recently, we dropped the cover, breaking it. We tried to find a replacement cover for it, but couldn’t find one wide enough, either locally or online. Yesterday we decided to buy a 2-tube fixture, using it to replace a 4-tube fixture in our office, and using the cover for the kitchen fixture.
Hours later, we finally had the new fixture installed and working and the cover transferred to the fixture in the kitchen. No lives were lost. If we need to consider this again, I’ll opt for candle light.
We honor the good people who died at Pearl Harbor 80 years ago today. My father-in-law served in WWII, but didn’t have to fight, as such. He worked on keeping ships working, and so was safe from harm. My father couldn’t serve, although he told me he would have liked to help in some way. They wouldn’t allow him to sign up because one of his arms and hand were deformed from an accident when he was three years old.
I just started my new dishwasher for the first time! I read the little booklet that came with it, warning me not to stick my wet finger in a light socket and then turn on the power, but very little real information. They basically said, ‘choose your settings and run.’ Gee, thanks.
I pushed ‘on’, then ‘normal’, then ‘start.’ Then closed the door. The magic red light from the test yesterday shone on the floor, showing the power was on. Then I put my hear really close to the door and heard the water start. Woo HOO!
I have no idea how long the cycle takes. I’ll probably have to check it later, just to be sure it’s on, (this is now a habit) but it will probably work as it is supposed to without my encouragement or cheers. I’ll be happy when I can see that the load is actually clean later.
We went to Yeager’s and got three sizes of compression fittings to replace the one my husband removed from the second hose under the sink that turned out to be for the ice maker. He had to fight with it, but thinks it is good now. So we have a second thing to hope for – that we get new ice! My husband was adamant that he didn’t want an ice maker when we bought our fridge several years ago. He finally yielded when we couldn’t find any without them. :0) Now he is frantic to get the ice maker working again. He uses it every day, several times a day.
I am being a good girl and drinking my daily glass of green tea as I type this. I would never choose this as a drink, but it isn’t bad. I found one that is made by the Arizona people people who make the peach iced tea my husband likes. Both are ‘0 Sugar.’ I don’t know if it will actually help me dissolve the plaque in my carotid arteries and help prevent more, but I’m game.
I’m having a quiet, relaxing day today. I hope you are well, too.
One of the first things my husband and I did on waking this morning was to congratulate each other on doing our grocery shopping yesterday while the weather was nice. This morning we have 45 degrees F., rain, gloom, and blustery winds.
We will meet our friends for Lunch Bunch, but we won’t do anything else outside.
Cliff Harden, of Safe Elite Transformations 479-849-0520 safeelitetransformations@gmail.com called and then came to look at my porch yesterday afternoon. He made us a new ceiling, repaired damage, and then repainted our porch last year. One trim board had fallen down and needs to be reinstalled.
After I got a wonderful hug and he looked at the porch, he said he would be here sometime next week to fix it. When we met, I was his first customer after he used the pandemic lock-down to get his builder’s license and start his company after working for others for several years. Now he has three full crews working for him and is scrambling to keep up with the business. When you’re good, you stay busy. :0)
We got our Covid booster shots Wednesday. My husband and I are in the high-risk group. Even though my husband tends to think everything is a conspiracy, he agreed to the shots, and finally to the booster. Thankfully, neither of us had a bad reaction to the booster. Our son, who lives in Thailand, is in the group that has had bad reactions with heart problems. He is healthy, so has decided not to get the shots or be tested. Since our government has now decided that you MUST have been vaccinated or present a negative test in order to fly, he won’t be able to come home for any reason until the order is changed. We will be on our own until the world rights itself again.
I finished the re-painting of the back of Wonder Wart-Hog. We will hang up the mailbox decoration with the others in the shop now. Monday, weather permitting, we are planning to put up Sylvester and Tweetie Pie.
I have the paint, tape, and stepping stool ready to start the refurbishment of the greeter robot at the bottom of the driveway when the weather permits.
Since our weather is so unfriendly today, after Lunch Bunch I will clean a few things and then do a combination of playing in my art room, reading, and listening to YouTube compilations of “The Voice” auditions. All that talent just fills my heart and makes me feel good about the world!
It’s TOO cool and rainy here this morning! It’s 41 degrees F., gray, breezy, and rainy.
Cliff and his guys from Safe Elite Transformations 479-849-0520 are due here at 10:00 to re-install a board that trims the ceiling on the porch for us. When they made a new ceiling for us and painted the porch not too long ago, Cliff told me that there wasn’t much to attach the trim to. He’ll try to figure out a way to remedy that today. I can’t say enough about him and his group. If you need work, remodeling, building, or repair done in our area, you won’t find a better, more honest or hardworking company.
I will continue my repainting of the back of Wonder Wart-Hog, the mailbox decoration that was damaged when it was up on the mailbox for the first time. Someone really did a number on the back of it. It has been sprayed with ‘something’ that wouldn’t come off. I put a first coat on the green and white parts of the painting yesterday. When Cliff and his guys finish, if it’s not pouring, I’ll go out to the shop and see if I can get the second coat on. I’m hoping I can repair the damage. I’m disappointed that someone would do this. We have been putting the decorations up on the mailbox for years and years now without a problem. I hope we don’t have to stop.
Bill Watterson-Calvin and Hobbes-celebrateeachnewday.tumblr.com
It’s drizzle-y, windy, and too cool this morning. The high today is supposed to be 57. Right now it’s overcast and 47 degrees F. I was ready for cooler weather, but this is ‘too much of a good thing.’
We will join our friends for Lunch Bunch in about half an hour. It’ll be good to catch up with what has been going on for each of them. We have been having lunch together every Friday for about 20 years now. How many changes! We have shared good and bad things, laughter, hugs, and tears. Some of the faces have changed. We’re never sure how many will be there, but the core group is three of us: Linda, Kay and myself. My husband was accepted as an honorary member of the group several years ago. He sits at one end of the table looking at his “harem” he says. We have told him that he is welcome as long as he behaves…
Unless it’s pouring after Lunch Bunch, we will scoot to Walmart afterwards to replenish some supplies. We plan to stay in the rest of the day, warm and dry. I’m putting the electric blanket on our bed today when I put fresh sheets on.
I’ve been adding new products to my Etsy site – Handmade Haven by Linda. Please take a look if you have the time. :0)
To those of you who have been following the blog, I FOUND the gallon container of mold/mildew/algae/elephant remover! As soon as the weather is dry and sunny, I’ll put some in a spray container and hose down the greeter robot yard art at the bottom of the driveway that I’m trying to refurbish. When I get the green and other dirt off of him, I can prepare to freshen his paint.
My husband is quite handy, saving us lots of money. I’m very grateful that he can look at something, figure out how it works, then figure out how to fix it. If he can’t, I’m confident we really do need to hire a real expert to repair it or buy a new one.
Recently I griped because it was getting almost impossible for me to reach up and turn on the reading light by my chair in the living room. He looked through several drawers, finding new innards for the lamp. He installed the new one for me that afternoon. We bought more spares the next day. You can’t ask for better help than that. Every time I now just reach up and turn on the light, I smile. He’s getting a bit tired of me saying, “Hey, look! I just turned on my light!” :0)
Yesterday we drove down the driveway to get our mail and found the front to our mailbox not only open, but hanging askew. We discovered that the rivet that held one side had either failed or had been damaged by something. When I saw it was a rivet, I figured we would have to replace the mailbox.
When we got home we had lunch and then my husband announced he was going to try to fix the mailbox. He and Amber, our dog, went out to the shop, got parts, and drove down the hill.
When they came back after half an hour or so, he said he thought it was fixed. He drilled out the failed rivet and replaced it with a fancy nut and bolt. I’ll look at it today when we leave for Lunch Bunch.
A. A. Milne – E. H. Shepard – Winnie the Pooh – DreamsQuotes.com
Yesterday I started trying to once again clean up my art room. A lofty goal, and one that I occasionally actually DO. More often, I START – find something wonderful – and then spend the rest of the allotted time playing. :0)
We converted a third bedroom into my art room years ago. My husband built shelves that go all the way across one end of the room for supplies. On the other end of the room, he built more shelves. On the window side I have two tall sets of shelves…
Then there is the closet which has built-in shelves on one side and a plastic set of shelves on the opposite side.
I have two counters, one long table, and my drafting table.
My art room is a place that allows me escape. Alone time. Time to nurture, to dream, to experiment, to play.
Right now I have to tell you that it looks like a bomb hit. I am working to at least be able to walk through without falling over something or having to move a bunch of stuff.
I’ll do a bit more in there today. Maybe I’ll actually get something cleaned off!
We had carefully scheduled for the garage door technician to come between 12:00 and 2:00 today to install the door seal we couldn’t install ourselves.
JUST as we were getting ready to leave for Lunch Bunch, the tech called, saying he was on his way. My husband said he would stay home to meet him.
When I got home after Lunch Bunch and errands, there was no seal on the garage door. My husband said the tech was unable to install it but said he could order one for us. It would be $354 plus labor plus tax. My husband said, “No,” and paid him the $50 for the service call.
I have now written an email to the online store from which we got the door seal, asking if we can return it.
So we’re wincing a bit from
the fact we bought the wrong seal from Yeagers and had to return it,
couldn’t install the seal we ordered on the net,
may be out the $75 we paid for the Internet seal,
paid $50 for a service call that had no results
and have decided that we will try to ignore the fact we have no seal on our garage door.
Definitely a case of one hesitant, but well -meaning step forward and SEVERAL irritating steps back.
Yesterday I made good use of the beautiful day, working outside much of it.
I harvested the last of the lettuce and some of our spinach. I pulled out bolted lettuce plants and cabbage that had been attacked by various bugs. I cut off dead or sick leaves from the yellow squash plants. The only thing remaining is to do a bunch of weeding, and then the garden will be in pretty good shape. I brought the harvested veggies inside, cleaned and stored them.
Then I tackled something I have been putting off for over a year (Have I told you that I have awards for procrastination?) – taking the remains of our greenhouse down.
We built our greenhouse 3 or 4 years ago. I wanted to extend our growing season by starting seeds. I had visions of over-wintering plants out there, and more. We built it from some plans we found on the net.
Sad to say, the greenhouse was a disappointment. We learned that, unless we were able to heat and air condition the greenhouse, it was too hot or too cold much of the year, no matter how many things we came up with to try. We couldn’t afford to heat and air condition, so my efforts out there were quite limited. Several storms came in succession last year and completely battered it. I cleaned out anything salvageable, and then we tried to ignore the remains.
Yesterday I started using a knife to cut off the remaining torn plastic. Then I got our Makita with the idea of unscrewing the holders that hold the pvc pipe ribs to the base. At that point, my husband came out. We got the pvc pipe structure free. I finished gathering the plastic in a leaf bag, and hauled a bunch of wood from one of the doors around to the place where we collect things we’ll take to the community clean up next time.
Today I’ll weed whack, since my husband got the yard mowed yesterday and it’s supposed to rain this evening. Then I’ll tackle more of the taking-down-the-greenhouse project.
I’m looking forward to our cooking burgers on the grill tonight as a reward for seizing the day. If it’s like yesterday, I’ll feel like a busted can of biscuits again this evening. :0)
WEATHER – It’s a good thing I’m not water-soluble, or I would have sogged down into a puddle by now with all the rain we have had. We just returned from putting our trash out for pickup and running errands. I wore a hoodie, since my husband has no patience for me trying to use an umbrella. I just throw my hood up to stay as dry as possible.
YARD WORK – I pruned our rose bushes and weeded a bit yesterday. Some unfriendly bug bit me on the back of my hand. It swelled up and itched like crazy. I finally got the itching to stop and the swelling should be down by tomorrow.
I was watching for ants, since I react badly to their stings/bites, but whatever bit me snuck up and did it before I was aware. I am going to try to harvest more lettuce, since my plants are starting to bolt, but it will have to wait until the rain stops.
EMAIL HACK – I seem to be over the worst of the repercussions from my email being hacked. I spent the entire day yesterday, except for the time pruning the roses, contacting as many friends and family as possible, giving them my new address, plus getting on our important websites and changing email, user name and password. What a hassle! I did get to talk to people I would LIKE to talk to more often, so that was a really good thing. If I finally reach a real person at Google, I will try to enlist their help in finding out who is responsible for the hack.
GENERATOR – Just as your car will never act up or make the noise you’ve been hearing when you take it to the shop, our generator came on just fine when the tech came out to help us figure out why it didn’t do its weekly test and or continue to run when we started it manually. He looked it over carefully. It started right up and continued until he turned it off. We told him the ‘overcrank’ light was on when we went out to look. My husband suspected the carburetor, but the tech was looking more at the fuel regulator, whatever that is. He said he would check his manual for ‘old’ generators to see if he could be of more help if we need to call him again. Meanwhile, $131.50 later, the generator IS working…
WEIGHT LOSS – My newest motivation to lose the lard seems to be working – at least, so far. Last Monday we had our routine doctor appointment with blood tests. We were doing fine (for old people) and the doc said we didn’t have to come back for 6 months, rather than the 3 months we have been doing. I decided that I wanted to try to finally lose a significant amount of my poundage by the time we go back in November. Since Monday I have lost 4.6 pounds. I’m trying to keep my focus on trying to really watch my portions, try not to eat in-between meals, or if I do, eat a really careful snack. I’m trying to move more, and pick up my afternoon yoga stretches again.
So far, my yoga efforts have been a dismal failure. Usually, I’m out in the yard when I WAS doing yoga. I’m telling myself that if I’m up and moving, that’s good, but I know it’s not a substitute for the good stretching I do with my practice. I’m going to rethink WHEN I’m trying to do my practice so that I can work in the yard AND do my yoga stretches on a daily basis.
ART ROOM – I’m still trying to overcome my stupid fear of failure regarding trying a new art technique. I’m really fascinated watching people demonstrate ‘acrylic pours’ and then ‘pours with crackle gel.’ They are getting wonderful abstract colorful work with gorgeous texture and cracks highlighted with gold. I’m going to keep making careful notes as I watch (and drool) and see if I can get started on it in my art room this week.
I hope that you are having a fabulous day, enjoying the weather where you are, if possible, or if cooped up inside like me, changing over to something fun INSIDE.
I just got back from my massage. I really didn’t care that today is rainy because I always feel SO much better after my wonderful massage therapist, Lynn Moody, 479-629-7601, finishes with me. Ahhhhhhh!
My main exercise since the 17th has been a series of squeegeeing, mopping, then toweling the porch floor each time the rain stops. The wind makes the rain come in and then the water sits there. I’m trying to lessen the damage as much as I can by taking care of the water as soon as possible between deluges and storms. We’re supposed to have two more days of this, and then MAYBE a 3-day-respite before the rains come back. I don’t remember our having quite this much rain before.
I will also try to harvest some lettuce if the rain will allow. We’ve been enjoying a combination of head lettuce, spinach, and buttercrunch lettuce from our garden with our dinners. :0)
I have on my to-do list today a return to my afternoon yoga practice. I’ve been so busy the last few weeks it got lost in the shuffle and my body is noticing. Hopefully, I can get in a nice session of stretching to finish off the good Lynn did with my massage this morning.
Also on the list is playing in my art room. I’ve been watching some demonstrations of acrylic pour art, plus another technique you can do with pieces of the pours that are left over. I’m a bit intimidated, to be honest, but my mouth waters as I watch what the artists are doing.
I’m trying SOME of the techniques, easing into this slowly. I’ve started a piece with my Unicorn Spit paint. I just put a coat of varnish on what I did yesterday. When that dries, I plan to paint some flowers, and then use the crackle paint on the background. Finally, I will use some metallic paint to highlight the cracks. Fingers crossed that it turns out SOMETHING like what my brain is picturing. :0) It’s such FUN to play with the colors!
I’ve been trying to get to cleaning my aquarium for the past week. I TALK a good game sometimes, but am not always terrific about actually following through. I just finished finally DOING it as one of my two projects for the day.
Everything is squeeky clean for them now. They didn’t SAY anything, or do back flips, but they HAVE been checking out the huge shell in the tank, swimming the length of the opening over and over. They are too big to actually get inside, so they can look to their heart’s content.
I only have two fish, but they are goldfish – notorious for needing a lot of care to keep their tank clean. I have found a combination that works really well, after a lot of trial and error. I’m using a filtering system called AquaClear. It has a three-part filter consisting of foam, a layer called, BioMax that filters out bio ‘stuff,’ and finally a carbon filter. This worked pretty well, but I was still getting a lot of algae pretty quickly. I found a product call No More Algae. It’s a tablet you put into the tank after you clean it. It says not to use a carbon filter with it, so I paid attention. Now I can go a month or more before even thinking about having to change the water.
Now I finally have happy, clean fish who are pleased with the addition of the shell to explore.
It looks like today will be another perfect day. We had one yesterday, too – sunny and 80 – and I’m not taking a minute of these for granted.
We leave in a bit more than an hour for Lunch Bunch. Today I’m taking gallon bags of spinach and lettuce from our garden to my friends. I absolutely love it when we have enough to be able to share with people who mean so much to me.
I’m hoping that one of my friends will have pictures of her new kitchen floor to share. She had a pipe burst during the last winter storm and it completely ruined her floor. Apparently a LOT of people had damage because she had to wait a long time for someone to be able to build a new one for her. I talked to her on the phone, though, and she said she was THRILLED with it.
I have some pics of our new carpet and new porch floor to share with my friends. It will be a LONG time before I get up to walk anywhere on the first floor of our house and fail to smile ear to ear. It’s such a pleasure to have things looking good. We’ve been opening our front and back doors to enjoy the weather in the afternoons. I can also see our new porch floor when we do that. And the carpet FEELS so good when you walk on it. :0)
Yesterday when we were going to get our mail and make a quick run to the grocery store, we couldn’t get our garage door to stay closed. It kept going down, then ‘bouncing’ off the bottom and going up again. Apparently the last big storm we had recently blew its mind. We ended up getting out the paperwork and reprogramming the remote that lives in the truck and the manual opener that lives outside the garage. Now it seems to be working fine.
Yesterday’s project bundle was threefold: 1) three loads of laundry, 2) put new sheets on our bed and change out the electric blanket for a summer velour one, and 3) change my clothes in my closet, putting winter stuff in the guest room closet and bringing summer stuff into my bedroom closet. I got most all of this accomplished yesterday. Today I’ll finish organizing my closet today, plus I’m promising myself to actually go through my stuff carefully, looking for things to donate.
I will also check my garden to see if I need to start the automatic watering again. We’ve been getting a lot of rain, so I turned the system off. We’re supposed to get more rain tomorrow night into Sunday…
We splurged last night, eating hot dogs and chips, with ice cream and fresh cut up strawberries for dessert. It’s been about a year since we did that last, so it tasted like Heaven. :0)
I hope that your Friday is wonderful. Enjoy every minute!
I’m waiting for my coffee to kick in. It’s overcast and rainy-looking. Severe storms are forecast for this evening, so I’ll need to get out to my garden and do a second harvest in case we get the hail they say we might.
I’m also going to try to finish getting things put back where they belong after our new carpet and flooring project. Even though I’m sleepy, I’m smiling every time I see the carpet and walk on it. It’s nice. And new, And clean. I also love the way the porch floor looks like weathered wood. I have my side of our entertainment center in the living room to straighten out and then things will be done. Hooray!
The garden was looking strong and healthy the last time I checked. I’ll try to share some pictures with you. I have all appendages crossed the the storms this evening won’t break the plants. One year we had bad hail that battered things so much I had to cut everything WAY back. Then the weather turned really warm and the early spring plants gave up the ghost.
If you’re feeling sleepy too, I hope we can both wake up and enjoy the day.
I finally finished getting our office back together after the carpet installation. I went through everything, trying to make it easy to find things. My husband will let me know if I was successful the next time he wants a new highlighter or something. Fingers crossed.
This is the main area in question. If he wants dividers for a notebook or tabs to go inside them, or whatever. I’m hoping he can simply go look for a couple of seconds and see that all the stuff for notebooks, dividers, and files are together on one shelf. Same for pens, pencils, tape of all kinds. etc. We’ll see. You can see that Amber is worn out after helping me organize.
My desk is newly cleaned.
These are things listed on Amazon – used books, and then my Amazon Handmade stuff.
This is the way the office looks as you look in from the foyer.
Our new carpet and porch vinyl installation was finished up by Friday mid afternoon. Aside from walking around smiling, we’ve been trying to get things put back where they belong. We had to empty out all the furniture, filing cabinets, etc. to do the install, and all that STUFF had to go SOMEWHERE. That ended up being EVERYWHERE – living room entertainment shelves, dining area floor, garage, my art room and the guest room upstairs, etc.
Friday I concentrated on making sure that we could make our way around the house without falling over anything – clear paths, places to sit down, place to eat, etc. My husband very kindly got my computer working again so I could work on getting over my computer withdrawal. :0) I also brought the drawers to my desk down from the guest room upstairs. There are 15 drawers in my old style roll top desk, so I made a lot of trips up and down stairs – good exercise, but a bit hard on this old woman.
Yesterday we moved all the files back into the office. We have two 4-drawers file cabinets and one 2-drawer cabinet. We got most of them back in. I’m working on one drawer today that was filled with OTHER STUFF – trying to go through it and get it better organized, and give away or throw away things.
Today I’m also concentrating on getting our supplies shelves fixed. Right now, the entertainment shelves in the living room are jam-packed with things from the office. I’m going to try to go slowly here, again trying to get rid of some things, but mainly to organize them so that my husband can find things. He has a harder time as the years pass, so I’m trying to look through things with an eye to where would be the easiest, most straight-forward place to store whatever supply it is – pens, rubber bands, tape, staples, etc. so he can walk up to the shelves and pick it out right away – or at least, that’s the plan. I’ll take my time.
We’re supposed to get rain today with more tomorrow, so yesterday I also took the time to check on my garden a bit. I planted some elephant ear bulbs I received in the mail. I may harvest a bit from the veggie garden this afternoon in case the weather people are correct. That will give me some good breaks from the reorganization of the office.
After we moved things off the floors and emptied all of the furniture in our foyer, home office, living room, and porch so it could be moved, the wonderful installers of Carpet Cabin in Fort Smith, Doug and Terry, arrived to install new carpeting and porch flooring.
You will never meet two nicer, hard-working, caring men. They were really great to work with. They did a beautiful job for us. They were here for one and a half days.
Now we are putting all the ‘stuff’ back where it belongs. It’s EVERYWHERE – my art room and the guest room upstairs, the shelves in the living room, the floor in the dining area. I’m hoping to have most of the stuff back in place by the end of the weekend.
To say we’re happy is a vast understatement. I was going for a BLEND between what we have. We still have old carpeting on our stairway, but the two carpets look fine together. The new one is different enough that we have a beautiful contrast to our eyes. We chose a really thick carpet, so it feels good under our feet.
I love the flooring on the porch. The vinyl looks like wood and it nice, clean, and FLAT – where the old vinyl had been eroded by the sun and rain. It had ripples and was almost without pattern any more. I’m delighted with the new look.
I will be trying to keep moving things, slowly and steadily, back to where they belong. Yesterday I moved all 15 drawers from upstairs in the guest room back to the office.
I feel very lucky that we were able to have this work done. It almost feels as if we have a new home. :0)
I got a call a few minutes ago from the people who are going to lay our new carpet and porch flooring. When I heard who it was, my heart fell. I thought they were calling to say they couldn’t be here Friday and would need to reschedule.
To my delight, they were calling to say they had finished up a job today, earlier than they thought they would. They asked if “it would be all right” if they came tomorrow, rather than Friday. HOOORAAAAY!
We will finish up the last-minute stuff on getting ready and will be here with bells on to welcome them tomorrow morning.
They will start in the office, so I probably won’t be on the computer until at LEAST tomorrow evening, if then, but I wanted to share our good news with you. :0)
I’ve been emptying out moveable shelves and furniture for several days now, trying to get ready for new carpet in our office, foyer, and living room, plus new vinyl for our porch. I’m very aware right now of WHY new flooring is such a big decision around here. Even with my efforts to go through things, donate, throw away, reorganize, we STILL have way too much STUFF.
AND I’m finding out how awful your house can get when you don’t empty things out, move the furniture away from the wall and clean behind it at LEAST every 13 years or so. Now it’s a matter of pride, like a teenage boy or young man washing his car before a date, wanting to show his best face. I’m cleaning like a nut, not wanting the flooring guys to see what a slob I am. :0)
Happily, the company called yesterday to schedule our installation. The guy started with May 10th and 11th. I said, “But we’re ready NOW!” (We’re not actually completely ready, but could be). He got with the others and we compromised. They are now coming this Friday morning, the 30th. If they don’t finish, they will come back on Tuesday, May 4th. I’m hoping that we can get the carpet in Friday, and then I don’t mind waiting until the 4th for them to do the vinyl on the porch.
I had a good chat with our son this morning, so my day started in one of the best possible ways there is. He lives and works in Thailand. He loves it there. Even though I don’t like the fact that he is halfway across the planet from us, he is such a good communicator that I can almost forget that. We talk several times a week, send pics to each other, and even talk with a conference call program from time to time where I can see his face and try to make him smile and laugh.
His newest thing is taking private lessons on reading and writing Thai. He already speaks the language. In fact, he has a phone app where he acts as a translator between people speaking English, Mandarin, and Thai. He has 3 keyboards on the phone and is able to switch between them quickly. Someone will write in to the app, asking, “How do you say ___ in (English, Mandarin/Thai)?” He types in the answer and then goes on to the next question. The last time he was home, I could have watched him do that for hours. He wants to be able to read and write in Thai. He considers this basic courtesy.
This is the work sheet he sent me. I have no idea what it says. :0)Redbook
Yesterday was DAY 1 on my experiment using Green Tea Extract supplements to try to control my appetite, which has gone through the roof lately. The directions say to take one capsule each day with a meal. I took mine after lunch yesterday. I managed to NOT eat anything between meals while eating a normal amount for lunch and dinner. Most importantly, I did NOT end up downstairs in the middle of the night, eating everything except for the wall.
I don’t know whether the supplement does anything or if I just want it to help so badly I got through Day 1. The mind is a powerful thing, and motivation is such a big part of changing a lifestyle. I don’t know whether this eating binge is due to stress (of which I have more than my share these days) or simply bad habits I have to work harder to break. I am determined to give this an honest shot. This is DAY 2.
We are continuing to empty furniture little by little – trying to find space ‘elsewhere’ for all the ‘STUFF’ we have in our office, foyer, and living room in our project to get ready for new carpet plus vinyl for the back porch.
We have plenty of time to get this done. The installation will be sometime the first week in May, but I may not have EMPHASIZED enough how much “STUFF” we have. We have built-in shelving on both sides of the doorway in the office and built-in drawers and counter-top around two sides of the rest of the room. We don’t have to do anything with those – just the furniture that needs to be moved. These have to be empty.
We have two 4-drawer file cabinets and one 2-drawer file cabinet. We have movable shelving – one 6-shelf piece, one 4-shelf piece, and two 2-shelf pieces. And the list goes on.
I’m trying to throw things out as I move things elsewhere. I am PROMISING myself, as I take things up and down the stairs to my art room or our guest room – that I will take just as much time putting things back together as I have taking things apart, go through and throw out MORE as I bring things from ‘elsewhere’ to back where they live.
One good thing I’m noticing is that, with all this activity, I’m getting a LOT of exercise, cleaning out, hauling up and down stairs or into another room – and that I’m dropping off to sleep like I’ve been hit with a sledge hammer. I just wish I had this cute little baby elephant with his purple ball to exercise with! :0)
It’s rainy and cool here today. I didn’t hear the rain overnight, but I was sleeping really soundly after moving stuff all day in the effort to get ready for the carpet and vinyl installers to come soon. We have JUST finished being threatened by frosts and freezes and NOW are being threatened with heavy rain, gusty winds, hail, flying hairballs, tornadoes and more. My poor veggie plants will need more than just sheets for protection and I don’t have anything. I’ll just have to HOPE that Mother Nature decides she has had her say and moves on. I will check on my plants later today – with all appendages crossed – if it warms up.
Meanwhile, the project to get everything off the floor and all the furniture empty is ongoing. I’m trying to do something significant each day. The day before yesterday I moved all of our files out of the office. That includes two 4-drawer file cabinets and one 2-drawer cabinet.
Yesterday I emptied and relocated the stuff that was on a free-standing 6-shelf piece of furniture that lives in our office.
Today the project is emptying my desk. It is a roll top, old-fashioned, well-loved-but-not-valuable desk I have had for YEARS. It is almost impossible to move. I am removing the drawers today and carrying them upstairs to the guest room. There are 15 drawers and two pull-out pieces of wood for writing. When those are all out and stored, the remaining desk is still in 4 pieces: the top; the two sides; and the board that connects the two sides.
I’m really looking forward to having new carpeting in our living room, foyer, and office, plus new vinyl on our porch, but it really brings home WHY we only do it every 13 years or so…
Tuesday my husband and I went hunting for new carpet for our first floor and new floor covering for our porch. We were lucky enough to be able to compromise on some carpet and I got free reign on the porch!
They are planning to install this the first week in May. For the past three days I have been trying to move things off the floor and out of moveable furniture. They will move the furniture and put it back, but only if each piece is EMPTY. Ugh.
I’m lucky that since we just had the work done on our porch, I am down to the essentials out there. It will be a quick matter to move the table, chairs, and small corner of ‘stuff’ out on the deck.
The carpeted area is not nearly so simple. For example, we have TWO 4-drawer file cabinets and ONE 2-drawer file cabinet in the office. I had to move all the files elsewhere so that they can move the file cabinets. We also have ONE 6-shelf piece of furniture, ONE 3-shelf, and TWO 2-shelf pieces of furniture. That’s for starters in the office….
Yesterday I moved all the files into TWO huge rectangular laundry baskets on the floor in the dining area. Today I emptied the 6-shelf piece and will soon start carrying drawers in my desk up the stair to keep in my art room.
This is all good exercise, but it really wears me out fast. I’m also appalled at all the DIRT under and behind the furniture that has sat in the same place for years…
It’s a good thing that I have a good amount of time to get this done
I have never been “Suzy Homemaker,” but I should really be shot for being such a lousy housekeeper. :0(
Today is sunshine-y and pretty, but it’s still only 37 degrees outside now. This is the third night I’ve had to cover my veggie plants, hoping they won’t freeze in the uncharacteristically cold weather we’ve been having. I think after tonight, this cold wave will be finished and we can get back to normal. So far, so good. Fingers – and all other appendages – including my eyes – are crossed.
I finally gave up on my elephant ear bulbs that I tried to winter over in peat moss in my garage. They aren’t showing anything good. I have ordered some bulbs and will plant them as soon as they arrive. I’m sad to lose the ones I received from my friend, Laufrain.
My husband and I went searching for new carpet and flooring yesterday. We compromised on some new carpet and I got my choice of flooring for the porch. The man is coming today to measure and give us a final cost. My husband told the lady we got the carpet and flooring from them in 2012, but it turns out that we got our kitchen tiles in 2012. We got the carpeting and porch floor in 2008, so it’s a good time to get new.
I sold a hand painted tote bag on Amazon Handmade overnight, so I’m heading out in just a minute to get our mail and then drive to the post office to mail the tote. It really makes my day when someone likes what I’ve created enough to buy it for themselves or as a gift for someone else. :0)
I got some things accomplished over the weekend that make me feel like I’m starting the coming week well.
I caught up on the filing and bookkeeping that had been piling up for quite awhile. I gathered the things I brought home from the booth my friend and I were renting in a local shop. I’m not ready to go through them right now, but at least I’m not in danger of falling over them on my way to and from the computer.
Our credit card was frauded and we had to cancel the one we had and start over with a new one. We had to contact a bunch of places to get things updated. I’ll finish the list today with some phone calls.
I discovered the local weather people were warning of a frost and freezes the coming three days. I got my plants covered last night. They came through just fine. I’ll cover them again tonight and tomorrow night. I enjoyed gathering my first harvest of spinach and lettuce yesterday! :0)
I will start hanging things up on the porch today. We have decided to start researching putting a new floor cover out there, since the project to replace the ceiling, seal off where the squirrels were getting in, and hanging a new shutter are finished. As an added project, I paid the guys to repaint the rest of the woodwork out there, so things look fresh and clean. Ahhhh!
At the same time we replace the porch floor covering, we’re going to research replacing the carpeting in our living room, foyer and office. It’s beyond being able to look better with cleaning. Our records show we have had it since 2009.
Our list of things to repair or replace is getting a bit shorter, so it feels good.
One of the LAST ways I thought I would describe myself is a ‘power washer’ person. That changed when we got one and I tried it several years ago.
Most of the time I clean things and the ‘miracle’ lasts for 30 seconds or so until it’s time to do it again. The power washer does a REALLY good job, it’s FAST, and it STAYS done for the season – or maybe TWO!
My husband set up our power washer this morning. When we got back from errands, I went out to clean the 4 chairs from the porch and the 5 chairs from the deck. By the time I was finishing the last chair, my husband was handing me other things that could use a good, powerful wash, like the hanging things for the porch, a couple of stools, a laundry basket, a dog bowl, and a basketball.
By the time I finished, I just stripped off my wet jeans and spread them out to dry out there. I left my shoes, too.
I’m going to do some serious resting now. We’ll have some lunch and maybe a nap, and then I want to power wash the floor of the deck. I can finish the rest tomorrow or the next day, but we can get the fresh chairs – dried in the sun – back where they belong, plus get the hanging things put on the floor on the porch. (We, of COURSE, are expecting rain tonight.)
My power washing project will include finishing the whole deck, and then the sidewalk that goes from the deck to the garage pad, the pad, the sidewalk that goes to the front porch, that porch, and then I think that will be it for awhile. This may take me a couple of days.
I truly LOVE a tool that makes your life easier, and the power washer is something I NEVER would have thought would have gone at the top of my list.
I love this painting. Sorry, but I am unable to read the signature to give credit.
I have told you that we are having to have our ceiling replaced on the porch due to an invasion of squirrels who ate wiring and chewed a hole through the ceiling. The painter is out on the porch today, finishing up the project! Their company name is Safe Elite Transformations 479-849-0520, but I secretly call them the “Band of Brothers”. Cliff Harden is the owner, and his brothers, Jared and Cameron (among others) work with him. They are honest, hard-working guys. I trust them. They do what they say they will do. They will work with you. I am waiting to give feedback on Home Advisor until the job is completely finished, but I will give them the highest possible rating.
Yesterday I stared mixing up KillzAll Weed Killer. My container with a sprayer holds two gallons. I filled it up and sprayed things 6 times yesterday. At that point I was pooped and stopped for the day. I hope to finish the job today.
Our weather is beautiful. I hope that you are having a great day, too.
Today is a gorgeous day in Arkansas. The sun is shining and it’s 55 degrees outside right now. It may make it to 80 this afternoon! Since I finally finished the main part of the weed whacking around the yard in the past few days, I’m planning to use my two-gallon sprayer to spray KillzAll all around the yard and planter edges, under the deck, and under my garden planters today to see if I can get a leg up on the weeds around here. I will probably do the spraying in several trips so that hopefully my back doesn’t yell TOO loudly afterwards. :0)
Tomorrow at least one of the guys in the crew that has been replacing our porch ceiling and doing a couple more handyman jobs – SAFE ELITE TRANSFORMATIONS– CLIFF HARDEN – 479-849-0520 – will be here all day to paint the porch. Things started with them just doing the new ceiling, but then we expanded that to include painting the rest of the woodwork on the porch. That will allow ME to concentrate on using the power washer to clean up the outdoor chairs, and then continue on to include the front porch, sidewalks, driveway pad, and the deck. This is a big project and will take me several days, if not a week, to finish. (with cooperation of the weather)
There is a lot to paint, so I’m assuming it will take most of the day. Then two fluorescent light fixtures and a ceiling fan need to be put back up, and then a lot of clean up. This may take through Tuesday.
Right now the deck is piled high with ‘stuff’ from the porch. I have promised myself to get ruthless about what goes back on the porch. Using my new ‘LESS IS MORE’ philosophy combined with Marie Kondo’s idea of only keeping things you really need or give you joy, I’m planning to donate a lot of things and throw away others, consolidating what is left. I’ll post pics when the porch is back together.
I hope that your Sunday is shaping up to be a fine day, too.
Today is starting off very well. The man who specializes in ceiling texture is here to work on the new porch ceiling. I talked with him when he arrived, and he said he should be gone by the time we may have some bad storms this afternoon.
I’m not sure what the plans of the rest of the crew are. The ceiling needs to be finished and needs time to dry. There are two fluorescent fixtures and a ceiling fan that need to be rehung. The rest of the woodwork needs to be painted, and then clean up before we can start to move things we have stashed on the deck during this project.
The whole project included attaching of a new shutter to the 2nd story of the front of the house to replace the one that fell off after a winter storm and shattered. Two of the guys ended up removing the window and screen on the 2nd floor and both of them hanging out the window to get this accomplished. I’m still SO grateful that my husband didn’t have to tackle this project. He was telling me it was no big deal to go up on an extension ladder carrying the screws, anchors, and shutter up to the 2nd story, then balancing trying to attach the shutter. Yeah. Right.
A second part of the project was to seal off the place on the roof soffit where squirrel had gotten in and wreaked havoc on wiring in the attic and the porch ceiling.
And then we needed a whole new ceiling to replace the one that was threatening to fall on us – probably while we were trying to enjoy a meal out on the screened porch.
I went to Home Advisor to find a multi-talented group who could handle all three and hoped for a price we could afford. Luckily I found Safe Elite Transformations. The main company is Cliff Harden and his two brothers, Jared and Cameron. You can hire them through Home Advisors, or can call Cliff direct at 479-849-0520.
I honestly can’t say enough about this company. Cliff respects his clients. He listens. He does what he says he will do. If he won’t be there at the time he told you, he calls and tells you a new time. He explains what he’s doing so you’re not in the dark. There is a passion for excellence. He is not satisfied with “good enough.” He strives for perfect. I highly recommend him.
Soon I will leave for Lunch Bunch. My husband will stay home in case there are problems or questions. I’ll bring him some chicken when I come home.
Hoping the forecast-ed severe weather bypasses us this afternoon and evening. I wish YOU a wonderful Friday as well.
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