It's Been Way Too Long

I am annoyed at myself that I have not posted in over three months! And I have been doing post-worthy things!!!

Let's see, since September 9th:

1. I finished the flags, the competition band season went well, our school won first place at all of the local competitions but came in 7th or something at the statewide competition in November. The kids were disappointed, but they had a great run. 
2. My older son went to military college and not only survived, but did well. He is home for winter break right now.
3. My job was reorganized so that now I work for a set group of people instead of in a "pool." I love it and am much happier. 
4. We finally got rid of the carpets and had the bedrooms recarpeted with new, stain-free, soft, carpeting, and we had wood floors put down on our hallway.
5. We were supposed to have new wood put on the steps, but they screwed it up and now my husband is in the process of redoing them. He is much too critical of his own work; I think they look beautiful and will really look wonderful once the risers are painted white.

The new carpeting means that we had to go through all of the bedrooms and clear out the junk. After taking just about everything out of each room, I didn't want to put anything back, so I made sure to be very selective of what went back into each bedroom. Our middle bedroom, the one that has basically served as a junk room for 20 years, is still uninhabited; however, we got rid of a lot of stuff and it looks much better. I put some things in there that used to be in my boys' room...stuff that they apparently haven't missed. I hope to get rid of the stuff gradually.

I have pictures of the before; I just have to post them. 

Stay tuned.

I've Been in Hell

Flag hell, that is. I sew flags for the school color guard to use in their competition band shows and this year has been especially trying. It all must be done within a four-week time frame and when you've got 50ish flags to cut material for and distribute to a few helpful seamstresses and sew some yourself, it can be maddening. I'm almost done my part; at least I should be by the end of the weekend. Then I do nothing in the way of volunteering for the rest of the school year. 

So that's why I haven't posted anything. 

Other than that, a few things have changed with regard to my next decluttering project. Because we were planning to get new carpets this fall, I figured I'd be working on our extra bedroom first. Well, turns out that we won't have enough money to get hardwood flooring on the steps and in the hallway PLUS get carpeting, so we're postponing the carpeting for another year. We could easily get the whole thing recarpeted for a few thousand dollars, but my husband wants to have new hardwood laid on the steps and hallway, and that alone will cost about $6,000. But something MUST be done with the hall, because the carpets are in such bad shape, as well as the floor beneath it, so I am fine with doing the hall/steps now and waiting for the carpets.

The time frame for the hall/steps is early November, which is fine because October is busy with band activities. However, I'm not doing a thing to the spare bedroom until the hall is done. So the bedroom may turn into a winter project instead of a fall one.

Next up I think is the next round of Project 333. 

The Next Project (I Hope)

I finally whined enough to my husband about the skanky carpets in our upstairs that he agreed to go looking for new carpet with me this weekend. The rugs are about 12 years old, and have been vomited on, bled on, peed on and pooped on, and they are absolutely disgusting. 

My husband refused to even entertain the idea of new carpets until our dog was gone. Well, he passed away in November, and I have been pissing and moaning since the spring for new carpets. Or no carpets and just wood floor. I don't care. I just want that nastiness out of my house.

Now the husband is talking about replacing the wood floors in the hallway and up the steps and only carpeting the three bedrooms. Cost will be a determining factor.

However, regardless of what ends up on the floor, our extra bedroom will have to be the next project. We only used it for about six years as a bedroom for my oldest son, and then we moved him in with his younger brother, and the room quickly became a junk room. Most of the time there were toys in there, and when the boys were little, the intention was for it to become a playroom, but that never happened. 

We've gotten rid of several bins of toys, but we still have many more bins of Legos and trucks that my husband doesn't want to part with. He keeps wanting to save stuff in case we have grandchildren someday. I get the sentiment, but I suspect things will be wildly different by the time that happens. So I'm going to do my best to convince him that most of it must go. 

I'll take before pics in the daylight and post them. Even if we end up not getting the rugs replaced soon, I should still go through the room. My husband actually mentioned something about painting it and reconverting it back to a bedroom, perhaps for my older son when he comes home from college. Regardless, I probably won't start working on it in earnest until the end of September, when the weather cools down and I'm done sewing flags for the band (something I do every year at the beginning of band season).

Check back later for pictures of the room that has been bane of my existence for the last 12 years.