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. 

The Front Porch, Or The Room I Am In All The Time

We had a cloudy/rainy weekend a few weeks back; the first one in about 2-1/2 months. I decided to make the best of a weekend indoors, and I did the whole porch. Now, I LOVE sitting out there. It's much cooler than the rest of the house and since it is enclosed, I don't have to worry about mosquitoes. They have taken over my back yard and every time I step outside for even a brief moment, I get another bite. Bug spray doesn't help, so I have enjoyed my tea or glass of wine on the front porch for the first time in about a year. Also, while I can't actually see the sunset, if the sky is orange, the porch glows. I love August sunsets.

Here are the results. Be mindful that NOTHING in this room matches. It's a collection of stuff I bought/thrifted at different times. One day, my goal is to have a nice wicker furniture set out here. Till then, just having it neat and clean is enough.

This was a gift from my mother in law several years ago. It's made of that melamine(?) plastic and can also be hung on the wall. I just haven't had a chance to hang it, so it sits on one of the bookcases and
is the first thing you see when you come in the door.

The coat closet. I put away as many of the baseball caps as I could.
These two are destined to stay out, but at least they are on hooks.

 The couch, where I sit and relax, blog, and nap. These windows connect to my living room.

This is the side facing the driveway. I moved our indoor/outdoor fountain indoors where I can actually enjoy it. Unfortunately, the first weekend it was there, I was watching a dog that used the fountain
as her own personal water bowl.

This is the shoe rack. At the moment, there is simply nowhere else to put it. 

This is the larger of the two matching lanterns. I decided to put the smaller one out on my back patio with a real candle, and place all three of the battery operated ones in here. A bold move on my part.

The bottom part of the window sill in the photo above is a piece of wood trim nailed to the sill because my former dog chewed it to shreds. Don't ask. It needs to be painted, which has been on my to do list for eons. I'm not quite ready to do that yet because once I do, I'll have to paint the rest of the windows and that can turn into quite a project. 

I'm not sure yet what my next project will be. I think I'll work on my wardrobe for the next round of Project 333. 

I also really need to finish tackling the basement, as well as our spare bedroom, and my boys' bedroom, and...

...those darned CDs. Yup, still waiting.

Things will be hectic here for a few more weeks but I will try to make posting twice a week a priority. Thanks for visiting and stop back soon.

Porch Progress

The ficus tree is gone! 

Last night, as I stood there looking at it on my porch, I was a bit nostalgic and started having second thoughts about keeping it. I have always loved the look of trees with twinkle/fairy lights and was very excited when I got one for free. However, after having it for 5+ years, it was time to kick it to the curb. It was also broken, because I tried bending the branches too far and it broke off.

Once my son carried it outside with the rest of the trash, I felt 20 pounds lighter, and I remembered how wonderful it feels when you make that final decision and release something you no longer love. 

And again I thought, "Why am I not doing this more often?"

I also put the following items in a bag for charity:

• the cd player/radio
• a wooden and glass candle lantern (not one of the two pictured; a different one and for crying out loud, why did I need three?)
• a couple of books
• two old Nerf guns that have not been touched in a year
• a pair of roller blades
• two baseball hats
• a candle holder

I am making progress. As soon as I clear off one whole side, I will post a photo. Right now, the lack of the fake tree has already brightened the place up and made it look less cluttered. I wish I didn't have to work at my real job today so I could get back to it. 

Stay tuned...

My Front Porch, Which Will Someday Be My Oasis

When we bought our house about 20 years ago, one of the selling points for me was that it had an enclosed front porch. My childhood home did not have a porch, so I thought this was wonderful. It was all windows though and not very functional for most of the year. The windows were old and it wasn't heated, so it ended up being a storage area for a long time. 

About 12 years ago, we had it redone. It has three fewer windows (we put a wall on the shared side) and added a coat closet. While it still isn't heated, it is more insulated so it's much more usable during the year. In fact, in the winter, a small space heater is enough to warm it completely.

When my kids were younger, it held toys, toys and more toys. As they got older, I was able to convince my husband to get some shelving and I got a cheap two-seater couch from my previous job when we moved offices. A friend gave me a very nice cedar chest, which used to house sports equipment but now holds miscellaneous items that probably need to be sorted.  

I went through the whole porch this time last year, getting rid of what I could, before I moved on to my living room and before I started this blog. But here I am a year later, and it's a disaster again. My goal is to REALLY declutter it over the next few weeks so that I can make it into a nice peaceful space. I have the good fortune to be able to work from home sometimes, and I plan to make it into a work space as well. 

Here are some before pictures.

One side that faces our driveway. The front door is on the left, and to the right is the door that enters our living room. The little golden thing at the bottom of the picture is the dog that I'm currently watching.

That is a shelving unit from Ikea along with the matching baskets. In the baskets are such things as dog leashes/bags/collars, my hats/gloves/scarves, my shoes that I wear in the winter (boots, heavy sneakers), and my sons' hats. One of the basket-less shelves holds old binders for school (we try to reuse them each year if possible) and a black basket with loose leaf paper, pens, etc. 

On the left of the unit is something that really belongs in my car, shopping bags, and rock salt. On the right is one of those plastic rolling carts that holds yet more paper, pens, markers, crayons, etc. Finally, there is a giant fake ficus tree. I used to have twinkle lights on it and kept it in my living room but the lights broke and when I redid the LR, I moved this monstrosity to the porch for lack of a better place to put it. I will discuss the fate of the ficus later.

This is facing the inside of the house. The door and ficus tree are to the left of the green end table. On the other side of the windows is my living room. 

There's my cheap little office couch that works just fine. In fact, when the room was less cluttered, I often liked to curl up and take a nap out there on weekends. 

I love the table (although there's a lot of junk in there) and the box on top of it is some college stuff for my son that will be removed soon. You can see the cedar chest in the foreground. In the back right is another Ikea shelving unit that holds games and books, which also need to be sorted. Many of them are my husband's books from COLLEGE. It's hard to convince him that the laws of business have changed and his Finance 101 textbook is no longer relevant.

This faces the street. The front door is to the right. The is obviously the same type of shelving unit from Ikea with baskets. They hold an old video recorder, tapes that need to be made into CDs, candles and candle holders, some toys, and other miscellaneous stuff. The shoe rack to the left is falling apart, and I should really invest in a better quality one when I get the chance. Those shoes belong to my sons, and their feet are HUGE. Although why my older son needs five pairs of boots and four pair of sneakers is beyond me. He takes after my husband, who is a shoe whore.  

Atop the shelf you can see my penchant for candle lanterns. I love them, but I never quite know where to put them. I don't have any plans to get rid of them though. The globe is an old family heirloom so that will stay, but the radio/CD player can be donated. 

This is just a different view of the street facing windows. The view out my windows is of the street, and the windows are high enough to offer plenty of privacy while letting in a lot of light and nice views of the trees and landscaping of the giant house across the street. 

This is an overall view that is opposite from the wall with the other shelves and the ficus tree.

Much of the work here is to declutter...again. Someday I would love to replace one of the storage units and the couch with wicker furniture and make it more of a conversation area. Right now, when I do sit out here, there is only enough seating for two people. The windows make it hard to do much else other than keep the shelving on its side. Otherwise, I'd stand it up and put a nice chair out there. 

I think the ultimate goal would be to declutter enough that I don't even need the second shelf. Then I could make a case for a couple of nice chairs or something. 

Anyway, this is my next project. I had planned to do my basement by the end of 2014, but that is just too overwhelming right now. Plus, I really want to be able to use this room more when I work from home. It will be warm/cool enough to last me until late October or November before I have to turn on the little space heater. 

I will keep you posted with my progress. 

Those Darned CDs

Remember way back in January when I bought the two cases for our DVDs and CDs? Remember how I organized the DVDs and planned to do the CDs "next weekend"? Well, that never happened.

I still have a bag of them sitting in my dining room waiting to be sorted in alphabetical order and put in the case. I MUST do this, because no one else is going to.

I NEED to do that this weekend. I need to finish my upstairs living space before I can move on to the basement, which I have put off for long enough. I am hoping that when I start on the CDs I will be motivated to completely finish decluttering the dining room. I have two bookshelves to go through. I'll take before and after pictures, because I did promise lots of pics when I started this blog.

My kids will be away for the weekend so it's just my husband and me. We're having some friends over. This is the first time I've entertained in about a year. I don't feel like I have to clean the whole house because things are in pretty good shape as is. And if the weather is nice, then we'll sit outside anyway. But it's been awhile since they've been here, and I want the house to reflect who I've become with regard to decluttering. Not sure if they'll even notice though. And I should be doing this for myself and not anyone else anyway, right? 

I'm Still Here and I'm 50

So it's been about two weeks since my last confession. Hah!

We went away last weekend to a cabin in the middle of the state, but had to cut our trip short because of a snowstorm that never materialized. The place was beautiful in a rural location with rolling hills and a great view of the sunset. I didn't realize that there was no TV service, only Netflix. If the weather was warmer and we could have spent more time outside, I'd be fine with that, but it was too cold to go anywhere, so my husband and I watched "House of Cards" (our new favorite) and my kids played pool. It was nice to get away, but it was anticlimatic because it was just so cold.

The cold. The snow. I've been using that as an excuse all winter to sit on my butt and gain weight. I have done nothing further in my basement, and only tonight finally gathered all of the stuff I am giving to charity because the pickup is tomorrow morning. This winter has destroyed my motivation to do just about anything. I really, really tried to be optimistic in January despite the weather, because I know how quickly time passes, but now I'm just out of my mind with it. I desperately want to sit out in my yard in the sunshine and just warm up. 

We are still waiting to hear on several things about college. My son had an interview today for the potential $18,000 grant to the private military junior college near our home. As far as we know, it went well. I don't know when we'll hear but he has to commit to a college by May 1, so all decisions should be made by the beginning of April. Dealing with the unknown with this whole thing has been incredibly frustrating; thank goodness it's almost over.

Anyway, I turned 50 recently. I remember thinking about how I wanted to spend my 50th birthday way back when I was in my early 40s. I wavered between throwing a really nice party and going away with my extended family. Neither of those things happened; in fact, it was rather uneventful. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I couldn't expect people to come out of the woodwork and wish me a happy birthday, because I never do that for anyone else. My boys got me a gift card to the hair salon, which will come in very handy next week when I go. My husband didn't get me anything, because I told him not to. I really didn't want anything. I treated myself to a nice bottle of wine and some good food for dinner, and that was it. This weekend we're going to dinner with my siblings, and that will be fun. I'm treating myself this last time before Weight Watchers starts next week.

I've got a bunch of posts I want to write, but I haven't made the time to do it. And now, I'm pretty busy in work, and I also have to study for a financial licensing exam that is at the end of next month. The book is quite large and the material is difficult. I was supposed to start two weeks ago and I didn't. I don't really NEED this for my job, but the company is paying for it and it'll look good on a resume, so I'm doing it. I just need to buckle down and study.

I must go to bed now, at the late hour of 8:27 p.m. I am devoid of all energy at the moment. Blech.

Thanks for reading, and please come back again. I promise I will post sooner than two weeks. I still have to do my post on Uggs, and as I near the end of first quarter Project 333, I'll be sharing my thoughts on that.

The Scrap Corner After

Hi Folks!

It's been awhile since I've posted, but we've been hit with storm after storm after storm here on the East Coast U.S., and I spent the better part of last week shoveling, watching dogs that don't like snow/ice, and keeping the water out of the finished part of the basement. And now they're calling for another storm in a few days which may or may not include ice. It's been a lousy couple of months here weatherwise.

Yesterday I found myself with a few hours to finally tackle the scrapbooking stuff. I did not get rid of as much as I wanted, but I was still able to part with a bunch of stamps and punches, which can take up a lot of space. I also found a couple of small projects that I started and never finished, which I can easily do in the evenings in the kitchen or dining room. The basement is unheated so it can be quite chilly, even though we have a space heater. And my work area gets a cold draft because of the window in the corner.

Anyway, here are the "after" pictures.

The picture above still looks a bit cluttered, but I tried to organize as much as possible. It doesn't leave a whole lot of room to actually scrap, but since I plan to do it upstairs in the winter months, I'm not too concerned.

 

This picture shows under the desk. In the big blue bin on the left are my scrapbooks that are either in the works or just brand new books that I haven't filled yet. The white bag in the back is actually empty. That's what I use to transport my stuff on scrapbooking weekends and I just never bothered to fold it up and put it away. I think I need to do that so I can have some more leg room. The other blue container with the scizzors is holding most of my paper. And I actually have one empty container as well. I think I can use it for some stuff in other parts of the basement, so I'm hanging on to it for now. Also? It disturbs me that I am falling into the trap of organizing stuff instead of getting rid of it, but not everything in the basement belongs to me, so I do have to be careful and not discard everyting.

I am hoping to get into the habit of going through this stuff a few times a year to decide if I still need everything I've saved. Decluttering/minimizing is an ongoing process, no?

Stuff's Gotta Go

I recently got back from a weekend of scrapbooking with a few friends. It is one of my hobbies (with the others being reading, decluttering, and now blogging), and it is not pretty. The finished pages are pretty, but the supplies and the STUFF, well, that's just a plain old mess, is what it is.

This is the rear of my basement:

It's hard to see, but there's sort of a desk in the left corner that is supposed to be my scrapping area. However, stuff has moved from there onto the extra bed and is slowly creeping across the room. (To be fair, not all of this stuff is mine. My husband has a bookcase behind that bed that contains only his stuff. I mean to work on getting him to go through it one of these days.)

It's easy to ignore this area. I haven't scrapped in a year and I don't go into this area of the basement that much. My boys play video games down there, but they don't care what it looks like. And it's not heated, so it's cold. But I don't want it to be another year before I scrap again, so I must fix this mess.

My goal for this area is twofold: 1) I need to reduce the amount of scrapbooking stuff that I have because I NEVER USE IT, and 2) I want to make the corner desk area workable again.

I plan to start working on this as my next project. I need to schedule with a local charity to make a pickup because if I don't, then it may stay that way until the spring thaw.

The Rest of the Living Room

I am still extremely pleased with the state of my living room after rearranging. It has been very cozy of late, especially with all of the cold weather we've been having. Here are some pictures of the other side of the room. This is the couch and the loveseat/ottoman that are directly across from the fireplace.
 

 This is the TV corner to the right of the fireplace.

 

 

I know alot of people put their TV over the fireplace, but I really don't like to mix the two. I don't feel that the TV can be a substitute for a nice picture or a pretty mirror.

 

I am getting used to the emptier spaces. For example, on the bookcase above with just the lamp, in the past I would have been compelled to put something else there...maybe a picture or a statue of some sort. Now I'm getting used to the clear, flat surface. I suspect that putting something there now might actually bother me.



Aaahhhh, Symmetry

Let's recap. Here is my fireplace wall right after Christmas but before I added the second bookcase and decluttered the DVDs, which were in the large cabinet on the right side.

Here is the final version.

The DVD/CD cabinet is now in the basement housing my boys' video games (still in their original plastic containers -- I can't even go there yet). I also removed the big candle lanterns on each side of the mantle because I wasn't feeling it; it was too much. I moved the lamp to the right because that's a dark corner, and while I would love to have identical lamps, I'm not going to buy another one, mostly because I got this lamp many years ago and they probably don't make it anymore. I won't buy matching lamps because that would be the opposite of what I'm trying to do. The square candle lantern on the left is about the same size and satisfies my need for symmetry, so I'll keep it like this. 

I know many of the home decor magazines turn their interior design noses up at symmetry, but I NEED it. I think it may have something to do with being a Pisces, or maybe not. Either way, I don't feel the need to be trendy when it comes to my home decor, and I think it's important to do what makes you happy. And this makes me happy. 

Finally, were twinkle lights always called "fairy" lights? And if so, how could I not know that?!?!   



DVD Containers, Be Gone!

I FINALLY went through all of our DVDs and removed them from their cases and into a portable case. This is the result: 

 

 

One-and-a-half full-size recycling containers with all of the discarded cases. I sure hope they are recyclable. I looked at this mess and just couldn't believe how much plastic and paper is used for DVD packaging. I know that making these things is someone's (or probably a lot of someones) job, but I just wonder if things couldn't have been, you know, a little smaller.

 

All of that now snugly fits into this:





Yes, I know those are war-ish videos, but I live with 2-1/2 men. Don't judge.  











My lovely DVD suitcase fits nicely inside the second bookcase that I brought up from the basement. There is one for DVDs and one for CDs, but I haven't gone through those yet. I will get to them this weekend.  




It took me four hours to sort and transfer all of our DVDs into the case. We got rid of about 8 kid movies and about 10 grown-up movies. (I almost said "adult" but that just sounds kinky.)

 

As I was getting rid of all of the original cases, I had the stupid, fleeting thought, "What if we want to sell these someday? Won't they be worthless without the original case?" You know, like toys will only sell to collectors if they are in their original packaging. But then I got ahold of myself and realized that I wouldn't go through the hassle of trying to sell any of this stuff anyway, so what am I worried about.

 

I believe that I finally have my living room the way I want it, even though I didn't know I wanted it this way until I started minimalizing. Pictures of the final result will be in the next post.

 

 



Project Basement

I like to read, but I haven't read a book cover to cover in a few years. I got away from it after I discovered blogs, because they were just easier...short snippets about whatever I was interested in, with pretty pictures to boot.

But I always had great aspirations to read and would take books from the giveaway shelves at work. I never read them though. Now I've got about four bookcases at least partially filled with books that I've never read, and it's time to get rid of them. I could use the space on these shelves for other things, like my precious scrapbooks. 

Behold, my Ikea bookshelves that I haven't touched in years.

 

To the left of the clunky computer is a larger bookshelf that holds some of my scrapbooks but also hardbound volumes of classics like Ibsen, Poe, etc. We bought them at a yard sale right after we moved into our house almost 20 years ago. Why, I don't even know. Perhaps because I was an English major in college and I felt that I should have these classics in my home. Aside from moving them from shelf to shelf and room to room, I have never opened them.

On the far right is a bookshelf that held a bunch of scrapbooking magazines that I have since tossed, and several paperback books "borrowed" from the work library. There are one or two books from my favorite author that I am keeping, but the rest will go.

I've got great plans for at least one of those bookcases. I'll post a picture when it's in its new home, which should be this weekend.

As for the computer, I kept it because my sons had some games on it, but I'm thinking I need to accept the fact that they haven't turned it on in over a year. It will go the way of the scrap yard during the next electronic recycling event in my town.

I've got so many ideas for my basement...I can't wait to get started! Check back regularly for updates.