Couple of Befores

So we got last 2 bookcases moved and the less sturdy shelf from Ikea we will use for shoes and folded clothes in back of closet.  All three along with a bunch of coats and a few dishes and other odds and ends fit back of suburban!  Oh, and my new rug for sitting room!

We literally had to remove chair rail moulding and sledge hammer the 4th bookshelf into the dining room/library.  Then I painted them white again.  Looks a bit crowded, but good!  I will not be keeping the large round table and hutch in there for ever.  It will be better with a smaller table.  I will prob wait until my niece or nephew get a house and then see if they want the set.
 

Then I put new rug in sitting room and moved that smaller rug into library.  The thing I am most excited about though is that we are getting rid of moldy pink shower.  The shower has no fan and a door, plus the floor is not angled toward the drain.  So water just sits all around and mold has grown that I tried everything to remove.  The shower is large and plain off white tile all the way up from the pink tile, so we are leaving that.  They will take out the pink tile and built in seat, angle the floor and put a strong fan/light in the top.  Our contractor also pointed out that the grout had been covered or replaced with silicone caulk down around the bottom where all the water stands/mold grew.  We think these changes will fix the mold.  (I should probably say mildew). 

My husband helped me take off the little door and it already opened the look so much!  We decided to try it with no curtain for a while, see if we can leave it off all together.
 

Next time we go to RH, we will have all tile floor in master and updated shower.  I can hardly wait! 

It was truly the last thing that we are going to change that made us sad every time we looked at it.  A few other changes will have to wait until we can save up for them, but the house just looks amazing to us and we just love being there. 

Have a wonderful week.  Hope someone reading drops by and tells me what spring cleaning/organizing/purging/improving has inspired you lately.

My Eyes are Bigger than My Suburban

So, we had more confidence in the cargo abilities of the suburban than it actually has.  We could only fit 2 of the bookcases in, but we got all the last of our books loaded too!  Next time we go down, in 2 weeks, we can take the other 2 bookcases.  DH was disappointed, but I reminded him how great it was that after this load we will have all our books down at RH.  And the only thing worse than books, might be hanging clothes to move!

 

Anyway, we have a plethora of books.  But my DH loves books and has a nice collection of encyclopedias and was not even open to consider getting rid of them.  Also we both love similar mystery/crime novels and have a nice collection of fiction and so we have allowed for half and half.  I truly do plan to get back into reading in earnest once we are retired and I am not reading at work every day.  I have an advanced degree which required a lot of boring reading and I dreamed of the day when I would be able to read fiction.  That day is close!  And not a moment too soon.  I truly am getting to a place where my age and chronic condition are making me feel like I could not continue to work much longer, even if I wanted to!  I am sure it is just a culmination of the past year stress and intensifying that I know we will literally be unable to avoid as we continue to move stuff, finish fixing up projects of RH, fix projects of CH we are selling, list/show/sell CH, live in temp location while DH finishes his last few months, get all my licenses/CE moved to retirement state, finish taxes, worry about my DGM and the effect of all this on her, continue to help her with her books, etc.  My stomach just hurts thinking about it.

 

So, I take a deep yoga breath.  Practice my meditation.  Continue my walks (I walked after work yesterday!).  And do the little day to day steps to help all this happen.  I.E.  we are following the money we are waiting on from the sale of our expensive car - we are using it to pay off our phones and other costs, like the expense of getting our downstairs CH carpet stretched and cleaned.  In this same month we have gone from expensive service with large cellular provider to the plans at WM.  Going from $207/month to $120/month.  But, we did have outlay of significant costs of my new phone and DH year old phone he had to pay off.  My intention is to wean off my phone more, of the couple year life that these phone essentially have.  After 2 years both my last 2 models got very slow and do not hold a charge.  I do not have IPhone, which was what the media focused on few months ago - but I seriously doubt this problem/feature/design is limited just to iphones. 

 

One of the big reasons I have been tethered to my phone was the constant activity required to sell stuff.  I am finished doing that.  Although the cash was nice, it came with it's own cost (serious time drain!).  I have pretty much officially changed over my wardrobe to what I think will be useful casual (daily stuff, walking, yoga, kayaking, hiking and golf), from my corporate wardrobe.  I hope to never look back, but if I do, I can buy new stuff!  Just last night I used my last credits from clothes we sold to buy a 2nd hand hooded raincoat and a pair of slightly used Bean boots.  I am so excited!  I just go through in my mind what I will get rid of...and I will prob get rid of a couple coats that are duplicative and sort of dressy that lack waterproof/hood.  I will also get rid of pair of cheap/non waterproof boots and a pair of slippers to make room for new. 

 

So, that are some things that make me happy while I am dreading/anxious about my looming to-do list.  Hope you all have a great Friday.  I will have a great weekend, but I will be tired from loading and unloading, a little unsatisfied we could not get all the bookcases and starting a strick elimination diet due to my stomach issues I have had for over a week.  I just have to focus on my gratitude, my God and His plan.