The Bathroom Reno Chronicles

This weekend was like starring in our own episode of "Renovation Realities" on the DIY network!  Brian and I enjoy watching this show and laughing over some of the unfortunate (and often self-created) incidents while people renovate their kitchens.  (Usually a kitchen, sometimes a bathroom but not really much else)  We however, do NOT like being that couple.

Scene:  a master bathroom.

Budget:  A little, not a lot.  Luckily there's no big plans, just ripping out white beadboard that clashes with the rest of the woodwork, painting, etc.  Oh, and changing out a light over the sink AND getting rid of the godawful vanity top.  I've hated it since we bought the house, it's a light tan (fake) marble and just....ugly.  Previous work:  Brian replaced the exhaust fan to a quieter model so I wouldn't wake up at the crack of dawn with him when he went to shower.

Time Frame:  unlike the crazy couples on the show, we don't have a deadline.  The bathroom is going to be workable the entire time (minus a shower or two on the weekends.)  Neither of us is using vacation time to make this happen.

First weekend:  trim comes down like a dream.  Only to discover that there's no WALL behind the toilet.  So the rest of the weekend is gobbled up in un-installing the toilet, and then drywalling, patching, mudding and sanding the wall.

The following weekend is all about the light that needs to be replaced.  We chose a pretty brushed nickel model, which Brian quickly gets hooked up.  And then takes down....because the medicine cabinet doors are brushing against the fixture.  Another trip to Home Depot, re-wiring, more patching.  The end result is great, ta-daa!

This past weekend is vanity replacement time!  Fun times were not had.  Thankful again there's no TV camera footage of the issues and foul language.  The kids are tired, cranky and craving attention.  Hubby's tired, grouchy and made three trips to Home Depot.  Thanks to daylight savings time and HD closing at 7pm on Sundays, we had no sink overnight.  Better than no toilet, right?  So we're looking to unwind over a hot meal and Sunday night TV.  Only no one's defrosted the chicken, and we're making do with sausage.  Finally I just fed the tired kids some leftovers and we settle in for the evening with Rizzoli and Isles.  Only to get woken up at 5:30 from our poor old pup, and it's off again to the races.

Next up is painting, and then I THINK we'll be ready for curtains, framed art and rugs.  I'm looking forward to posting a photo of the finished bathroom in all its glory!  And finding this post later on and laughing at it with Brian.  We'll get there.

2013: A Year in Review

Gearing up to say goodbye to 2013...but first, let's check it out.

1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?

Wow, lots of things.  Sold our house and moved to a different town is what stands out the most.  But I also tried yoga!  And I liked it.  


2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I haven't done New Years resolutions in ages.  However, my Day Zero list is still going strong.  In lieu of New Year's Resolutions I would like to make a plan.  Because plans sound a lot sturdier than a fleeting resolution at midnight on 1/1/14.  I would like to be healthier. That is my plan for 2014.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?The only person that I can think of that gave birth were two ladies in my knitting group.  Both girls, one in June and one in August.  I had a lot of fun knitting for both of them.

4. Did anyone close to you die?  

No....I can't think of any this year.  


5. What countries/places did you visit?

We went on an adventure to Maine for a few days.  Travel was a little short this year due to the aforementioned house selling/moving.  We're making up for it in 2014, though.


6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?

I'm continuing on my quest for patience.  

7. What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 

None.  Seriously, the year is a blur.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Not to sound like a broken record.....but making it through the real estate fiasco with my sanity still intact.   


9. What was your biggest failure?

I've always credited myself as a "Go with the Flow" type.  This year has yielded a lot of truth in the saying "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."  


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Let's see.....I sprained my ankle.  I only mention it because of how ridiculous it was....it gave out as I was walking around my office.  Proof that sprains never ever heal right.  It was a huge pain in the rear for a while and still hurts sometimes.  Other than that and a bout of strep throat (which I guess was a first ever, too) I'd say it was a pretty good year.  :)


11. What was the best thing you bought?

 fixing the central air conditioning.  Moving into a new house in 95 degree weather with no air conditioning sucks.  


12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Anyone who "paid it forward" this year.  Anything that gave your fellow humans hope, be it food, shelter, or just a cheery "hello" on a dark day.  


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I don't know about depressed, but Miley Cyrus just.....ugh there are no words.  Well, "trashy" is one, but I don't think it's strong enough.  


14. Where did most of your money go?

The usual suspects.  However....staging a house and selling it in terms of expenses was a real eye-opener.  And after we moved brought on new expenses so it was a bit crazy this summer!

15.  What did you really get excited about?

MOVING!  More importantly, selling.  We owned two houses for about a month and that was a nailbiter.  (Literally.)  

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
I never have an answer to this question.  


17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Pretty happy for the most part.  There's been sad parts, but I've really tried to focus on the happy.

b) thinner or fatter? about the same.  

c) richer or poorer? Neither.  Just lucky and happy to have the essentials.  Heat, hot water, food and shelter.  I'm rich in love and family.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Spending more time with the kids, playing.  They're only young once.  


19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying about things that one cannot control.  Getting frustrated when trying to view the future in a crystal ball, only to find out that I don't HAVE a crystal ball.  


20. How did you spend Christmas?

We hosted Christmas this year, with a holiday dinner for all of our family.  


21. Did you fall in love in 2013?

No.  But I continued to love.


22. What was your favorite TV program? I'm really loving Scandal.   


23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?


I make it a point not to hate anyone. There's people that annoy me or I dislike, but hate's a pretty strong word. (yes it's last year's answer, but it still applies!)


24. What was the best book you read?

My favorite book this year was "The House at the End of Hope Street" by Menna von Praag.  Simply beautiful.   


25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Brian and I saw "American Idiot" on stage back in February.  LOVED it.  I still listen to the soundtrack regularly.  


26. What did you want and get?

A happy ending and a new beginning.


27. What did you want and not get?

More time to knit.  But there's never enough of that.  :)

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Hmmmm.  I don't watch a lot of movies, usually.  But I did recently just see "Frozen" in theaters  with the family and LOVED IT!  Disney really knocked that one out of the park.  If you haven't seen it, you should.


29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?Ah.....37.  It was a good birthday this year.  For the first time in ten years, I didn't take the day off.  But I treated myself to a pedicure in the afternoon, and my family came over for dinner that night.  It was really great.  


30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Trusting that things work out in the end.  Having a "vision" to see that things would really be OK when they don't seem like they will be.  


31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?

This is a stupid question.  Since this is the fourth year I believe that I have done this meme, I think I'll take all stupid questions out next year.  


32. What kept you sane?

Brian.  We have our ups and downs like any other couple but I never could have gotten through 2013 without him!


33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Eh.....don't care..


34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Nothing, really.  Though I was happy to see the right to marry who you choose has extended to MORE states.  :)


35. Who did you miss?

My far away friends and family.


36. Who was the best new person you met?
Hmmmm....have I met anyone new this year?  :)  



37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:

Misery is contagious.  Fortunately, so is happiness.  And happiness starts with YOU, because it comes from within.  And sometimes, happiness is a choice.  Choose it.  


38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You’re gonna hear me roar

Thankful. :)

Time for my annual "Things that I am Thankful for" List!  It's the Day before Thanksgiving and we're cleaning up the kitchen so we can bake desserts for tomorrow's feast.  I'm also finally taking the time to go thru the family room and purge some toys for charity.  :)

First of all, I'm thankful for my family.  A husband that's my best friend and partner in crime, and two kids that keep us on our toes.  My parents, my brother and sister-in-law, inlaws, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles, thankful for all of them.

I'm thankful that there's a roof over our head, food on our table and laundry in my hampers.  

Thankful for friends that keep me sane and grounded.  You know who you are.  :)

This year I'm so very thankful that our Adventures in Real Estate worked out in the end.  It was likely the most frustrating, crazy challenge we've dealt with in a long time and sometimes it didn't feel like it would resolve itself, but it did.  

I'm thankful that there's a light at the end of the tunnel finally, in this wonderful stage called Potty Training.  Fellow parents out there....you know you've been there!

There's a million others, I've got a lot to be thankful for in my life.  But those are the biggies.

Happy Thankgiving!

Bummer.

Ahh....my stubborn streak in my twenties has caught up with me again.

In 1997, a friend came to visit me at college.  She spent the night at the dorms and we were driving to our hometown the next day.  It was warm at the beginning of March, and the ground had thawed.  Later on it froze again and as I was walking out to my car that morning, I put my foot in a hole that had frozen and fell.  It was one hell of a nasty sprain, and I can still remember the pain!  Still, I drove the 65 minutes home and dropped my friend off at her house two miles away.  When I got home, it had swollen to the size of a softball.  My mom took one look at it and said that we HAD to go to the ER.  A few hours later I had an air cast, crutches and a stern "Keep icing it and take good care of it" from the doctor.

It was a New England winter, and classes weren't exactly close to my dorm.  And after a whole, the crutches got old and I said "Oh hell, I'm better off without these."  And I walked everywhere, ignoring the doc.

I'd like to find my 20-year old self and smack her for being stupid.  I know that we all feel like that, like we're INVINCIBLE when we're young.  But if I had listened, I wouldn't have had my ankle roll in my office today.  I was walking across the room, simply walking.  I didn't trip or anything.  And BOOM!  I heard a little "crack" and instantly knew I was in trouble.  I had a resident in the office at the time and my cry of "AAhhh!"   kind of freaked her out.  I did make it back to my desk, and someone else came running to see if I was all right.  And brought me a bag of ice.  I was thankful for people around today, because working alone has its perils.

I had already taken the afternoon off, to contend with some house business on the old place.  But Brian insisted on taking me to the minute clinic, where they gave me an x-ray and determined that it's not broken.  However, they did say that I have an old fracture that's calcified on its own.  So I guess I can no longer say that I've never broken a bone.  Now I've got a clunky air cast, a shuffle around the house and lots of ice and ibuprofen.  And a wonderful husband who also is a good nurse.   Hope this heals quickly.

Home, Sweet Home

The move is finished!  Moving day was well....moving day.  It actually went pretty smoothly and I have to chalk that up to my Mom.  Mom stayed with the movers while we went to the closing and came to the new house as well to help get settled.  And she even came back the next day with my Dad to help some more!  So I owe her (and him) huge thanks.  Thank you!!

So we're in, and getting settled.  A lot to unpack, and this upcoming weekend will bring even more.  We've rented a truck and my brother is going to help empty the storage unit.  It's slowly starting to feel like home.

No move is without hiccups.  The first was the central air in the new house, it would turn on and then short out.  Since we're having a heat wave it was first on the list of things to deal with, pronto.  A lot of money later, it's running just fine and the nest of mice that moved in over the winter has been dealt with swiftly.  (Nevermind the details, you don't want 'em.)  No home phone or internet over the weekend felt kind of like living in the stone age.  I came home to that fixed today as well, and enjoyed my first Pinterest frenzy in ages!  New house--new ideas.  :)

Also, Sean has decided that although he likes sharing a room with his brother, he wants no part of sleeping in the bottom bunk of the bunk beds.  He has instead chosen to sleep on a little "Thomas" cot on the floor.  Change is hard for little guys:  new house, first "big kid bed".....so if this is the only issue we're having is that he won't sleep in it, that's a-ok.  At least he's sleeping in the room, and he'll get there at his own pace.  The boys LOVE having an upstairs/downstairs to run around and explore, not to mention unboxing all of the toys that have been packed up for months.

So the future is quite happy.  And once we get rid of the "past" (i.e. get the other house sold) life will be even better.

"It's All Over...There Isn't Any More...."

Last day of kindergarten!  It's a bittersweet week, with the last day of school for Will today and moving on Friday.  With hindsight being 20/20 and all, it's not how I would've planned it.  But hey, something about best laid plans and all that.

Will's kind of sad today but was happy to snap a couple of pictures to see how much he's grown from the picture that I took on the first day.  Let's compare, shall we?

Wow.  You don't realize just how much a kid grows in a school year because you see them every day.  But I'd say that looking at these two photos the growth is irrefutable. 

And what would the last day of school be without a little portrait of Mom and kiddos?  Probably the last picture to be taken in this particular kitchen.

  So really, a mixed bag of emotions this week.  Excitement of summer and a new house, sad to leave school and the house that we've been living in for the past 11 years.  These two kiddos have never lived anywhere else.  But we'll get through the week and there's lots of memories to be made in the new house.  After all, we've pretty much decided we're going to live there forever.  :)

Turnaround

To all of you out there that were crossing fingers and toes, saying prayers and sending basic well-wishes our way?  Thank you, it's paid off!

The house was shown several times last week, and someone wants to buy it!  AND the bonus is that they don't seem, ahem, psychotic.  Or demanding.  It's a couple that wants to get out of an apartment and into their first house.  And they're really excited about buying ours. 

We're excited too.  It certainly takes a lot of stress out of the air, knowing that someone is going to buy the house.  One way or another, we were going to move to the new house in less than three weeks.  This makes it a whole lot easier.  So again I say....thank you for all the thoughts, prayers and well wishes.  It's meant a lot.

Just Right

At the end of the workday yesterday I found myself with a little time to kill.  There were showings going on at my house so I obviously couldn't go home.  They really frown upon the owner showing up while someone is trying to get someone to buy your house.  

Anyway, I stopped at the library in our new town.  Actually, this town isn't really new, I've been working there for over a year.  And I've been to the library many times.  The first time I saw this library I kind of snickered at its size.  Felt superior that MY town's library was bigger.  Then I spent some time there, and felt bad for judging it by the size of the building.  The children's room was full of great books, a pet area with birds and the boys' favorite, a train table!!  The library staff is helpful and friendly (having engaged with one of them about knitting books, I found out that she is the one that orders knitting books for the library.  And she knits mittens for Old Sturbridge Village, out of vintage knitting patterns on very tiny needles.)  And it's arranged in such a easy way, things are a snap to find.

So I found a chair and took out my knitting project., a shawl.  As I knit two rows, my eyes scanned over the titles in the aisle where I had chosen to sit.  And I realized that I was in the cookbook section.  I adore cookbooks, I really do.  After my two (long)  rows were completed, I decided that even though I couldn't cook a whole lot at home right now, I hadn't just browsed and brought home books for the fun of it in a long time.  So I brought home a nice big stack, of books for me, the kids, and cooking.  It feels delightful to bring home books again.  Really, it is these simple pleasures that are so enjoyable, who knew the act of bringing home library books would bring me such joy.  For the first time in a few weeks, the boys had new stories at bedtime and they were thrilled.  

So I will never judge a library by its size ever again.  This place isn't too big or too small, it's just right.

Monkey Wrench

Well. 

We are not moving next week like we planned.

The buyers pulled out of the offer, citing financing issues. This happened six days before we were set to put the rest of our belongings on a moving truck.   We've re-listed the house and had a few showings.  We're taking a really big gamble and moving forward into the new house anyway.  It will be nice to be able to live "normally" again, whatever that is.  To have all of our belongings under one roof, have our dog back with us under said roof, etc etc etc.

Things have been kind of sucky for the past week.  There's been tears, yelling and name-calling (not at each other, but in the buyer/lawyer direction)  unpacking of a few boxes and a lot of eating out.  (When you think you're moving in six days, you usually don't go grocery shopping.)  The boys are feeling the stress, and so we're decided to take a day off from all of the house craziness and spend the day at an indoor waterpark tomorrow.  They need some fun, and we need a break too! 

Crossing all appendages, hoping for a quick offer and turnaround! 

A Math Lesson: Change Really Adds Up.

74.  Cash in our change jar. (5/27/13)

While packing this weekend, I've found a bunch of things that I just don't want to pack.  Like spaghetti sauce jars full of change.  I have fond memories of counting change with my brother, my mom was also a property manager and used to occasionally bring home laundry quarters.  She would offer us a little percentage of them and Bro and I would happily count them out while watching TV.  My dad is also big on rolling his change. One year my parents rolled enough change to pay for most of a trip for the two of them to Disney World!

When I realized that I had a FULL jar of pennies, I wondered what the heck we could do with them.  We don't have a local bank anymore so we couldn't just roll them and bring them in to be put into our savings account.  I remembered that a group of residents at work plays Pokeeno for pennies every Wednesday, so one lady offered to give me cash for my pennies.  

So Will and I sat down for a little counting lesson (or refresher, if you will) and counted out pennies to roll for the woman at work.  I told him we would count out enough to fill the paper rolls that she had given me and he could keep the rest.  He agreed eagerly, and we spent part of the afternoon counting, stacking and rolling.  In that time, we also found a handful of Canadian pennies, six dimes and a Sacajawea dollar!  All told, he made about four bucks and couldn't be happier!  I got to get rid of the pennies and re-live a childhood memory.  It's a win-win for all.

Good As Sold

Well, that went a lot faster than ANY of us expected!

The house went on the market last Monday afternoon.  Four showings and about 48 hours later, I get a phone call while at my knitting group's usual Wednesday night get-together that we have an offer.  It's a good one, too.  The only problem?  They need us to move out by June 4th.

Whoa.  We were planning on staying til the end of the school year, so Will can finish the year at his current school.  We counter their offer, stating June 27th as the move date.

They counter back....stating that June 4th is a sticking point.  And add a little more money to the offer.

Well.  We're flexible.  We can drive Will to school every day for the week-and-a-half left of the school year at that point.  Consider it done.

And now the mad dash to find another house....Brian and I had been looking online for two months, looking for another house in our town.  And there are NONE to be had...nothing worth having, anyway.  The prices are steep and the houses need a lot of work.  So we did what we once thought may be unthinkable (as if!)  and started looking in other towns.

Thursday found us taking a second look at a house that we had seen previously.  Thirteen years old, one owner.  Three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and plenty of amenities.  A master suite.   A two-car garage, and my favorite, CENTRAL AIR!!  It's in the same town that I work in, so that makes for a pretty sweet commute.  We make an offer and cross our fingers.

Two counter-offers later and we're moving!   Next up is scheduling a home inspection, finding a reputable moving company and packing up the rest of our house.

Although it's been a short time that the house has been on the market and we found something for us to call home rather quickly, both of us are of like minds that we never want to buy/sell a house at the same time again!  I hope the boys love this new house,  because they can take it over when they move Brian and I to the old folk's home!

Listed.

Getting a house ready to sell is hard work.  But the hard work and the insane schedule over the past eight weeks has paid off!  Our bungalow is officially on the market.  And we've never seen "her" look better than she does right now.  New laminate flooring, fresh paint, flowers and mulch, and super-squeaky clean/de-cluttered.  If it wasn't so much work, I'd be a big advocate of a "big clean" every five years.  Because though you're cleaning the house and vacuuming/dusting on a regular basis, you're not cleaning it as much as you think.

The past eight weeks have made a big impact on the ol' Day Zero List.  I've been able to cross off #2, #41, #72 and #84, respectively.   The basement took a long time to declutter and purge, but thankfully it's done.  We hired a landscaper for most of the yard and the painting of the porch, but those flower boxes are done by yours truly. 

Special thanks go out to my brother for his hard work and trips to Home Depot.  BIG THANKS to my parents,  Mom and Dad have been nothing short of amazing with watching kids, painting, demo-ing a deck and re-surfacing it, and now, taking care of our dog while showings are going on.  I don't think we could've done all of the things that we did without their help.  In fact, I know we couldn't have made it. 

Now, fingers are crossed that our house isn't on the market for too terribly long, and that we find a great new house to call home for the next twenty years or so! 

Stalker

I'm pretty sure that trying to sell your house and look for another house at the same time is hell on one's brain.  And I am talking on the local level...I can't even begin to fathom what people who are moving from one part of the country to another go through! 

As I've said before, I've always thought that finding another house in our town would be a piece of cake, and that ours would languish on the market for months and months.  (I should just shut up right now, no use jinxing the thing)  Instead it's a weird predicament to be in....it's looking like ours will sell and finding another one is going to be like nailing jello to a tree.  I've become a stalker....I log onto MLS property finder every hour or so, scanning for new listings in our area that meet our criteria.  Not that we have craazzzzy criteria or anything. I think of people on tv shows like "Property Virgins" or "House Hunters" and their "I need a fireplace, a washer and dryer on the second floor and a view of the ocean, but I only have $200K to spend" and wonder if their realtor wants to slap them back to reality.  Our needs are simple.  And though it would make us very sad to leave our nice town, we will if we have to.  The ball's rolling, and it's not going to stop. 

Insane Saturday

Getting a house ready is one of those jobs that feels like everything gets worse before it gets better.

Seriously.  You pack three or four boxes and then stop for a breather, and take a good look around.  The room looks worse than when you started.  So I've resorted to dragging a laundry basket as the "What the holy hell do I do with THIS" bin and a trash can.

From where I'm sitting, I can hear the landscapers we've hired giving my yard a good once-over.  They're going to paint the front porch too, so I'm pretty happy about that.  Add some flowers and a new welcome mat next week and this thing will have come together.

Kids are antsy, fueled on Easter candy and watching "Wreck-It Ralph" for the second time today.  My mother's  coming over this afternoon with crafts while we redeem the theater tickets we got for our anniversary in October to see Les Miserables, and then go to a restaurant just the two of us.  Totally the break that we need.

I need to keep remembering....this is a marathon and not a sprint.  Nine more days.

At Warp Speed

Family room Floor?  Installed.
Storage unit?  Rented.
Boxes?  Some packed.  Not all, but quite a lot.
Fresh paint?  many rooms.  Still going.

We're moving right along.  Brian painted the house foundation over the weekend and installed a new tub surround in one bathroom that needed replacing.  Well, "installing" is more like it, those things are trouble!  Took a couple of trips to Home Depot in true home repair fashion but it's going well.  Still need paint in some areas, our bedroom carpet is getting stretched on Friday, and my dad is coming over on Monday to help Brian with replacing the deck surface/railing.  Things are moving quickly, the house is looking emptier and fresher, but it STILL doesn't seem to be going quick enough.  There is a calendar posted on the fridge with something to do every single day, and we're feeling the fatigue.  But it will be done.  One way or another. 

Still, after this place goes on the market, I'm looking forward to things slowing down just a tiny bit.  Though we'll be having to keep it in show condition with the kids running around, so I guess there's no rest for the weary!  :)

Memory Lane

For the past week, we've been packing up and de-cluttering in order to get the house on the market.  Savers came this afternoon and picked up a very large pile of donations.  Mostly  baby stuff, like the changing table and diaper bag.  Strangely, I don't feel too sad seeing those things go.  We're quite happy with the "babies" that we have.  And we're almost to the home stretch where there will be no diapers anymore!

Brian and I have started taking separate trips down to the basement to go through things down there with a trash bag in one hand.  I've unearthed craft supplies that I forgot that I had.  For one thing, I found a sewing project that I started with my mom, a nightshirt for me.  I had to have started it at least nine years ago so it won't fit me.  Into the trash it went.

Then I made a fun discovery:  in a diaper box marked "sharp utensils" I came across every single on of my diaries!  I brought the box up to the kitchen table to marvel.  I also had another box containing letters from my high school boyfriend, B.  We dated for two years, and he was my first heartbreak.  I didn't keep these things because I still hold a candle, but because they were snapshots of the past, time preserved.  Plus his notes were always fun, with pictures that he had drawn of people we knew, jokes, and general sweetness.  I didn't go through the notes much, but I've already discovered that in the twenty years that have passed, I don't "get" all of the jokes anymore.  :)

So all productivity ceased and I took a stroll down Memory Lane, allowing me to do this:

70.  read all of my old diaries

I had diaries from 1988-2002.  I was in fifth grade in 1988, and 2002 was the first year we owned this house.   I was big on diaries, I would spend lots of time writing in one.  Sometimes it was theraputic, sometimes it was just about documenting things that I wanted to remember.  Some of it was good, and some of it was not-so-good.   All of it was intriguing.  The younger years are what one might expect, "I'm mad because so-and-so is no longer my friend" or "we had chicken for dinner."  Really deep stuff.  :)  As the years go on the content gets better and the writing improves.  There are a lot of Madonna lyrics in the teenage, junior-high years.  (Apparently this was before the music companies were required to carry age labels I guess....racy!)  

I was apparently boy-crazy.  Every entry revolves around some boy named Dave, or Mark or Pete or WHATEVER!!!  A lot of teenage angst.  I wouldn't repeat that time of my life over again for all the tea in China.  (So-and-so is mean....this so-and-so is trying to wreck my life.  I have no friends.  WaahhhH!)  Interestingly enough.... A lot of my "so-and-so"  friends from those years are still people that I am friends with today.  So I guess it all worked out!  Old friends are the best.    They also made me happy that I have BOYS.  No teenage girl drama in my house.  Though....if these boys are heartbreakers like their Dad was back in the day, I may have some teenage girl problems after all.

Brian got to enjoy some of this too.  He got ahold of the diary that I was keeping when we first met, and those first few months together.  That was fun to re-live for both of us.

Back into the box they go.  Maybe I'll find them again in 20 years and do it again.

Sunshine, Is that You?

It's March 1st!  February is finally over!  I feel this way every year.  For such a short month, February drrraaagggggs.

Today is quite cold, but there's sunshine.  Lots of it.  We're almost there, folks.  Daylight savings time begins in about a week, with spring following shortly after.  New England spring is such a mixed bag, but the snow cannot go on forever. 

It's been a long, busy, sometimes craptastic week.  Work stress, house stress, school stress.  Dentist appointments, specialist appointments, general craziness.  If it can make you crazy, trust me, it's happened in our house in the past week. 

Moving forward:  We've selected a realtor and she is coming this weekend for us to sign the contract, and talk about when we're going to be ready for "primetime."  I've procured boxes from friends to start the big packup for storage.  The house looks like a bomb hit it in some places but hey, it's a selective bomb, only hitting the office for the most part.  We're plugging away. 

And a very happy birthday to my friend Jen!  We miss you bunches and hope you have a great day!

That's it from our neck of the woods, back to you in the station, Bob.  :)

Another Snowy Sunday

The snow is coming down again...not as bad as a few weeks ago but still managing to put a monkey wrench into our plans.  So here I am, hot chocolate in hand, ready to start "Mr. Popper's Penguins" for the kids while I unwind a bit with my knitting.

I'm on Day Two of giving up soda.  It's on my Day Zero list, to do it for 30 days, and this includes regular AND diet.  I was inspired by a facebook friend who said that she has soda cans dancing in her dreams after five weeks of not touching the stuff.  When I asked, she also mentioned that with the help of a nutritionist and diet in addition to giving up the bubbly stuff, she has lost 18 lbs in the last month.  What, what!  That's amazing.  I didn't have weight loss in mind when I wrote that item down on my list, I just wanted to see if I could make it 30 days without caving.  But that would be a nice benefit!

Realtor plans are moving forward.  We've heard one analysis of what we could sell the house for and frankly we were disheartened.  But we're choosing to move forward.  The de-cluttering moves forward too, despite getting burned by someone on Freecycle who was going to give me some boxes.  (really....if you say "the earlier the better" and we make plans for noon, could you not skip the part that your driveway hasn't been cleared since the blizzard two weeks ago before I go over there with my family?  Thanks.)  Piles are amassing in the basement (Keep, donate and discard)  and I've started taking advantage of the dumpster at work, bringing in a few items at a time.  Good Lord, we have a lot of crap.  A lot, a lot a lot.  Staging is going to be a bitch.  There's no sugarcoating it.  But do you know what?  We can do it.  I will keep repeating that over and over until the house goes on the market.   And then I will find a new mantra.  Probably "keepin' it clean" or "don't lose your head."  :)

Finish or Frog

In efforts to reduce the amount of stuff in the house to successfully stage/sell,  everyone has to pitch in.  It's going to hurt a little, getting rid of some things that we want to keep but haven't used or even seen in ages.  So to show that I'm serious about it, I'm attacking my yarn and works-in-progress.  (wip's if you will).

Every May, my knitting group goes out to the tent sale at Webs.  Miss the tent sale?  That's crazy talk!  But we do have a night before the big sale where we all bring in yarn we're no longer in love with or have leftovers from a project.  Well, I don't want to wait to get started.  So I posted on our meetup group that I would bring a bag next week.  There just so happened that a Freecycler was looking for yarn and needles the other day too.   I have stashbuilding issues....way more than I could knit up in my lifetime.

It feels good to send this somewhere that it will likely get used.  

Next up: the WIP pile.

The bottom one is the Sweet pea blanket.  Such a pretty pattern...such a wonky execution! Darn thing doesn't lie flat.  Had I not used an acrylic blend, this might've been salvageable with an aggressive blocking.

The top project is Ditto.  My Ditto.  My first shot at an adult-sized sweater.  The pattern is just too involved and not for my experience level.  And it's been languishing in a bag for two years.   Frogging this will actually free me of the guilt of not finishing it.   I'd rather rescue that gorgeous aquamarine yarn and repurpose it into something else.

And in the "finish" category:  spring cardigan!  This sweetheart only needs sleeves and button bands.  And almost time for spring!

The Big News

Big news in our house this week.....about the house.  We've decided to put it on the market.

This is something that was hemmed and hawed over in the past year or so.  After all, we said "ten years, one place" and it's been almost eleven.  This was a great little house when it was just Brian, me and Joey.  And it's still a great house.  Just not for us, with two growing boys and not a lot of storage space.  So we're biting the bullet, knowing that it's never going to be an "easy" time to do this.   There's a lot to consider, and telling our oldest son was one of the things that needed to be done.  We considered putting it off, but honesty in this case is important, and the cat would be out of the bag pretty quickly.  So after breakfast, we sat him down and explained, and asked if he had questions.  He was anxious, but not for the reasons expected.  His biggest fear?  leaving stuff behind that was meant to move with us.  Namely, Brown Doggie.  After he was rest assured that Brown Doggie would follow us anywhere we went, he calmed down quickly but remains wary.

We contacted the realtor that sold us the place and told her we were interested in selling.  She came over today, and did a preliminary walkthrough.  By the time she left half an hour later, our heads were spinning!  There is just so much to do.  And the first thing on the list, for me?  Decluttering.

Decluttering.  Purging.  Giving stuff away, whatever pares us down.  So I spent some time making a "Saver's Donations" pile and a trash pile in our basement.  With about an hour's worth of work, plus listings on Freecycle and Bookmooch, I feel pretty satisfied in my headway.  And there's still SO MUCH to do!

So yes....come this summer, we may have somewhere new to hang our hats.  And with the market, we may not.  Only time will tell, but the adventure starts today.