MAKING SPACE

 

Welcome back.  This was the last day for hubby and I to work in the guest room.  All the books, in that room, have been gone through and are now boxed up waiting to be donated.

There are 10 boxes of books and the total number of books is 407.  There is still a small bookcase in the office to go through.  I do not expect too many books to leave that case but you never know.  Once that one is done, I will be setting up the pick up from St Vincent de Paul.  We decided there was no reason to separate the books and will just give all of them to St Vincent's.  

Now that the guest room floor is cleared out, hubby and I moved the total gym into there.

It does not take up much room.  We are so worn out just from getting the room cleaned out and this item unboxed we decided to call it a day.  Tomorrow we will figure out all the configurations for it.

That is not all we did today.  We started out the morning by going to get our eyes checked out.  I am happy to say, my vision has not changed over the past year.  I still need to go back and get dilated as a precaution for the meds I am taking for my RA.  I will go back in 2 weeks for that procedure.  Hubby's vision has not changed either but he is going to get new glasses as the lenses on his current pair are 2 years old and pitted pretty bad.  My lenses are still in great shape so I will just continue with what I have now.

From the optometrist office we went to Sam's club and picked up some pineapple, carrots and beer.  LOL  Priorities, right?  After that we headed to Albertson's to pick up cottage cheese, string cheese, Andouille sausage and these:

Some gorgeous pink tulips.  Don't they just scream SPRING?  I know they won't live long but they made me happy and were on sale.  

We are now watching the evening news.  Tonight's dinner will be Chicken Enchilada Soup.  I will make it in the Ninja Foodi as it only takes about 20 minutes to cook that way.  I think hubby has really enjoyed the fact we have been having homemade meals everyday.  I know I have enjoyed trying out new recipes each week.  Tonight's meal is a recipe I have had for some time but never made.  It has been a gray day here with a bit of rain so soup sounds good.

Speaking of soup..................I did not make tomato soup last night.  The box with the total gym was sitting in front of my sauce pan cabinet.  Rather than moving the 100 pound item, I just made grilled cheese.  We were perfectly happy with that.

This is my last post for this week.  I will be back on Sunday with my crafting post and any other 'newsy' stuff.

Until next time....................................................................

MAKING SPACE

 

Goodness.  Who knew declutting books would take us 3 days to achieve.  But achieve it we did.  Actually, I should say, hubby achieved it.  I am the one packing the books into boxes for pick up and delivery.  Let me give you a little glimpse of how things are shaping up around here.

Started boxing up some of the books.  I only got 60 books boxed from this room so far.

This is all that is left in the bookcases.  I do believe we will be able to put what is left into one case.  The other case may get moved into a different room.  Have not gotten that far in my mind yet.

These are the built in bookcases on either side of our fireplace.  I have boxed all the books up from this area.  The total count for just this area is 180 books.  I can not believe how many books we have deleted from our home.  Even hubby was surprised at the number of books he has gotten rid of.  His guess is about 400.  Once I have them all boxed up, I will have a grand total and will let you know.

So, what is left to do in that room?  

I need to find a new place to put the printer and stand as well as the ironing board.  Hubby thinks he will be able to put the photo printer in the office area.  That would be wonderful and so much easier for me to access it.  The ironing board will probably go back into my craft room.  I need to declutter that room next so I can get it back in there where I can use it when needed without having to move tons of items to get to it.

Since the guest room is going to be used more, I decided we could use some decent lighting in there.  It does have a lovely north facing window that gives great natural light, but in the evenings, it gets zero light in there.  So, I got two of these to give us some lovely light in there.

These lamps are the type you touch to turn on and off.  They also have 3 light settings so they get quite bright.  There are 2 plug ins on the back of the base as well as two USB ports on the front of the base.  That will be nice for plugging our phones in to play music while we are exercising.

Hopefully, I will be able to complete the boxing of the books and get them out of the room and move the exercise equipment in there tomorrow.  There is a load of laundry calling my name too.  Not sure how much I will get done.  Hubby and I have eye appointments tomorrow morning so will see what time we get home.

Tonight, I am making one of my favorite meals...................grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup.  According to the weather forecast last week, we were supposed to be getting rain today.  This is perfect rainy day food.  As you can probably guess, we are not getting rain today.  Rather, it is sunny and 72F.  Oh well, it will still taste fantastic.  As for the rain.....anytime between Friday and next week Tuesday is the new prediction.  Suuurrre.

It is that time of day where I need to empty the dishwasher and get things ready for dinner tonight.

Until next time....................................................................

Make Space Faster!

 

Hi.  Hubby and I got quite a surprise today.  This got delivered to us.

This is our Total Gym FIT we had ordered the first of the month.  We were never notified it had shipped.  Therefore, we thought we had time to get our guest room cleaned out to make room for this to be put in there.  SURPRISE!  Is the room ready for this piece of equipment?  No way.  We still have books all over the floor that need to be boxed up.  We have 3/4 of another bookcase to go through and clean out.  There is a photo printer and the stand it is on that needs to be removed from there.  The rag rug from there needs to be rolled up and donated.  There is also an ironing board that needs to find a new home in the house.   I am waiting for the new lamps to be delivered so we can slide the futon back against the wall again.  (The electrical outlet is behind the futon)  THEN it will be ready for this to be set up in there.

So, why did we not work on that room today?  We decided to put our attention elsewhere.  Today, our state opened up appointments for people over the age of 65 to receive the Covid vaccine.  That opened at 9am today.  Hubby and I both were trying for over an hour to contact them via phone and also through the state health website.  By 10:30 we decided to give it a rest and proceed with other things.  I had 3 loads of laundry from the guest room bed to do so they could be put away until needed.  There needed to be a loaf of bread made also.   Hubby needed to go and get his allergy shot and run a few errands for me.  

While hubby was gone, I tried one more time to make appointments for us to get the Covid vaccine.  SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!  That being said, the appointment we have is at 1:30 in the morning and is almost an hour away from our home.  Hubby and I don't care.  We have been waiting for it to open up for our group so we could get the vaccine and help with the herd immunity.

Many folks think we are guinea pigs by taking it.  I like what my 'friend' Kim said.  "I am not a guinea pig, I am a pioneer".  We have done quite a bit of research on the vaccine as well as talked to several physicians and pharmacists.  We feel comfortable getting the injection.  There are several people in our immediate family that think we are crazy.  That is fine.  Everyone needs to make the decision they feel is best for them.

After I got the appointments made, I got the loaf of bread in the oven and continued working on the laundry.  The bedding I was washing was flannel sheets and a comforter.  Washing them was not an issue.  It was getting them dried.  It took 3 hours for the sheets and 3 hours for the comforter!  But, they are done, folded up and put away.  Phew!

Hubby got home from the store and presented me with chicken breasts, ground beef and t-bone steaks that needed to be vacuum sealed and frozen.  While I was doing that, hubby went back out to Home Depot to buy boxes so we had a way to transport all the books to their respective charity sites.  

Tomorrow, we will finish up the bookcases, box up the books, finish off decluttering the guest room and get our equipment set up in there.  That will give us the rest of the week to kick back and decide what room we will do next.  I am teen/dog watching next week so hubby will be in charge of the decluttering next week.

For dinner tonight, we will be making taco salad.  I prefer this over 'regular' tacos.  Hubby prefers 'regular' tacos.  So, we go back and forth each time we make 'tacos'.  What's for dinner at your house?

Until next time..................................................................  

Making Space

 

Monday is such a great day to dive into a room and declutter it.  According to the 91 day challenge list, this should be the week to do the kitchen and pantry.  Since hubby and I are over achievers, we zipped through that room last week.  This is the part of the challenge when hubby and I are veering away from the way the list is laid out and will do what room we feel needs to be worked next.

Today, we ventured into our guest room.  First thing we did was take the futon and make it back into a couch.  When opened up it is a queen sized bed.  That takes up an enormous amount of room in that bedroom.  As soon as we got the futon put up we opened the closet and were so happy to see I had already gone through it back in October.  The only thing left in the closet is my wedding dress from 1973, the veil for the dress and two boxes of Hummel Figurines and plates from my moms estate.

The wedding dress is going to be shipped to a local organization that makes angel gowns for sweet wee ones that do not get to grow up.  The veil will be donated to St Vincent de Paul.  As for the Hummels.................They are collectibles and finding a collector has proven to be next to impossible at this time.  None of  my relatives what them.  In fact, I have a cousin trying to find a buyer for her mom's collection too.  They just need to stay in the closet until further notice.

The biggest part of our day was spent on the two bookcases in that room.

Hubby bought these bookcases over 40 years ago from an unfinished furniture store.  He painstakingly sanded, and polyurethaned them.  It took him several months to get them smooth enough for his liking.  They are 100% oak.  They have gone from Arizona to Texas to Pennsylvania and back to Arizona.  They are super sturdy.  Unfortunately, they are tempting to fill with books, whether you read the books or not.  The case on the left has been gone through.  The one on the right has just been started.  We will finish it up tomorrow.  My hope is to completely empty one of these.

Here is what we have culled out so far.

The books on the left are going to Goodwill.  The ones in the middle will go to St Vincent de Paul.  The mess on the right will be trashed.  Amazing how many books we have.  There are still two bookcases in our family room to go through as well as a barristers case in the office that is full of books too.

Here is a photo of one of the bookcases in the family room.  There is one just like it on the other side of the fireplace.

The people at church call my husband the 'book man'.  Big surprise, huh. LOL

I will be happy once all the books have been gone through.  This has been the one area of the house that has bothered me the most.

Other things I did today were; grocery shopping, cooking chicken for the dogs, cleaning veggies for lunch and dinner, empty the dishwasher, completed 1 load of laundry and worked on the Havana.  It is now that time of day where hubby and I are watching the news and I am getting ready to start prepping for our dinner.

How has your day been?

Until next time........................................................................

WEEK 29

 

Happy Sunday to y'all.  How has your week been?  What have you done this past week?  Did anything fun and exciting happen?  

I am a bit disappointed this week.  There were high hopes the Havana would have been finished other than the twisted fringe.  It didn't happen.  Havana is REALLY close to being completed.

There are 8 more rows to be crocheted yet.  There were only 28 rows put on it this week.  Quite a poor amount compared to the 60 rows completed last week.  

This is the reason why Havana is not yet completed.

Sir Thorbert demanded my presence this week, at his home.  Havana is just too darn big to drag anywhere.  Thor told me he would be fine with me bringing it over to his place.  He would love to cuddle up in it.  

Do you know what happens when you need to find a portable project?  You start a pair of Rose City Roller socks.

The daughter asked if I would be so kind as to make her more socks.  She liked the RCR socks I showed her.  She picked out the yarn from my stash.  Working on these is a joy because of the striping.  It is so bright and cheery.  The yarn is Hobby Lobby's Cozy Toes.  It is wool free and has a wonderful stretch to it.  It is very close to my favorite yarn, Diversity (which is being discontinued).

The other reason the blanket is not done is, hubby and I are doing the 91 day declutter challenge.  It has been quite a bit of fun to see so much 'stuff' leaving our home.  We have actually completed 4 weeks of the challenge in the past 2 weeks.  There are 2 reasons we have gotten so much done.  

1.  We are doing it together

2.  The rooms we have done, I pretty much did in October for the 30 day challenge.

This coming week we will be going into a room I have not done anything to in years.  It is our guest room and is kind of a catch all room for when we don't know where to put something.  This is also the room that has two 6 foot tall bookcases filled with religious books.  We finally found a place that will take these books and make sure they get into hands of others who may need them.  St Vincent de Paul will take any religious articles and redistribute them.  We had tried our local Catholic University, a home for young men coming into the priesthood, our parish, and our diocese.  No one had room.  We were starting to feel like Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay during the census.  (Luke 2: 6-7)  Now that a place has been found to take these books, it will be much easier to get our personal library under control.

This week also saw some lovely items arrive in the mail.  First up..............more DPN's.

This is the case the Signature DPN's come in.  I have combined all of them together as well as added a stitch marker to the tube.  This way, they can not fly around and get lost again.  These are the only Signature DPN's I own and are strictly my sock knitting needles.  Any other 'small' knitting in the round projects are done using the magic loop method on 1 circular.

My other mail treasure this week was this.

A row counter that goes on the needle.  I got this from Knitty Gnat on etsy.  She lives in South Dakota.  It was amazing as to how quickly this got to me.  I ordered it on the 13th and it arrived on the 16th.  Not too bad for the United States Postal Service.  The reason this one was the one I choose from the hundreds of them on Etsy was:

The llama!  And not just the llama, but the fact I got to choose what color beads I wanted to have on it.  Purple just happened to be one of the colors she offered.  There will no longer be missed counting of rows.  I am so bad at remembering to make a mark or tap the app on my phone after each row.  Since this sits on the needle in the middle of the knitting you kind of need to move it each row you knit.

That is all from this past week.  This coming week hubby and I have eye appointments.  There will also be that decluttering going on.  Today, there will be no decluttering.  It is our 'rest' day.  Instead, I will be doing laundry, making menus, making a grocery list, clipping doggy toenails, and crocheting the last 8 rows of the Havana.  There might even be time in there to take a little walk around the neighborhood.  Our weather is gorgeous right now and I need to take advantage of it.  

Until Next Time..........................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAKING SPACE

 

Hello again.  Hope your day is going well for you.  Mine has been productive so far and looks like it will continue to be so for most of the day.

I completed the declutter of the kitchen yesterday afternoon.  Today, hubby helped me declutter and reorganize the laundry room.  We have done 4 weeks of the 91 day challenge in less than 2 weeks. 

These are the three boxes we will be taking to Goodwill today.  We have another box to donate to our church and our food bank.  There is a small box heading to my daughters house too.   Next week we will be doing our Guest room.  That is not the room scheduled for week 5, but we need it cleaned out so we can start using it for our exercise room.  Right now it is our 'dumping ground' room.  The only other rooms that will take time are my craft room and the Arizona room.  Amazingly enough, I am not having any problems letting things leave the house.  Emotional attachments have not hindered me at all this time.  

I just pulled a loaf of bread out of the oven.  Oh my, how good it makes my house smell. 

I think I better publish this.  It has been in the making for the past 3 hours.  Interruptions have caused delays.

Until next time........................................................ 

LOST AND NOT FOUND

 

I am sitting here so upset.  There is a DPN missing from my favorite set of DPN's.  About two months ago, I dropped all 10 signature sock DPN's on the floor.  They scattered pretty good too.  Hubby helped me pick them up and we even moved furniture to make sure we got them all.  I swear I counted all 10 needles when I put them back into my 'special' jar that sits right by my knitting area.

Fast forward to yesterday.  My daughter picked out yarn for me to make her a couple of pairs of Rose City Roller socks.  Since I was going to be at my Son's home most of the day, I decided I would cast on the socks for a traveling project.  I grabbed my DPN's and discovered I only had 9 of them.  I have moved furniture, used a flashlight to help look around inside of the furniture, moved end tables and floor lamps.  NOTHING!  I am so upset.  The needles were a Christmas gift from hubby several years ago.  They are my absolute favorite DPNs.

Yes, I have other DPNs in the same size.  The Signature Needles just feel wonderful and the yarn sits perfectly on them and doesn't slip all over the place.  The best part is, they are made here in the USA!  Now, I can hear you guys wondering why I would be upset with the loss of one needle.  I normally do my socks concurrently on DPN's.  I have tried to do them with 4 needles but find I have ladders in them.  With 5 needles, I never have any laddering.

I sent an email to the company last night to see if there was a possibility of purchasing just 1 needle. They have already replied to my email and yes, I am able to purchase just 1 needle although it was actually 'cheaper' for me to buy another set of 5 than to purchase 1 needle due to shipping costs.  Let me just say, I have worked with this company many times before with questions and they are always extremely polite and so willing to work with their clients.  It is one of the reasons I now own every size of their circular needles too.  Those were another Christmas present from the hubby 2 years ago.  

Do you have favorite tools of your trade?  Have you ever had to replace any part of your favorite tools?  Did it make you sad to do that?

So for now, I will just work on one sock at a time.  Luckily, they are short socks so row counting is not a big deal.  I am loving the yarn my daughter picked out for the socks.

The neon colors make me happy while I am knitting.  It will be fun to see how the 'stripes' line up when the sock is completed.

Hey, speaking of counting rows.  I normally use my phone to keep track of how many rows I have knit.  Unfortunately, there are times I get on a roll and forget to hit the button on my phone as I start a new row.  So, this morning, while I was waiting for a response from the Needle company, I went onto Etsy and found a row counter that made me smile.

Isn't this adorable?  I love the llama on it.  I ordered mine in purple (of course).  I have been wanting one of these for some time.  Now I can count up to 109 rows without turning my phone on.  Sometimes, technology does not work for me.  This is one of those times.

As for decluttering.........I did start on my kitchen.  I still have 2 drawers and 3 cabinets to go through and then it will be completed.  Yesterday, I went through my spice cabinets.  Good grief!  There were so many bottles of spices that were duplicates and unopened ones we will never use.  Those will be going to our local food bank.  I also found spices that had been in there so long they no longer had any 'aroma'.  Those went into the trash.  My spice cabinets look so nice now.  We can actually find spices without having them crash down on our heads.

I am hoping to complete the kitchen this afternoon.  I do not have teen/dog duty today.  Instead, I am taking my BFF to an MRI appointment.  She is severely claustrophobic and has to take valium in order to even go into an OPEN MRI.  Needless to say, we don't let her drive while taking those lovely drugs.  

Until next time...............................................................