Chaos

Just in case you ever wanted to know what chaos looks like...this is it! We got 3.4 inches of rain yesterday.  I've been working with a flooring company in addition to a remodeling company. So yesterday I picked out the wood floors I want installed in the living room and while I was talking to the salesman, I told him to just order them, but put them on hold because I needed to find a painter first to paint the rooms.  He gave me the name of one, the painter came out yesterday afternoon, gave me an estimate.  I asked him when he could do it (thinking I had months to get ready, because everyone is swamped with work around here right now).  He said today! (Because of the rain, his outside jobs are on hold, and most of his jobs are outside jobs right now.) He'll be done tomorrow -- including cathedral ceilings and walls! So in 3-1/2 hours yesterday I cleaned out everything from the furniture and what was in cabinets that he had to move to make it easier to move.  This first pic is the office and it has a bunch of everything in there!

This is the floor of my bedroom, which I already cleaned out waiting for the remodel to begin.  There just isn't any room for any of this excess stuff!

And this is the guest bedroom.  Good luck walking in there at all.  And the china and crystal will have to stay on the bed in here til the wood floors are put in and it'll be at least a couple of weeks for that!  If they come to do the bedroom remodel, I'll have to sleep on the floor in the basement!

And, I can tell you that a whole bunch of stuff will be tossed, given away or put away in its proper place after this mess!  I had to clean out my very small linen closet and hall coat closet and the closet that has the washer/dryer in it also.  When I first moved in last September/October, I put things all over the place and packed that linen closet full to overflowing, so that'll be the first one completely cleaned out. 

So, I've been in the woman cave, quilting quilts for the homeless (got two done today!), and attempting to make the lined curtains for my bedroom -- it's a real challenge since I don't sew, I just quilt!  You-tube is amazing, isn't it --you can find out how to do anything on it! lol

Until next time....blessings.

Simplicity

I just read something in Guideposts yesterday that seemed like a profound statement to me: "Live Simply to help others Simply Live." It was stated by a couple in England a long time ago. They had sold their mansion and lived in a cottage a fourth of the size of their former house and they started many charities with their excess funds.
I've long been a fan of decluttering and simplifying.  But that statement really made me start to think.

I'm in the process of having a little remodeling done and it means I had to clean out my large walk-in closet.  When I moved in here, I thought I had decluttered, but I still seem to have more than I need and a lot of it went into my closet because I didn't have any other place to put it at the time.  These two pictures are of the guest bedroom where I dumped everything from my room. 

And, believe it or not, I've already sorted a large black trash bag full of clothes to go to my church -- they have regular clothing give-aways and all the stuff that's still in good condition goes to someone who needs it more than I do.  I haven't finished emptying the dresser drawers or the clothes dumped into this closet - and I have an office floor with boxes of shoes that I will never wear again -- those too will be given away. 
There will be nothing put back into the walk-in closet that doesn't belong in there, that I can and do wear, and that needs to be in there. 

I just think it's well past the time that I live simply so others can simply live.  That's my goal for now and in the future for cleaning out my house.  It'll take awhile -- trust me on that one!
And that's not even talking about the fabric and quilt stuff! :-)

Until next time....blessings.

I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar!

The deck on the back of the house was never stained.  Mostly it was just left to weather and was a nasty gray color.  So the first two pictures are of the deck after I power washed it, sanded some of it and washed the deck with Deck Wash.  I did that a couple of weeks ago and then waited for it to dry out after a few rainstorms.

It's been an extremely busy summer trying to get things done around here and still trying to catch up on quilting the homeless quilts.  So, finally Friday I started staining the spindles and railings.  Saturday I put the second coat on the spindles and railings and the first coat on the deck and the steps.  Today, after church and in the hot noon day sun, I put the second coat on the deck and steps.  Done is better than perfect and I'm happy with it!  The color is called Russet, but it looks a little reddish brown.  The siding on my house is a light tan.  Pictures were taken from the patio door that opens to the great room.

It feels really good to have accomplished this task by myself.  I still have to sand the porch rockers and stain or paint them -- hopefully before the snow flies!
Next up is a bedroom remodel that I will not be doing myself.  I will, however, be making the curtains for the windows. 

Until next time...blessings.