Working on my room

If you have been following me on facebook then you know I have been working like a sled dog, trying to get my bedroom finished. The post that I put up about my first blog post, kinda kicked me in the gut and embarrassed the heck out of me. I am on a mission and yes I have been moving out all the junk in preparation, but seriously who knows how long it would have took me to get it done if I hadn't reviewed that post.

I started painting two days ago, kinda taking my time. I was hoping the hubs would pitch in and help get the ball rolling. The more I complained of not getting the floor done, the more I realised I was on my own. It's not that he wouldn't want to, it's just that by time he gets home from work he is exhausted and so that leaves no energy to help me.

I woke up yesterday morning with the mission nagging me, so naturally I started moving the bed and dresser and yanked up the carpet. I knew the floor was bad, but I never imagined it was that bad. A patchwork of fixings is what I found. I lost count after 13 pieces! There was even some of the original floor pieces, yeah those were the ones that felt like you were going to fall through the floor. If it hadn't been for the carpet covering it all, I would have never put one foot in there! Nor would I have put my bed in there, which (come to find out) did have one leg stuck in the floor.

When I say we bought a fixer upper, I am soooo not exaggerating!!

Too late to turn back now, so trudged on.

All the wood is at the other end of the trailer, so I had to move everything out of my way so I could have a clear shot. Why is wood so friggin heavy?? I pulled, tugged, lifted and repeated several times till I finally got ONE piece back there. Only 3 more to go!! Phew!

I started this project at 10 am, by 2pm I was at the point of having to pull out the Skil saw to cut pieces to fit. I called hubby (thank goodness) and he said just get the wood marked and ready and he would cut it as soon as he got home. I would have done a happy dance, but I was too sore!

I took a break and while talking to SIL I realised I was going to need a carpet for my room and some shelf units would be helpful too. So off I went to charge up the card at Big Lots. A little shopping after a hard days work is always a nice bonus, if my feet would work right. I was actually in a hurry to get out of the store just so I could get back in my truck and off of my feet.


I finally get back home and back to work.
Set up the wood for hubby and do the measurements. I hate measurements, if they don't fall on one of the four marks in a inch then I get lost.
Then there was the moving everything back in its place so that the house doesn't look like a tornado moved through.
Then the cooking of supper. I was so happy to sit down and eat supper, well actually just the sitting down part, I was too tired to eat. (that never happens!)

After a hour break, I headed back to the dreaded dungeon.
Drilling down the wood and the cordless drill decides it has had enough. So I had to go old school...electric drill. Why I didn't go that route to begin with is beyond me. The power, oh the power!! I will know better next time, that's for sure!

(Where is my nice comfy bed?)

(Mom, you better put back the carpet, I need traction!)

Now if I can just get back to work, I might get the tiles down before morning. Can't wait to get my bed set back up, cause you can bet your botton dollar I am going to crash!!!!!

My first blog post... OMG!!

This weeks SITS project is to get back to blogging.
Re-post your first blog post.

Here it is:
Dated: Saturday, September 26, 2009
Titled: Small progress in the house.

I have had the hubby home all week due to the rainy weather.

I have only managed to get one project done this week.

I tore out one side of my closet, then put in a new floor and 3 bookshelves.

I spent the rest of the evening filling up all those bookshelves.

That was 2 days ago and I still have some muscles hurting.

I have been trying to get my bedroom cleaned out of storage boxes and junk, so I can lay down new floor and fix the ceiling.

I am still hoping to get more of the house done before Thanksgiving.

Most of my family is coming to my house this year.

I volunteered us for it last year, thinking I would be done with the renovations.

Money, man power and the weather have held back a lot of the progress.

If I am lucky I will not lose my gusto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me just say... OMG! I have to be the laziest person EVER!!!

Nearly one year later and guess what I have been going for the last month...go ahead guess...MOVING OUT THOSE BOXES!!! Looks like I wasn't so lucky and lost, walked away from and ignored my gusto! When I did have the gusto, I used it on other projects and put my room on the back burner. Funny how things have changed in the past year and yet stayed the same too.

Well you will be glad to know that all boxes and junk has been moved out of the room and put into storage (that happened just this last Saturday) and the ceiling has been Kilz'ed but not fixed though. The floor and painting is next, I did start the wall cleaning yesterday. Gawd I hope it doesn't take me another year to finish, that would just be too embarrassing!!

I must go and crawl in a corner and hang my head in shame and give myself a good lashing...GET YOUR LAZY BIG FAT BUTT OUT OF THE CHAIR AND GET BACK TO WORK!!!

Come on folks, yell at me! I need it!

Randomness

My tooth hole hasn't been healing right and was really hurting pretty bad for two weeks. I kept trying to keep it clean and finally figured out the part that I though was food stuck, turned out to be a really good size sliver of tooth. I yanked that sucker out with tweezers and finally most of the pain is gone and the hole is healing. Lucky for the dentist I found the problem on my own!! I was really getting tired of hurting and it was worrying me.

I'm finally getting some progress in my room. The goal was to get it cleaned out and all the boxes transfer to the storage unit. Yeah well...for some reason the progress and ump hasn't been going well. I wanted to get the new floor laid by time the kids come on the 17th. Hubby managed to hurt himself, so there went my major helper for the big stuff. Sooo, yeah, that ain't gonna happen. Sigh...

How hubby hurt himself?

The "I must get everything that sits in the road" syndrome that my hubby has, lead to him rescuing this fire hydrant that had been damaged by a car accident. YES, he got permission, but still...those things are heavy! Mr. Macho man just couldn't help himself and now is suffering back trouble.

We ended up busting into the little savings that we had for the vacation that got cancelled. I soo didn't want to do it, but funny enough things started breaking down all of a sudden. Hubby's work boots blew out on the side, my tennie's blew out the heel, a pipe under the side sprung a leak and my microwave made the fatal error of not heating up my coffee.

Soo, I guess it was a good thing that we had that extra money to deal with the unexpected. Just really sad to see the damage to the savings.

I got to go visit with bf and this what she made for my little namesake with the yarn I gave her.

A hat, poncho and some little booties! They are soo cute!

Goals for the New Year!

Out of most of the people I have talked to listened to or even read, the most common resolution is to lose weight. If I was a good girl and was to conform to the whole resolution idea, I would have to pick...lose weight, quit smoking and save more money.

I really don't see much hope in those resolutions.

Losing weight...Sounds like a good idea, but when you have a bad back, knee and hip...exercising is really hard to do. About the best I can do is try not to gain anymore weight.

Quiting smoking...If anyone who has smoked as long as I have, already know how controlling it is and is a severe challenge to quit. Lots of people are like "just quit already", to me it is like telling someone to stop having sex or even thinking about it. Like that's going to happen!

Saving money...Well, that requires money in the first place! My dollars are stretched as far as they can get already.

Sooo...since those are not that obtainable, I'm going to go with goals that I think might be possible.

First goal...Go into deeper debt! How is this possible...finish my bedroom and linen closet, that will do it!

Second goal...Go into even deeper debt! This is done by...getting both trucks in proper running order.

Third goal...Go into even more deeper debt! This will be done by...getting the storage shed we need, the new fridge we need and the new couch I want.

Well to be honest the third goal has been on the list of things to do for many years now already!

Hubby says...his goal is to simply, stay alive! Good plan! That's if I can quit trying to kill him with all this debt!

Well, most of these seem to be doable, except maybe keeping hubby alive! It will be a challenge to keep all these goals, but I will do my best. LOL!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

A Small Project Finally Finished

About six months ago I stopped at a yard sale. I saw some end tables and a small entertainment center. All three pieces were really ready to be smashed and burned, they were so bad. I bought one end table and the dilapidated entertainment center for a dollar a piece.

I fixed up the end table and it is in use already.

I took off the glass doors to the entertainment center, which were the only things holding the center together. I just knew I was going to be able to do something with them.
(Click to enlarge for better detail)

Two months ago, my niece had a fund raiser for school. I went through the online brochure and found some fabulous wrapping paper and went ahead an ordered it with the intention of using it as a drawer liner. I later changed my mind.

I knew exactly what I was going to do, I just had to wait for the wrapping paper to get to me. It was promised to be delivered Thanksgiving day. I called my sister three times to remind her and told her to put it in the car.

Thursday came and I asked for it. Nope it was forgotten! (Sister, What part of "Put in car" doesn't compute?) I then turn to my niece.. Where is my paper? She started to blame her parents for forgetting, I reminded her that I bought the paper from her not her parents!

What type of answer did I get from this 11 yr old? A big "Whatever"

Well, after having to go deliver Dad's oxygen tank, yesterday. I finally managed to get my paper!

I started my project last night, and finished today.
(Click to enlarge for better detail)

I am going to put them on my wall, as soon as I get my room going.

What do you think?

The Pressure I put on Myself

The pressure I have put on myself to get this house into shape for all my expected company this Thursday, is really working. We have found our niche, we work better under pressure (well at least I do and I drag his weary old body along with me).

Yesterday hubby and I got a lot done in my bedroom. Mostly moving things around and reorganizing boxes, compacting everything enough to get space for my bed.

You heard me right! My bed is finally no longer in the living room, it has made it into the bedroom! Not exactly how I was hoping it would go. I was hoping to get the new floor in and some paint on the walls before this, but hey, I'll take it for now.

Getting the bed out of the living room, opened up the chance to move some furniture into the living room where it belonged, instead of scattered through out the house. I was thrilled with all of this, I had been waiting so long for it. I spent a good while of the day, repositioning everything trying to make it look decent and functional for hubby. Not an easy task with what old crappy furniture I have to work with. I will probably still move some things today, it just isn't flowing well for me, just yet.

Moving furniture and cleaning, hubby pooped out on me after a few hours, but I got a lot out of him and then there is still today. He is going to be begging to go back to work, just to get away from me!

My dogs were quite confused last night when I said "lets go to bed", they looked at me as if to say "where is the bed?" I busted out laughing!

It was weird sleeping in the bedroom for the first time, but I'm sure we will get used to it.

Hubby and I are debating on whether to put up the Christmas tree now or to wait till after Thanksgiving. He wants it up and I'm just not sure, but I think MAYBE I'll let him have his way, this time!

He sure has been such a good sport about it all and such a big helper!!

Preparing for Thanksgiving

I'm really starting to feel the panic, for getting this Thanksgiving together.
Last year when we moved into this larger trailer and land, I volunteered us for this years Thanksgiving dinner. This will be only my 2nd hosting of the dinner, the first one was about 10 years ago. We lived in such a small place for so many years, there wasn't the room for everyone nor any parking.

When we moved here, I didn't think it was going to take this long to get this house into shape. I didn't even think about the fact that we would run out of repair money. There is just still soo much left to be done, I can feel the anxiety welling up in my chest. Things are just not going as planned. I planned for my house to be done and beautiful and organized, we are only halfway there.

I also wanted to be able to do all the cooking by myself. Due to the financial difficulties, I am having to have each household bring one item. I don't like it, but there it is. Organizing who's bring what and who is actually coming has been quite the challenge.

My hubby has informed my that he has invited his mother (who shouts out to the family that SHE IS NOT COOKING THIS YEAR) and siblings (with possibly their children and maybe even their grand kids). Can you feel my migraine yet? I don't even think I have a big enough turkey!

We do have a bigger yard and more parking space, but not for that many! Some are going to have to park in the street.

One big blessing is that my baby sister has said that if she gets to come she will bring an extra turkey, Thanks sis.

My other anxiety is that...once all the cooking and preparations are doubled, who's coming? That would really be nice to know! His family..they are invited but no confirmations, as of yet. My family is still in limbo also, my parents van was going to be the primary transportation for a large part of the family. Now the van has broke down and the funds to repair it are not there. GRRRR

If this keeps up, my nerves are going to bust! And how to you get a man motivated (on his day off) to help me get this house done at least a little bit more, is beyond me!

Is it too late to say Thanksgiving is cancelled? LOL

Fire Trucks

My hubby has a collection of model replicas of eight antique Fire trucks, still in the boxes they came in. He got them for free with the subscription of Reader's Digest Select books.



Now that I have the living room done (almost to my liking), he has decided it is a good time to bring them out of there boxes and put them on display.

Generally I wouldn't have a problem with it, since they are interesting and easy on the eyes.

BUT...

I had to gently reminded him of the mini motorcycle models he had and how difficult it was to dust the little tiny parts. I fear the fire trucks will be just as troublesome.

I also had to remind him of the fate the motorcycles came to.

(I would do my best to dust, but many a handle bar got broke off, till they ended up getting thrown away.)

He mulled this over for sometime and then says "Well then, just don't dust the fire trucks, go around them!

I suggested that we wait until he can get a glass display case to protect them, from me and the dust.

He whines...but I want them up NOW, not next year!!

BIG CRY BABY!!

"Boys will be boys" lasts a very long time!

Family Portraits

When I was growing up, I remember seeing in a few of my friends houses and on tv a wall or hallway dedicated to family portraits. I always thought they were neat! Generations of photos lined up like a family tree, to have all that history in one place. I was very envious. None of my grandparents or my parents did anything like that, I don't even think they had those kind of photos.

Question is are these types of walls still in style or not? I so want one but I think maybe it would be to overpowering for my little space.

I am so sorry for the "no title' and stopping so short. My mother interrupted me and made it sound urgent.

Livingroom completed

I feel like celebrating, but since I don't do that anymore I will just have to blog. I have finally finished the main rooms of the house: Living room, kitchen, hallway and bathroom. I am so thrilled! I look at the living room and smile. I know my house doesn't compare to others, but I have great pride in the fact that we have taken a trailer that should have been destroyed and have transformed it into a home. Lots of people would have gone about the repairs in a different manner, but I did the best I could with my knowledge and what my finances could afford. I know I am boasting and I probably shouldn't, I am just sooo happy!

I now have the opportunity to focus my thoughts to organization. When we first moved I got things somewhat organized, but in the last few days all the counter tops and tables are covered in tools, paint supplies, pics, frames, and knickknacks. Very anxious to get everything back in order.

Livingroom is on it's final stretch

It has taken me all week but I am on the last piece of the painting of the living room (which I will tackle tomorrow).

I have been having to move everything away from the particular wall I am going to do that day, then paint 3 coats of paint on that area (with drying time in between) and then redecorate that area. Then have the house back in order before the hubby gets home from work. I have done this process 3 days this week.

My feet feel like they need to be replaced.

I have finally hung my first picture in the living room!

Which is kinda sad considering we have lived here for a year already. Slowly but surely this house will get done.

I had a deadline, but it looks like I need to pick a new one. After the living room is finished, I am going on another break.

Waiting for hubby to do something

The living room has been in stale mate waiting for the hubby to do some work under and around the windows. This has been a four month wait and not even a hint of wanting to get it done for me. I haven't been able to continue with the painting or decorating.

Well this morning I woke up and I have had enough of waiting! If he wont do it, I will just have to figure out how to do it myself. I think I have been plenty patient, four months is long enough to get up the gusto to finish it.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the hubby! I just get frustrated with him from time to time, mostly for his procrastination. Especially since he has been home under foot for the most part of a month and still no sign of wanting to do anything around the house.

Now to give the man some praise, he does do the chores I have asked of him. Like...taking the trash to the dumpster on Sundays! Lol!

I know now and should have known then, that waiting for hubby to do something was just wasting time. When we still lived at the old place, he promised me a nice porch, that was 18 years ago! We moved last year and still no porch! LOL!!!

Small progress in the house.

I have had the hubby home all week due to the rainy weather.

I have only managed to get one project done this week.

I tore out one side of my closet, then put in a new floor and 3 bookshelves.

I spent the rest of the evening filling all those bookshelves.

That was 2 days ago and I still have some muscles hurting.

I have been trying to get my bedroom cleaned out of storage boxes and junk, so I can lay down new floor and fix the ceiling.

I am still hoping to get more of the house done before Thanksgiving.

Most of my family is coming to my house this year.

I volunteered us for it last year, thinking I would be done with the renovations.

Money, man power and the weather have held back a lot of the progress.

If I am lucky I will not lose my gusto.