I Promise...

I promise myself that I will write more in 2014. That I will do more of what I want to do, and not just sit in front of the television all day and everyday after I get home from work. I will do more to succeed as a writer, fiance, and friend.

I will be there when someone calls, and I will go out more and enjoy life. I will not be a shut in.

These are promises I make to myself and to you.

What promises are you making for yourself for the new year?

More insulation

Well, I finally got the 5 or so bags of insulation saved from redoing the Family Room ceiling out of the Furnace Room and back in the attic. Since there was only a small access door I carried the bags up one by one. It was quite interesting since I was doing this by myself so there was no one to hand me the bags. I made several trips up and down the ladder, to and from the shelf in our bedroom closet and through the small door.

I first had to basically clear everything out of the closet so I didn't get insulation stuck in everything. I also blocked off the door to the bedroom since we have 2 curious dogs, I didn't want them coming to find out what I was doing and get insulation stuck in their paws, I know it can be itchy for humans, I didn't want to find out what reaction they would have. So I was also careful to not walk through the rest of the house anymore than I needed so I didn't track the insulation myself out of the room where the dogs could yet find it.

Then I "suited up". I put a bandanna on my head to keep the insulation from getting stuck in my hair, and of course safety glasses and dust mask. I wasn't wearing gloves when I took the above photo, but I did wear gloves when I went up. For me the insulation itself isn't a problem, the sap, cobwebs, and layers of dust that are up there are. I learned from previous trips up into the attic, that dust does not like me. It only takes a minute before my nose is running or I have to sneeze. So I was as careful as I could to stir as little dust as I could.

While up there, I grabbed a measuring tape and measured the vents on the sides of our house. Sometime soon we hope to redo the siding because part of this project will be to open the exterior facing wall in our bedroom where we had termites and repair the damage. Also, whoever previously sided the house...sided over these vents. So I snapped the picture to know what shape they even were and crawled my way over to measure them so we will know what size to get.

Patching a Small Hole

So, when we were first running electrical and what not before we had even moved into the house, while drilling looking for that wonderful space between the drywall and studs...we missed. The hole was basically not noticed since it was up at the ceiling and almost right when you walked in the bathroom so we weren't in any hurry to patch it.

Over this past weekend I had the chance to start patching it. First I cleared the loose debris from the hole and made sure the wall and ceiling around the hole were clean. I then took some spackling I found at Meijer on one of my grocery runs and filled the hole. I used a plastic putty knife and found I much prefer the metal putty knives. I found I didn't have the right edge to get the spackling in the sharp corner.

I still need to sand smooth, and will find where we hid the metal puddy knives from ourselves and go over it one more time to try and clean it up a bit more. Then, hopefully sometime in the summer of 2015 when we redo our main bathroom, this will get a fresh coat of paint.

Tis the Season of Giving!

It's that time of year again. Time to find gifts for family and friends in stores packed to bursting with people and "great deals". Time for spreading ourselves thin with all this giving. Don't forget to take at least a few minutes everyday for you. If we keep giving to others and forget about ourselves we get worn out, stressed, tired, and can become a bunch of grinches. Here are 5 suggestions to help you unwind from all the activity and take some you time.

1. Yoga/Meditation: Yoga and meditation are known for helping reduce stress. Personally I prefer meditation over Yoga, some of the poses in Yoga and transitions make me light headed.
2. Work on a Personal Project: What do you enjoy doing? Knitting, woodworking, or something else? Take time to do something you've always wanted to do, or try. Maybe you do needlepoint but haven't had time. Take a short amount of time, maybe only 15-30 minutes a day just to focus on this one project. Don't think about all the shopping you have to do yet, or that the house isn't clean.
3. Go for a Walk: Take some time outside. Breathe the cool, fresh air. Just don't forget to bundle up and keep hydrated. 
4. Enjoy a Night In: Take some time just you and your significant other. Snuggle up in front of the TV with your favorite movie and some fresh popped pop-corn.
5. Exercise: You can go to the gym or have fun at home with some exercise videos, there are many to choose from. My personal favorite is anything kickboxing.

May this season find you well, and may you forever find happiness!

Leaves be Gone!

Well, last weekend and this weekend Jeff and I had fun removing the leaves from our yard.

I mentioned to my Dad a few weeks ago that I was thinking about getting a mulcher as we typically use over 20 yard bags each year. They are not the easiest things to keep open and fill. So he let us borrow theirs to try it out. We still ended up resorting to the lawn mower for most of the pick up, but did use the blower on the mulcher to clear out spaces like the patio, and used the mulcher to get along the fence line where the lawn mower could not really get the leaves.

We also used the mulcher where the lawn mower missed either because of existing holes or uneven ground from our dogs digging in the yard...again. We haven't decided for sure but I'm not sure it would be worth a mulcher for us. A broom and rake work just as well to clear off the porch or get along the fence line. So, will we be getting a leaf mulcher? I'll let you know what we decide.

New Doorknob on our Bathroom Door

I went to the store today and bought a new doorknob. Why just a doorknob when we are not redoing the bathroom for at least another year? Because you can not close the door fully and hope to leave the bathroom without a fight. The doorknob would stick and would not fully turn so you'd be stuck turning it right and left until it finally gave up and let you out.

So our existing doorknob saw it's final minutes coming... 

...and couldn't help but put up one more fight. The existing doorknob had a cover to keep the screws hidden and I'm sure made it look nice when it was first installed. Now, this just made removing it a pain because we couldn't get at the screws with a screwdriver. (Later I found a tool that could have helped at this stage.) I had to call Jeff in as his nickname when it comes to DIY is Mr. Destructo. You want it taken apart, Jeff will get it apart in seconds. Even my Dad believes in this name as last summer Jeff helped him take the pool in my parents deck apart - the kids were grown and moved out and they didn't really use it so they had decided to get rid of it. It took Jeff and my Dad maybe an hour including clean up. The part that took the longest was carefully removing the liner as there was still water in it that the pump could not get to and remove.

So, Mr. Destructo had at the doorknob and in minutes, there was a hole in the door, but the hole I had been looking for.

I took a damp paper towel to the hole to try and clean up the black dust that had gathered in the hole and then washed my hands as it had gotten on me from trying to take the doorknob off.

 The picture above right best shows the color I chose - brushed nickel. And below is the tool that could have helped take the original knob off and helped put the new one on. I found it when I went through our tool box for a phillips screwdriver to put the new doorknob in because I had a flat screwdriver for the removal of the original doorknob. It allowed me to get into the tight area between the knob and the, well what I'll call the guard of the knob - that part that goes against the door.

I already tested the knob after telling Jeff that if he heard me screaming he should break down the door. Thankfully that wasn't necessary. So if anyone needs to use the restroom while over at our house, feel free to shut the door fully and completely, and not worry about getting stuck in the bathroom.

Vacation is Over

Before we went on vacation we had our French Doors installed. They had to make some adjustments to the opening, so we have some paint touch ups but we already have some touch ups to do elsewhere in the room so, no biggy. I think the doors look really sweet. Here they are from the inside:

 

And here they are from the outside:

 We didn't have much time to enjoy them before taking a vacation up to my parents cottage. As part of our tradition in puzzling, I finished the puzzle that was in progress.

I started another one but didn't get very far. We'll have to see if we can make it up to finish or as I was having sooo much fun trying to figure out the border of the puzzle, will it be put back in the box before it's finished?

We went fishing but only caught Pike, Jeff caught three and I caught two. When we were tying up the boat, our dogs decided to take a swim. One minute they are sitting at the end of the dock, we're putting stuff back under seats, I look back to the dock at the same time Jeff calls for AJ. Where was AJ? Swimming to the end of the dock and starting to come around the boat. We get him back to land when Lucky starts going under the boat (it's a pontoon boat). So Jeff took them back and got them settled at the cottage while I continued covering the boat and then he came back to help me finish and take the rest of the items we had brought (tackle box, fishing poles, etc.) back to the cottage.

The dogs had a great time while we fished, they were going between Jeff and me wondering what the flip flopping things were that we were bringing out of the water are and who was going to bring the next one to the boat. They used up so much energy that we decided to take the next day easy, I think the dogs enjoyed themselves though. They certainly made themselves comfortable.

 

We did come home unexpectedly as AJ got sick. So we did not have a chance to go swimming or take the boat out again so that we could go fishing and I could try to catch up to Jeff's fish count, but it was a great and much needed vacation none the less. Unfortunately it's back to the office for me tomorrow. I'm almost looking forward to it...almost.

More Weeding

So, this weekend had 2 major projects. One was for my fiance's work. They are participating in a company volleyball tournament tomorrow. They were going to have shirts professionally made but...that fell through. Instead, they ordered the shirts and then Jeff and I for the first time in our lives, figured out iron on numbers and fabric markers. I ironed on all the numbers, then we stenciled on the names for each shirt. It was a learning experience.

The other project was weeding the garden. Since we still haven't finalized our garden layout and what plants we would like, I haven't been too concerned with keeping up the garden. But the tall grasses and trees that have started to grow have gotten a little out of hand. So, my goal is each week to fill our 32 gallon trash can that we use for compost. This week I had no problem doing so. I first weeded the smallest flower bed we have on the side of our house which faces the main road in and out of the neighborhood. This filled the can 3/4 of the way. Then, I got busy finishing what my mother started along the fence.

The fence looks nice now. And since I did this, I was able to leave the white flowers that in the yard are weeds but a few were working their way up the fence and I realized I liked how it looked.

After weeding though, I think I need to look at garden centers and nurseries for some vine plants. The white flowers are few and far between. I think right now we have one tall one, and two or three that are only a few spaces up so you can't even tell they are there. So I've added more plants to the list of decisions that need to be made.

Cleaning the Bathroom Fan

Well, due to time, weather, and some other variables we didn't do much this week. I did however, clean the bathroom fan for the first time. I've learned this was probably a bad thing. Not cleaning the fan, but taking so long to do it. Most sites I found say you should clean your bathroom fan at least twice a year.

All I did this time was a rough cleaning. This photo was taken after I cleaned it and, not having seen it before, you can hardly tell I cleaned it.

Our fan is a combination fan and light, I didn't want something that looked like a fan and, bonus, the light over the sink is the only other light in the bathroom. So showering at night, you'd be in dim light, nice when wanting to be romantic but all the other times, not very nice.

You can still see some spots on the glass. These spots are burned on bug guts. Yep that's right. Bugs either crawled in or got sucked in then died when they couldn't find their way out. After turning the light on for several years now, they got burned to the glass. When I took the glass down and initially tried to dump the bugs in the trash, nothing fell into the trash can. I had to get a rag and carefully scrub them off the glass.

There of course, was also a bunch of dust and cob webs. I used the rag I had to remove those as well. It probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to take one of the small attachments to the vacuum and go into the vent a bit rather than just what I could see, but I didn't think of that until I had put everything back together so I could move on with everything I had to get done. So I will see what the vacuum gets when I next get a chance to clean the vent.

If it's been a while for you since you last cleaned your bathroom vent, I recommend putting at least 5 minutes aside to go do that. It's all it takes really.

Installed Another Exterior Outlet

Well, I basically have things cleaned. Of course after I cleaned them they got dirty again, thus, basically clean. My parents came over and installed an exterior outlet so we are now in code for our city.

When we had the air conditioner installed we were informed the building code for our area states there must be an exterior outlet within 10 feet of the air conditioner. So thank-you Dad, again, for installing an outlet for us. 

We first determined where it was going to go. Then my Dad drilled a hole for the wires and we hooked up the outlet and box. The box was then attached to the house. We then went back inside and connected the wire to the new circuit breaker we put in the circuit breaker box. 

Disclaimer: my Dad has researched codes and did his own wiring in his cottage and passed all inspections. If we didn't know someone like him, with his knowledge, we would have contacted a professional electrician to do this and I recommend the same to you. There are codes and reasons behind doing things a certain way to prevent house fires - just watch Holmes on Homes or Holmes Inspection on HGTV or the DIY channel. Do not risk your lives and home just to save a few pennies. It's not worth it.

Trouble keeping clean

So this week, you wouldn't know it but I've been working on cleaning the house.

 

This is a picture of our kitchen, as it is right now. Believe it or not the stack of dishes has gone down. It grows, then I do another load. I'm not as talented as stacking dishes for drying as my fiancé though so, I'm not getting through them as fast.

 

Here is our Living Room, again as it is right now. Again, better than it was. I had several newspapers laying on the floor because I wasn't keeping up on my coupon clipping. There were also ads spead over the floor and had worked their way under furniture. I'm getting there though.

 

This is the office. I have to say, this is one of the spots I've hardly touched yet. So this mess is mostly building rather than going away. I have taken steps though. I purchased some 3-ring binders as I've learned I prefer binders to folders.

What I really need to do is keep up on the vacuuming. With two Golden Retrievers I figure I need to vacuum everyday at least once. I've tried grooming alone, but as you can see from this photo it's not enough. The amount of dog fur collecting in areas is ridiculous.

I will have the Living Room and Kitchen cleaned before my next post, and will have a dent made in the office. I'm also hoping to have some possible layouts to share for our basement.

New Patio Door on the Way

Not much going on this past week. We had Pella stop by on the 3rd and we chose a new patio door. I can't wait. We also decided on a color for our exterior. Kind of had to with the door and all. The design we chose will have some dividers in the door and they are going to be wood on the interior and vinyl on the exterior, the color we chose for the exterior is...Naval, which is this really dark blue, a little darker than a Navy blue. Pella should be calling towards the end of this week to schedule the install once they have an idea of when the door will be finished and I simply can't wait. Approximately the door should be ready early August.

July 4th came and went. My fiance worked the closing shift, so I stayed home with our furry children. Did my best to keep Lucky, the older of the two, calm while our neighborhood went firework crazy! They started setting off the big stuff at 11:00 am. No that's not a typo, that's right, in the freaking morning. I don't know that they saw anything because it was only here and there that one went off. Otherwise for the most part it was Cherry Bombs all day long. Needless to say, our poor dog spent the day cowering in the office closet - we have it pretty full, so there's this small space where she just fits - or the bathroom tub. Our other dog, AJ, just wanted attention, as always.

No projects really this weekend, no big ones at least as my parents are taking care of some of their to dos. That's fine, gives us time for more pondering and planning. I've been driving my fiance nuts with all the lawn & garden, DIY type shows I've been watching for ideas. He keeps telling me to turn off the TV. So I've mostly been watching while he recoups from the cold he has, or is at work. I'm starting to feel like I'm grasping what we would like to do with things - vegetable garden out back, possibly some kind of dog agility course, new shape and border for the front and side garden, layout of the finished basement - need I go on? So, I'm hoping to have some time this week for measurements and drawing out some plans for these areas and then share a few with you next week.

New Spicket, New Trouble

So, yesterday my parents came over to help move our existing dripping water spicket to a new location and switch it out for one that wouldn't freeze and leak in the future. While my Dad prepared the new spicket, I worked on removing the existing one. It wasn't fun. I had to stand on the toilet and counter of our downstairs bathroom and use a not so great pipe cutter as the space was too small for a better one. It took a while for the pipe to finally cut. Once removed, I caulked the hole in the wall and went to assist my Dad in turning off the water to the house and soldering the spicket line to the pipe that would supply the water. Once everything was together, we slowly turned the water on only to find the joint from the spicket to the pipe was leaking. So we used the new shutoff valve and shut water off to the spicket so it wouldn't leak. They went to the store for a union so we could redo the leaking joint without undoing the soldered joints since they gave us great difficulty. (Cold water and solder do not get along.)

At approximately 6:25 this morning he texted me, asking if I had remembered to turn on the shutoff on the hot water heater. You see, the water supply to the heater is the line we tapped into for the spicket, and in an effort to stop drawing water to the joint we were trying to solder because simply raising the pipe so the water would have to go up a hill was not working, we turned off the shutoff valve at the hot water heater. I hadn't so, since the doggy alarm had just gone off and I was already waking up somewhat, I went downstairs to turn the shutoff on. I immediately got a steady drip of water from the joint at the shutoff. I tried turning it back off to stop the drip except, go figure, it became a stream. So I turned the shutoff back on and found a bucket to catch the water. I texted my Dad letting him know what happened.

He tried talking me through trying to stop the leak, which was to turn the nut on the shutoff, and I couldn't get it to budge. So on their way over to fix the joint for the spicket they stopped at the store and got a new shutoff for the water heater. He tried turning the nut just to see if he could get it to budge, and it wouldn't budge for him either. At least not enough to stop the leak.

So, trying to un-join the valve from the pipes so we could slip in the new shutoff did not work. We were again drawing water to the heat and creating nothing but steam. We were forced to cut the pipe. Off to the store my Dad ran, while I held a bucket under the pipe freely dripping. We had tried to balance it on the pipe  from the heater but found it unstable while getting those first drops in it and it fell. So I held it for a while before it got itself settled, and I snapped a picture because I had nothing better to do.

Long story cut short, we got the shutoff for the hot water heater installed and the union installed on the line for the spicket. Turned all the water back on only to find, surprise, one of the other joints for the spicket was now leaking. We again turned the water off, undid the joint (thank goodness it was a threaded joint so the pipes screwed into each other instead of a soldered joint), took off the teflon tape, put new on, reattached everything, and found no leaks.

Picking up his things my Dad got dripped on. Looking up, there is an old joint, probably original that at one time leaked. We can tell this because of the discoloration on the pipe. But it had apparently sealed itself. With all out turning water off and on we dislodged the seal. We said screw this because it isn't a serious drip. Took us like a minute to figure out where the water had come from. We put a bucket under the joint to catch the drips but the bucket even now, barely shows any evidence of a drip. So, the leak continues and we are hoping it will seal itself again because we really don't want to have to try soldering another pipe with water in it.

Live Every Moment

I just watched Nik Wallenda cross the Grand Canyon on Live television, on a wire. What an amazing sight.

Seeing him complete that walk has made me think about my life and what I do. I've always had things I do that I scold myself for later. I turn down events with friends because I'm so scared to go out somewhere I've never been. When I do go, once I'm there, things usually get better and I calm down a bit.

I think about the home projects that I put off because there is a movie out that I would rather go see. I go see the movie with friends and family but it's just sitting, sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to be doing something together.

After seeing this event, knowing that Nik could have died today doing what he loves, being reminded that life is short and could end at any moment; makes me want to re-evaluate what I do and makes me think more about why I do what I do.

If you take a few minutes to ponder, why do you do what you do? If your life were to be cut short, and you didn't wake up tomorrow, what would you most regret not doing? Go do whatever it is you would most regret not doing.

Plants Planted, Catching Water

So, if you recall, my fiance and I went to the local Farmer's Market and picked up 2 tomato plants and a green pepper. My parents also gave us 2 tomato plants. They are not all potted. I went up to my local Meijer and chose 2 more pots since I don't know what we are doing for a vegetable garden just yet. I also grabbed some potting soil to fill the pots and add to my existing pots just to add some fresh dirt. 2 of the tomato plants were falling over a little so I grabbed some small sticks from our kindling box and tied the tomato plants to the sticks to help them stand up. One of our dogs already went for one of the sticks and pulled out the plant with it so tomorrow my parents are going to pass off some actual stakes so neither dog will mistake them for a stick they can chew, and pull the plant out.

We haven't been able to fix our leaking spigot, at least not yet. It's been dripping a lot lately so I stuck my watering can under it to catch the drips. We've already saved over 2 gallons of water in just a few days. This has me seriously considering a rain barrel, even on the short runs we have for our downspouts. I'm also looking into starting a compost bin of our own. Even if it's not all the compost and we still put some out for the city to collect, having a little will help a lot in the long run. I realize we won't be able to keep it all, as our leaves from Fall alone would fill any compost container. It takes us about 20 yard bags if I recall correctly to bag our leaves each Fall.

Stay tuned to see what we do this week.

Have you been to your local Farmer's Market?

I finally went to my local Farmer's Market. It was quite an experience. There were activities for the kids, such as washing clothes the old fashioned way, with a wash board and everything. My fiance and I were surprised to see kids actually washing clothes as a form of play! We joked that this was apparently the secret to get kids to do the laundry.

Of course there were several people there all selling different items. There were a few vendors selling jewelry, which surprised me again because it's not something I picture when I hear Farmer's Market. I usually picture a farm - which my Farmer's Market is held at a historical farm - and organic produce, plants, maybe some seeds for people to start their own plants from scratch so to speak. So when we got there and saw 2 or 3 booths for jewelry, I was pleasantly surprised.

They had a few vendors selling plants. We purchased 2 tomato plants for $10 and got a pepper plant for free! I can't wait for the plants to produce tomatoes and peppers. The pepper plant does have a pepper already starting so we may get a pepper or 2 before a tomato.

We also got some organic strawberries. They are very delicious. I thought about cutting some and putting them on some ice cream earlier tonight, but decided to wait since my fiance is working right now and I'd like to make sure he gets some before I down all the strawberries. The strawberries were $4.

There was also several different cheeses, meats, and sauces. Kettle corn, honey, and even eggs were also available. I'm considering going back next week to see what is new, or to pick up some things I thought about getting this time like a goat cheese I tried that wasn't bad, which is something coming from me because I usually can't do cheese by itself; it just doesn't taste right. I just couldn't decide if it would be worth getting these items or if they would spoil in our fridge because we can't eat them fast enough like some of our food does now. (On a side note, I'm looking into different methods of preserving food like canning or getting one of those food vacuums that eliminate the air in a bag to store the food longer.)

I recommend for anyone to check out their local Farmer's Market, it's quite interesting to see what you find and a great way to support local growers and other businesses.

Making Room for More Coupons

The hardest part for me about couponing, is cleaning out my coupon binder. Here it is, Sunday all over again and a new newspaper received in my driveway, with new coupons. My coupon binder is full though, so I must go through and toss all the coupons I haven't used that are expired in the recycling box. Seeing all those savings I missed out on, it's hard.

But then I get to go through the coupons that came in the newspaper and fill those spots up again. Of course I know the cycle will just start all over again next Sunday.

Balancing Act

It's a balancing act I tell you. Trying to balance time with family, friends, and that horrible monster call the To Do List. This past weekend nothing happened because of everyday duties like going to the grocery store, and events like my cousin's wedding reception. We did decide that I no longer need to worry about watering the grass seed since it has been 2 weeks and nothing has sprouted. There are also areas that never had a chance like right along the fence because our dogs like barking at people as they walk by and they get right up to the fence.

You may not be able to read what is on the To Do List, but there are a few projects that I am very excited about like cleaning out the garage, and a few tasks involved with finishing the Family Room. Then we just need to figure out what to do with all the donated furniture as we have too much furniture (never thought we would have too much furniture but we do). We have 3 chairs, a couch, and a TV stand in the Family Room, not to mention the fireplace. There is another couch in the Living Room that basically takes up a wall, 2 TV stands (no that is not a mistype, there are really 2 TV stands), and 2 rocking chairs. There is also a Queen bed, a dresser, and some other miscellaneous boxes and such in the basement. For some homes this may not be a lot. Our home however, is only 1200 square feet. If you want to count the basement then we get roughly 2000 square feet. The rooms are not large by any means.

There are also the goals I have, like writing 3 articles each week. These often involve research, or reading a book that I plan on reviewing, which takes a lot of time from things after I get home from work.

I am failing at this balancing act. There is just too much to do and not enough time to do it. It doesn't help that I'm ready to crash at like 10:00 pm just about every night. I think it's a mental tired, not physical since I sit around all day at one desk or another. My head is always going, I can't seem to turn it off. And most of the day I feel like it's working on 2 things at once, one thing in the forefront of my mind like making dinner, and another that sneaks in like outlining one of those 3 articles I'm working on.

Anyways, I'm making a serious effort to basically add time to my day by not crashing at 10:00 pm each night, and figuring out priorities. While I want to be social and hang out with all my friends and cheer them on in their adventures, I also have things I need and want to do for me. So I have to start thinking about what is really more important. Basically take what I do at work (prioritize processing work and projects) and bring it home. (Prioritizing and the organization, if I had those things at home, I'd have had this posted yesterday, and our home office wouldn't be drowning in paper.)

Check out Elbow Room on HGTV

This morning I found the show 'Elbow Room' which airs on HGTV. Designer and Contractor Chip Wade comes in to people's homes and finds unused or misused space to create what they need. For example, one of the episodes, he changed a carport that wasn't really being used into a hotel room/office for the family. Their guest room was being turned into a baby's room as the wife was about to give birth to their second child, and they were expecting family from out of town to come stay with them.

The episodes I watched this morning set off some ideas in my head. I have several rough ideas now mostly to do with working out our basement space as we need it to do so much, and I'd like to add to what it's doing - workout space, family events - which is challenging as I think we are keeping the full bathroom down there instead of making it just a half bath. He does so much in the way of finding the space and then designing the elements, such as coffee tables that disappear into the floor, or an office desk that doubles as bed table, so that things don't feel crammed into the space and everything is functional.

I have to thank Chip Wade for doing this show with HGTV, because I doubt I'd have the ideas I have now going through my head. I can't wait for more time and finances so I can build some of these items and rooms in my head. Check out 'Elbow Room' on HGTV and get inspired for your own remodels.

Get Fit with Housework!

Who needs weights when there are windows and tubs to be scrubbed? Yard to be raked?

I spent this weekend cleaning, and doing some yard work. We have some areas where there is no grass or dead grass. So we went to Lowes and picked up some new lawn dirt, grass seed, came home and loosened the heck out of the areas with a rake, and spread the seed. Spreading the seed, that was the easy part. Raking, carrying and spreading the dirt, those were the hard parts. Both Jeff and I have built some new arm strength.

Not to mention all the walking we did. Jeff at work then home cutting the grass. Me, walking around the house putting things away, weeding, our legs got a good workout too. Calories burned today, is a lot. And we got a lot done. Which is really good, because that means there is less to do tomorrow.

Nice Weather Means Time to Get Outside

It's getting warmer so it's time to get out. I have plans to start weeding this week and preparing the flower beds for planting. We have some flowers that have escped the confines of the flower bed and are in the lawn. We went around today and picked up the trash in the yard. Mostly because we are the bus stop, so there were a lot of gum wrappers, as well as abc gum. For some reason we had a large amount of cigarette butts and filters.

Getting Ready to Plant

 

The weather is getting warmer, and it is time to think about the garden.

 

 

My former high school marching band is having a flower sale, but you have to be careful when buying plants unseen. You don't know what you are going to get. One year I remember on of the flats of red impatients was more like peppermint candies, since they had red and white stripes on the petals instead of being completely red. So if you were dead set on red impatients, you'd have to hope that flat went to someone else.

 

We know we would like to do more perrenials this year. Plants that will last for several years and we aren't purchasing new each year. So, we are waiting for the nurseries in the area to open again for the season so we can go check out the plants and see what we would like.

 

We think we would also like to plant some vegetables. This will help with the grocery bill and allow us to eat fresh foods.

 

What are you planning in your garden this year? Please leave your plans in the comments.

Spring Cleaning

 



Well, according to the calendar anyways, Spring has sprung. So it's time for some Spring cleaning. Time to go around the house getting rid of those things that haven't been used, or are at the end of their life and can't go on.

Donate Items
Donate those items like clothes that have only been worn a few times or are in good condition but don't fit anymore or you just don't wear. This creates space for you to get new items at birthdays and holidays, or gifts to yourself.

Trash or Reuse Items
Throw away those items that even a rat wouldn't touch. If you find a shirt that is a little holey, cut it up and use it as a rag for dusting, or scrubbing. Recycle old papaers that don't have any private or secure information on them, and shred those that do.

Organize
File old bank statements and bills. Also, don't forget to file your taxes and keep a file for yourself. Put DVDs back on the shelves, kitchen utensils like the bleder that you don't use everyday back in the cabinet. Maybe even purchase new tools for organizing, if your just getting started in your new apartment, you may look into a file cabinet or shelving and some binders. The important thing is to find what works for you.

Wipe Down
Now that everything is in it's place it's time to give everything a good scrubbing. Clean the carpets, scrub the mildew off the grout in the bathroom shower, wipe down the kitchen counters. If your like us and have dogs that like rubbing against the walls, you probably want to give those a good scrubbing too.

Now you are ready for a busy year.

Tax Time

So I procrastinated on our taxes; what's new? This year I was going to try something different from Turbo Tax and try to file for free. I'm having difficulty finding a site I qualify to file for free that will also let me file my Michigan State taxes.

My parents mentioned a site for if you know how to fill out the forms and not just answer a few simple questions software asks, which is fine. However the site they recommended does not offer state taxes. The other fun is my fiance and I still are seperate so I have to do taxes for two people.

What sites or software do you use to complete your taxes, or do you go to someone who prepares them?

Miss the Good Days!

Living on your own really stinks. I miss the good old days.

The good old days of waking up and going out to play with friends.

Coming home to a great meal cooked by Mom.

Going to the family cottage to help Dad with the latest project.

Dusting the house and then Mom yelling at me because she can't stop sneezing.

Now, I have to decide what the cooked meal is, don't get invited to the cottage to help with the latest project, dust the house only to have it dusty what feels like 2 minutes later. Somehow, when it wasn't my house, the dust didn't seem to build up this fast.

Now when the toilet starts taking forever to fill the bowl it's me who has to figure out what is wrong, can't just put it off on Dad.

Now I have to decide what the bathroom is going to look like, what sink will be used, what color paint, will it stay a bath or shower?

Now I have to make the living to keep the house in good running order, grumble about going to work, and wish I could just stay home and write the day away.

At least, when living on your own you don't have to be all on your own.

I have my fiance, and our 2 Golden Retrievers, who make sure that dust comes back in 2 minutes, the leaves don't stay outside and should be tracked in the house, add their own touches to the home. Gaming system here, fur tumble weed there.

The Golden's have also added their own idea of home security. There are land mines in our yard and if someone does make it to the sidewalk the bark alarm goes off.

Now I'm the one in the messy house. I think this is because nothing really has a set place to go so I don't know where to put the stuff back once I get it out since it's usually coming from somewhere it definately does not go. Where you ask? Maybe it comes from on top of the desk I use in our Office, or the Kitchen table, or the chair in the Living Room. -- We need some serious organizing.

I would like to add another good days, I miss having friends and family over to help put the Kitchen together so we could move in. Anyone want to come back and help with some serious organizing?

Organizing Finances

A new year has arrived and if you don't already now is a great time to create a budget and take a look at your finances. Having a budget is important so you don't overspend. Check out these articles I wrote to help get you started:

Why Do I Need a Budget?
Things To Consider when Starting a Budget and Putting it Together

New Year's Resolution: Get Organized

This year I swear I am going to get organized. I'm sure my fiance is tired of me being the one who's stuff is always left out all over the house. So, here I am trying to clean up and organize some of my mess, a little at a time, and try not to let the mess spread any further.

Today, I'm working in the office. It's a place him and I spend a lot of time. Him mostly on the computer, surfing the web for NHL news or video game hints, tricks, and reviews. Myself, I download books, surf the web for all kinds of things, or write articles - mostly book reviews - that I publish on Yahoo! Voices.

So, to sort papers, I have a box that is already mostly filled with paper to be recycled. We take the paper to a local public school, they earn funds by people recycling their paper there. I also have a paper shredder for things like old bills, or credit card applications received in the mail.

As a place to keep papers, I have several binders that survived our school years. There are also several folders. Recently I purchased two expandable file folders, started using one for bills and some financial records. Also purchased (and almost visible in the picture) is one of the paper sorters you sometimes see on someone's desk. It has 3 dividers, and it's overflowing with papers I just "haven't had the time" to go through.

My problem has been identified, I'm a television whore. Escpecially when home alone. I can not function, for whatever reason, without a certain noise level. I avoid music since I get up to dance, but moved to the TV which I can't seem to stop watching. Even when little, I did my homework in front of the TV. I spend so much time in front of the TV these days that there isn't much time for anything else. Thankfully, I am starting to get to the point where I don't care for the show that is on, or have seen it so many times that I am able to not really watch and do other things like write this post or sort through important papers.

As part of my resolution to get organized, I am also tackling my TV addiction. When home alone, I make an effor to find or put in a DVD of something I don't need to watch but will take care of the needed noise.