Skeletons

Don't judge me.  No, you can judge, I do.  I judge myself worse than anybody could judge me.

The next project has been delayed.  I'm not trying to build the suspense. The paperwork isn't finished yet. It should be another week.  But it's ok.  That will give me time to work on those unfinished projects I have discussed. The list grows at every turn.

I have skeletons in my closet. Not the Halloween kind. (Although, I plan to get them out of storage today.)

I have a secret room in the Cat Ranch.  The Room of Doom as I like to call it.  No, no dead bodies. Although they could be hiding in there and it would take me a while to find them.  I have a room full of stuff.  It's just stuff.  All the stuff I never know where to put.  The place where I stash everything when company is coming.  Since we turned our basement back into a game room, I can no longer hide my stuff in the basement.

It started as a closet room.  So the majority of things in the room are clothes.  But then I had to have a place to put the extra blankets and pillows. And then there are all of the papers (Even with electronic delivery and a small filing cabinet, I'm still drowning in papers!) Then there are a few Christmas candles that I bought after the holiday, but the Christmas decorations were already put in storage, so they got put in the room. Then I added the sewing machines I need to order parts for and get to Mr. P to get fixed (read about that here). Also in this room are gift bags and wrapping paper. Parts of arts and crafts projects. Future arts and crafts projects. The sweeper hangs out in this room. Jewelry boxes. Toilet tissue. Magazines. The list goes on and on and on.

Have a look for yourself.  Judge all you want.

 

I'm embarrassed by this photo and room.   I have good intentions. What happened?!?!?!?!

 

I'll tell you what happened. 

1. I ran out of time in one day. The cats love to explore in this room and want to bed down on the soft fuzzy sweaters and clothes.  So the door has to stay closed at all times. 

2. I have to take everything OUT of the center of the room to work in the room.  At the end of the day, I put it all away. Finished or not.  In this case, most of the time, not finished.

3. I get tired or bored or frustrated. And I start to feel like a hoarder.

4. I have too many clothes.  With a career change this year, I have professional clothes and construction clothes.  Who knows what is on the horizon in the coming year(s). I'm not ready to part with the professional clothes. They need thinned out, though.

 

And the worst...

5. I'm guilty of opening the door, taking everything that's on the kitchen table and island and stuffing it into the room because company is coming.  This is usually a pile of receipts, bills, magazines. I promise I'll get back, but then another pile of papers appears. 

 

So with this week of rest, I am working on this room.  I'm not tackling the entire room in one day.  Yesterday I put all of the clean clothes away and started small.  I started to eliminate t-shirts.  Too small - nieces. Too stained - garbage. Tired of it - donate.

 

I only spent an hour, once again I ran out of time.  It was a start.  Today I do some more. 

 

I liken this process to that of losing weight.  If you announce it and declare it, you face a better chance of sticking to it.  

 

And speaking of sticking to it, Walt Kowalski and I started back to the gym last night.  He's so funny.  I packed the bags and met him at the gym.  On the walk in he tried to use every reason he could to get out of it. 

 

WK: "Did you pack exercise socks?"

Me: "Yes, I have two pair."

WK: "What kinds of clothes did you pack?"

Me: "I packed you three different shirts.  You can choose." 

WK: "What about music? Is my MP3 player in here? What about headphones?"

Me: "Yes, I have them in my bag."

WK: "What about the lock for my locker?"

Me: "Got that too."

 

ARGH!

 

Walt Kowalski is such a good sport.  I keep reminding him that I just want us to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible.  Besides, we said we weren't going to hurt ourselves and start slow. 

 

Ha!

 

This happens to us every time.  We said 'Just 20 minutes.' After 20 minutes, were close to a particular mile mark and say 'Just to the end of this mile.' After the mile mark, we are close to a step goal. 'Just after the next step goal.' But then the cycle start again.  Only another minute. Let me finish this mile. Just a few more steps. 

 

To quote Forrest Gump:

 

"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going."

 

Some days are like that.  We can keep going forever.  Let's hope I can say that about the closet room today.

 

 

Wash and Dry

It was a wonderful weekend.  After the showers passed on Saturday morning, it turned into a lovely day. 

Although we still have lots of things to do at House #1, like finish installing the duct work for the furnace (who needs heat), the family has moved in. 

We finished the laundry room. Walt Kowalski did a wonderful job.  The room turned out so nice.  I know many people who would be jealous of such a laundry room.

 
We also hug the bathroom mirror.

 

Goals for this week:
1. Go to gym  (Actually, that's this afternoon.  We promised ourselves we would start back in September.)
2. Finish unfinished projects here at the Cat Ranch (Finish sanding and put final stain on the swing, finish paperwork, pay bills, go to bank.)
3. Clean up closet room (oog, is the only word I have for the closet room. Get out the bags for donation.)
4. Get out fall decorations (I totally missed spring and summer decorations.  I am NOT missing fall.)
5. Start the new project (More info soon. Is the suspense killing you?)

I know this is a lofty list.  Some of these items have been moved from the last to-do list.  Some of these projects will always be on the to-do list.

Delish

Family dinner night was a success.  Thanks to Walt Kowalski's suggestion, we had a tour of Italia. Salad, fresh bread, backed ziti, angel hair, and ravioli.

 

 

And dessert (of course). I had apples that were getting wrinkly in the basement fridge and thanks to Miss Wendy I've had a hankering for lemon bars.

Both were delicious...except. Except during the baking process, the sugar juices from the apple tartlets ran off the pan and onto the bottom of the oven.  The house filled with caramelized sugar smoke to the point where it was rolling out the kitchen window.  Smoke detectors blaring. 

Had a neighbor driven by at that moment they would have thought the house was on fire.  *sigh*

Surprisingly, when we came home, the house didn't smell of smoke as much as I expected.  It smelled good. 

Oops

I didn't take a single photo yesterday.  Totally forgot. Walt Kowalski finished some more trim and another window sill, blind, and trim.

I helped hold the boards.  It's a very important job. 

Today is cooking day.  It's family dinner night and we're having a tour of Italy.  I'm hungry already.

Doors, Doors, Doors, and a Window

 

I have a piece of paper on my fridge with a magnet (Ok I have a LOT on my fridge with magnets.) If you move many photos of beautiful children, you'll find this quote:

 

.

 

I don't know who said it.  They were probably someone remodeling a house.  Walt Kowalski is working so hard.  It's crunch time and he's pushing to get it all done. 

We hung 7 doors yesterday. 

I should say we hung 13 doors because it felt like we hung each door twice trying to get it straight and level.  I have so much respect for doors that open and close properly.   The oven is sitting in place, but not connected.

We also installed a window sill and a little trim.  (There was something about the sun outside and the dark inside that made this photo pink.  Three of them are like that.  Talk about rose colored glasses.) 

 

The finishing touches take time, but are worth it. 

 

More Knock Knock Jokes

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Cargo!
Cargo who?
Car go "Beep beep"!

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Dewey.
Dewey who?
Dewey have to keep telling silly jokes

The house is now secure.  There is a basement door.  No boogeyman or boogeymen can come up from the basement. 

 
I was on the kitchen side.  Walt Kowalski was on the basement side. When we were finished installing the door, I locked it.  He said "You know, you locked me on the side with the beer fridge and you on the side without it. " Crap. 

Also, we're going to have to get a bigger couch.

Everybody needed their own cushion yesterday.  Cocoa Fluff was left out. We'll have to get a sectional.

Purple Fingers

Another photo of the moon.  I love it. I find such mystery in it.  In all phases.  I know, I know, I'm always taking photos of the moon.  Probably cause I can't take as many photos of the sun.

My fingers are purple.  Well, actually more of a dark walnut. I spent the day staining. I wore gloves, but between the roughness of the wood and the stain, the gloves would get holes and disintegrate.  I changed the gloves regularly, but it wasn't enough. It was worth the purple fingers.

 

 
More purple fingers today.

Moving boxes begins today.  Very exciting. There's still lots of things to do, but moving will begin. This morning Walt Kowalski said 'With the moving starting today, it sounds like we might have a restful weekend at home.'

At which point we both looked at each other and laughed. 

We might be at home, but we won't be resting. Our own list of projects here at the Cat Ranch is ever growing.