Long time, no post

Time flies, much too quickly. I've been busy planning and preparing for a major redecorating at my house. I can't call it a remodel because the walls are all staying in the same place. I'm painting the house from top to bottom, including removing the carpet and linoleum and painting the concrete. To do all this, I decided the house needed to be empty, and boy, am I glad it is. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I found a crew to help with the painting and things I want to have done, so I was set.

I made arrangements for a POD to be delivered May 30, and then I started packing. I was taking my time because I wanted to use this opportunity to get rid of things that I no longer needed. I was making headway, but not quickly enough. Once the POD was delivered, I realized I wasn't packing fast enough, so I solicited help. That's how I found a packing maniac. She had boxes filled almost as fast as I could tape the bottoms! In 3 hours, she packed the half of the library that was left, the bead armoire, and the stuff in the "exercise" room. I was amazed. In the meantime, I was going through things, making decisions about everything I picked up - keep, give away, throw away? I managed to take 2 trunk loads to Goodwill in all this. I still have boxes of papers to go through because I kept everything that accumulated each year in its own box. There may be greeting cards, school homework, art projects, checks. Who knows? Something to do on boring nights - I don't think I've ever had a boring night, really. There may be as many as 33 boxes of this sort of stuff to go through - YIKES!

I've had a couple of guys doing things for me for several months off and on. They can do anything. One guy is the painting specialist, and the other can do everything else. They make a good team. I've already had the outside of the house painted and the chimney replaced. They replaced the light fixture in the kitchen. We replaced the gable vents that allowed critters in my attic over the years with some awesome louvered vents that we had made.

When the POD arrived, I called a friend to see if he knew of someone I could hire to move the furniture and packed boxes, and he introduced me to Superman! I call him Superman because he's fast, strong, and keeps busy. I gave him the big picture of what needed to be done, and he does. He doesn't stand around waiting for the next task, he keeps moving. When we realized the POD wasn't holding enough, he rearranged it. Then we saw that we needed more room in the garage, so he rearranged it! He actually started out by mowing my yard first thing before we started the moving. He's Superman for sure! Once the stuff was out of the house, he started removing the carpet. I swear there was a sandbox under the carpet in each room. How embarrassing!

My guys have painted the ceilings and removed the carpeting, and now they're painting the doors and trim. Next will be the walls. One of the guys removed the wallpaper in the dining room; I was jealous because I've wanted to do that for years. So today, I removed most of the wallpaper in the kitchen. Just have behind the stove and refrigerator to do. I've asked the guys to paint the upper kitchen cabinets and the linen closet in the hall the same color as the trim. Tomorrow they'll continue painting the doors and trim, and the others will remove the carpet tack strips and start on the linoleum.

If what was under the carpet was embarrassing. I don't want anyone around when we move the fridge and stove. The good news is they will be replaced with new appliances. I've ordered them, and they'll be delivered June 15 along with a new dishwasher and above-the-range microwave. That means I'll have to find an upper cabinet to hook the microwave to because we'll remove the huge country-style vent-a-hood I have now. I think once the guys arrive tomorrow, I'll head to Home Depot to see what sort of trouble I can get into. I want to replace all the door knobs in the house and add pulls and handles on the kitchen cabinets (16). I can do the doorknobs myself. I'll need 9 non-locking, 5 locking, and 2 for outside doors. I'm leaning toward brushed chrome or nickel. Right now I have 3 styles: whatever I could afford at the time they needed to be replaced, and I could use new toilet paper holders.

I mentioned to the guys that the front entry is chipped, and I was wondering if we could sand and paint it as well. My main contractor said no, but he could remove the current porcelain tile and replace it. So now I'm shopping for tile. I really want the front door, the door to the garage, and slider in the back replaced as well. I guess I'll have to see how much money I have left after we do what's already on the list. I want the front door to have a window at the top to let light in; the slider is old and doesn't have a screen anymore, and it's hard to open. The door to the garage is loose and you can see light around it, which means it's not efficient at all. THEN I'd like to convert my wood burning fireplace to gas. It already has gas, so that shouldn't be too expensive. Just to have a gas man hook it up once I buy the logs.

I keep thinking of one more thing we could do, then one more thing. I joke that the list keeps growing. I'll have them all here until Christmas if this continues. I want to replace the kitchen sink with one large composite tub instead of a divided one, and I'd like new counter tops and new bathroom vanities. Once the inside of the house is done, and it gets cooler, they'll repair my roof. I really wanted to do it first, but we've had rain at inconvenient times. Now we're working in the cool of the house. Once everything is off the floors and the paint is dry, we'll (I say "we" because it's a team effort - I feel like I should work as hard as they do.) sand the floors and then stain the concrete. I think I've chosen the  color I want the concrete. I hope he can do the effect I want. Once the inside is done and the roof is fixed, or maybe before, depending on circumstances, the back patio cover needs to be replaced and the fence fixed. Then everything will be done!!!

I found the key to turn on the gas - it's been lost for years. I found it in a bucket of twist ties. I decided to go through the layers of stuff in the bucket. I found a topaz ring I forgot I had, marbles, the fireplace key, all kinds of little things that I just dropped in the bucket when I didn't know what else to do. That reminds me that it took me 2-1/2 hours to go through the kitchen junk drawer. I found all sorts of treasures. I could supply a push pin store with all the ones I have found all over the house. I don't even remember buying that many push pins. Maybe they're multiplying in my house! Scary thought.

I've given away my bedroom furniture (bed base, dresser and 2 night stands) because I have my Dad's dresser and night stands and the base that came with my mattresses. I just want to replace the knobs once it's in my room. I gave away a flip-top desk that I've had for years and the bookcases I had in my library. I've decided to get new ones that will match.

When everything comes back into the house, I'll rearrange some of the rooms. The front room, which has been everything from a bedroom, to my office, to a play room, and a dining room, will be the library. The room that was the library will be a guest room. The room across from my room will be my office, and the one that was my office will be my workout room. And of course, my room will remain my room.

I thought this would be the ideal time to finally get my baby grand piano, and I shopped online for days. Then I realized it wasn't a dream of mine anymore. Besides, where would I put it? It's more important for me to have a guest room and a nice library. I want a nice place for my grandkids to stay when they visit. I have an airbed to put in the guest room, but it's not really very comfortable. I know this because that's what I'm sleeping on during all this craziness. I think I'll keep an eye out for a trundle bed and then maybe I can set up the pack-n-play again.

My former library was lined with four bookcases, and they were completely filled with books. I still had books in boxes that I wasn't able to bring into the house. I've been collecting these books for years, and I can't wait to get them back into the house. I found some bookcases online that I want to get. They're 84 inches tall, and they seem to be well made, can be attached to the wall for stability; they're affordable, and come in all widths so I can get them to fit the space. I'm really excited about them. Once I had the other library set up, I spent hours in there arranging and rearranging, making sure everything was grouped properly. I have all sorts of books, self-help, religious, children's books, cookbooks, decorating, feng shui, beading, beauty, and fiction. I have a desk and a sofa to put in there along with a cedar chest on rollers so it can be moved around like an ottoman or something on which to write. I can't wait to have the desk setup to write letters and take notes. I will not pay bills at it. It will be for my creative writing, blogging, and thinking.

I guess I'll have to think about getting rugs for the rooms. I don't want to pick them out until everything is settled. I can get one of my movers to help me put them down if need be. I did learn that white fuzzy rugs aren't practical for me. Once we removed the furniture from around mine, I realized this truth.

OK, I guess you now know what I've been up to. More as we progress.