The Joys of Homeownership

March 13, 2009

Days 4 & 5

Filed under: Master Bedroom — CDC @ 9:54 pm

Hmmm, no clothing left to rearrange. Damn. Tackled the bin o’ crap next to the dresser. Why do I have so much body powder when I don’t use it? Found a bottle of aspirin that expired in 1998. A bottle of Tylenol that expired in 2004. Curlers. Enough emery boards to start a salon. Went through all of it, tossed the crap and promptly put the keepers back in the bin. For those of you thinking, “Way to miss the point,” this is still about separating the wheat from the chaff.

Moved on to my side of the bed. Fortunately there wasn’t much to be done there, but lots of bits of stuffing from a stuffed animal my dog decided to gut.

Continued tossing through the end of the night. Friday came aroudn and I’ll admit my zeal for the project was fading, but that was more due to overall tiredness than anything.

Other side of the bed. Relocated two more suitcases (jesus, how many of these do I have?), a tote bag and reclaimed a laundry basket for it’s actual intended purpose and discovered that I could actually get to the bookshelf now.

But - I had cleared things up enough to VACUUM THE CARPETS!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll take my little victories wherever I can find them.

Then I did some dusting. And damn near choked on the dust.

But - the floors were clear. The clothes were organized. Very pretty, visible progress was happening.

Next up: The tops of the dressers… (Before pics after the jump.)

(more…)

March 11, 2009

Day 3

Filed under: Master Bedroom — CDC @ 11:31 pm

Woke up foggy headed as I succumbed to the lure of post-cleaning beer the evening prior.  Still couldn’t help but marvel a tiny bit at the progress so far.  First and foremost, Mountain Dew.  (Yes, it’s the breakfast of champions.)  Checked my workout schedule, there is no biking on tap until tomorrow, so clearing a space for the trainer in the office can wait.  This makes me happy, cause I don’t need any more distractions than I already have.

Work on rehydrating and getting some other minor things done around the house before heading back to the bedroom.  (As much as I want to finish this project, I really don’t need everything else falling apart in the process.)

The next step was clearing off the top of the cedar chest and getting all those clothes into ACTUAL DRAWERS!  This was slowed a bit by my midday run, which left me sitting on the couch repeatedly saying, “Ow.”  I have to say I am quite impressed with the amount of clothes that I managed to stack on said cedar chest.  But I perservered - and found the top of the cedar chest!!!!  Ew.  My there was a nice amount of dust and dog hair.  Cleaned that up and congratulated myself and chose to ignore the fact that there were 2 baskets of clean laundry downstairs waiting to be put away.

Still ignoring the clean laundry, I decided to take on the double dresser, focusing on the unseen.  I’ve done enough visually appealing things, I wanted those drawers organized.  I opened the top two to discover that they had become the home for some assorted nightclothes and things that had fallen off the top of the dresser.  (When you see pictures of the top of the dresser, you will understand.)  Got those cleared out and now my workout socks have a nice big drawer all to themselves.  T-shirts have their own drawer.  Sweatshirts have their own drawer.  Then I got distracted by hunger and took a break.

Back at it and soon everythinig has it’s own drawer.  Running shorts & tights!  Technical shirts!  Sports Bras!  (OK, that drawer is empty because I apparently wore my last clean one when I went out and tried to kill myself earlier in the day.)

I continue to ignore the two baskets of clean clothes and move on to the highboy, which was filled with a tangle of bras and underwear and such.  Dump it all on the bed and start sorting and folding.  As I am folding my underwear (yes, you read that right) I realize that I have obviously lost my mind, but I can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe if I get this room well and duly cleaned up and organized, I might actually be able to maintain it.

I’m already feeling a bit brighter about life in general looking around the room.  Even though I can’t see the insides of the drawers, just knowing they’re all neat and organized makes me just a little happier.

I finally stopped ignoring the clean clothes and got those put away and called it a night.

March 10, 2009

Days 1 & 2…

Filed under: Master Bedroom — CDC @ 9:22 pm

Combined, because I didn’t decide that this would become a major project until today…  Also, this is all happening in 5 minute increments, because I have the attention span of a flea and I’m a lazy git.

So, when I moved in here, it was already fully furnished.  Thanks to some spectacular timing on my part, my stuff got here before the old (oh so very old) bedroom furtinutre could be moved out.  This resulted in my furniture ending up all over the upstairs.  And one dresser ending up in the bedroom, yet completely blocked by a whole boatload of other stuff immediately, rendering it completely inaccessible.  Wonderful.

I decided that one the thing that HAD to be done asap was that the dresser be usable again.  Because the other dressers didn’t have enough room in them and I was constantly running out of laundry baskets because I couldn’t get to the dresser to store said clean clothes.  Awesome.  (I’m really not a clothes horse, it’s just that 95% of my clothing goes in drawers, not on hangers.)

So, the first day was at least clearing a path to the point that I could open said dresser drawers.  Relocated one suitcase (after emptying out the various bits of flotsam and jetsam that tend to accumulated on a trip.)  Filled at least 4 grocery bags with what I can only describe as crap/junk/bits of paper that come from the paper bunnies.  (Cousins of the dust bunnie.)  Filled a small plastic tote with things that are not junk, but need to be sorted through and new homes found for them.  Emptied yet another laundry basket blocking the way, but simply relocated the clothing to the top of the cedar chest at the end of the bed.

But it was a start.

Day two started with moving the massage mat (for which I cannot locate the power cord, and of course it is a cord that I don’t have 367 of them wandering about - I’m hoping this project will bring that cord back to me.)

THE DRESSER COULD BE OPENED!!!!  I decided this dresser would hold pants.  Summer to winter, from top to bottom.  Then my other dresser could just hold shirts.  And the short double dresser along the other wall could hold only workout gear, instead of workout gear and random stuff shoved into it because there was no other drawer space.  So, the moving of clothing began.  The pants were quickly relocated to the new dresser.  As I started to sort out the shirts, I wanted it to go in drawers as follows: sleeveless, short sleeved, long sleeved, then sweathshirts and sweaters.  (For being such a slob, I have a few OCD tendencies.)  However, the top drawer currently is near overflowing with my knickers.  Time to get the highboy out of the guest room and get it in the bedroom.  It was specifically bought for knicker storage after all!

OK, so the highboy can go next to the jewelry cabinet to the right of the vanity.  Except that there isn’t enough room between the cabinet and the window.  Unless I move the two totes of crap that currently reside between the vanity and the cabinet, and move the cabinet over.  Shove totes out of the way, recoil in the horror that is the baseboards.  Wipe those down, move cabinet.  Recoil again in horror at the basebords AND the dustbunnies that have multiplied under the cabinet.  Wipe down that section of baseboard and quickly run the vac and vanquish the bunnies.

*Break Time*

Go the guest room to fetch the highboy and discover that it is blocked by multiple boxes and totes, some mine, some belonging to friends that are currently out of country.  Crap.  Start scooting things here and there and make a path to push the highboy out.  Slide it down the hallway, manage to clear yet another path to get it across the bedroom to the wall.  Put it in place, get all the tape off it that was holding the drawers closed.  (Couldn’t figure out how to get the damn drawers out of it when I moved it.)  Put my little touch lamp on top and discover the light is burnt out.  Find another bulb, discover that it needs true 3 way bulbs.  Make a mental note to check the basement later for 3 way bulbs, unplug it so as not to set the room on fire and take another break.

Back at it again, moving all my underthings to the highboy, with no rhyme or reason other than swimsuits in the top drawer.  There will be a massive reorganization of it’s contents soon enough, this is all about making space in the formerly overflowing dresser.  Get that done, then get all the existing shirts in the dresser in their proper place.  Phone rings announcing that it’s time to go get the dog from the groomers.  Debating whether to call it a day or not, but most importantly, must go fetch dog.

After getting the dog and tending to a few other things about the house, like dishes and feeding myself, I’d pretty much decided I was done with the room for the day.  Until I went upstairs to change into warmer pants to take the dog for a walk.  First, I noticed that there was A LOT more clear space in the room, which was excellent - it’s great to SEE some difference in the room.  Unfortunately I also noticed that nearly 1/3 of my bed was covered in clothing from the great rearranging of 2009 that had kicked off earlier.  OK, one more session to at least clear the bed so I can sleep and that’s that for the day.

As I settled in for the evening, I realized I would need to split time between the bedroom and the office (also another disaster area, but improved since I did some work on it last week.)  I need a place to put my trainer* and it’s as good a spot for it as any - just needs a little more space cleared out.  Just have to figure out the logistics of getting the bike upstairs.

*A stand for a bike so you can ride indoors when the weather is crappy.  I usually go to the gym for it, but because the gym is a bit of a ways off, I always make it a bike/swim combo to make it worth the trip.  The pool is closed for the next week starting tomorrow and it’s still not warm enough for riding outside…

Dammit, I’m going to make something happen!!

Filed under: Master Bedroom, Master Closet, Vanity — CDC @ 3:25 pm

Screw getting my routines better cemented. I’ve got to see something drastic happen and soon. This week my zone is the Master Bedroom. (I had to do my own zones, FL’s don’t cover enough of my house…)

Two days of getting the crap out of there, and it’s looking a little better. I’ve decided this zone will simply continue until it is done.

Remember the Vanity area? Imagine that disaster through an entire room. And I mean an ENTIRE room.

There will be ongoing commentary and pictures when it’s done. I promise.

February 18, 2009

Back in the saddle…

Filed under: Accomplished — CDC @ 10:01 pm

Well, sort of. It’s not like I made any great shakes towards having this place sale ready (or even company ready) today, but you’ve got to start with the real little basics sometimes…

Kitchen was wrangled into some measure of control, gave the bathrooms a quick once-over, load of laundry happened and I got the entry hall swept up and mopped.

Once I get myself more entrenched in daily stuff, I can start picking specific projects again and tackle those a bit at a time. I still can’t believe I basically wasted an entire year, but it’s not like I can get it back, so might as well keep looking forward.

237 days until a tax free sale…

February 16, 2009

Long Time, No Post

Filed under: Uncategorized — CDC @ 10:10 pm

When I returned ohhhhhh, about a year ago, the elderly relative in question refused to come along and get help, so that situation basically just spiraled out of control over the next 9 months.  Things have somewhat stabilized on that front, but during the intervening months I got so far off track it’s not even funny.

So, it all starts anew.  I’ve gotten back on board with FlyLady (not that you can really tell so far) and am once again trying my best to get back on track so I can get the hell out of here someday…

Yes, there are some ads on the site now - I’ve tried to get them to match the site decently so they don’t jump off the page at you, but in this economy - money is money!  So, if you see a link that looks interesting, click it!   :)

March 15, 2008

Alrighty then…

Filed under: Master Closet — CDC @ 2:39 am

I’m finally back home and it’s time to get my head back into the game. Lucky for me, what popped up on the rotating “to do” list* for tomorrow? The Master Closet. Which needs a boatload of help AND fits in quite nicely with my attempts to get the vanity/closet area fixed up.  We’ve seen the before pics over here, hopefully by the end of the weekend I’ll have some nice “after” shots of the closet at least.

*I’m a computer dork. Of course I have a rotating to do list in a spreadsheet. Doesn’t everyone?

February 1, 2008

Argh!

Filed under: Miscellany — CDC @ 2:45 pm

As if I couldn’t get more derailed on my own.

I have to leave town the middle of next week, and will most likely be returning with an elderly relative in tow.

All specific projects are once again on hold, and this weekend will be a massive blitz cleaning.  But, the carport entry area will get cleaned up as a result, so that’s something, right?

Wish me luck on all counts.

January 27, 2008

Another project!

Filed under: Carport Entry — CDC @ 5:21 pm

I’ve not given up on the vanity area in my room, but there is another project starting up on the main level of the house. It is the entry area next to the carport door. It’s a freakin’ disaster. I am giving myself a week to get it cleared, cleaned and shiny. I’m working on the theory that getting it cleared out will help me continue throughout the main level.

I’ll even give you a before picture. (Embarassing!! Especially since I’ve already worked on it for a few minutes, so yes, it WAS worse.)

Specifics:

– Get crate cover cleaned
– Find permanent home for box of ornaments sitting on top of crate
– Get rid of vacuum cleaner
– Find permanent home for cat crates
– Figure out WTF is even in that green hamper, empty it, find a permanent home for it
– Find permanent home for transition bag and laptop case
– Find permanent home for stereo
– Find new homes for the cottages (outside this home)
– Vacuum, scrub, shine, etc.

Budget: 0.00

I also tell myself that blogging about it will assist in getting my off my arse and getting it done. There will be a lovely after picture soon.

625 days

December 9, 2007

Thank god for OCD moments…

Filed under: Kitchen, Miscellany — CDC @ 5:37 pm

Especially for me - when they’re cleaning related. Mainly because I don’t have them very often at all.

The vanity project is still in play, no worries. Last night I went nuts in the kitchen for a little while. Everything between the fridge and the stove has been put away, cleaned, scrubbed, organized, and is quite shiny and nice.  The most pathetic part?  I think it took 30 minutes TOPS.

Today I am attempting the same on the breakfast bar section of counter, which is a HUGE magnet for crap.

I still think the flamethrower approach would work best, but I am sure the insurance company would disagree.

674 days.

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