Fall is Almost Here

 I have not made the progress I thought I would, in the time I wanted to. But it is coming along. I have both attics emptied, and permanently sealed up. So they will now be forever empty. That is progress right there.  The storage room will have to have another go through, but I knew that when I put stuff in there. There is stuff in there, that is waiting for me to find the rest of the parts to an item, so I can then put it all together and sell it or donate it. Some stuff out of there has been donated already.

Thought I was done with the kitchen, then remembered I forgot a drawer that has to be cleaned out. I know of one item in there that I have to find a place for. The rest of it I believe is headed right for the garbage.

The house is taking on a new look. Still a  bit cluttered in places, but that will sort itself out as I find more recipients for stuff. Some stuff is already labeled as to who it is going to, but those people will have to wait till I have passed to take possession of their treasures.

It is amazing how much stuff I thought I really needed, when I now discover those items are not really needed at all, or even wanted for that matter. Used to be I would regret getting rid of some stuff. Not anymore. I do not regret anything that has gone.

I think over time our tastes change, and we just neglect to get rid of the things that no longer matter.

Time Flies

 It has been 8 months almost, since I have posted on here. So much has happened in that time. I have cleared out a lot of stuff out of this house, did not realize how much junk that I would never use was here. Still a lot more to go, but I am making progress. Problem is I have a lot of things that also have to be done while I try to make progress decluttering the house.

I have decided that the basement will take a whole summer all by itself, so I will leave that till next year. I have found stuff I forgot I had, some of it that I will use in the future, but a lot of it has now found a new home.

Since we have had so much rain this year, everything has grown faster than I can deal with it, so the weeds greatly out number the flowers and shrubs. My rosebush has grown out of control and will have to be drastically cut back. That will be a chore for maybe mid September, it has been a bit warm during the days to be doing that now.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so I will be tackling the sun room. I would like to have at least half of the stuff sitting around, not sitting around. Stuff will be put back where it belongs, and if it does not have a home, it will be finding a new one somewhere else.

Getting Settled in

 I am getting settled into my new residence, I have a lot of clean up to do. The former owner left a lot of stuff behind. But I got this place at a really good price, so I do not mind all the clearing out of unwanted stuff.

Room by room as I go, I change the character of the place from what it is now to my taste. Adding all my favorite things. Some things like the actual structure I can not change but the decorating will be all me. I am thinking that with all the stuff left behind, it may take me into the end of Spring to get it all the way I want it, and get rid of all the things I do not want.

I have to set up my sewing/craft room, right now it is just a pile of things, might start on that room after New Years. Then have to work on the room all my supplies are now stacked in. It will be an adventure. But one that will be fun. This is my first residence that is all mine.

March Already!

Good Grief, has it been this long since I have posted on here. Time flies when one is busy.  I am still on my mission to declutter this house. It is taking longer than I had planned, but so many other things get in the way. I start something, wanting to get something on the list of things to do done, and something comes up. Then I have to stop what I am doing, and take care of the new thing.

Right now most everything is in the "started" stage but not the finished stage.

Decided to add the cleaning of the basement on to my list of things to do. With that project I will need help, as there are things down there that are too big or heavy for me to move by myself. Have taken several loads out already. There is a huge pile that will be rummage sale items. Hope to get to that in the last part of April.

Projects!

 I got tired of saying I will get to that at some point so I will just bag it up and put it on a shelf. The shelf is now bare. I gave away all the projects! Some were started, some were just cut out, and all the supplies gathered together and put in a bag. Gave the whole bag away!

Do I miss them? Nope not one bit. Would I have ever gotten to them, maybe, maybe not. But now they are someone else's project. They may not do them the way I would have, may change the entire project into something else. Do I care? Not one bit.

Have I put together any new project bags. No. Will I ever? Hard to say. But for now the shelf has things I am actually using. Those old projects, well I can tell you they look lovely, the ones I have seen. Some are not done the way I intended, but so what.  They are gone, and someone else got to have the fun of being creative with them.

Fall Already ???

It seems like just yesterday that I was getting the lawn decorations, and the lawn chair our, and yesterday I was putting them away.

It seems to have gone from 70 one day, to a high of 48 today! I am really not ready for the cold weather. I want more warm sunny days to sit outside read a book and enjoy the day. Can't do that today in addition to the cold, it is raining! 

Friends north of me have seen snow flakes already, now that I am really not ready for. As soon as Halloween is over I will start putting up the Christmas decorations. This year I am putting them on the gazebo frame with zip ties. That will make them easier to take down. and since they will be zip tied to the gazebo frame, they will not be buried in the snow, if we get a lot of snow.

Silly thing is with all this drop in temps and the cold and rain, the leaves have hardly turned, they are mostly all still green and on the trees.

Extra Time

 This year I find myself with lots of extra time, the shutdown last year gave me time to get a lot of things done. It also gave me time to reflect. 

Do we really need to take all that stuff on a vacation, after all it is supposed to be a time of relaxation, not a time to be bogged down with all kinds of things that we take "just in case" we might need them. I had a 4 page packing list, that now is down to half a page. That page does not include my list of clothes. I determine how much I take by how many days we are gone. Never want to run out of underwear on a trip. But the rest, well I really do not need all the stuff that used to go along. 

I discovered the the secret to packing light is to only have one person do the packing. I listen to what others want to take, but now I just do it my way. IF we really need something I did not take, there are stores to get it.

The other thing I discovered is that duffel bags are easier to manage and carry than tote boxes, plus they take up less room in the vehicle, and when we get their they can be folded up and out of the way.

So when we go on vacation again, it will be a much lighter load.

Is It Really Spring?

 It seems we are in and out of some cycle. Three to four days of beautiful warm weather, and then it drops to where I need a winter coat to go anywhere.

All my flowers seem to be up, not blooming yet, but up. I hate to tell them, that they could wake up one morning and be covered in snow! I remember years when we had snow on Mother's Day.

I have my spring decorations up, but so are my Christmas cards. I have a plan for those cards, so at least I know where they are. 

Today was t-shirt weather, as it has been for the last couple days, tomorrow the rains come, and they are supposed to be here for a few days. They are bringing colder temperatures with them. I have been enjoying having my morning coffee, outside in the warmth, hate to give that up.

Getting Warmer?

 There is so much snow everywhere, there seems to be no more places to put anymore. But now it seems to be getting warmer. Hopefully warm enough to melt the snow, but not warm enough to snow more.

Maybe this is the January thaw we never had. Which will then just give us more room for more snow. The snow I can deal with, but the cold temps we have had. -10 is not a fun number, especially when I need to go somewhere.

I must say I have gotten a lot of sewing done, during this cold, and also a lot of sitting under a big blanket watching TV, when it is just too cold to sew. My machines do not like the weather anymore than I do.

Christmas Decoration

I finally found a Santa that would complete my Christmas decoration. My daughter-in-law crocheted the "reindeer" they are long tubes that she slid over candy canes to give them shape. I took off the real candy canes and substituted glass ones, so I could use them year after year. The sleigh I found years ago. For years it was just the sleigh and the reindeer, then I found just the right santa. This year when Christmas rolls around i will make a "harness" for santa, so it looks like he is pulling the sleigh.

I had often thought of painting the wooden sleigh, but still can not decide on a color.