Downsizing creates challenges

It has been a steady practice in organization and purging lately! We had made a couple runs to the storage facility picking up boxes for the kitchen and master bedroom that I spent days going through trying to figure out what I had room for, what was necessary to keep and what could I donate. Even though I did the same thing before we packed up our old house, there was still room for purging! I was able to give quite a bit of kitchen supplies to someone who needed them, the rest is going to the swap shop at the dump. Steve was here over the MLK weekend and we had some of our furniture delivered which has been great albeit a glaring reminder that we downsized by 1000 sq.ft! BUT, I have a couch, instead of just an arm chair to watch TV or read on and of course the dogs are super happy about it as well...giant dog beds! Because there is limited space in my bedroom the dogs are now uncrated and have been for quite some time. It has been weird for me to get used to this as I've always crated my dogs but it's working out for the most part and gates keep them from going upstairs or can keep them in my bedroom if people are in the house working. Sadie LOVES having our contractor John here every day, he is a dog lover and she knows he is good for petting and snuggles throughout the day.

Speaking of John, he has been busy up in what will eventually be Caitie's bedroom. There was some structural support he needed to work on as well as replacing windows. The front two windows have been replaced and today he is working on the third. Originally we were just going to get rid of that window altogether until we realized we needed a window large enough to meet code, so we are putting in the appropriate sized window. He still needs to build her closet frame and then insulate and sheetrock the room....we have a ways to go but it's getting there. Once he's finished in there he will move to the upstairs bathroom and start the process of gutting and putting that back together. That will be the last work on the house until later this year. We still need to gut the living room, Rylie's room, laundry room, teen/craft room, kitchen and front entry hall and front door to install insulation, new windows and new sheetrock, not to mention tear down the porch and redo that whole thing too. This house will be a work in progress for a few years to come!

We all have been doing well, busy with various activities and work. Steve has been working on reviews of his employees for some time now and that has been challenging his brain. I have been busy with group classes, private lessons and trying to keep the house from looking like a hoarder lives here (the porch made my eye twitch for a while). The girls are still working hard in drama after school to get ready for their play performances in March. They've also started the school ski program on Tuesdays. They continue to make me a raving lunatic every school day morning trying to get them up and out of the house on time. I keep searching for that magical trick...so far no luck.

That's all the news that's fit to print. I hope you all are doing well this winter, feel free to stop by for a visit, just let me know ahead of time so I can try and make the house presentable!

I made Curtains for Rylie's room!

Caitie's room with front windows removed

New windows

Getting ready for furniture to be delivered

Jamming it all in

Organizing my kitchen cabinets

They love having the couch!

More organizing! I finally finished painting this cabinet, now I just need to find the door hardware for the bottom!

Last night's challenge, an exciting Friday night!

But look what I made! More storage AND more counter prep space!

New Year, New Room!!

It's been almost 2 months since my last update on our crazy life split between NH and TN. The separation hasn't gotten any easier, that part is emotionally draining, but the house has continued to progress and become a less stressful place to live.

Since my last post the girls have had their winter choral concert and auditioned for the school play with the drama club. I am proud to report they both got cast. Rylie is actually a lead character and Caitie is playing multiple characters with many lines throughout the play. The play is 67 Cinderellas and Rylie is playing Prince Dalliance, he is the prince that dances with Cinderella at the ball and the play is him trying to figure out who the glass slipper fits, it's a comedy and I am really excited to see it performed. The performance is March 15th and 16th, if anyone his interested in going let me know and I can get tickets!

Steve is still doing very well in his position with Ingram Content Group. He really likes the job and the people that he works with. While he does spend quite a bit of time without us, he is not totally without companionship! He still has Inky and Ash, our two Guinea pigs, and has completely spoiled them but also helped mold them into more friendly and outgoing little piggies! He was here with us over Christmas break and left yesterday to go back. While he was here he and I worked hard on getting lots of things accomplished in the house. We were able to make 3 trips with the mini van for more things from storage. We also managed to have some family time in there as well. We took the girls to see Aquaman in the theater, visited with my family down in MA. and spent a lovely NYE at home with the girls watching movies and eating take out food and ice cream sundaes!

Our big family Christmas gifts this year were tickets to see Pink in concert in Nashville and a ski trip over February break to Montana that will also allow us to see Steve's dad. The girls were really excited about both. While I got some wonderful gifts this year, I think my favorite was my new bedroom!

Our contractor John finished up all the drywall, doors, windows, closet etc. so when Steve arrived all that was left was painting. we started with the trim, which is tedious work, and the doors. That took a few days and few coats. But once that was done we started on the walls and that went much faster. We got the room finished Sunday evening, just in time for our new bed to arrive! We put the room together with new blackout blinds on the windows, a new rug and a new dresser and were able to sleep in the new room that night! New Years Eve day was spent putting in the closet organizer and reorganizing the room I had been sleeping in to turn it into the living room finally. I opened and unpacked boxes for the kitchen and we put up pictures in most of the rooms too. It has really come together and I am excited to start the new year in less chaos. Caitie is still in what will be the craft/teen room as her room is next on the agenda for the contractor, but Rylie was able to move into her room finally and set it up as she wanted. It will still need to be demolished and re-done but that will happen sometime later this year, so for now she's in it as is. She chose the wall color...Slytherin of course!

I hope you enjoy the progress pictures. I wish you all a wonderful 2019, may it be for you everything 2018 was not.

Starting to paint the walls

First things hung up, this is our dining room.

New bed, New room!

Rylie's room

My hallway cleared out (it had been a staging ground for tools) and decorated!

I will never take silverware for granted again! I spent the last 6 months with 4 butter knives and 6 forks and spoons...that's a LOT of dish washing!

Our living room! We are still waiting to to get the couch but for now Steve's grandfathers chair will do! That black contraption on the doorway is a piece of exercise equipment, it can slide up and down to adjust the height of my exercise bands so I can do my shoulder (and other) exercises at home!

Happy New Year!!

Progress...and HEAT!!!

We are still in the throws of construction mess, however, there have been big strides made, namely I have first floor heat! That has been HUGE! My eventual bedroom downstairs has gotten new windows, ceiling and walls and a newly framed in closet (it had none before). The dining room had its ceiling and the top walls above the chair rail painted this weekend by Steve and myself. The kitchen floor is finished and our friend Kevin is working on new cabinets/drawers surrounding the refrigerator so I can hopefully get my kitchen boxes emptied and have a really functioning and well stocked kitchen again. Caitie's eventual bedroom upstairs has been totally gutted and is awaiting the contractor to head up there. Right now our contractor is coming only when it rains as he is splitting time between our work and a roof job he has. The one thing I STILL don't have is a damn fence. It is still my biggest stressor and with cold weather here it is NOT fun to be out walking at night, which is the best time to walk Sadie so she has the smallest chance of acting like a raving lunatic!

Steve was here this weekend and for the first time we didn't have to spend the entire weekend working on the house! We took the girls shopping for winter gear, ate out, watched a family movie together (Ant Man and the Wasp...so good!) and just got to relax and spend time together, it was very much needed for all of us! The next time new see him will be when we head to TN for Thanksgiving break.

The girls are doing well and keeping busy. They both just auditioned for the school play today and will find out if they got parts on Wednesday. They both also tried out a Jui-Jitsu class on Sunday and really liked it. It's close to home so they can walk there and since it's on a Sunday it doesn't interfere with school work etc.

I've been busy with new private clients and classes. I am currently working with this incredibly sweet and adorable baby bulldog, she makes my day when I get to see her. I just spent a week in Memphis at the Association of Professional Dog Trainers conference and really enjoyed myself. On top of getting to see some great speakers and meet people, I was able to spend time with two of my best girl friends AND see Steve when he and the girls came for the last weekend there. It was a nice way to spend my birthday.

Life is pretty mundane, which I can't complain too much about. I'm feeling much less stress than I have been the last few months. I'll taking boring over prolonged chaos any day!

Enjoy the day!

Wall and window demo in my bedroom

I got rid of this third window so my bed could go on this wall

Putting my bedroom back together...a new closet is built!

Caitie's bedroom demo'd...neither of these rooms had any significant insulation in the walls and barely any in the attic above Caitie's room.

Newly built kitchen cabinet progress

I got a little carried away scraping the ceiling...

And in the process spilled paint...sigh

New Dining room walls and windows and a new coat of paint!

Joy!