Weekly Recap #5

{January 31 through February 6, 2016}

DIY

• We emptied out one side of the extended pantry. We are replacing the old shelves with a better system -- one that will save my sanity. We already did one side last year and we are now finishing up the other side since The Container Store is currently having a 30% off sale on all elfa systems. We only purchase the hardware from the store. The shelves are from Lowe's and we are cutting them down to size. The pantry is not quite finished due to the fact that Lowe's only had four shelves. We are hoping they will restock more shelves sometime this week.

  I plan to re-purpose the scraps from the shelves to make smaller shelves on what I call the "wonky wall".

Gardening

• We broke ground for a nice sized garden. There was a rectangular spot on our land that was constantly green whereas the rest of the land was brown. I speculated that a garden once was established there. Once I started the work, I discovered that it was going to be much harder than I thought. The roots of the grass, weeds, and more were extremely dense. I was initially discouraged because it was tough and hard work. Dan joined in and helped and I am so thankful for his help. After we dug quite a bit, we think the green stuff is doing so well in this spot is due to the that fact some clay is present in the soil. It is not present elsewhere. So, my assumption must be correct; the former owners had a garden in this spot once upon a time. Anyway, We managed to get half the plot done. And we were both tired and sore from the effort. The other half of the garden will be done next weekend weather permitting.

Quilting; Crafts

• I did some more hand quilting on Dan's quilt. Making more progress!

• I got started on getting a quilt established on the long arm quilting frame. I needed Dan's help due to the fact that the DVD was not closed captioned. This week, I will be focusing on learning on how the machine works and practicing until the tension is right. At least, that is the plan.

• I just discovered that the Gypsy Wife Quilt has partial seams. Egads! I haven't started on the process yet as I am concentrating on a few other projects first. But, I plan to get started soon. You do know how plans go though, correct? They often go awry. Ha!
  
  
  

Miscellaneous

• There were tons of recipe books in the extended pantry. I took the time to go through them all. I weaned out more than half of the books. This is mostly due to the fact that I am now gluten free and many of the recipes are just calling for ingredients I cannot have. Plus, we now have the internet to find excellent recipes these days. So, why have recipe books? Ha! Anyway, the one category in which I could not throw in the half-price books pile was the canning books.
• We went through a hall closet in a fit of organization and used Space Bags by Ziploc to store sheets, blankets, pillows and more. Those bags rock! I am now much happier with the tiny little hole-in-the-wall closet. I still need to think about how to add lighting in all the closets in the house. (Most of the closets have no lights whatsoever an we have to use a flashlight at times.)

Quotes

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

~~ adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns

The Office Purge

I believe I have mentioned that I haven't taken much in the way of pictures due to an office cleanup and purge. I have not done much sewing or crafting either due to this reason.
We can now fit comfortably in the office. Gracie is very happy because it is the one place she feels very safe. The small cat tree fits perfectly under the windowsill. Dan can pick up playing his Banjo again. And, I am no longer going insane from the madness of boxes, crap, and whatnot. I took pictures of everything except the last Goodwill trip. Here is proof that we did do a major purge.
I recycle papers at a nearby school. I call it "the dump" because it is where we can dump papers, newspapers and cardboard into community dumpsters to be recycled. Note: The 30-gallon bag on the left is full of shredded papers from the filing cabinets and more.
This is the second trip. We got rid of tons of paper along with some cardboard boxes, did we not?Our first Goodwill trip. Note: I forgot to take pictures of the second trip to Goodwill which was two and half boxes full.

Did you know that Dell and Goodwill have a partnership where they accept most computer equipment of any brand? We donated an ancient Hewlett Packard printer several months ago with no questions asked. Anyway, Dan donated several ancient laptops he was hanging onto. The Cheer box in the picture above contained tons of computer equipment and power cords. I am real proud of Dan for getting rid of what he did. He still held onto a few things that he thinks he can use in his future office. He really wants a multiple computers setup someday.
These are all books plus a few software and music CDs. By the way, for most of the software we own, I keep the original packages along with papers.

We took these boxes to Half Price Books yesterday. We were both surprised that the store bought everything. (I had told them that whatever they cannot buy, please give them back because we can take them to Goodwill.) We gained $52.50 for all five of these boxes.

Before anyone gets on my case about Half Price Books not being a good place to sell back books, let me tell you that I already know this fact. I am just not inclined to take the time to sell them individually over the internet. It is a lot of work to set up online sales, box up the book(s), and ship them to the buyer(s). At least, this way we get a tad back for the books and I know people will be able to buy them cheaper and still enjoy the books.

These pictures do not reflect the tons of trash we threw out too.

Are you not proud of us for decrapifying our lives? Yes. I know 'decrapifying' is not a legit word; but, it should be one. Ha!

Maybe now life can return to normal? Yeah, right. The next major room to go through is the Master Bedroom and I am NOT looking forward to that project. I am taking a week off before beginning the work in that room. I will not be taking pictures this time around; but, believe you me, there will be a major purge of clothes from dressers and the closet. I also need to go through the bookcases and the Master Bathroom.

What Am I Working On?

Since my first hexies (hexagons) post, I have basted up a few hexies while away from home and a couple while here when I felt up to it (I've been sick). I only have 3-1/2 hexies left to baste and then I can sew them together to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden block.


I have also been trying to organize the space out in the entryway when I am feeling pretty good. This is an extension of the sewing room as the wall-sized closet inside the sewing room is used up for storage and is blocked by my design wall and a small sleeper sofa (for guests). Since it is part of a public space, I'm trying to keep it "neat". I purchased orange and teal fabric bins and reorganized the whole space. It is looking so much better! I need two more fabric bins. I think I am going to go with the natural color. I am also wanting a couple mini cubeicals to organize my messy miscellaneous craft supplies on top of the barrister cases. One thing at a time. I rather wait and get things on clearance and/or sale to minimize costs.

PS Ignore that bag at the bottom. That is Dan's bowling bag. He leaves it there because it is convenient. Speaking of which, he got a 611 series last night -- his first 600 series in this league. Isn't that great?!? He started bowling again this year after many years of NOT bowling. His team is composed of coworkers from the company he works for. Anyway, I think he's doing fabulous!