Bathroom Blues

So a few weeks ago I got a bug up my bootaytay and decided to start chipping away at the flakes on the ceiling of my guest bathroom. It has a heavy texture that matches all the walls and I can't stand it. But the main issue was that it wasn't properly primed and so it was wasting away.

Fast forward 3 hours later and not much was accomplished.

This is a close up of the texture and what it looked like once I started scraping.... Not fun. Some places it was really thick and would come right off but most places were so thin it would just rip the dry wall.... SO, I got creative and decided to just "mud" over the whole ceiling.

 This is the first application that Cor did and it still needs to be sanded down and prepped for the second and hopefully final mud.

You can see that some bubbles are kinda evident and we can't figure it out on why it happened but hopefully it can be sanded away since we are planning on not adding texture and will be using a semi-gloss paint.

Now Cory has decided that he wants to do the walls too so everything is flat. This was my initial idea when we bought the house. But now it just seems silly. Does it really matter if the walls are textured? Does anyone really even notice? Do I care if they even notice? 

I think I bit off way more than I am willing to chew! I have about 2 weeks to get this bathroom finished and I still need to prime and paint the walls and vanity, add new hardware, redo the light fixture (awesome project in mind for that!) and re caulk the tub. Not including the floors which need to be ripped out and the subfloor replaced.... That is slotted for the end of April.

Can't wait to show some final pictures on this guy! I think it will be my favorite room!

Storage a Positive or a negative?

I'm an anti-storage person.

Cor is a Super storage person.

If he could save everything he would. And not in a very organized way either. Unless it's his tools. Kinda.

When we first started looking for a house Cor thought that storage would be one thing I looked for. Extra closets, lots of Bathroom drawers, a big pantry, tons of cupboards.  I wanted none of that.

We would watch HGTV and see people touring houses complaining that there was a lack of closets and I would want to shake them.

The house we bought has a ridiculous amount of storage. We have a 840 sq ft shop. We have an entry closet, a pantry closet, a huge water heater/hall closet, a laundry room with shelves, a guest bathroom with a resonable amount of storage, a master bath with so many drawers and cabinets that half are sitting empty, a Master closet with only one wall being used and it is the shortest wall in the whole walk-in. Oh and we have two empty back bedrooms. Not including my hutch or our bookshelves and all that crap.

We have more storage than stuff and I have noticed us filling it slowly over the last 4 months.

We figured out this difference when I suggested ripping down cupboards in the kitchen so that it could be more open. Cory said no. Where would I put dishes? Where would I put bowls? I don't want a place to put any of that.

Let me explain.

The more storage the more you store.

Makes sense right? If you have the space you will probably fill it. Once filled you will assume you need more space. To fill. It's a vicious cycle that I can't stand.  I am totally aware that I fall into this trap but I try not to.

When we downsized to a condo to save for a house I got rid of so much stuff. Then, a year later, I got rid of more stuff when we moved into our house. Now, 4 months later, I feel like it's all creeping back in on me. How we have managed to fill a 2,000 sq ft house with stuff from a 800 sq ft apartment completely amazes me.

I try to always get rid of old clothes when I buy new ones and same with shoes and the like. But when it comes to house stuff I seem to get rid of things I never use only to find myself buying a newer version of what I got rid of. Then I never use that either! Why do I waste our money on this crap?

So, following my Spring do something post, I am going to clean house. I do not need 2 waffle makers. I do not need 3 crockpots, one that is missing a lid. I do not need 7 different mixing bowls that are all about the same size. I do not need another pretty serving tray that I will pack away and never use. And I most definitely do not need any more cheap Tupperware when I have my glass Pyrex and there is only 2 of us!

It's time to clean the clutter and bring order back to our house.

I have 4 full junk drawers. FOUR FULL JUNK DRAWERS!! Why?!!

 Kitchen cupboards galore

 

 Pantry

 Bathroom with drawers not shown

 Laundry (prior to cabinets)

 Guest room #2 closet (now full of painting supplies and other crap)

 Master closet (this is a huge room and we only use these shelves)

 Guest room #1 closet (full of crap)

 Master bathroom cabinets (6 drawers, 5 cabinets)

Not even including our hall closet or entry way..... This is just too much storage. 

Now to plan how to use it correctly and not to hoard!

the battle of the Sloth

Ah here we are at the end of week two of Tiara being a crazy lady and only working 25 hours a week.

My bathroom is still how it was last week when I started ripping it apart. But I do have all the materials to complete it.

My sticker bushes are still laying in piles in my yard. But I do have an empty yard waste tub to fill.

My bananas are sitting on the counter about to turn into syrup. But I do have all the ingredients to make bread, or cakes or muffins....

My laundry is still clean in the dryer and not hanging in the closet. And I have nothing but time to hang them!

I found my enemy and his name is LAZY!!

Now it is still technically Winter, and we have had a lot of rain and very cold weather the last week. So I really haven't been motivated to get off the couch and away from the Netflix TV Series section and the orange glow of the space heater.

Might I remind you that we canceled our cable so that we wouldn't be sucked in. So we would get up and move. Complete projects. Interact. You know, all that nuclear family crap.

We are epically failing in this department. Cory has been sucked into a new online game and I have been sucked into trash TV marathons. It's just soo easy when you don't have to wait a week to see what happens next!

So, I am challenging our house to spruce up for Spring. I am going to turn off the netflix and turn up the Pandora.  Tune out the Facebook and tune in to the birds. I do much better when I feel like I am being held accountable and so I am going to make an effort to walk the dog's every day. Get out and do one thing outside.

In other news, It's gorgeous outside today. Like, crazy blue sky and crisp fresh air gorgeous.  So I'm going to soak up what I can after work. I'm going to do something and keep that TV turned off!

And I might just even paint my nails again. That's right people. I painted my nails for the first time in 3 years!  It makes me feel pretty.

So onward my friends! Onward to doing instead of saying!!

Time provides change

What an amazing week it has been. My first week working full time, well 5 days equals 25 hours, was  amazing. So many things were accomplished that have been put on back burners. I started my bathroom project of scraping the ceiling and painting. I continued ripping down all my sticker bushes in the front yard. But most importantly I spent time with my family.

Every morning I tried to send Cor off with a hot breakfast and a packed lunch. Every night we had dinner together at a reasonable time. We caught a movie on Wednesday. Rented a movie at 6pm on a Saturday. That is unheard of. 3 years of me working nights and weekends and now we get time together. It's amazing.

Our house is clean and I'm not coming home at midnight all pissy because its a mess, mostly my fault every time anyways. I'm not rushing to do a load of laundry so my chef pants are clean every night. We just don't feel rushed. It's wonderful. I can't even begin to explain it. Even my dogs are more settled than before. Jazmina has become the expert cuddler with me and I have never seen her do that. Although Cor tells me she does it every night with him normally. Well now Momma is home!!

Yesterday I was able to take a day adventure up to Steven's Pass with my brother, sister and two nieces. I didn't have to hesitate when they asked me if I wanted to come. I knew I could. On the drive home I started to feel antsy and I looked at the clock. It was 3:40pm. My body felt like I needed to call in or be at work and it was such an odd feeling to just sit and not have a time limit to my life.

I am looking forward to many more adventures that I never thought I could do. This Friday night I get to go do ZUMBA with my niece at 6 pm. I get to go to her softball games. I get to bake whenever my sister gives me a call. Man, life is good.

No more wishing I could do things. This year is all about actually DOING things!

A new adventure

Since buying the house we have had a few moments of looking inward at our lives. Like I said in my last post, I had a moment of depression and we needed to fully look at ourselves and see what we could do to change us for the better.

I took a new job where I was quickly, within weeks, offered the head chef position with a great salary and health benefits. I was still covering shifts at the coffee stand and was asking to be placed back on the schedule for one day a week. It seemed that I was going in the right direction for a career.

Everyone was so proud of me and my achievement. I was proud of myself and I wanted to prove my worth to anyone and everyone. The only problem was none of it seemed to work with the life that I wanted to live. The life that Cor and I wanted to live together.

I was working 50+ hours a week and once I took the new position I would be required to work 55-60 hours a week. I don't mind working hard or long hours, in fact I seem to enjoy it. But it meant that it would be less time in my home. Less time with my friends and family.

I have had two jobs or a job and school for almost the entire length of our relationship. I haven't been to a friends BBQ or seen a 4th of July firework in years. My, and in turn Cor's, quality of life was at a very low point. He often jokes that he is basically just a monogamous single man.  He enjoys the perks of living with a woman, clean dishes and sheets, but he misses out on the perks of having a partner to go do things and I miss out on EVERYTHING!!!

My friends can agree that I am barely a blip on facebook now. My family sees me on Christmas and Thanksgiving because those were the only two holidays I was ever to have off.

A change had to be made.

An opportunity came to me at the coffee stand and I was able to pick up 5 days a week with weekends off. What?! I jumped at the chance to do something I thoroughly enjoy at a place that I adore with customers that always make me smile.The idea of leaving work not stressed to the max with a million emails to respond to and fires to put out puts a smile on both Cor and my face!

It will be the biggest change in our lives since buying this house. Our income will be a little lower but we will have time. Time together. time to cook meals instead of eat out. Time to budget instead of spend. Time to enjoy each others company without feeling rushed. Time may just be the best gift we could have been given.

I can't even explain the amount of joy our decision has brought to me. I can't wait for a spring spent hiking our mountains, gardening, and projects. A summer spent in the river with friends and eating the veggies we grow and projects galore. And a winter spent baking and volunteering and finishing projects!

I'm looking at this as our trial period for learning to live on one income that is supplemented for when we decide to begin our family. That is the next great thing to come!    

Home

We are at the end of February and we have been in our home for almost 4 months now. It has been amazing.

I had a bit of post-house-buying depression when I realized we had no other plan or schedule made. I had nothing solid to look forward to. That was a very hard adjustment for me.

Now, I have so many wants and plans and needs for our home but I recognize that it will take time. We will be in this home for many years, if not forever, and we have no rush.

In those four months we have ripped up the flooring in our Living room, laundry room and Master closet. We have painted the kitchen, dining, living, family room and hallways. We have laid new flooring in the living room. Hung curtains and blinds on most windows. Accumulated enough furniture to fill the whole house including two king beds and a queen.  We bought a new mailbox that Cory has plans to customize with our name and house number.

We have had multiple over night guests and enjoyed every minute of playing host to family and friends. We have tried the 2 restaurants in town and the one bar.  We have celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, my dad's birthday, my birthday and Valentine's day.

We feel home. We feel cozy and excited for the rest of life we will get to live here in our own little chunk of the world.

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes

Well, here we are. Waiting again.

Another roadblock has been thrown our way from people slacking in the government (go figure) and I am stressed to the max.

Our apartment has been slowly packed into boxes stacked high for the last 3 months. We have only two weeks left before we have to vacate and clean the apartment. Thus meaning those boxes have been multiplying at an insane rate. All that is left to pack is our dishes, cupboards and about half of our clothes that have managed to escape the boxes.

It gets to be difficult at times to know that we need to just keep packing with out really having an end spot. We have wonderful people in our life and thankfully we have been offered a place to crash if we need to. It is going to be tough. Everything will need to go into storage.

On top of all that our poor dogs will need to go to boarding. That is if any boarding facility will take an anti-social dog and a pit mix while leaving them together at all times. I was researching a few last night and some look just like a dirty run down pound. I actually began to cry. I can't do that to our poor babies. But a friend recommended the kennel he uses for his Boston terrier and his boxer. I checked them out and it seems perfect. So that feels a little better. Now we need to get them up to date on their vaccines. 

Knowing that we now have a plan makes it a little easier to keep moving forward. I don't feel as worried about our pups and I can calmly focus on the now.

Well, as calmly as possible while wanting to ring the necks of everyone working on our file!

We have ten business days, including today, to sign the papers on this damn house. Our closing date is set for the 31st and I really don't think anyone is going to allow yet another extension. We have already gone over a month past what the original date was set to be.

We received approval from USDA about two weeks ago. We could have already been in our home. But our lender, with very good intentions, decided to cancel that approval and raise our loan amount to cover some extra property taxes. Unfortunately she did this right when the boss went on vacation for a week. So nothing got done. They haven't even touched our file yet. If we don't get approval from them by tomorrow we won't be able to close on time.

I don't know what to do or what I am even able to do.

I just keep my fingers crossed everyday.

Until next time, fingers crossed for us.