Come on, Mom! Let’s play!
Pack All The Things
January 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Over the holidays, I had a ton of time off so Mister and I used that to our advantage to start organizing, decluttering, and packing. Our Leaving Las Vegas date is just under 6 weeks away, and we still have a lot to do, but we’ve also made a lot of progress.
A lot of the issues that I’ve had with clutter is that when we moved in together, I had a very hard time integrating our stuff. At first, a lot of my stuff was in boxes in the garage because I moved into Mister’s one bedroom apartment, and I felt weird moving in and declaring all of his stuff as ours. Then, when we moved house, I finally got to open those boxes, but the storage situation in this house kind of sucks, and things just got shoved wherever they could be put away. Not the most effective solution. I still clung tightly to that “mine” and “yours” attitude regarding our stuff, and in some ways, I think Mister did too. Either way, we just dealt with a lot of stuff by not dealing with it.
Now we come to where we are packing to move cross country, and we have to decide if we really want to move this stuff. We’ve already made multiple trips to donation centers and thrown a lot of stuff away. We still have a ways to go, but this decluttering feels good.
We’ve also made decisions about some furniture. I brought into the household a bunch of modular cabinets. Some of them you’ve seen before (here and here), but they haven’t had a proper purpose since Mister and I moved in together. They’ve just been extra places to shove stuff. So, they go. We’ll have to find some more storage, but it will be more effective and something that we both like, since neither one of us is really fond of the blonde wood.
We also made the decision to get rid of our desks. Remember when I showed you my desk? Mister and I both have the same desk – a slick glass desk with an extra shelf on it. It’s never been my favorite, but Mister insisted that with two desks in a small room, glass would be better because it would visually open things up. It’s a great theory, until you start piling lots of crap on your desk. Then it doesn’t matter what it’s made out of, the room just ends up looking cluttered and small. So we talked about it, and rather than risk moving two glass desks that we’re not fond of, we’re going to do something like this:
Source: younghouselove.com via KirstenL4W on Pinterest
One long desk, and rather than the sweet $1 cabinets that John and Sherry used, we’ll use stair newel posts as supports, and use furniture we already have and love for storage underneath, like my aqua file cabinet and other small items like that. Then we won’t have our backs to each other, we’ll have a surface space that we can get better use out of, and we can use the wall behind us for bookshelves and have ourselves a proper looking office rather than a clutter cave.
So that’s where we’re at right now. Office and garage are partially decluttered, plans to declutter furniture right before we leave are in place, and we still have a ton of packing to do. I guess you all know what I’ll be doing for the next 6 weekends!
Top Posts of 2011
December 29, 2011 By 1 Comment
I’m normally not addicted to my stats, and have for the most part stopped checking them altogether, but I figured that for a good year-end roundup I would have a look at what my most popular posts were. These are the ones that were read the most. I do have some other posts above these in the stats, along with individual pages, but I wanted to keep it in 2011 so I picked the most popular posts read and written in 2011.
Also, if you’re trying to bring in more readers or get them to go deeper into your blog, review posts like this are a great way to do that!
Here’s my list:
Soda, Pop, and Tonic
I declared that I was seriously reducing my intake of soda in an effort to improve my health. Mister and I have made more changes since then, and I am feeling good. I recently went over a month without a soda of any kind, but slipped a bit during the holidays and had some Diet Coke a few days in a row. I noticed that I had joint pain in my knees and generally wasn’t feeling well, so I’m even more determined to stay off the stuff in the future. And for those of you thinking that soda made with real sugar is better – you’re still ingesting massive amounts of sugar and calories. Is it worth it?
10 Tips for Personal Bloggers
This was originally written for one of Ben Barden’s blogs, but he shut down the blog earlier this year and gave the post back to me. I had a series of personal blogging tips going for a while, but it’s such a niche-within-a-niche that it’s difficult to write for. This post sums up a lot of my personal blogging tips.
Aqua Addiction
It’s no secret that aqua is my favorite color. I geek out a bit more on the color in this post.
The T-Shirt
Mister had a few holes in one of his t-shirts. I fixed it using a needle and thread, a dash of resourcefulness and a sprinkle of mischief.
Cone of Shame
Greta hurt her foot and was sentenced to a cone of shame so that it could heal. I don’t know who was more upset by the cone – me, for having to keep it on her, or Greta for actually having to wear it.
Christmas Songs That Need to Go Away
I generally like most holiday songs, but there are a few I can’t stand. I explain my reasons in this post.
Introvert
I’m an introvert, and I found a great graphic on Pinterest about caring for introverts.
The Best Friends I’ve Never Met
I’m part of a wonderful online community of women who are always there no matter what, and always willing to go above and beyond for each other despite the fact that many of us have not met face to face. I just want to dive into a big virtual hugpile with them.
Gemini
I’m a Gemini. I’m borderline shy/wild (two points to anyone who knows where that is from!). I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo to represent the dual nature of my personality, and I really like the idea of a constellation tattoo. In aqua ink, of course.
And my number one most-read post of 2011…..
The Good, the Bad, and the iMac
I needed a new computer this year, and opted to go the way of the Mac. I love everything about it, and after using it for six months, I wouldn’t change anything I said in my initial assessment.
Did you do a link to your top posts of 2011? Any other year in review posts related to 2011 that I should read?
Christmas Loot
December 26, 2011 By 3 Comments
Christmas was pretty decent. Mister and I stayed home, just the two of us. Actually, when you include Greta it was just the three of us.
We started the day by watching A Christmas Story – on DVD so there weren’t any of those pesky commercials. We started with our stockings, as was always the tradition when I was growing up. Greta got a nice rawhide bone that she immediately disappeared upstairs with, though we heard some rather obscene noises coming from upstairs.
After stockings, we moved on to the loot under the tree. Here’s what we ended up with:
Since we’re moving to New Hampshire soon, and I’ve been living in the hot dry desert for the past 8 1/2 years, I needed some winter gear. I got it in the form of quality goods from LL Bean (LL Bean has no idea who I am and I was not paid to say that. I just love their stuff.) I got a winter coat and boots, both of which will come in really handy back there. I also got a new cell phone, which I really needed since mine won’t recognize the SD card – which means it won’t take pictures and I can’t have as many apps on it as I would like. I got it all charged up and will visit the cell phone store tomorrow so they can transfer my stuff. Some knee socks (to wear with my boots), chocolate covered cherries, a “K” ornament and a few other goodies rounded out my haul. I hung the ornament over my desk, which is my “K” wall since I have a few other initial items there.
Mister got an electric shaver for his head and face, since he mentioned that he wouldn’t mind at all if Santa brought one of those. He also got a BBQ lighter in the shape of a rifle, some nice leather gloves that actually fit his huge hands, a little talking Darth Vader plush, a CPU cart, whoopie cushion, cinnamon flavored old-fashioned candy cane, and a bunch of stocking stuffers that he wanted and a few that he never knew he wanted until he got them.
The best quote of the day came from Mister. As he was digging into his stocking, he exclaimed, “I love my wife – she buys the best presents!” You do some pretty good shopping yourself, my dear!
Greta was a bit confused at all the excitement and stuff in our living room, but once she received the previously mentioned rawhide, decided that she likes Christmas and wants it to happen every day. She also received a new harness and leash set that makes her a bit more visible than her old one. (Note: dog in photo above is not Greta.) Since Greta has black fur, and the road is black, and the dark is black, I was worried about people seeing her when we go out walking at night, so I decided that I wanted some reflective gear for her. This set is pink and the bones and paws print on it is the reflective part. Greta was excited and had to try them out right away, so I put on my new boots and coat, Greta put on her new harness and leash, and we went for a short walk.
The rest of the day was spent watching holiday movies, cooking and eating ham, and napping. Relatives were called, and we expressed how much we are looking forward to seeing them soon and spending next Christmas with them. Overall, it was a pretty good holiday, but the best part of all was getting to spend it with Mister and the pup.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
The Great Christmas Post of 2011
December 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I just realized that I didn’t do a Christmas Post last year like I did in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. I’m not going to recap two years, so here’s the scoop for 2011.
Mister and I started the year getting to know our new dog a bit better and dealing with her as she got used to us. In February, my mom came for a visit and made my dog howl. My blog turned five years old and I continue to try to learn as much about the back end stuff that I can.
It wasn’t the greatest year as far as money matters are concerned. Due to Mister’s ongoing (still!) worker’s comp case, we listed our house for short sale. The realtor we hired didn’t do his job as far as submitting the listing agreement and other information to the bank, so when we applied for a deed in lieu, after the house had been listed for a specified amount of time per our mediation agreement, we found out that the house was back in the foreclosure since the bank assumed we didn’t keep our end of the agreement. More stress, attorney fees, and even more stress ensued. The locks were changed one afternoon while Mister was out, and he was able to thwart another attempt to have the locks changed. Because of this, Thanksgiving and Christmas are being spent at home instead of with family members in other cities. We don’t feel comfortable leaving the house for an extended amount of time.
But, we were able to hire another realtor who actually knows how to do her job, have submitted all the required paperwork to the bank, and are waiting to hear back from them if they will accept the listing and if they will postpone the scheduled trustee sale. We’d still like to manage the situation on our terms as much as possible.
Ok, enough of the depressing stuff. There’s more good stuff from 2011!
I needed a new computer, and ended up with my beautiful iMac. We celebrated an entire year of having Greta, who continues to make us smile when she does pretty much anything. I took a vacation to Florida to visit my sister and celebrate my niece’s 5th birthday, and it was really awesome to see how much Mia has grown. When I got home from my vacation, Mister and I started eating paleo-style, and even though it’s a struggle during the holidays, we’ve already noticed some benefits.
The biggest news of the year is the announcement that Mister and I are moving to my home state of New Hampshire. We miss the seasons, my family and friends, and all the opportunities that New England can offer us. We plan on moving in February, so keep watching my blog for updates!
That’s all the news for now. Merry Christmas, and here’s hoping 2012 is a great year for everyone!
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