Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

i'm on a mission

I have been on a real getting-rid-of-stuff binge. I think I was inspired by a friend
of mine who just moved...she threw a lot of stuff out while she was packing up
her house. Nothing like moving to make you realize you've accumulated and held
 on to far too many things. So far, I've gone through my bins of household decor 
and have six bags of stuff for donation - and that doesn't include the two bags
 I've already taken to Goodwill! 

Today I moved on to the freezer. This upright freezer has been in our basement
for nine years. With it just being Brian and I living here now, this freezer hardly
had anything in it. Just a waste of space and electricity. So I cleaned it out and
it's going up for sale on a local Facebook page.


 I took the few things from the upright freezer and everything out of the small
kitchen freezer and laid it all out on the kitchen table according to meat, bread,
veggies, nuts, grains, etc. so that I could put like items together in the freezer.
 Side note: see that 3 Musketeers bar near the back, left? That's not for me or Brian
 (neither one of us eat those)...it's for mice! We sometimes get mice in our basement 
and I read that mice love chocolate, especially 3 Musketeers candy.  Go figure, right?
 It's certainly worth a try next time we set traps.


 At first I didn't think everything would fit in the small freezer...
but it did. Good thing we aren't big meat eaters.


Speaking of my friend who moved, this is one of my best friends...and she's lived
only a few blocks away from me for many years. She's now over an hour drive
due to a new job. While I'm very happy for her (new job - and a great one!, new
house, new car, dumped the boyfriend, lol), I'm really going to miss seeing her often.
I helped her move into her new townhouse this past weekend and was really impressed
by her new digs. This is the open living and dining room space. You can't see it
in the photo, but there's a beautiful bay window in front of her table and chairs. I love
the two small windows flanking the fireplace. I told her she needs some little plants
in those windows. Her cat, Vieve made himself right at home. The other cat, Barnaby
was terrified and hid under the nightstand in my friend's bedroom all day. Oh - her
bedroom is bigger than my master bedroom and has a walk-in closet the size
of a small bedroom! Her place also has a basement, garage, and a community
workout room and pool. I think she's going to be very happy here.


I'm now back to the basement and back to work. Next order of business is
going through more household decor (tchotchkes, glassware, dishes) lining
the shelving units. Have a beautiful day! 

Sharing with Cozy Little House - Tweak it Tuesday.


Monday, August 19, 2013

empty nester

 It's official. I'm an empty nester. Tim was packed up and ready to go last Friday.
This is the only house he's lived in his whole life. This was his bedroom for over 22 years.


I didn't particularly like seeing this truck in front of our house.


 The poor cats were so confused as to why Tim's room was empty. Sorry for the
poor lighting quality. As you can see, this room is rather dark. And still has the
original carpeting! I have big transformation plans for this room. :-)


 At one point on Friday morning, I walked into the back yard and saw this beautiful
swallowtail on the butterfly bush. I took it as a sign that all will be well.


After a couple of hours of last-minute packing, getting everything into the truck, 
then driving 1-1/2 hours, we reached Tim's new house. The mom and perfectionist
in me immediately wanted to start pulling all those gigantic weeds in front, trimming
the bushes, and putting a big pot of bright flowers on the porch! Tim said, "Mom, this
isn't a parent's house." He's right - you can definitely tell young people live there!


We got all Tim's furniture and boxes moved into his new room and Tim immediately
started on reassembling his desk.


MoJo, one of Tim's roommate's dog, had to check out what was going on.
He kept sniffing us and all the boxes. I'm glad there's a sweet dog in the house
because Tim's going to miss our kitties. At least he'll kind of have a pet.


Brian had to go back home early so he could return the rental truck, and I stayed
behind and took Tim grocery shopping. Got him set up with the basics - now he's
on his own! We also went to a nearby bank so he could open an account. We
then went out to dinner at a casual, little mexican place that we found, I dropped
him back at his new house, then said my goodbyes. I didn't even cry. I've had
some anxious moments since then, but I'll be OK. I was just texting with Tim and
he sounds happy. That's what we want for our kids, right?

On Saturday, Brian and I took advantage of the beautiful day stretched out before
us and took a walk in the State Park. One good thing about living in the Midwest in
the summer ~ the landscape is so lush and beautiful.


I have no idea what these purple flowers were, but I love how we suddenly came
upon a field full of them.


I couldn't believe the tons of lily pads in the lake - you could barely see the water!


And even though I'm familiar with the site of lily pads, I had never seen a water lily
until now. They're so beautiful, they barely look real.


After our walk, we had a light picnic lunch ~ veggies and hummus, cheese and
crackers, grapes and an apple. It's weird to think it's just the two of us again after
25 years of children being in our house, but...here's to a new chapter in our lives!