chrissy

The End Of My Hutch

I don’t know how I published the unfinished post, but I did. It’s late and I’m tired. Oh well. Shit happens. Anyway, here’s the last of my post.

I knew when we moved the hutch would have to go or I would be in the same position as I was before. A mini hoarder. Everything I didn’t want upstairs I would throw in the hutch in the basement. I dealt with some of it before we moved, but I still have three or four or more of boxes of crap that was in the hutch that I have to deal with.

What was in the hutch? A money affirmation book that I started writing 20 years ago, but never finished. I have all 365 affirmations written, but they aren’t very good. The paper is yellowed and the type is faded. I don’t want to toss yet will I ever work on it or even look at it again? Not sure, but I can’t toss it. There was at least thirty or more books I bought at garage sales that I was going to read, but never did. (I think I have a home for some of these. At the campground they have a library box on a post with books in it. I think I will take them there. There was only a couple of books in it.) A photo album of the first three years of my niece’s life that I scrapbooked for her. I gave it to her a couple of weeks ago. She’s 16 and a half. I stopped scrapbooking the album when I started dating my husband. I thought I would continue to work on it, but never did. Surprise. Surprise. A huge fake book that I keep my laundry money stash in. I put a dollar in a jar for every load of laundry I do. I keep a stash because if some major appliance breaks and we have to purchase a new one it’s not a big deal because I have a down payment saved. There was about forty writing magazines in there. The Writer. Writer’s Digest. And other misc. magazines I picked up along the way. What I was saving them for I have no clue. There was a bunch of other stuff in there. Seasonal stuff. Pens and pencils. Markers. A scissors. Packing tape. Garage sale stuff.

My hutch wasn’t packed, but there was enough stuff in it. The question I keep asking myself is — if I didn’t know what to do with it when I put it in the hutch why did I think I would know what to do with it after? I have no clue. That’s why it’s still in boxes. Because I have no clue what to do with most of it. I know it will probably go in a tub or two in the closet in my office. Probably the things I’m most attached to. Emotional ties. Maybe stupid ties that I don’t quite understand right now.

We were at the trailer (finally) this weekend so I didn’t have to deal with it. I was going to deal with it tonight, but I sat in the chair and watched tv and or napped. I’ll probably deal with it during the week. I have two boxes for the thrift store started at the bottom of the basement stairs. I know I have to give some of it away and/or shred it. Who knows how long the boxes will be at bottom of the stairs. I think I just need a break from all of this moving/sorting/purging crap.

I’m embarrassed I have all of this crap and kinda pissed off at myself that I didn’t deal with it before. I didn’t want to. Out of sight. Out of mind. Sad as that is that is the truth.

I’m glad my hutch is gone. It forces me to look at things from a different perspective and only buy things that I need or really, really want. The things need to serve a purpose. I can’t buy things anymore because they are cute or because they are an impulse buy. I want to live more simply.

It’s going to take awhile to get to more simply in my world.

Stuff

I have too much stuff.

I am amazed at this because I thought I took care of most of it when I packed up for the house that the deal fell through last summer. What I didn’t realize is that I had bought a lot of stuff through over the years for when we had a house. Now that we have a house I realize that we either don’t need it, it doesn’t fit in with the theme have for that room or I think it’s ugly and/or I don’t like it.

I dropped off four boxes and a bag at the thrift store yesterday. I can’t believe I had that much stuff after we just had a garage sale and I dumped stuff of at the thrift store after the sale. A box and a bag of what I dropped yesterday were curtains from the new house that we weren’t going to use. That was basically all of them and the blinds that came with them. I hate blinds. Hate. Hate. Hate. So, yes, I am curtainless for the time being. I didn’t realize that it would take me this long to find curtains I like that were the right length or that they were so expensive. I have four windows and need 8 panels. I bought 8 panels yesterday and my husband will hang them up this weekend. Not as expensive as I thought. They were on sale for $12.9 each. Yeah.

My husband and I have decided is that we want items in our house that define who we are now together and the direction we want to go in – seperate and together. Most of the odds and ends we have now are from when he lived alone and I lived with my roommate. They aren’t important or have any emotional value so they have to go. Except for my Barefoot Bear collection. I am keeping my bears forever.

There’s a lot of stuff that I am donating right now and not saving for the next garage sale. I can’t. I don’t want that stuff clogging up my basement. I drop off my stuff at a thrift store where the proceeds go to a local animal shelter. I think it’s important to give back. I’m glad my things will go to a good home and the animal shelter can get some money to buy what they need.

I’m excited to see what our house (I love those two words) looks like when the dust settles and we have everything put away. (Yeah, like that’s going to happen soon).

I’m going try to put a box of stuff for my office away tonight. I’m afraid to start in my office. This is one area where I have way too much stuff. Basically it’s books. I have to go through them and get rid of some or a lot of them. I had most of my books in the basement in my hutch (the hutch will probably be my next post). I don’t have my hutch anymore so I have to come face to face with how many books I really have. I bought about half of them at garage sales so I’m not going to be that heartbroken to get rid of some. My office is probably going to be the hardest group of stuff to decide what to get rid of and what to keep.

If you don’t see a post from me in the next couple of days I am buried in my stuff. Hopefully someone will find me and unbury me.

A New Dresser

My husband and I picked up my new dresser on Sunday from the local furniture store. My old one was falling apart (which I didn’t realize until we moved). I got a great deal on it. $157.00. I saved over $300.

I don’t have a lot of clothes. I am a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl. I keep t-shirts hung in my closet. My jeans are folded and put in my dresser as well as bras, panties, and socks. And pjs. Can’t forget my pjs. Everything is folded in my dresser. Even my socks is are matched and folded. Yes I am anal.

In winter I keep my summer clothes in a bin in the basement and vice versa in the summer. I am ditching the bin and putting my clothes in my hope chest at the end of our bed. In the past I have always used my hope chest to store some of my writing in but now since I have my office I can use my hope chest for clothes.

The bin is in the middle of my living room. I don’t want to deal with it because I am overwhelmed. I am overwhelmed because I have to decide what to keep and what to let go. We just had a garage sale two weeks ago but I didn’t have time to go through it and get rid of clothes.

Some of the reason why I am overwhelmed has to do with my weight. Do I keep the clothes that I might fit into one day? Or do let them go? Usually I would keep them for the next garage sale but I’m thinking of not doing that. Why do I want to hang onto those items for the next year and have it take up space in my new home? I don’t think so.

I want to start with a clean slate. I want to have only things I love in our new house. Items that fulfill me and show the world who I am. Saving clothes because I might some day fit into them isn’t part of the plan. It only brings anxiety because I don’t fit into them.

I often think about how much space our stuff takes up not only in our homes but our psyches as well. Are we clogging the flow of good that might be wanting to come into our lives because we are hanging into stuff. Maybe

I’m going to bed now. When I get up I will deal with rearranging my dresser and the bin. Maybe…..

We Are Completely Moved In

Yeah!!! We moved the last of the house stuff on Saturday morning. My mom and I cleaned the old house two mornings last week. I turned in the keys yesterday.

Sigh…..

It’s been a long six weeks but totally worth it. I love the house. I love my husband more than I ever have. It’s truly amazing what we can do together. I am very lucky.

Now that I only have one house to deal with I can concentrate on getting my office organized and my blog back on track. I am going to get my computer up and running this week. I haven’t touched it since it came back from getting windows 10 redone.

I’m itching to get into writing my blog again. I have ideas running around my head that are screaming to get out. I missed my blog friends and reading blogs and commenting on a regular basis.

Now I must go and return the garage door openers and get my haircut and look for curtains and not necessarily in that order. I haven’t had a haircut in six weeks. My hair looks like shit

Its good to be back.

My First Night Alone

Tonight is my first night in my new house alone. I have to admit I’m a little scared. I really didn’t think about it until a little while ago.

We are in the country. There is a college two acres way. There are farm fields in front and in back of us. There is a house next door but they keep to themselves alot. And that’s fine. I’ve been a bitch with moving anywy.

It’s funny because I wrote the last three paragraphs at work and now that I’m at home I don’t feel scared. I feel at home. Like I’m suppose to be here.

I’ve unpacked couple of boxes and now I’m going to bed. I hate to post from my phone but that’s is all I have tonight. I have my computer back but I can’t use it. My husband has to update some of the electrical outlets. Well most of them. So that’s his next project.

I think this is possibly the most boringest post I have ever written.

Good night and sweet dreams everone.

Almost Moved In

We are almost moved in. This weekend will be the final push to get the living room, bedroom and appliances moved to the new house. Finally!

The last windows 10 update crashed my computer so that is getting repaired. Damn windows 10.

So hopefully the week after next I can start blogging on a regular basis again. I can’t wait. I’ve been slacking on my writing and can’t wait to get settled so I can start writing as a whole on regular basis.

Until then….

Gratitude Saturday

I have a lot to be grateful for this Saturday. It’s been a busy two weeks with painting and moving stuff to the new house. Everything is working out good so far. Let’s hope it continues….

Here’s is what I am grateful for today.

For my family and my in laws. They have been really helpful and we are grateful for their help.
For the new house. It was well worth the wait. I feel we are meant to be there. This is where the next chapter of our lives start.
For my job. I am grateful that we have two different starting times when we are on overtime. We are on nine hours so I can either start at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. I’ve strolled into work at 2 almost all week. I am grateful for that extra hour.
For my friends at work. They are an encouraging bunch and I am grateful for that.
For my husband who is on this wonderful journey with me. i wouldn’t have it any other way.
For Home Depot for having exactly the yellow paint I wanted. The name of the exact color is at the new house. I wish I had it here to share in this post. It is exactly the yellow I envisioned the house to be. I am extremely happy.
For my cousin who we rent from. I thought he would be totally pissed that we bought a house and are moving, but he’s been really cool about it.
For my dad and my mother and father in law and other family and friends up above who are looking down on us and smiling. I know they are part of the reason our house dream is coming true.
For all that I have learned in the last couple of weeks. Especially about paint and painting. I think my sister in law has turned me into a paint snob. When I was looking for my color yellow in home depot I grabbed all of the yellow paint samples and took them to a sunny spot so I could them clearly. One was too green. The other a little more brown than I wanted. I have learned a lot about colors and sheen and painting. I’m really proud of myself.
For my readers. I know I haven’t been posting regularly and that bums me out because I miss being a part of my blog and commenting on other blogs like I used to. Hopefully after we are completely moved and my internet is hooked up I can blog on a regular basis. I’m praying the internet at the new house is as good as the internet at this house. Thank you for your understanding!!

I’m going to bed with a grateful heart tonight!

Embrace Your Weirdness

Last month or so The G Sandwhich (thegsandwhich.wordpress.com) wrote on her blog that she likes to watch the Maury show. A couple of days later my coworker, L, shared with me the details of a fascinating documentary about elephants her and her husband watched over the weekend.

Isn’t it neat that we all have these little pieces of ourselves? Little pieces that we don’t always share with others because they may think we are weird and/or laugh at us. We may not think these little pieces are neat. We may think they are weird, but they may not be to the people we share them with.

I love it when someone shares little pieces of themselves with me. It helps me get to know them better and on a deeper level. I love to learn new things. For example: I never realized that an elephant has such a huge penis and that a female elephant is pregnant for a year and a half. (Did you know that?) I like it when people share these weird things with me. I love it when people make me think about new things, different experiences and what my weird things are.

I think we need to embrace these parts of ourselves and own them because those little parts make us who we are. Complex and interesting human beings. I think the more knowledge we have, the more well rounded people we are. We have more to bring to a conversation (not that I would discuss an elephant’s penis size with people I don’t know) and a different perspective to share with others.

Embrace your weirdness today and share it with others. Who knows what will happen or what you will learn.

Wallpaper

I’m trying to find wallpaper for my office because my sister in laws think that would be easier than painting it and they don’t mind doing it. I’d rather just paint it yellow with a 4 x 4 foot area of chalk board paint on one wall.

I am a newbie when it comes to wallpaper. I never knew there were so many colors, prints and designs.

I saw wallpaper I loved in Vegas, but do you think I can find it on any wallpaper website I look at? No. It’s probably five years old and no one carries it anymore. I thought the wallpaper in the hotel was yellow. My husband said it was tan. Maybe he was right because I didn’t have my bifocals on. Usually I only wear them to work and to drive at night.

Note to self: wear glasses along when looking at wallpaper.

If my sister in laws are willing to put up the wallpaper, I’m willing to go that route. We originally wanted to paint three rooms, but that changed to almost all the rooms once we looked closer after moving in. I am on 10 hours of overtime and 5 five on Saturday (Doesn’t that suck?) so time is an issue.

I wish I could just find some wallpaper that is me, but nothing has popped out yet. I’m not afraid to take a risk with a print wallpaper on one wall, but to find that one wallpaper in a sea of 100’s of wallpapers seems impossible.

I’m off to the new house to work in my office. My husband finished scraping the glue from the paneling off the walls on Saturday before we left for Vegas, now my mom and I will vacuum and wash the walls so he can Kiltz (probably spelled wrong) them tonight.

Tonight, on my lunch hour, I will be looking for wallpaper with my bifocals on.

Too Much To Do

We signed on our house a week ago so we are officially home owners. Yeah!!!

This week has been a blur. Last Saturday we painted one room and the hall linen closet and we tore down the paneling in my office. I’ve made two trips to the new house before work this week to drop stuff off and to do misc. stuff. I can’t wait to be fully moved in and live there. The house is amazing.

I wanted to post something this past week, but I’m beat. I’m going to try to blog during the week, but I’m not promising anything. I will continue to read and comment on your blogs.

I can’t wait to start this new chapter in my life and see where it leads.