Showing posts with label unpacking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unpacking. Show all posts

Oct 13, 2008

Marvelous Monday Update 10/13/08

Weather
Northern Illinois had the most gorgeous weather over the weekend! Temps were 15+ degrees above normal... in the lower 80's. Forecasters are calling for rain today and tomorrow, but the rest of the week will be in the 70's. I'll take that, too!


Stitchy Stuff
It was announced that I was the Finish it Up! Contest winner for last quarter in one of my online stitching groups! Woo Hoo! The contest is to encourage members with UFO's to finish them up. I forgot I even entered, so I was excited to learn I won a gift certificate to an LNS of my choice. I chose Needle in a Haystack since I already have a gift card with them.

I worked on Treasured Memories Quilt Afghan (TMQ) last week. I finished the Dresden Plate:

I started and finished the Friendship Tree:

Here's what the entire afghan looks like so far:

I started another quilt square motif, but I can't remember what it is. You can see a bit of it on the middle left side.


Still Unpacking
I've been in my house a year now, and I'm *still* unpacking boxes. I decided yesterday afternoon to re-arrange my bedroom, which entailed removing the mirror from my long dresser. You might wonder: What's the big deal about that? When attached to the dresser, the height is 7 1/2 feet tall. The mirror itself is about 5ft all and 4 1/2 ft wide. Big, heavy, and awkward but I managed to get the mirror off without hurting myself (LOL) or breaking it. After that, I was able to move the dresser in front of the big picture window in my room. Next weekend, the goal is to hang my framed artwork and put my drapes up.

Where does the unpacking fit into all this? I had a ton... OK, maybe not a ton (about 10 boxes)... that have been stacked in my room for lack of better place. I unpacked/consolidated 4 boxes. It's always fun to unpack things and think: "Oh, so that's where *that* was!" I'd found stuff I'd been looking for and had no idea where it was.


I figured since I had to remove all the boxes from my room in order to move the dresser, I may as well clean under the bed. How can so many dust bunnies and furballs accumulate under there? I was thoroughly disgusted since I try to clean under the bed whenever I sweep. I think the bunnies and furries are reproducing when I'm not looking.



Ever notice how one little job turns into a big one? Or, maybe I just have ADD and get easily distracted, LOL.

Oct 22, 2007

Monday Update 10/22/07

Up the stairs... down the stairs... up the stairs... down the stairs.... Who needs a stairmaster when I can just go the gauntlet to the attic and basement all day long?

Are you scratching your head wondering "What the heck is she talking about?"

Let me start at the beginning...

I had a chiro appointment bright and early at 8:05am on Saturday. Who in their right mind makes an appointment THAT early?! What can I say? Woke up with a migraine, but forged forward to the shower. Showered and tried to get dressed without the lights on. I was dragging myself from room to room, trying to function with little success. The chiro office doesn't open until 8am, so I had to wait until then to reschedule. Appointment rescheduled til 10am. I took a second Excedrin Migraine and laid down. When I got to the chiro, the headache was down to a dull roar (thank goodness!). I made an observation as I left the chiro's office. Usually the adjustment inflames the nerves and I have pain for 20minutes to a couple hours afterwards. The doc says that's normal. When I left the office on Saturday, I noticed the nerves had recovered before my feet reached the front door. Yay for me!

It was such a nice day on Saturday (in the 70's... pretty warm for this time of year). I decided to take advantage of the nice weather. You'd think I'd do something fun... but no... I cleaned/organized the garage. I managed to cut the number of boxes in half. I found 5 stash boxes that I unpacked. For those who took a guess on the number of stash boxes... That's 5 so far! This is also where the stairmaster comment comes in. The rest of the boxes I toted up to the attic and down to the basement. Up and down, up and down! On Sunday, my thighs and calves hurt SO bad! Even today, they are still sore. I spent 12 hours moving, organizing, and unpacking boxes. I was thrilled to get my bedroom closet somewhat organized and be able to close the door. I found more stash boxes in my closet, but won't count them until I unpack them - easier to keep track that way. By 11pm, I was tired but jazzed up because I had been on the move for so long. Time to unwind...

On Sunday, I finished painting two of the kitchen drawers. Two down, two to go! Since my legs were sore, I decided to take it easy. I spent most of the day stitching - Yes, stitching :) I stitched one Christmas ornie and started a second one, both gifts for exchanges. I like the pattern so much, I may do one for myself also.

Oct 8, 2007

Monday Update 10/8/07

~Unpacking~
Last week, I tried to concentrate on getting things in order with my new house. Let’s just say that the previous owner didn’t take much care in cleaning. After cleaning the stove, S says it looks like a new stove (even though it’s probably 20 years old). I thought the chrome drip pans were corroded from being old. Nope. It was cooked on food! There was so much that they were black with a little silver showing. A couple treatments of oven cleaner and they are SO shiny!

I wiped down the ceramic tile on the walls of the kitchen and wiped out some of the cupboards so I can start putting things away. The drawers in the kitchen are/were bare wood so I decided to paint them white to match the cupboards. I used the Kilz primer/stain blocker. What I didn’t realize is I needed mineral spirits to clean up. When did it dawn on me to read the label of Kilz? After my hands were covered in the stuff. Yikes… Where did I pack the mineral spirits? Frantically, I searched for MS. Ahhh…. There you are, my savior! The alternative was to drive to the store looking like I was in transformation to a ghost. Kilz is a real pain to clean up after! Since I have two more drawers to do, I bought the disposable paint trays and a couple more sponge brushes. It’s worth the $2 not to have to clean up anything but myself. How do I manage to get paint all over myself??!

Most of my hanging clothes are put away in the closet... Only because the rack I had them hanging on collapsed and I was forced to clean up the mess. I am still going through them to get rid of ones I haven’t worn in the past 2 years. Can anyone say: Freecycle??

I even managed to unpack one entire box for the bathroom and one for the kitchen. Woo Hoo!

S helped me out by moviing the Christmas decorations from the garage to the attic. He also repaired the roll top desk that was damaged by brother movers. With that fixed, we were able to re-arrange the furniture in my office aka 4-season room and hook up the rest of the computer components.


~Exploring the Neighborhood~
S and I have taken a couple of long walks around the neighborhood. It makes for a very nice walk. Within walking distance are 2 large parks, tennis courts, public pool, skate park, and basketball courts. If I’m really ambitious, I could also walk to the shopping center.


~Adding to the Collection~
No, I'm not talking about my stash collection! I found this Baby Brownie Special at the Friends Forever Rummage Sale last weekend. I bought an entire box of camera "stuff" for $1.



Kodak manufactured these from 1939 to 1954. Mine has a date of 1941 stamped on the inside. This tiny bakelite camera (3 1/4" wide x 3" tall) camera takes eight images on a roll of 127 film. It gives edge distortion with center of the image remaining in focus. See this cute little pushbutton shutter to the side of the focus free lens? You can't see it very well, but there's a nifty little braided handle that goes across the top. The BB originally sold for a whopping $1.25!

In addition to being a bean counter, I'm also a photographer. I have a small collection of old cameras that I display in my home. Well, I did until I moved!


~Weather~
The weather was unusually HOT and HUMID this weekend. It was so hot that the Chicago Marathon was cancelled a few hours after it started because people started dropping like flies. Unfortunately, one runner died. I’m not one for extreme heat or cold, so I stayed inside most of the time.

~School~
I finished up my beginning Excel class, a week before the "semester" ends. I would've finished before the move, except the instructor decided he wasn't going to grade assignments turned in early. He wanted to grade the online assignments at the same time as the on-campus assignments. By the time, he changed his mind about it I was in the midst of buying and moving. Glad that he came to his senses in that it's unfair to hold students back who want to work ahead. He even commented on how rare that was.