A Time For Everything

I've selected a new template. For now. Though I loved the other one, it was time for a facelift, so those of you who visit the blog directly will see some changes as I try out various templates and see what feels right. Bear with me...

What I really wanted to talk about today is hockey. Sort of. DD and I have gone to about fifteen games at this point.

One of the things I enjoy about hockey as a sport and attending games is that the fans actually sing the National Anthem. Across the county. I don't know pro about football or basketball games, but hockey games--yes.


As you can see, a digital rendition of the flag is shown on the jumbo-tron as well as on the digital screens on either end of the arena. A real live American and Canadian flag hang on either side of those "end-cap" digital screens in the American Airlines Center. If the Stars play a team from Canada, both anthems are sung. I do try to sing along to the Canadian anthem too, where I know the words. I think I've mentioned that in Buffalo, both anthems are always sung because they are so close to the border that a significant number of people in attendance are Canadian.

Back when Sonshine was in marching band and we attended Friday night football games--NO ONE sang. I thought it was a shame.

This past Monday, DD and I attended a game we bought tickets for. The game wasn't part of our partial season tickets package, but it was bobble head night and so we bought some cheap tickets and went. Two things that have never happened to us happened at this game.


The first was that our section was chosen for the "Dr. Pepper Minute" -- where if Stars scored a goal in the designated minute, everyone in that section would win free Dr. Pepper. The Stars didn't, in fact, score a goal during that minute, but they pulled out a win. I'll take a W over free Dr. Pepper, thank you very much.

The second thing that happened was that DD ended up on the jumbo-tron. Mostly the cameramen move around the lower bowl and our usual seats are in the upper bowl. But tonight we got found. We just smiled and waved and the guy moved on. It was kind of exciting for as much as I had been dreading it.

While my 100 Things Give Away has sputtered a bit in the execution, my binge-watch of Maria Kondo and her take on keeping things has spawned a shift in thinking for me in regards to the things I think about buying. Many times in the past few weeks, I've opted to not buy something. Mostly it's been Stars related merch, because you really only need so much. And I went a little crazy at Christmas. But the thought process is not limited just to over-priced fangirl purchases.

Last night, I needed to get out of the house and DD needed to go to Dollar Tree. So I tagged along. We ended up on a jaunt through Target as well. While I didn't leave empty handed, the things I bought were a birthday present, a new shower curtain liner, another pair of magnifying readers (because, like Chapstick, you need a pair in all crucial locations), and a treat I promised a friend. I did come across things I could have used or wanted, but had that second and third thought of "Do I really need this?" or "Do I need to spend money on this right now?"

So while, I'm not getting rid of stuff, I'm not accumulating much either. I will get back to purging soon.

Have a great rest of your week.

The bulk of the work for my writing group's new contest (more on that Wednesday) is done.

I spent the weekend worried that there was something I should have been doing. I kept pondering what that might have been. I kept up with questions and judges acknowledging receipt of panels, but other than that, there wasn't anything that needed my undivided constant attention. Whew.

Instead, I puttered around the house. Something I haven't done in ages and it felt good and nice and a tad bit indulgent. I still kept thinking that some task for the contest needed doing, but I couldn't think of what aside from what I was already doing (see above).

Of course, I did the usual must-accomplish weekend chores: grocery shopping and laundry.

I also cleaned out a closet. It's practically empty now. Some stuff went straight in the bin, some went into the donation pile, one box had an assortment of old VHS tapes. I'd been wondering what had happened to Gone With the Wind! There were some other movie treasures in there that I think I can make some money from at some point, but that's a post and project for another day.

 The house still needs a good going over, though. Once I'm working part time from home, I plan on getting back to my old method of cleaning house (another blog post for later).

As for my future, a few weeks ago, I mentioned DD had talked about moving out by May when Sonshine graduates from high school. Then the plan sort of stalled for a few weeks. But it appears to be on again and the move-out date has been moved up to no later than mid-March. I mean, she packing her room up and making lists of must-have things for her new abode...

So soon I will have a bedroom to decide what to do with and then redecorate!

Here's what it sort of looks like now:



Sonshine has requested a guest room, though I'm not sure why since we rarely have guests that stay overnight. Well, except a random friend of his, but they usually end up crashing on the couch.

I guess it's time for a trip to Lowe's to look at their paint cards. I like the ones that show the rooms painted already rather than just the cards with variations on a shade.

Any suggestions for my new room?

For about 4.5/5 hours Saturday morning.

I think it started somewhere around 4am, though that's a guess, and it rained until 8:30/9am. It didn't rain as hard as I would have liked for all that time, but beggars can't be choosers, I know.

Saturday remained "cool" only reaching the mid-80s temperature wise. Sunday was a little warmer, though I don't think we broke 100*. But today we're back to triple digits.

The house is 98% done. Now it's time to put it all back together. My FIL starts a new job today and will return next weekend to finish up minor things.

Tonight, I'll go over my new bedroom floor with a couple of coats of Mop n' Glo before moving my furniture back in there. I'll dust my ceiling fan and all the shelves and decorations. Then each piece of furniture will also be wiped down before it gets to return home.

Unfortunately, our bed money had to be spent to buy additional boxes of flooring, so no new bed anytime soon. :( I will have to buy new sheets though.

Once we're back in our room, we'll work on getting Sonshine's room put back together. His room & furniture will undergo similar cleaning in the process. Despite his penchant for falling asleep on the couch, he is looking forward to getting his own bed back.

I did get to enjoy my writing room yesterday though my bed's still in it and I didn't actually write. I cross-stitched and listened to music. It was nice and cool and quiet. :)

Pictures tomorrow.

Seeing as how the writing room is almost done, I'm going to post a handful of before pictures....


































































Tomorrow, maybe some during pictures. :)

Keep cool!

. . . is coming along. I have completed the third coat to the door molding and I'm satisfied with the result. Once it's dry, I'll DAP it. I also finished the shelf brackets and worked on the peg rack. I finally realized I'll need to buy an unpainted wood shelf for those racks and paint it myself rather than buying a pre-made shelf. It would have two different finishes and I think would look funny once "installed".

I have been toying with the idea of pin-striping the bottom half of the wall. As I may have mentioned, the bottom half of the wall is not sheet rock--it's real wood paneling. Not large sheets, but rough, textured planks maybe six to seven inches wide each. So there are seams where one panel buts up against the next and so on. So that little trough would be the ideal place to add a lovely line of white. I've been nervous about it for two reasons . . . a) because hubby isn't always into really creative decorating and b) because, if I do try it and looks crappy or hubby really can't stand it, how do I fix it?

Well, I decided to try it. In the corner behind the door. DAP is paintable, so if it looks ugly or I completely muck it up, I can paint over it with little impact. I only have one seam done so far and have come to a realization--I like it! But because the panels were left in a natural state, not planed down to a smooth surface, but left with the knots and texture of a real tree, the seams are uneven, not only from one seam to the next, but also within each individual seam. The section of seam at the top might be wider or narrow than the section at the bottom due to the vagaries of the panel. Hmmm... I'll have to do a few more and perfect my technique and see how it looks/goes.

And I've had an epiphany about my room. I've been lamenting the darkness of the room due to the paint color I chose to paint the paneling. I was hoping for a bright sunny room. However, I've come to realize that it's not the paint color that's making the room look so dark, though it is a contributing factor. It's the fact that I have two large trees about twenty feet from the house right outside this room--both in full leaf at the moment--which means the sun can never shine directly in the room. And right now, with 100 degree temperatures, that's actually a good thing. Come winter, when my trees have shed their leaves and it's chilly here in North Texas, I'll have the sunlight not only to brighten the room, but to warm it! I feel so much better now. Silly me. :)

Next step, the floor, but only once the paint dries.

Have a great weekend!

...not really on the writing front, although I did get a bit done Saturday afternoon. Just not as much as I would have liked.

But I did finally get those last two sections of hallway wall washed down. *yay*

Our oldest daughter moved out last June and her room has been sitting empty since then. It has sort of become known as the dog room since the dogs' water bowl and their beds have moved in there. I hadn't wanted to re-do the room too soon on the off chance, daughter wanted to come home, but with each passing day and some new developments, that's unlikely for quite some time.

Hubby and Sonshine will be away for 2.5 weeks over the Christmas holiday working our fireworks store. In years past, I have usually taken on some sort of household project during the time the boys are away. Not last 4th of July but the one previous, I completely redid the living room. So I decided, that over Christmas, while they were away, I would finally do something with the dog room.

We'd discussed several ideas, including a TV room for Sonshine so that when his friend are over they can hang out in there rather than our living room, leaving us no place to be. Another idea is to make it a satellite office for our business, but that *really* doesn't appeal. We live so close to our office, but, on the other hand, sometimes you just don't want to go back to the place you spend way too much of your life.

But I want a guest room. And a place to write. I had extra energy to burn this weekend and was unable to focus on writing, so I worked on the bedroom instead. I removed the old dusty mini-blinds, pulled up *all* the baseboard and shoe molding, patched the holes in the walls, & sanded the patched spots. So I'll have more time during those two weeks to do the fun stuff, like painting and decorating (if the funds can be scraped up).

The next step is to finish primering the wood chair rail molding and the molding around the window (daughter had been working on this previous to her departure from the house). After that it'll be time to find bedding/pick a color scheme. I'm leaning toward orange, green, brown, & white. Daughter's favorite color is orange, so on the off chance she ever comes home...

After this room is done, either my bedroom or the garage needs to be worked on next. Really, in my room, I just need a new bed and new bedding. I'm perfectly happy with the decor. Of course, Sonshine might like his room finished, too...

Well, while the hubby's away, the wifey will...redecorate!

Yes, that's what I've been doing since Sunday. I had to keep my initial efforts on the Q-T since hubby was going to make one last trip home Monday to take care of Monday morning staff meeting and a must-keep appointment. But now he's in Leroy for the duration unless an emergency crops up.

Anyhow, he's been lamenting the sad state of our home--it's been in a holding pattern on various projects for many years because our business and our employees require so much maintenance. And by the time hubby has dealt with all of that, he's too tired to tackle much of anything else. Our living room, specifically, needs an overhaul--especially since the kitchen now looks soooo nice.

So I decided to tackle the living room project while the boys are out of the house and as a surprise and part early anniversary (7/19) gift for hubby. You know that show that used to be on HGTV--the one where a room was redecorated for $500 or less?? Well, that's my goal.

I've picked out a color scheme, which conveniently ties into the kitchen. I've removed moldings and washed down the walls. I've moved everything out of the living room I could move by myself. I've removed wall plates. I've removed nails.

I'm just about ready for the next step--getting the front window finished on the inside. I need my father-in-law for that. After that's done, it'll be time to paint! Woo hoo! That's my favorite part of any project. I'll need my FIL again for putting up the new molding, and possibly louvered doors, and possibly shelving.

But whatever I can do by myself, I will, I just don't have the upper body or arm strength to use a power drill or air gun. But hey... my girls do! Believe it or it not, my oldest daughter is quite procient in the use of power tools--a must for any modern woman, no?? ;)

After all of that--and I wish it were going to be as quick and easy as it sounds here--it'll be time to re-hang wall decorations, add a few new plants, and re-arrange the furniture. And wa-la--a brand new living room.

Well, one day, and one task at a time.

I hope he likes it...