Messy House

HOLY CRAP Batman, this house is a MESS!  Thankfully it's not my house!! In fact, looking at that pigsty makes me feel really great about my own house.  As the third day of March Break 2014 draws to a close I am happy to report that I've made considerable progress in the reno/redo - I count this towards the DECLUTTERING portion of Carla's TAKE 3 challenge for March.

What have I done so far? Thought you'd never ask! Friday's tasks included cleaning out the air vents of the furnace and putting new filters in them to keep down the dust. And I washed all the vent covers too. Then I had "Fun with Spackling"!! Let this be a lesson to you (and me) that the more things you hang on your walls the more nail holes you have to fill when you repaint!! IF ONLY I didn't have a brother who's an artist! Every wall in my home had at least 1 of his paintings on it, sometimes 2 or 3!! Spackle spackle.....spackle spackle!! Oh yes, and move every piece of furniture at least 5 times so I get could around the walls with my stepladder.

Oh, the fun isn't done yet!! Because I am a glutton for punishment I decided I should start dealing with the wallpaper border I have in several rooms because it was in style 20 years ago when I bought this place and decorated it. Seemed like a good idea at the time...now not so much. I had to bring up another ladder from the basement because my stepladder wasn't high enough to comfortably reach the border. I was able to finish the dining room and the powder room before it was time to get ready to go to a movie with my friends Troy and Julie - hi Troy, hi Jules - they read my blog too:) We went to see "12 Years a Slave" and now I know why it won an oscar for Best Picture. WOW. The story of Solomon Northup was handled superbly - it was an amazing cinematic performance by everyone involved. WOW. Whenever I think of the movie as I go spackling along I just say "WOW."

Saturday I rested as my back was sore from tilting my head back as I removed the borders. Poo. It was supposed to be "sanding the spackling" day. Instead it was "drink a lot of coffee and read the newspaper" day. Which was ok. And then Kazi came home so we watched the next episode of "Downton Abbey" which we are hooked on. One episode and we were hooked! After that I felt guilty so I sanded the dining room's spackled spots. However I found a few little nicks and gouges lower down so did more spackling. (I love that word!!)

And I did some grocery shopping at my favorite Asian store - United. I'm sure THAT didn't do my back any favours either. For a mere $57.00 I filled many bags full of oranges, apples, pomegranates, grapes, cucumbers, beets, potatoes, lemons, tomatoes, pineapples, pears, carrots, beans, peppers, blueberries and I can't remember what all else. So this is my PERSONAL part of TAKE 3. I am juicing at least twice a day during March break. Right now I'm sipping a wonderful concoction of cucumber, celery, mustard greens, apple, yellow pepper and red grapes. It's amazingly good! This morning I had carrots, apple, orange, ginger and turmeric. A real eye-opener! However I've only got onto my bike twice in the past week - I was hoping for 3 times. BUT I count the endless trips up and down the stairs and up and down the ladder while scraping and sanding as exercise too.

Today's reno/redo tasks involved doing the rest of the sanding and beginning to wash the dust off of the walls plus LOTS of sweeping and LOTS of vacuuming up the dust. Dust - bleh!! Oh and washed floors too. So at this point I'm ready to paint the dining room, the powder room and the hallway. And I'm ready to wallpaper the foyer. So tomorrow it's off to Dulux to get a few cans of paint tinted. Yahoo!! Lots of beige and white!

The last category of the Take 3 challenge is FINANCIAL. That basically takes care of itself. I did my savings transfer on Feb. 28 and the next will occur this Friday, March 14th. Big whoop. My taxes are still awaiting Kazi's tuition amount and 1 more of her T4s. So we are in WAIT mode. Boo.

So I give myself a PASS for the first week of the challenge. I didn't really declutter - oh wait, yes I did. Kazi and I went through a big box of winter stuff to see if we wanted to keep anything. Then I garbaged the rest (yes, that is a word) because it consisted of salt ruined boots, raggedy-assed toques from yesteryear and single mitts and gloves. Hurrah - 1 more box dealt with.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be exaggerating to state that in the past year I've decreased my "stuff" by a 3rd at least. Countless bags to the dumpster, countless bags donated. After the yard sale last year everything that didn't sell went to Goodwill. And I've already got a date set for the next sale - hopefully it will warm up by then. May 31st. At my brother's house in Wortley Village. It's a neighbourhood sale so it should be busy. If it's warmed up. By then. Fingers crossed.

OK, I'm starting to get giddy...must be the mustard greens. I'm going to go park my butt downstairs in front of the TV and watch something stupid. OH I almost forgot - I watched "World War Z" last night in bed on my iPad - it's on Netflix! I. LOVE. ZOMBIE. MOVIES!! And this one was Brad Pitt's pet project and starred him too - it was soooooooooo good!

OK, going now. Over and out!