Crabapple Landing

Welcome to my first post from my new desk at Crabapple Landing. A faithful reader, Barb, commented that "Crabapple Landing" might be a good name for the blog and I agree. There's something about "landing" back where I started that I find very appealing. It does my heart good to know that I can always come home and begin to find my way again. We all need that soft place to fall. Thanks for the suggestion Barb :)

I've been home for two weeks and I've been working like a trojan! I did end up getting the "assembly required" furniture from Tepperman's after looking on kijiji, going to 2nd hand stores etc as it best suited my needs. My sister reads my blog faithfully and she will be disappointed to learn that I received no help from my brothers. My one brother didn't exactly say no, but he didn't exactly say yes either and I hate asking for help especially when it's grudgingly given so yes, I assembled it all myself. The only help I received was from Kazi and her boyfriend who helped me get the boxes from the back of my truck and lug them up to my bedroom. It's ok Lannie, I found out that I'm amazingly strong and like our mother have the ability to follow instructions very well. Happily everything went together quite easily, it was just very time consuming. Fortunately, time is a commodity that I now have plenty of!! The parts are well made, the instructions easy to follow and TA DA, I'm finally finished!!

I'm glad I went with the selections I did, I think that my storage issues will all be resolved with the addition of these 3 pieces - I spent today unpacking about 10 boxes - books, office supplies etc and now have several empty bins. I'm not done shuffling furniture yet, in fact I'll be shuffling things around for months to come as only the main floor is finished (almost finished;) so I still have the 2nd floor and the basement to redecorate.  Boredom is NOT in the cards for me.

So....the pictures....

 Doesn't look that bad, does it??

Starting with this bookcase first, my - what a lot of hardware!! Eek!

Things are moving along fairly well.....I think....

 Yay!! I did it!! It looks swell! No mistakes were made assembling this bookcase - I was amazed at how easily it all went together. I was also surprised at how HEAVY it is. I did some shuffling around and maneuvered it into its final location.  OOF!!

So that was Monday. On Tuesday I started to put the tall bookcase together. So far so good.

Piece of cake except for the part where I lifted it from its position flat on the floor to a standing position. That's when I discovered that for a short little person I have muscles of STEEL!! 

Feeling very cocky I decided to start on the desk. That's the hutch coming together nicely.

 It was about here that I realized that I had to put the hutch and desk BOTH together on the floor as ONE piece as opposed to two separate pieces. RATS!!

 I think I should go into weight lifting. For my weight class I'd be right up there at the top! The one box said it weighed 150 lbs. So two boxes? Granted I wasn't lifting two boxes full as the drawers are not in yet but it's pretty close. I probably lifted close to twice my weight.

There, turned the desk light off so you can see better :)

 I started putting the drawers together and realized I'd done something wrong so at this point I called it a night. Not to mention a major storm was going on and the humidity level was excruciating! I finally succumbed and put the central air on. I'm such a martyr.

A fresh start this morning was just what I needed. I had to redo one drawer but was so happy when I put them into the desk and they fit nicely and smoothly! Woo hoo!!

Two and a half days of assemblage. So worth it too!

 Okay, these pictures show you what needs to be unpacked and organized on my two new bookcases plus desk/hutch. Lots of bins...

 More bins...

 Oh lookee, more bins...

and boxes...and bags...

This bookcase is OVERLOADED!!

 Wow, that looks better! (The other bookcase is now residing in the kitchen, details to follow.

 Sigh...I am breathing so much easier now... Lannie - see your painting??

 Desk area still needs a little work...

 There...that's better!! A new chair is in order though, don't you think? That chair has been in the family for YEARS!! I sat at my child desk on that chair 50 years ago!! My brother has a matching one!

More added to the tall bookcase - Kazi's grade 12 grad pictures up top - one bin left below for sorting.

A nice spot for relaxing with a book and a cup of tea. That little desk with the printer belonged to my mother. I refinished it (and also the chair!) - it had many layers of paint on it and when I stripped it I found out why it had been painted - a few burn marks, scars etc. But such gorgeous wood, oh my! I'll treasure it always!

So that's what I've been up to the past few days. Unpacking boxes, bags and bins that were packed to go to PEI was emotionally draining as well but I'm happy to have made so much progress. Tomorrow I'm going to take a wee break and go see a documentary at our local reparatory theatre - "Walking the Camino" as that is another walk I'm thinking about doing. Next year.

OK, feeling exhausted. It's 11:30pm and I've been hard at it since early this morning. I will sleep well tonight! I'm not going to show you the other half of the room (what a disaster!) yet, but soon. One of the reasons I love this condo is the size of the two bedrooms. HUGE!! I was reminiscing with Kazi today about how multi-purpose my bedroom was when she was growing up. Besides my bed I had a loveseat in here, a drop-leaf table that I used as a desk for my schoolwork, and a large TV and TVcabinet.

Good night my friends!