A LONG DAY of PLANNING for the new Place AFTER spending time there!

Saturday, March 2, 2013 @ 7:52 AM

Yup yup … it happened!  Good morning!  WE ARE OFFICIAL HOMEOWNERS!!!!  Can you believe it!  It happened and all in the blinking of an eye.  We’re trying to now calm ourselves down almost 24 hours later so that we can write about the experience.  Fortunately Rich will be out of the house for the next 5-6 hours so we should be moving things along in a writing direction.  I’m thinking of you too this morning LuAnn … in some sort of a nice new memory you are included in this dream … we’ve become overnight mobile home sisters!  YAY!!!

There is so much to talk about in getting the new place I hardly know where to begin.  We have for the record been up 2-3 hours, but we spent some time talking to Rich, and then after he left we’ve been getting a grasp on all the good wishes in our Facebook messages.  At this point there were 28 likes and about 40 messages where people were just the most special in sharing our day.  There’s been more since!  We’ve now changed the Cover of our Facebook page to the above, and we’ve got a new time line

Yup, yup … it’s for real! Almost in three weeks!  YAY!!!  You already know of most the progress of our move.  We’ve got most of the LR packed including books, desk, and files, and we’ve got all of the sewing room packed.  Rich says that today and tomorrow we can do some work on the closets, but then he changed it to say that we’d just work on the back closet where his clothes and fishing gear are.  Maybe we will have to progress that some. 

Yesterday after the closing we had gone back to the house and one of the things we did was go over the closet in the Master Bedroom … there are bigger closets around, but it should work, just that Rich and I are both going to need going through our stuff to see what can be eliminated so that it isn’t over-crowded.  One of the changes will be is that on one side of the closet there isn’t a hanger, but instead a white wire shelving.  I think one of the things that might be put on there is our multitude of pajamas and I think we can also put Rich’s t-shirts – the kinds with pictures.  That will take some stress off the things that need to be hung.  Rich has a super big closet in his room (office/bike) so we’re going to put in there the extra coats and his extra sportswear from officiating.  That will cut down some of the bulk to … and as well now I’m thinking that we should put out of season clothes in there too.  It’s a double closet that is almost as long as the room.  I just don’t want to get into a thing where we are shoving everything in tightly to the closet.  Neither one of us actually have a lot of clothes we can wear at any one time so it should be ok.  There is also a little built in closet with a hanger that’s about two feet wide.  We will have to decide what to do with that, but hopefully it will take care of some of Rich’s shirts … if anything he has more shirts than the two of us have anything else.  He’s already decided he wants the other four built-in drawers under the clothes rod for his underwear, t-shirts and socks … I can handle that too, but then after some discussion last night we decided to keep his clothes chest and put the TV on it. 

Basically, the chest is not as wide as the media chest and we’ve got a space that would fit the thinner chest.  The only problem is that we’ll need to switch the old TV from my father in the bedroom with the smaller TV from the sewing room.  I don’t like the extra space the TV will take up in the sewing room, but it is too wide for the top of the chest.  We’ll run this by one more time with Rich and see what he thinks.

We’re jumping all over the place though now.  Maybe if we put down first a bit of a time line… LOL – I’ll post it when I can, but our horoscope says today that this week we won the cosmic Sweepstake!  OMG is this so true!

Ok, down to business.  The first thing was that we were excited the last few days because of how close closing was … EVERYTHING there worked out perfectly.  We left on time and got to the new place for the walk-through exactly at 9:30 AM.  Then we spent the best time with Betty and Bill the last owners.  They’d lived and loved in the house for the last ten years.  It is really true they put themselves into the place both physically and psychologically.  I think they were especially sorry to be losing the sunroom.  Betty shared that they spent most of their time there.  I believe it because it’s such a cool room.  THEN, we discovered too that they left a two-seater reclining couch for us and a rocker.  That was really neat … I loved it … Rich admitted that he wouldn’t have to go out and by outdoor furniture, and then the other thing that they left were two backed-barstools and four simple wooden barstools.  I’m thinking now that the two backed ones will go on either side of the sewing machine in the sitting room.  Yesterday we found how particularly wonderful it is to be in that room and it would allow visitors to gather there too.

So far we’d only planned to have the two recliners, but I think it’s going to be a perfect space with the additional high chairs.  It seems that when people get in the room they like staring into the fireplace like us.  I mean to share that room! 

I am figuring the 4 simplest bar stools will be used as portable tables between furniture.  That will allow space for a coffee cup or water bottle, but it won’t gather clutter.  We still have to work that one through with Rich, but so far we like it.  We still have the new barstools coming in so we have LITERALLY plenty of them.  I expect there will be three of them at the pass-through counter, and there might be one in the corner between the living room and our bedroom.  Then the one without a back will be tucked away in the kitchen out of Rich’s way, but will give me a place to sit unimpeded in the kitchen.  That seemed to be another gathering space yesterday.

Betty was just the most friend person and she really specialized in cleaning, decorating, and plants – all of which showed in the house abundantly.  Rich spent more time with Bill, but he seemed to be a handyman AND a storyteller.  Just the nicest people.  They were both friendly and helpful all that new homeowners could dream!  Unfortunately, their new home situation fell through, so for the next while, they will be staying at an extra home of one of their kids with most of their stuff in storage.  Rich said that if he knew he was dislocating them he would have let them stay longer, but they are the ones who asked for the early closing, so I’m thinking they were at a point of handling it.  I’m sure the $50,000 would come in handy as CASH too, so if something does come-up they will be fluid.  We’re really hoping the best, and since they are just going to be a town or two over, we invited them to stop by for sure!  They were both very patient with our questions and touring ourselves around and making sure to assert that the place was no longer theirs, but ours.  They were just incredibly neat people!

The Realtor, Carolyn, got a little edgy toward the end and you could see her nudging us all out the door for the closing part.  So, the place was locked-up and then we all met over at the Realtor’s office.  Both the selling and closing Realtors were from the same agency, so it seemed really friendly.  It went by very quickly the four homeowners seemed to want to continue talking and the two Realtors were maneuvering paperwork between us.  There was just a couple of signatures and the passing over of money, and that was really all there was too it other than the handshakes and hugs.  It was very friendly.  Rich and I will still need to take the title to a person who wasn’t in yesterday so she could register the title, but that will happen early this week.  Maybe though as late as Tuesday.  Not sure when Rich plans on going out (on a weekday), but I’d like him to switch it to Monday so I can go too.  Because I’m thinking she will need my signature, maybe we’ll have to cancel Dr. Marvin if Rich really gets bogged down by work.

That was the bad part over the last couple of days.  Rich had some terrible business things happening in that his customer was rushing and his workshop was bulking at all the new work and what needed to be done to set it up.  He was threatening Rich to pull the job if he wasn’t paid more.  Rich handled it as best he could then tried to put it out of his mind, but you could see he was being bothered by it yesterday … and he was really taken-up with it again this morning.  He said he’d have to work 7-8 hours at the workshop today.  I’m hoping that he can smooth it out.  I know it’s his baby, but you hate to see him going through that extra kind of stress.

After the closing, yesterday, Rich and I stopped at Subway to pick up a half sandwich each.  It was really cool afterward in that the name of our new city is “Sandwich,” and the first place Rich ever took us as a couple was to Subway Sandwich!  I think it was then written in Proverbs!  We ate the sandwich at the new house sitting at the pass-through (LR side) … I think there was talking throughout.  Rich also gave me a couple of cookies and you KNOW how happy we would be with that!  After lunch, we both moved slowly through each of the rooms and spaces, trying to get a grasp on all that we’d purchased.  It was such a nice fulfilling feeling.  We had brought the tape measure and walked-out the furniture lines as we’d been planning to see what would fit and what we’d like to stay the same or change.  There will be a lot more of that coming down the pike – that is the kinds of decisions we’d been making.

One of the big ones’ was that Rich figured that the desk AND the two couches, his chair AND tv would fit in the living room.  I had been afraid there wouldn’t be room for the second couch – though that was the preference.  It makes a homier setting because the couches and Rich’s chair would form a U.  That was also nice because the secondary plan was to put the second couch in the sunroom and with Betty and Bill leaving furniture, there wouldn’t have been room for it.  Their furniture is nothing fancy or really new, but it is nice and comfortable and seems to have grown roots in that room.  I like the idea of sitting with Rich in a 2-seater love seat with our feet up and looking out three sides of nothing beside windows!  It’s so romantic!

Hehehe we were just talking to Brandy for a second.  She is Rich’s niece.  I am so hopeful that they will come out and visit.  I’d like to have her and Alicia out on their own AND then of course with their Dad and Grandparents.  We might be using more of the sunroom than conceived though because they are all smokers.  I still want our place to be inviting.  Maybe they can handle taking a break from it?  AND of course there will be the sunroom.  We figure that when it’s warm enough to be out there, we’ll have all three sides of the windows open so it should work and allow everyone to be happy.

Another concession that came up yesterday was that Rich and us talked about getting the guest bathroom handicap accessible.  This is a very important thing in making his mother comfortable.  We were thinking at first just grab bars and raised commode, we’re not sure though … we were looking at other toilets too.  CS said you could get them for as much as the plastic thing and they would be a lot easier to keep clean.  Then of course the ideal thing would be to turn the shower also accessible by making it a walk-in with a bench stool.  I’m pretty sure that is against Rich’s budget, but I’m a little leary of the master bath, because you need to take a step up into it and then it’s a bathtub so you have to step over the edge, there is no grab bar and the tub has a rounded edge on the bottom.  Just thinking of the whole house the bathrooms would get redone first.  Just it would cost a lot of money.

We got snapped at yesterday, but we’d looked into a handyman in the Sandwich area and found one that seemed good, but then Rich growled.  Just that if we have things that need to get done like handicap accessible and Rich doesn’t have the tools, time or inclination – I am going to want a sub to take care of it.  Rich pointed out that we don’t have money either, and I know what he is talking about, but having safety immediately taken care of for his mother has to be a top priority.  We don’t want her falling down here.  That would terrify me!  I think most things are like though if Rich doesn’t think of it … then it isn’t going to make his priority list.

I can do without the extra safety, though I’m big enough and clumsy enough that I shouldn’t go through it, but we just can’t take a chance with his mother.

I guess that would be moving our story for the day along.  After Rich and I went through room after room we stopped to talk/sit in front of the fire.  I was ready for umm whatever, but Rich thought not *sigh*.  His mother did call though because she had talked Bud into going to Red Lobster.  She wanted Rich and us to come, but Rich wanted to get back to his own schedule.  He’d had a bad work day prior to the closing and it was still on his mind.  We did stop though for dinner on the way home at our favorite Mexican restaurant for a Margarita.  WooHOO!!! 

But, the thing was that Rich’s mother and Bud did come over and it was the first time that his mother was in the house.  I think she had a good first impression.  She had to get up three stairs that were unfamiliar to her, but Rich was there to help.  There too … those three steps we have to get a stable bar there to make it more accessible for her.  Someone should always be behind her, and then the wheelchair is just lifted-up and in.  Rich talked about a ramp he could build from the garage through the breezeway and up the stairs.  He thought only when his mother came over, but I saw no reason we couldn’t have one up all the time.  I’m not excited to pieces about going up stairs either.  A lot more talking has to happen there though.

She really like the sunroom a lot and she thought the kitchen was big and that Rich was going to love it.  She took favor to the pass-through and when she asked about the toilet in the back utility room we said, no we had more than two toilets, and the one in the back was only going to be for the cat.  She seemed ok with that.  I think too that Rich would like to put a door between the back of the kitchen and the laundry room.  I would be happier with a saloon type opening that would be easy for the cats to navigate and one where it wouldn’t be a trouble bringing loads of clothes back and forth.  I can see his point on not wanting peoples’ first impression to be seeing our washer and dryer.  I LIKE it though.  Not their first glance, but just having one so close. 

Rich’s mother was a little confused in the living room, because she was seeing it and maybe being overwhelmed with the size of the room, and then she was seeing the master bedroom and not understanding what that room was for.  She could see the window seat and when we told her it was our Master bedroom, she said no it wasn’t.  Not much to do there until she got through the door to see more of it.  She seemed to like it, and I remember her asking Rich if he had enough furniture to fill the house.  Rich gave her assurances.  She did offer to give us about a dozen fancy towels and we told her if she was serious we’d accept them for the guest bathroom.  We told her honestly, we only had enough towels to accommodate one bathroom.  That seemed to please her and would give in her guest bathroom something she could enjoy.  I did look in there and found that there was no place to hang towels, but that’s easily fixed. 

I checked out both bathrooms and there are advantages of both, but I didn’t like that the master bath toilet seat didn’t fit properly.  That’s going to need being addressed before I use that toilet again.  The bowl is slightly larger than the seat.  That makes me WAYYY too uncomfortable.  Enough said!

Rich’s mother really couldn’t grasp the idea of a sewing room or a room for Rich (office/gym), but when she got to the guest room, we introduced it as that, and she said where was HER room.  And, we smiled and laughed and said, “right here.”  Then she looked around and nodded and seemed to think it was ok.  Bud was a little pushy in that I had just told Mom that we were going to fix the bathroom for her, and then Bud turned around apparently not hearing that and said, well I guess we won’t be coming over much.  And, then we were concerned.  I said, we move all the way out here and you’re not coming over?  Then he pointed to the bathroom and complained.  We then told him, maybe you didn’t hear.  I just said that we were going to make the bathroom handicapped accessible.  He said, Hmpf.  And, then pretty much went on.  He also brought over his measurer and stated that the bedroom windows were only 28” – so smaller like he had argued at the other house.  It was to me like … they are fine!  They are pretty much ceiling to floor and we just didn’t get what he was trying to do other than find imperfections.  So we were like not going that direction.

Both seemed to calm down a bit and settle when we got back to the sitting room in front of the fireplace and with the carpet.  Rich’s mother wanted to insist we should have a formal dining room, but she really doesn’t understand she doesn’t have deciding power in our house.  We will accommodate her needs, but not all her wants.  She has to understand that Rich and us are our own entity and that the house is ours and not hers.  Because she gave Rich money toward the purchase, she did not get to “buy” the house.  Rich and us tried to explain the idea of a sitting room, but she wasn’t accepting that as well, so we both let it go.  Maybe she’ll appreciate the space more after it happens.  Rich tried to explain having coffee there with Ann in the morning, and then the more soured Bud, said, Ann’s not going to do that, or then he said it wouldn’t be long until we stopped talking to each other in the morning.  It was very frustrating, but we were in such a good mood, we didn’t allow it to deflate our bubble.  We knew that Bud was going to be contrary and we had to be just dealing with that.  He is either going to get better or not. 

He also made it a point to measure Rich’s garage.  He decided that Rich should put his boat in it because it was 25’ deep.  Rich said he would love to because he’d naturally want it there too, but although the boat is 19’ – with trailer hitch and motor, it is more like 31’.  I don’t think Bud really minds the boat at his place, but maybe he’s trying to draw lines with Rich.  He suggested also that Rich keep his boat in a locked area the other park offered down the block for only $15 a month.  I would like to see it first, but in reality, I would really like to get it out of Bud’s driveway because we just don’t need that kind of aggravation and the expense and safety is good at the other place.  For the times Rich wanted to work on the boat, or load it before a trip, he can leave it overnight in our driveway.  It might as well be in the other place in-between our place and being at the Plainfield lakes (Rich’s club).  It’s a longer lasting resolution and doesn’t put a burden on his step-father.  The boat only has to be stored elsewhere during the winter months.

Eh … letting it go.  The older couple didn’t stay overly long, but there was some nicer conversations sitting/standing by the fire.  Rich’s mother seemed to talk and look in to the fire as we had been doing.  It is very mesmerizing.  It seems that most people encounter it and think why or why not they have or have not gotten a fireplace for themselves.  I think most people still love them – and to have 2-sides?  That’s just crazy dumb-luck!  Rich allowed us to open the glass doors while the fire was going … before they had been closed and I didn’t know the rules.  But, open – they let in a lot of nice warmth in the room which Rich’s mother seemed to appreciate.  We hadn’t turned up the heat past the old owners 65 because we weren’t living in the place yet.  It just makes the fire that much more special.

Not too long after the folks left, Rich and I left and as explained went out to dinner.  There might have been a little messing around afterward, but of course I’d never tell *sigh*.  Rich and I talked more into the night as it had been a continuous discussion through the day from start to finish.  I talked to my mother, sister and two of the three sons yesterday, but I’m not sure if Rich called his family.  He did mention it to Bob, and Bob sorta Hmpf’d.  Rich says he doesn’t like it that Rich is moving out of the area, but Bob moved a couple towns away too with his girlfriend, Linda.  Rich said he’d still be coming in toward the city 2-3 times a week so would arrange times to meet with Bob for coffee.  It should work out and of course, you ALWAYS want people to visit!

I hope Rich talks to his kids soon.  It doesn’t seem they are really responding to him with this move, and I’m not sure why.  Or, if it isn’t a lack of communication from Rich – OR, me being over-communicative.  I was surprised that Jillian hasn’t dropped by our FB this week with all the news.  I’m really hoping we didn’t do anything to upset her.  I don’t know also if the ex is causing problems with it, but I don’t really need to know that.  Just I want that the kids would feel comfortable visiting and talking to their father about his happiness.  I think Rich did say something about letting Jillian know he had a bed waiting for Jillian and Chris.  I’d like to think that if Natty visited, he could sleep on one of the couches, on one of the recliner’s or out on the loveseat in the sunroom.  Brandy teased about putting a bed out there too, because her Dad wouldn’t be able to sleep without his cigarettes and TV.  I hope she’s wrong, but we’re readying ourselves to her truths.  Might be Rich’s family is too confined with our smoking rules.  I just hope not.  Dr. Marvin and Us talked about it again on Thursday.  Pretty much his thoughts are that it would be rude for a smoker to put their smoke odors and carcinogens in our home.  I know he’s right and I would so much love a smoke-free environment, but you don’t want to insult others either.  Rich’s mother’s smoking smells were really strong in our home yesterday just from her clothing.  It’s a little harder too in that we’ve been smoke free for seven years after smoking 25 years.  It’s always a bit of a tension not wanting to pick up the old habit because there were some comforts in smoking.  Just we are much more aligned that it really smells, costs and is an unsafe preoccupation and addiction.  We DON’T want to slip backward! Plus, we have friends and family – especially the boys and Grandchildren that don’t want to be exposed to the smoking.  It’s just hard.

Ok, moving on.  I’m sorry … just these thoughts have really been hanging on me.  Good good … doing a little chatting online.  I’m afraid we’ve been closer to hovering over FB as we’ve been writing.  Seems like a good combination.   I’m not really sure where we are at with the writing though we’ve seemed to slide … thinking now about the smoking and figure we’re finished with that right now.  So, what shall we call up next?  Everything down the line seems to be covered, but I don’t know if you can understand just how excited we are?

I think it is going to be a day where we have to put our excitement into something.  I might just want to go look at my clothes closet.  Taking the pajamas off the hangers gives me the feeling we’ll be able to fit the rest of it in the closet.  Rich said something yesterday about living a simple beautiful life.  I feel that too.  I seem to be talking more to Dr. Marvin, Rich and Linda about what it feels like to be making changes, because everything else seems so strange like a BIG change is looking out your front door to see nothing but fields that will switch to fields of corn or soy bean.  It’s just really unique.  My grandmother grew up on a farm … and this seems to be some toss-back to that direction.  It’s really legendary the switches in thoughts from going toward farmland and coming then back into the city.  It is just completely different worlds.  I can’t get enough saying that I’m living now in the country!  Beside slower Internet I am really looking forward to all that might mean.  There’s so many that seem to be excited for us that that’s carrying on its’ own energy too.  Just crazy Good!

I’m not sure if I said, but Rich didn’t want me to go in today because he knew we’d just stare into the fire … couldn’t I say, but HAPPILY??!!  *sigh*

I know I know … he’s concerned with a lot of things and I know his interest is in the right place, just we’ll get pushed only so far and then we’re thinking … to hell with that … Look at us be MOBILE! Hehehe  Just for the record though I should check on the cost of a trip out there.  HEY – THAT’S not bad!  Rich said it cost $20, but not in MY car … the estimated fuel cost is $5.05 … Oh … that’s not round trip … Ok, the cost is REALLY $10.17, BUT it’s money really well spent?  Rich wants me to train to his time schedule which means we wait to go until tomorrow, but then he only wants to spend an hour there and then go over to his mothers.  THAT’s NOT what I was thinking.  I want to spend some real time there.  Rich is like – ok, you do a load of clothes and you put up the china … But, otherwise we don’t need to be there.  We told him you are not understanding how a woman bonds with her home!  Especially being born a CANCER!  Double trouble there!

*sigh* We’ll try to appease him some, but not all the way.  It was a super feeling getting my own key and garage door opener, and now then I want to go try that out.  You know … go to my own house all by myself for the first time?  Rich just isn’t getting this part.  *DOUBLE SIGH*

HE was going in on Tuesday and Thursday, but those are Dr. Marvin days.  If he doesn’t change up, we’ll go in a couple of the other days by ourselves.  WE know we have to be there Friday – early, but we’ll also go out by ourselves on Monday and/or Wed.  You just can’t tell a woman it’s not ok to go to her brand new house!  Just troubling!

Ok, good we covered that nugget!

What else?  Rich is already making plans in that he thinks that his ex is ready to give up some of the “stuff” in her garage.  But, I think that when she figures out Rich wants some of the “stuff,” it’s going to become more important for her to keep, BUT I hope that I am wrong.  Rich REALLY enjoyed being in his own garage yesterday.  I watched him lovingly take things out of his vehicle and place them on shelves and such.  He’s going to have a blast with it, and it might be a toss-up to whether he likes the kitchen or garage best!  When we sat in the kitchen and asked him where he wanted to put things.  He said that his pans and bowls were going high over the sink, stove, dishwasher area and that he had drawers for the hotpads, towels, utensils and such.  He decided that all the plates, cereal bowls, glasses and cups were going over the pass-through.  He was making choices about odd dishes and things that would go below like cans and boxes.  He was having trouble there, because he wanted everything on top.  There was a thin closet pantry, but he figured he’d take a shelf or two out there to store long brooms and cleaning supplies.  He claimed a white wire stand-up series of small pocket baskets AND the long cupboards over the washer and dryer for cans and such.  There is still a shelf over the washer and dryer so I thought the other was ok, because I’d rather have the detergents easy to reach.  I didn’t want to put so much in there though it would be uncomfortable, because we’ll have to get back there several times a day to take care of the kitty needs.  He got everything placed in the kitchen and he was leaning back satisfied, and we turned around and discovered an additional double cupboard and drawers that hadn’t been filled yet.  Oh man oh man … the man was in a fantasy.  Now we’re thinking though that the drawer can be for things like warranty manuals, notes, and take-out menus.  There’s just so much going on.

We went around and about the sewing room … well we did all the rooms, but some were a little more important.  The sewing room probably has more per space than any room.  I don’t think it’s actually bigger than the other two back bedrooms, but it’s prime real estate, just past the sitting room with those French doors.  Rich at the very end conceded that it was my room and he had told me I could do it my way.  I want the four bookshelves in L’s on either side of the west window.  He had other ideas, but it broke down to me wanting to SEE the shelves, and him wanting to hide at least one behind a door.  LIKE NOOOO.  That’s not what I want.  I can understand sharing decisions, but if we’ve given over the LR, Sitting room, kitchen, office, guest room, master bedroom AND sunroom to him, we at LEAST get that one room to decide.

It’s a little clunky now.  I think Rich is reacting to thoughts that his wife had done so much organizing in  THERE house and he hadn’t had any choice, and so now is overkill and he wants to make final decisions on EVERYTHING.  I do have input, but am not liking it very much that it seems we’ve gone back to the 50’s where the male is supposed to be the one making all the decisions.  We have to work on that some more to better understand each other’s needs.  Curtains were like that too.  He didn’t like the homemade job on the LR curtains and so even though they matched the other curtains it was like no use arguing with him.  We came to some PARTIAL agreements.  He wants to put our PRESENT curtains in the LR, but they would use only 2 of the four panels.  So, I told him I would like to use a panel in our bedroom and another panel in the guest room (one window).  My logic is not only for matching and not wasting the curtains, but that they have a material on the back of the fabric so that the curtains cannot be seen through.  It is really important on those windows, because they are all east windows…  I’m not sure if you remember, but the park looks like this …

  

A little clumsy drawing, but you can see the north/south road way over to the right.  There is only one road coming into the park.  Then to the north it is Chrissy Drive and to the south it is Rick Drive.  There is houses (mobile homes) all around the outside of these two streets, and then there is a row of homes down the middle.  OUR home is marked in red on the right of the oval race track – ok, except its 15 mph.  ANYONE coming into the park will come down that little street to get to Chrissy and Rick Drives.  By the way that little street is Peggy.  *sigh*  THIS MEANS … that every care entering or exiting our park is going to flash his headlights directly at our east windows.  Again our home is marked in red.  It’s kind of fun in one way, but there isn’t much privacy if everyone looks into your front windows.  Those are the double LR windows, the guest bedroom, and the one wall in our master bedroom.  SOOO, again … we want the curtains with the plastic backing in there.  See?  Makes sense!   And since the smaller windows are only 28” and one panel is about 60” we’ll be fine.  I had over budgeted before to get the right drape.  It turns out my coral curtains in the sewing room are only 54” so they are too short for the new sewing room, BUT, they may be long enough for the other bedroom windows on the south side.  PLUS the pink/coral would match the flowers from the LR curtains.  They should be ok, because the window over the window seat has got protection over it so you can see out with nobody being able to look in J  See it might work!

There’s more curtain work to be done, but this is pretty good so far.  Rich doesn’t like the LR/bedroom curtains the last owner did, because he thought they were uneven.  *sigh*.  He likes the more heavy drapery in the sitting room, which I don’t like, but eventually we’ll switch it out and try to keep his needs in mind when picking a different curtain.  He likes them because they are purple his favorite color, but the chairs in that room are going to be olive green … it just doesn’t work – and the other two bedrooms will need to be replaced.  Rich’s mom suggested curtains that have scissors on them for the sewing room and fishes for Rich’s room … that umm will be taking under advisement.  If Rich wants fishes … sure, but we’re always going to go for just plain pretty!  We’re fortunate that all the curtains have shades, so we can keep our privacy too!  WooHOO more fun ahead!

There is just so much stuff that goes into making it a home.  I’m not crazy about some of the other stuff that was found in the home.  I think the walls don’t look as solid as I would like them too.  You can see seems between panels, and there is some crazy quarter rounds and other corners not finished professionally.  Like along one wall you have a dark brown quarter round on the wall, and it matches the chair rail above, but attached to the dark brown is another quarter round that matches the lighter floor.  It was like they could decide so left both of them there.  There are some pull out shelves in the bathroom I don’t like squeaky/crackly things and there is some imperfections in wall paper and the back sliding door has a catch.  It is just going to take some time to get things all right.  For now though we are very grateful that the homeowner tried and did some fantastic things, but allow us some room to make improvements too.  If it’s going to be a forever home, there will be plenty of time.  For the record I think they did a great job on the laminated wood and carpeting.  YAY!  I don’t mind some of the wallpaper, but some of it also looks like the original paint from 1988.

Rich and I are also in discussion of what happens to my fireplace.  We’ve come to semi-agreement that it could go in the breezeway and a rack of coat hooks be placed under the mantel.  BUT, there is also the part on the complete stripping of the wood and touching it up with nice stain.  Rich is hinting that it could be done by me in the garage, and we’re not so keen on that, but can understand that the cost of finishing could be too much to pay out.  We also have the antique sewing machine of my Grandma Rasmussen, and the antique tea cart of my Grandma Ludford.  I’m grateful for Rich including them all in our new home, but they ALL have to be stripped and refinished which sounds like a lot of time away from my computer and sewing machine.  I know I know … use the garage … get to know the neighbors, etc.  *double sigh coming in here too*  We’re not done with concessions on this one!

Down deep though … I think I could do it. J  The stain could match the light walnut color of kitchen and it’s fireplace.  Might really be worthwhile that after almost 25 years this poor fireplace mantel we’ve been toting from house to house would finally have a place!  I love it that Rich can see it in the breezeway!  We’ll still have to work with the window.  I don’t think the space was as wide as I might have hoped. 

Another area I hadn’t thought about before that Rich tuned into yesterday was that there is a space on top of the cabinets over the fridge, pass-through and even on top of the sink side.  He is thinking of something decorative.  I could see some really pretty dishes going up there, but I’m thinking that Rich is thinking more like pictures.  I think it’s too high for pictures, but I’d be willing to concede if he took the space for some of his map pictures.  I could see back to back frames floating from the center that could then be seen on either side of the cupboard top.  Trying to remember now exactly HOW tall they were.  I would rather keep the kids pictures no higher than the fireplace mantel.  Hmm, looking … it’s not a lot of space … but, we’ll have to see after we were out there if it would be enough.  Another idea too would be to put Rich’s map pictures up on the LR side of the pass through and other possible spaces on the LR wall.  He’s pretty sure now that he can fit the big map rug on the smaller wall in back of the TV.  It’s is still a 9 foot wall – and would have to have the smoke detector rearranged, but the map is only about 6 foot wide.  The unfortunate part is that some of it will be in back of the TV.  Can’t do much there.  It is the only wall that will take it. 

Connie Sue’s blanket will go up behind the treadle and those loose bar stools and we discovered there would be a room between the wet bar and window and maybe the other side of the window for something.  Rich doesn’t want too many quilts up, but there has to be some – it’s part of my artistry!  Oh, I remember … there is a strange hanging rod to the right of the window in the sitting room.  That’s going to be a place to hang at least one quilt, and the baker’s rack in that room will hold completed quilts – folded.  I like the lace A LOT in the French doors on either side of the house, I would never replace them.  I’m thinking that most of the walls in the sewing room will be taken up with bookshelves, doors or windows, but I’m thinking of putting the two design boards CS and us made horizontally – one over each of the tables.  I’m thinking behind the east sewing room wall will have the 7 1/2 foot of table space, and then there’s about 4-5 inches of clearing for the French door, but what I forgot yesterday is that behind the French door will bet the perfect wall to hold the ironing table.

I’m thinking that our bedroom will have either fishes’ quilts and the postage stamp quilt from Kentucky will go on the guest bed.  I’m not sure how Rich wants to decorate his office.  We’re thinking he might want to frame pictures of his kids grown-up and cards he’s received and such.  I’ve got some of those types of pictures too that could be hung over or under the design walls.  They are 30” x 60”.  Anyway … I’m not sure if I said it, but Rich has some map books that might not be valuable, but look pretty.  I wonder if he’d let us take some – smaller book size and frame them and those could be the pictures on top of the pass-through cabinet.  There’s really not much room in the master bedroom for pictures, but maybe we could hang some of the old one’s we have kept … There is also pictures from the kids.  I could see me framing some of them and hanging them between the other pictures.  Maybe the more neutral classics I have could be for the master bedroom and bath areas.  Rich is still looking for a place for some of his trophyies.  Maybe they will go back in the master bath.  It has a big enough sink.  Not crazy happy though about his old mask being there.  It doesn’t belong on a wall with flowers.  Would it be BETTER above his work bench?  That’s what I am saying at least.

For now we’re just going to be happy Rich feels like doing some framing.  He says we can look in garage sales for frames and I think that would be a lot of fun.  We just have to have an idea what kinds of picture sizes we have.  I don’t think either of us have decided on a picture or set of two pictures that we both like enough for either side of the fireplace.  Ideally it would be family pictures with the kids, but I only want small pictures up to 8 ½ x 11” on the mantel, I would like a couple big family portraits on either side of the stacks.  I could see me trying to get the boys and grandkids and DIL’s to a photographer, but Rich would then as well have to work hard in getting his family pulled together.  In the most idealistic of pictures, I would be in Rich’s and he would be in ours, but I don’t see that happening (me being in his pictures) any time soon.  I think it is an important goal though to at least get a family portrait done if Jillian came to down with her guys and we could get Rich’s Mom and Bud there.  I’d bow out if the could get Chris and his family together with Jillian.  That’s the pictures I want on the fireplaces.  I will take the sitting room side and Rich’s family can take the kitchen side where is mother will most often be.  On my own I’d probably be on the sitting side more, or at that time be more apt to be looking up.

There are other stray things that have been decided.  Like Rich’s mother has some towel sets that have never been used, and we told her we’d take them, hmm, did I say that already?  Rich is going to take a shelf out of the back bedroom hall closet and make so the vacuum fits there, and he wants games and fun things to do also in that closet – we’re thinking here like the portable poker table and chips.  Ok, and board games.  We want the electric broom to go in the mudroom with the washer and dryer as well as the broom and dustpan.  That makes sense as to carpet and laminate floors.  Rich’s closet is going to take the winter coats, his official’s uniforms and any extra clothing.  His floor or shelf in the closet will take certain boxes of records like bills, pictures, taxes, and such.  I will get the guest closet which should be big enough to take on 8 of the under bed organizers.  That would allow still space for two under our bed in the Master bedroom, and four more spaces under the guest bed.  Nobody will notice J I’ve got 9 now, hmm, does that mean I can get 4 more?  I’m thinking so … MORE scraps!  The other part of that is the hanging bar AND the shelf above the closet.  MAN o MAN heaven to me!  It means that we’ll be able to get like 6-8 more canvas cubbies for different colors of fabric (not to be longer down than over the under bed organizers) … And, it will mean that we can put all the bigger pieces of fabric on top of the closet.  My thinking here too is that there is enough room up there that we can put our pink shelves up there.  It will help if we can stack them between things to keep the piles straight and then put some of the looser smaller things in the shoebox pouches.  The pink thing isn’t real pretty, but its’s good and handy.

That means that the shelves going into the real sewing room will be able to maintain the plans that we had had before.  Might take a little look at that list again now.  Hold on.

Seems that we’ve still got the fat quarters to deal with.  I don’t know if we could stack them all WITH the bigger fabric between the pink boxes.  I think we would like to keep the insides of some of the boxes for other things like the six major sizes of small cuts of fabric like the 1 ½” squares or the 3 x 6” rectangles.  I would actually like to see the Fat quarters in the fabric closet.  Maybe what we would do is use one or two of the under bed containers for that purpose.  That would work.  WE just don’t want to hide fabric behind fabric.  We had been thinking 3 regular fabric containers, 5 scrap containers, and one for backings, but more of the regular fabrics and backings can come out and leave more space for picking up scraps.  We could also use the pink bins for some loose kits or grammas things that would leave open a bookshelve for threads.  Basically, we’re reworking the situation because we had first drawn the plan having the Media cabinet in the room.  Now those things have to go elsewhere.  I think the three containers of rulers are one of the few things that I want on the cutting board table.  I do admit it would be fun also to place there the cups of colored pencils, crayons, and markers.  Might want to just by chance include there too the anatomy coloring books or perhaps better yet, get some new ones.  I want something fun and easy for the girls – even though mostly it would be Isa.  This is part of the other list we’d written before.  I’m not sure what is going in the baskets, like one was for gramma’s quilts, but that will now be in the sitting room.  Grammas things will be in a pink container – I love you can stack things in the container AND build on top of them!  Makes good use of the space.

Four Bookcases (left to right)

 3a – 3d, and 4a – 4d each get two pink plastic shoebox trays to help stack and ten pink    dividers to support stacks

1a) First double basket

1b) Gramma’s things threads

1c) Second double basket

1d) Paper rolls

1e) Top-shelve Grammas sheet backings

2a) Decorative shelf items incl. fabrics

2b) Single basket

2c) Magazines

2d) Books

2e) Batting

3a) White scrap fabrics

3b) Pink/purple scrap fabrics

3c) Yellow/gold/orange scrap fabrics

3d) Green scrap fabrics

3e) Black/Grey scrap fabrics

4a) Beige scrap fabrics

4b) Red scrap fabrics

4c) Brown scrap fabrics

4d) Blue scrap fabrics

4e) Miscellaneous (mixed-colored) scrap fabrics

TV cabinet (Left to Right)

1a) Three trays of rulers               

1b) Cups of writing utensils

2a) Thread

2b) First continuing projects

2c) Second continuing projects

3a) 1 ½” x 1 ½” (1 ½” misc. pieces) cut scraps

3b) 2 ½” x 2 ½” (2 ½” misc. pieces) cut scraps

3c) 2 ½” x LOF (40”-42”) strips

4a) Radio

4b) Two plastic 4-drawer storage

5a) 3” x 3” (3” misc. pieces) cut scraps

5b) 4 ½” x 4 ½” (4 ½” misc. pieces) cut scraps

5c) 5” and up (5-6” misc. pieces) cut scraps

    We still need to think of the radio, but no reason it can’t be on the desk again.  AND, we have to remember that there’s going to be a problem fitting TV’s in.  I would prefer that Rich allowed one more TV.  The thing is that if his mother or brother were here or others, well we know that his brother and mother sleep or go to bed with TV.s  My vote is since the tall chest is going in our bedroom and the 38” TV only fits on the Media cabinet going in the guest room – It is the bedroom that gets a new tv.  The LR TV is fine and is 42”, My dad’s old 38” goes to the guest room, I keep Maury’s old 25” in the sewing room, AND then our bedroom gets a new 32” to fit the top of the chest.  It looks like we could do it for $250-280 and the better TV might be a refurbished like through Samsung at Best Buy.  Well, that will be the idea put out at least.  It just seems to make the most sense and it should be done soon, so I can call the TV people and put one more connection in. 

I think I’m going in this direction because I can really see Rich’s brother and mother being over frequently enough.  Mark drives a big rig cross country, and about 5 weeks he stops in town to see his mother, brother, daughters and grandchild.  Otherwise he’s stays up in WI.  He has been having problems sleeping over at his moms because of all the screaming and fussing happening over there, but if he’d stay with us just 6 minutes from his Mom’s he would still have to limit his smoking to the sunroom.  Not sure yet if either Mark or his Mom are willing to do that.  Guess we have to wait longer to find out.  I would still think though that Mark could have a good time over here and it would be fun to get to know him better and his girls.  We could still meet over at Rich’s or they could come to our place, but the thing is there’d be more opportunities for people to get together – especially family and that would be a good thing right?  I’m thinking Mark could feel really at home in Rich’s kitchen.  Just gotta handle the damn cigarettes!

Ok, we’re back there again … better be moving on again.  Where did we last leave off?  Did we figure out everything happening in the sewing room and fabric closet in the guest room.  Hmm, that is something to be considered.  With as much as Rich’s Mom and brother smoke, maybe it is a better idea to put the fabric in Rich’s closet and keep the extra coats in the guest room.  Shoot shoot.  I hate when a plan falls apart.  I still have to worry about them trying to be sneaky and break the rules, but as well we found out yesterday that their clothes smell really bad.  I don’t know if there is a choice.  I’d much rather have the freedom of the guest room for working with my fabric and there would be room on the bed to sort, sit, whatever without bothering Rich, BUT could we RISK the odor!??  Shoot shoot, we just can’t throw a room away?  Time I guess to get out the anxiety pills, brb

Hmm, got some cheese and chicken pot pie soup.  That’s a good idea.  We had once can of Sprite, but we’re back to water.  Ok, that was a little note.

A store brand – Insignia from Best Buy only cost about $230 for a 32”.  Definitely would put Rich in charge of that … my only thing is that it is 32”

Ok, moving on … what else do we need to organize?  We’re sure writing a lot today … sorry about that.  There has to be a lot of decisions made about things though and that’s sometimes harder than packing.  To be fair I’m corralling a lot of decisions now gone over by both Rich and us.  He’s been doing HIS fair share of thinking too!  Hmm, think we went over that … moving on, moving on…

Did we ever finish in the sewing room?  Better look at that one more time.  Going for the list. Ok, ok … I’m thinking we’re good there.  I think in some ways that it would be more fun to put the fabric on the shelves in the sewing room, but it’s not big enough to keep it all together like having the really long shelves, cubbies, AND under the bed organizers.  We’re thinking again air freshener in the bedroom … we really want the guest room and not be in the room with Rich’s stuff and exercise bike etc.  It just isn’t conducive to taking things in and out of the closet.  Just need to maybe get one of the air purifiers.  I don’t think we came up with good solutions on that this week.  The best thing was to attach something like the IQAir Perfect 16 Whole House Air Purifier for $2,700, but that IS then $2,700 and we don’t have that kind of money, but it is the best we did after a lot of reviews.  It’s highly reviewed and has the ability to get out a lot from the air like allergens, bacteria, dust and smoke.  It’s also good for conserving energy and hooks up to the existing forced air (HVAC) system.  The down side is that it only works when the forced air/heat is on.  IF we got really rich … maybe THEN we could consider something like this.  Just have to be patient … a whole life to live in this house!

Take it easy girls – we’ll have to go back and be taking more stress medicine! 

I hope that we’re doing a good job of covering everything … so much to think about!  And, I’m pretty sure we are just at a smattering of things discussed between Rich and us this last couple of days.  I sure hope he’s doing ok with the customer … it seems like a long day.  One thought would be now … If we took the fat quarters out of our bedroom to get into the fabric closet with the others, then that would mean we’d have four more dresser drawers and since Rich now wants to keep the chest of drawers, he has plenty of room inside that so he wouldn’t need the built in drawers … he’s got his fishy stuff outside … so.  Hmm, I know I think what we can use that little two foot closet and drawers for is for him to keep all the current officiating clothes and equipment.  That’s a GREAT idea.  It would also keep his braces and such.  I’m liking that a lot.  He could also probably have room for his extra stuff from his dresser, so that maybe we could use both his and my bottom dresser/chest for pajamas for us and t-shirts for him.  That would mean we could take out the white shelves in the bedroom closet and that could go to the laundry room OR garage for storage … the point would be then we might actually have enough room in our closet for the dirty clothes sorter.  It is about 32” so that should work.  I’m pretty sure the closet is longer than 3 feet.  Good good … it’s starting to all make sense.

There’s another couple of spots to be tested.  I think for one we have to have some place in the kitchen to keep our medicines.  I’m thinking drawer and hoping they would be side enough to hold even the taller vitamins.  AHA!  There are at least five drawers under the pass-through.  We’re thinking silverware, a couple for utencils, maybe one junk drawer and the one closest to the mudroom next to where we’re going to keep the open stool – that could be for our medicine.  Rich still has one more drawer in the corner unit – hmm thinking that is going to be for small bags, aluminum, and saran wrap … and then underneath?  Maybe still some over stacked things.  There seems to be plenty of counter space for the microwave, but we need a new one … because ours is grinding something terrible and is too small, and then one of the corner cabinets would hold convection oven.  Rich says that there is still room for his toaster and the blender, and we’re still figuring on the coffee pot.  I like on top of the dishwasher as to being close to the sink for filling, but I like it to be the ONLY thing maybe on the counter under the pass-through.  Basically, I would like being able to grab a cup of coffee through the living room thing closer to where my desk is going to be.  It might stand out there, but it would relay how important the coffee pot really is AND the cups would be right on top of that.  We’d also keep the coffee and filters there.  Rich decided that our garbage will be right between the dishwasher and the sliding glass.  Fine fine … works for me.  He wants to go back to using the tall kitchen garbage that has been stored in a back closet.  Good good.

The closet that turns out to be in the bathroom between the stool and across from the bath is going to be plenty good for the towels, AND probably the sheets and such.  Maybe we could use some of the area under the corner cabinet where the “papers” are going to be for things like table cloths and place mats.  I’m pretty sure that Rich’s mom is going to want some kind of table mat thing happening.  Not our style, but we’d aim to please there, especially with the washing machine right next to that location.  Under the drawers by the pass-through, Rich wants dry goods … Did I say that already?  Maybe?

I just want everything to have a place.  Oh man oh man…. It’s only 2 pm and we’ve filled the 20^th page of a word document.  It reminds me of back in the days I’d write from morning to 5 pm and cover 30 pages.  Yup … you could consider me/us long winded.

Ok, we were going to lead to another section of the house not defined.  I think we have room in the master bathroom by the drawers under the sink or built-ins across from that to put our products that are traditionally in the hall linen closet … like spare toiletries or first aid, hot pads and such.  The cleaning that is in there will be fine in the mudroom closet.  AND, we were thinking now that there will be enough room in Rich’s office closet floor for the boxes of extra paperwork, so that the upper shelves would be a good place for the extra small leather bags and small suitcases we have.  The bottom would have enough room for the biggest suitcases too.  AND, the desk was cleaned out enough to be able to fit in our desk, plus we will have one of the two drawer horizontal filing cabinets for current paper work in the living room.  It did a lot of good to clean all that out.  Rich is going to take the second filing cabinet and throw it out with the bad two drawers so that we can make one good file cabinet out of the two pieces.  That will be for putting ready stock paper, envelops, printer, and scanner. 

I’m thinking the Christmas tree/stuff and the folding chairs will be out in the garage with the folding chairs, with the exception that if the bulbs are too fragile, they might also go in Rich’s storage closet.   There is one wall W/O garbages that is particularly long in the garage and is the one I see the extra books going into.  I would still like Rich to build-in some kind of secure rope something to hold the rows of books so they don’t fall down and become dangerous.  It really was a nice size garage.  Rich fit his vehicle in easily to one side and he had like 4-5 feet in back of it between the SUV and garage door.  He still has to put up my thing hanging from the ceiling to show me where I have to park – so it bumps my windshield when I drive in.  Just don’t have a good concept of depth and don’t want to land the garage door on the back of my car.  It’s really amazing in that there is still room in the garage for a workbench for Rich.  He still has to evaluate the south and west walls for shelving for his fishing gear and lawn things.  That’s TOTALLY his department!  Blah!  His old garage was a mess after many years.  I’m hoping now without extra junk and kids’ stuff he’ll find plenty of room for all his needs.

Hmm, got a little worried about 20 pages so we FINALLY backed ourselves up. 

Rich and us almost forgot, but there was one dead corner in the living room, and then we remembered that it was going to get an 2 shelves – L-shaped set of bookcases for the encyclopedia and school books.  I LOVE it … I sure do hope the living room is as great as all the other rooms.  We’ve really got a lot of stuff and found not much problem in filling a four bedroom home, hmm?  LOL

Did I remember the part that Rich wants the extra fridge in the garage?  NOOOOO not happening!  I COULD see it going in the sun room though.  Ok, ok … we’ll think man rules.  BUT, we’re figuring with all those smokers we’re going to need filling up a bar in the sunroom, yah know?  Rich is not agreeing also up front, but there seems to be some small concession of a ping-pong table going in the garage rather than the sunroom.  Looking out the sunroom from the comfort of the love seat we’re thinking yes it be better not to obstruct the view.  And, it would be a lot of fun rolling out the table and playing outside on the driveway, you think?  I’m thinking I could go for it, especially if it meant getting the table.  I’m thinking there would be enough room for it in front of my car OR, between the books and work table.  Just really excited about it!

As to the sunroom itself.  So far what we are seeing is the balancing of chairs.  We’re seeing the two seater, the rocking chair, and then across from that a table set … MAYBE outdoor furniture.  Rich’s mother is between her wheel chair or the white plastic pre-formed chairs.  Personally, they are too small for me and we’re more likely to stay to the two seater, but I could see a table with a couple plastic chairs out there in the far outside corner.  That’s the corner – double ventilation that Rich want to put the smokers, and it would give them a place for their ashtrays.  Perhaps with a fan blowing at them and out through the window.  It be good for Rich’s mother to be getting that far toward the outside.  I’d like something more comfortable, but I could see Rich’s mom looking at the cheaper stuff out of habit.  SHE THOUGH too complains about sore rear ends, AND how she’s going to stay in a wheel chair over at our place.

Hmm, this is the set I liked, but without the umbrella … for the Table w/lazy Susan and five chairs, it is selling for $400 at Walmart.  Seems good to me, though looking at the space, I would wonder if the rocking chair would have to go to the garage – so might be too much.  I like a table of five … would allow a dinner outside or room for UP to five smokers!  Think that almost takes care of all of Rich’s family.  The chairs looks sturdy/steel, have a nice fabric weather-resistant cushion and the safety glass table works.  I really like the round feature of the table for gathering people in a comfy setting.  It would also work for someone’s FIVE grandchildren!  It is a 4 ½ foot table and the chairs would each need 3 feet … so across that would be like 10-11 feet. 

This is the space it would have to fit.

I’m thinking to rockers in the back in this picture – that’s got to be at least 11 feet across.  The one on the right in the corner is the one they left … so maybe without that there would enough room … I’m thinking that the two-seater could come down this way further, or maybe even be pulled back at an angle.  I would really have to ask Rich what he would think.  I’d be willing to go on his best guess.  There would be extra room for extra chairs past that?  Really not sure … think things are being crowded, but it depends on the need for a big table like this or a small bistro table.  Rich was talking to about putting one of the old kitchen chairs in each bedroom to sit down and put socks and shoes on.  I would rather put a good kitchen chair, but realize Rich doesn’t want the wheels – more something solid.  Just the other would be more comfortable.  Whichever two don’t go to the bedrooms would go here.  Thinking again the fifth chair of the bar set would go three in toward the kitchen one in the kitchen, and then one in the corner between pass-through and bedroom.  That still works.  I like the kitchen chairs still in the sunroom so it would be close to the kitchen if needed. 

If there were enough room, it be fun to have the old rocker in the garage so I could sit out there with Rich, not sure he’s got an allowance for space.  We might need to get a snow blower though Rich says he could do without.  Just I could snowblow, but could not shovel.  We’ll see … winter will be over about that time.  As to a tally though with table, five chairs, 2 seater couch (Rich and me) and Two kitchen chairs that would be seating for 9 people – PLENTY – like if Maury and his family came over and we were in the sunroom.  That would leave four chairs for the kitchen table, five barstools for the pass-through, one chair in each two bedrooms, Rich and our work chairs in the sewing room and office, plus my desk chair, plus two recliners AND two barstools by the treadle and four barstools for mini-tables.  Hmm, better include here seating for an additional 7 more people on the two couches and Rich’s chair … How many?  We could fill-up our whole house with a chair for everyone with a total of ta-da … 34 people!  OH MAN OH MAN … We’re REALLY sure we will never have that many, but for sure we could invite Rich’s whole family out!  That be so cool … Just the damn cigarette problem *grumpf*

Ok, that was really a trip!  We didn’t count either the 10 folding chairs.  Man-o-man … maybe 44 chairs was a little exuberant? *giggle*

We might then be able to even invite all Bud’s kids over along with Mark’s family.  CERTAINLY there would be enough chairs to invite our sewing sisters, OR neighbors.  I might go to my grave thinking what the hell did we get into with all these chairs?  AND, why were we blessed with 9 chairs from the old homeowners?  I think that’s where we really went astray!  Maybe we’ll be able to talk ourselves out of the patio furniture, just thinking that’s something Rich wanted.  *sigh*  We’ll see … have plenty more for him to go through with us J

I HOPE his day is going well enough.  It’s very long.  It’s already 3:30 PM and he’s not home.  That’s busting the 6 hour theory.

That’s another thing too about the table.  Rich and us would be able to add the poker setting above this table, hmm maybe too short for an 84” over poker table that be like 28” a section of three … mean that the middle 28” would be supported … not good … I think we’d be better-off with our 54” table and getting an octagon or round table – perhaps

Ok getting here.  This one is about $110 – 52” for eight players which would then fit pretty good on a 54” round table without too much bumping problems.  That would make sense then for getting the patio set … we’d just have to pull the two-seater couch out of the way?  Not sure … gotta check one thing … hmm, our kitchen table without it’s middle section – made round is 42”  so it be 5” too big on either side – the table top.  AND if you left it in it still be too wide, and not long enough for the extended table.

But, then there is another option.  We could do with smaller tables – a couple and then get a folding poker table for about $160 (Amazon Brybelly).  The table is a 10 seater, but only 42” wide – though 7 feet long (84”).  I like the price and that you could get rid of the table if not in play … like why do we always need a big table in the sun room, when most often it is going to be just Rich and us.  It kind of depends – for regular people coming over is there less than five that can come over to eat in the sunroom, or do they need to lean on a table, or can they sit back in a chair?

Eh … didn’t copy over … maybe we can let go of the lawn furniture and only worry about what we got … two-seater couch, one rocker, two kitchen chairs, and all the folding chairs you can ask for with the four stool simple movable mini-tables.  THEN, we’d only need to get the one folding leg poker table, and at Christmas and New years we can clear out space in the living room and play there.  AHA!  I like it!  Simple, clean and efficient.  I really don’t want to clutter the sunroom unnecessarily unless we needed to pull stuff out for parties or get togethers.  I’m pretty good with that now AND cost … $160!  It’s boggling!  We just got too many chairs to buy more lawn furniture.

AHA!  It’s 4 PM now and Rich came home.  He had a hard day and said he was going to have to do business stuff all night to arrange the changes needed by everyone.  He’s not sure if its going to work, because the customer and the workshop are pulling all the loose ends in different directions.  He seems tired and hungry.  He’s doing something with hamburger already.  Eh, we can go for that.  It’s really been a long day on the computer.  We’re still bothered by just one more little space.  As to the little drawers in the Bathroom, I’d just as easily take out their pull-out bottoms, because they rub and grind and are ugly and would tip anything put on them.  The other thing was that in back of the pass-through on the LR side there is a small china cabinet … more the size for curio’s and under that there are two cabinets – not remember if they were drawers or doors.  Maybe doors I think, but I’m not sure what to put behind the glass doors.  There is a light in there and in the two china cabinets in the kitchen that are all out.  Most likely burnt out bulbs.  It seems the right size for cups and saucers, but I’m not sure, I don’t have anything like that.  I think CS does, but I wouldn’t upset her collection. 

Maybe what I could do is put in there my Grandmothers coffee cups.  They are all matching, but would look pretty and there are quite a few of them.  It’s silly space really, but a space people coming in the first time might notice.  The only other thing I could think of putting in there is the little animals Rich gave me that are on my desk hutch now.  Hmm, maybe blending odd with even, we could put the glasses AND the little animals in.  there are like 8-10 animals … we could have them playing in there, and then it would be both fun AND nice.  I think that’s the idea!  Maybe we’d put other plates in there too, but that would leave the other cabinets for serving bowls, plates, platters and bowls.  We’re not sure where the creamers would go. 

The one other idea would be to ask CS for the white and red Crystal juice glasses that I gave her.  I think she has too many, but maybe she’s found a place for them already.  I wouldn’t take back anything that she’s attached to.  Maybe then we’ll stick with the coffee cups and saucers – I like them!  Ok, good good … feeling fine!  It kind of combines living room with kitchen, but only sorta.

I’m remembering sort of what we’ve been talking about all day, but so much has gone through our minds and we’ve then put it back on you.  Please forgive us for all this.  Just with a new house there is always so much to think about.

I’d like to think that everything has found a nice place in the new house to be.  I can’t think of a corner not yet touched today.  Hmm, maybe one corner.  Rich’s mother noticed the bar when she sat down in the sitting room.  Ok, go figure.  But there’s been talk about filling up a bar – or maybe just having what his mother drinks.  We’ve got plenty of glasses to go over the bar, but we still need an ice cube bucket which wouldn’t be hard to find.  I could see a couple other bottles under the sink area like the Margarita and I would like some vodka and maybe rum.  Rich’s mother gets the whisky.  I would also then like to have Bloody Mary mix and a couple frozen orange juices for the possibilities of screwdrivers … that used to be a favorite of mine.  Then added to that just a couple of bottles of wine.  There, that sounds good, right?  We’re still thinking the beer and pop goes in the fridge in the sun room.  Rich’s brother is a big beer drinker and might need a whole shelf!  Usually Rich and I keep diet coke, zero coke and diet sprite, but to be fair there should be regular coke in there too for our kids.  None of them needs a diet.  The case of water we keep on hand usually is in the fridge.  Hmm, remembering having wine coolers too and hard lemonades!  Ok, ok … obviously we could do fine in the mini-bar area.  It’s really cool to have water over there to mix with Rich’s mother’s drinks.  Fun, right?  Who would ever know we needed a bar and was excited to get one!

Rich is making hamburgers and fries tonight and he says he has to go to the store for bread.  He hasn’t been in a while and the old bread was allll green!  That’s no good, but reminds me we haven’t found a place for the wicker/bread thing.  It also holds the rice cakes.  It’s something that I would like to see put away, but Rich likes it out.  BLAH!  Where does that go?

Hmm, maybe we could put the microwave and toaster over on the pass-through corner, AND we could put the bread/rice cakes/bananas inside behind the couple two three bars, and then we could have the convection oven and the blender on the other corner – with the blender nearest the sink, and then the coffee behind the bars on the other side.  What other appliances do we need on top?  Rich likes to leave the popcorn popper on top behind the stove, but we’re against that … we want it in one of those big cabinets under the microwave.  Then he has the sider counter where the microwave is for popping if he pulls it out.  Things go under there too on either side like the waffle maker, the crockpot and the wok.  I’m not really sure what else.  I know that he has some plastic and we’re not crazy about that.  Maybe he can only keep enough of that to go on top of the fridge/freezer.  Theoretically we still have our drink mix too from Herbalife, but I don’t want that on top of the fridge as the first thing people see.  I think that is going to go with the dry goods under the pass-through. I think we might have to put stuff under there too like the seasonings?  Hmm, that should be by the area he is cooking? 

Think there are five cupboards like tere are five drawers.  The first for coffee cups (coffee and filters – up or down), then glassware, then small and medium bowls, and small and medium plates, and THEN the last one over my can be for the things like seasonings and extracts and baking powder.  Hmm, baking supplies like flour and sugar … forgot about them as well, as hot chocolate, tea, nuts it will have to share space under the pass through in the lower cabinets.  That means especially that we’re going to want to find containers for the flours and sugars and nuts, and such.  We’re still not convinced that we aren’t going to have a mouse problem.  Maybe we could start saving special coffee containers for some of that kind of stuff?  Not sure.  I’ve gone through it before where EVERYTHING was put in plastic containers.  I finally through all of it when I was convinced and have stayed convinced we didn’t need all of that. 

I think that is something we will have to talk to Rich about.  Maybe it’s a matter of going to garage sales for that too?  Shoot, what was it that we were also going to get?  Ohhh, I know picture frames.  Might be a good idea, or to look at Craigs list or eBay.  We will again have to talk to them on that.  We should have five cabinets under the counter so we’re thinking we’ll be ok, right?  Lots of room, just want to make sure it stays clean!

Rich is back from the store.  He left for some of that bread, remember?  He did for the sake of argument come out and say he could make the bread for hamburgers.  And, we looked at him steady and said, how long?  He said about an hour … Just shook our head then and said … go to the store please.  It’s really for him in that we take our hamburger without bread unless it’s some kind of special hard bun, but we’re thinking that’s not the way he went.  Nope … he didn’t get good bread.  Just told him we don’t want any for sure!  Then he was in the cabinet looking at all the soups.  There are about 8-10 cans in there, but none of them are cream soups like the potpie soup we had for lunch (no lunch meat or cheese in the house).  He said why did you eat all the soup.  I said I just had the two cream soups, because we keep telling you that’s all we want to have.  It could be inferred that HE eat all those other soups he buys and I don’t want.  Shoot shoot, how did we find crabby in here?  Maybe it’s going to be time to cut ourselves off.  I don’t want the crabby in our writing.  It seems we’ve done fine all day without it, but I didn’t think I’d get grouched on for eating the soup I’d asked for.  I feel bad in that he seems to have wanted it too.  He said that it was more calories, but it was like well that goes two ways.  BLAH!!!

He’s talking to his Mother now … I think she’s hungry … she wants vegetable soup, but she likes to forget Bud doesn’t like it so it makes them grouchy at each other.  Maybe Rich will be understanding of me too then!  I think we’re really FINALLY going to get ready to move on.  There is still going to be a need for re-reading everything written, and soon Rich will be in here wanting to use the TV.  We have had music on all day.  We turned that off to prepare for not hearing it … harder to prepare for noisy TV … It NEVER mixes with writing.  He has told his mother that we will be over at the house for a couple of hours and then he’d come over and help her with the bills.  Maybe that is my out to say I can stay at the house all by myself.  I would LOVE THAT!  WooHOO!!!

Hmm, the microwave is sounding really sick.  I hope it doesn’t break before Rich will need to buy another.  We were supposed to get a microwave in the move, but I think the people forgot or disregarded it and it wasn’t a big deal to fight for.  Just let it go. 

AHA!  We got a letter from Emily!  She congratulated us on the house.  That brought another smile.  Maybe for a few moments though we should think through what’s going to happen then tomorrow.  I’m thinking PJ’s now in the dresser, remember that plan?  ANYWAY.  It doesn’t make sense to do the clean clothes tomorrow when we’re going to need a dresser for them on the other end.  We can simply box them for the movers and that’s fine, but I was trying to think toward being over at the house.  We KNOW we’re going to want to bring a couple of loads of dirty laundry.  I think 2-3 would be fine and that would most likely clean us out!  Sweet.  Rich said something about bringing over my china and now that I have a plan – that would be a good idea.  We also told him we’d need some cleaning supplies, so maybe we will gather that tomorrow.  Since we are working in the kitchen I can use the sink instead of a bucket, and we can bring the electric broom we’re not using now – and temporarily the Swiffer to see how that is going to work.  We’re going to need some rags/dishcloths – about the same thing there.  Kitchen washcloths and hand towels are some of the quick things I put on Rich’s list.  I’m more used to a washcloth then a sponge thing. 

AHA - A little break.  Linda is running through … she’s on messages, but has said hello and goodbye in about the same sentence, and Rich says about 10 minutes to dinner, maybe less.  She’s been busy all day and that will continue tonight because she’s grandchild and friend’s cat sitting. Her Granddaughter only over night, but the cat for eleven days WOW!  Nice friend!

Back then to tomorrow?  Ok, we can do wash, then dry and fold, and then china in-between.  I’m not sure if that is going to take the full time, but maybe then we could pack as well a duster.  We saw some places yesterday where there were little cobwebs or dust.  Thinking that’s a great idea, and then the rest of the time we can stare into the fire!

Hmm, Linda seems to have disappeared, and CS stopped by online.  I think she’s feeling far away, but nothing to do, but suggest she come down.  Can’t do more than that.  I am just thinking though we’d like her here after we put things in place, then before.  I’d rather do most things on my own and have her down to just sew.  Nikki has volunteered to help and even Brandy.  I might take both of them up on it if they are available at the right time (before I just do things), but we’re really going to need help more than anything in putting together the sewing room and fabrics.  I know CS would probably like to help there most though … Hmm, not sure I know what to do.  We’ll see how serious CS is.  We would maybe have her come down with us after the sewing group the weekend after we move – and then look toward Mark or me bringing her back home.  It would depend on a lot of things like her appointments.  Hmm, it’s the beginning of a plan.  I have to admit that after we get past all our other neurosis it be fun having her down for a few days to do the sewing room.  I know she’d be a big help and she’d find it very welcoming to be in touch with what’s going on down here in my sewing world.  I would have to check it out with her AND Rich, but there certainly is a beauty in having a good spare bed, bedroom and bathroom, AND even that soon, it will all be ready!

Ok, gotta REALLY go Rich has brought in dinner, CS was writing and hinting for a visit so we’re taking her up on it and Rich would have to adjust if she said yes.  We wrote…

Ann Ludford Garvey SLOOWWW down girl ... we're just talking about maybe getting gas in your car. We haven't talked to Rich yet, but was thinking for a few moments. He's going to want everything put together first, but we're thinking it be nice to have you help with the sewing room and "fabric closet." Yup we got a fabric closet and I got it all planned out! I know where I want everything and everything seems to have a place. The sewing room doesn't have a closet, but the guest room has a DOUBLE closet. One thought was to maybe save your gas, and then you just come home with us after the Saturday sewing on March 30th. Then either Rich and me, or me, or Uncle Marky could transport you back. I think the whole thing could e done in a couple of days. Would LOVE to have you down - and for uncle Marky to stop for dinner too IF time allowed and everyone was agreeable. It's been a progression of thoughts in having you or anyone help, but giving thoughts ALL day long toward placement of everything. We're thinking it be the right thing to discuss. We've got to go ... Rich has served dinner, but let me know your first thoughts.

Stranger things have happened, Ok … chow!

Ok, we’re back, but just for a few moments.  We had dinner.  CS didn’t respond, but Rich and I ate – with him watching TV, and then we interrupted his thoughts after eating when we tried to talk to him.  I asked him what he’d planned for Sunday.  He said he has made no plans.  So, then we said we just heard that we were going with him for a few hours to the new house, and then he would going over to help her with the bills.  We were like that sounded to me like I could be in the new house for 3-4 hours.  And, he said he wanted me to come over with him to his Mom’s and we were like to listen to you both arguing about bills?  Then more stuff and basically, he came to the conclusion that he didn’t want me driving there by ourselves and that he thought we would continue to do things as a couple, but by now we’re upset, because we’re thinking we are being turned into a 50’s couple where the woman has no free will.  I asked him what do you think we are going to do at the new house, and he said he had to bring fishing gear there because he was going to gather it at the house.  And we said fine, we want to do 2-3 loads of wash and put the China away, but then he said he was going to fill the car with his stuff, and so I was like – what were you planning I do?  BESIDES, obviously he wanted me to go to his mothers.  I had waited today for him, but now he was not giving me the opportunity to do work there I wanted to do, and then he went into the part of how I should have helped him by cleaning the house and we said we helped in other ways, because we’d be planning all day, but we didn’t tell him that, because I figured by now he’d be upset if he knew we were planning all on our own.  It’s becoming though like I just take care of what HE wants, but by then I had given him a headache and he didn’t want to talk except he told me what a bad couple of days and that he’d just bought a house … and we were like WE BOTH just bought a house, did it surprise him that we might be working on the move in our own way? 

Basically, then we just let him turn on the TV again, and we took some more stress medicine.  Fine if he needs quiet time, just my mind is still busy!  We really meant it though when we said we don’t want to share all our grouchiness.  Better I chill out.  We’re going to post, and then read back over our work in the other room.  Sometimes people need space!  I didn’t expect I wouldn’t be allowed to drive to my own house L *grumbly* On TV people are yelling and screaming and crying and gun shots are being fired.  I refuse to believe I’m the one causing stress!

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