BEFORE AND AFTER - ALL GROWN UP

Oh, my goodness. A lot of time has passed again since my last post. Easter has come and gone, and now we are almost one week into April. The last two weeks of this month I will be busy with four appointments at doctors and clinics, two of them in Sioux Falls.

I finally decided on an orthopedic surgeon and made the appointment for a consultation about knee replacement. I hate to think of more surgery but the last couple of weeks have been torture trying to get around so it must be done sooner than later.

 Before

This little fat cheeks is my granddaughter.

After

She just celebrated her 23rd birthday March 28.

They grow up way too fast!

BRIGHTEN MY CORNERS - 2nd UFO

I had planned two curtain projects months ago. I showed the first one yesterday. Here is the second:

BEFORE

This is the small bookcase beside my chair. My phone is on top so all the regional phone books have to be there, plus a dictionary, Bible, photo albums and some books that are still unread. Again, this is eye sensory overload and cluttered to me, so another curtain is desired.

Much better. I still don't know how to clear the clutter from the top since those are things I use daily in that area, and I must have things convenient. So I guess I will have to live with it. I made this curtain the same as the other one, and used a tension curtain rod to hold it. When I first planned this I was going to use one of those curtain springs that are usually used to hold the bottom of a curtain at a door window, mainly because I have one on hand. But when I got ready to work on it, I realized it would be impossible to use a hammer to get the hooks attached to the inside wall, and I did not want them on the outside. I LOVE tension rods! And everything is temporary and easy to remove.

There are the two UFO's that are finished! Now, where is my project list??

BRIGHTEN MY CORNERS and UFO'S

Another "FINALLY!" happened around here during the holidays. The reason for UFO in the title is that this is an Un-Finished Object or project.I finally took the time to make the curtain for table in the kitchen. I never quite know what to call this table. It could be a sofa table - one that resides behind a sofa, as it is narrow and long. It could be a credenza, a hall table, and maybe there are other names and uses.

I like where I have it now, in front of the pony wall in the kitchen. But I don't like the clutter that is ever-present under it.

 BEFORE

Actually, this picture is a cleaned up version. Usually there are several Bible study books, large pencil bag full of colored pencils and highlighters, many more empty shopping bags (that is what is in the otherwise empty tissue box), another full tissue box, plus whatever I need to have handy and have nothing else close where I can stash it. The mesh container on the left is where the recycles go until I can take them outside. The wicker chest is there because I can't find another place to put it, and it holds the bedding for the hide-a-bed you see in the left background. Not only does this spot always look messy, but it is eye sensory overload for me. And it is the first thing people see when they walk in.

So one day I was thinking about what I could do to hide it all, and then remembered one of the HGTV shows, it might have been Designed to Sell, or something similar, where they showed hanging a straight curtain over a tall bookcase to hide the little kid's toys when the house was to be shown to a perspective buyer. AH-HA!!

Then I had to decide what fabric to use, and then remembered I had a lot of fabric left from the kitchen curtain valance I had made for the previous house. And since I am able to use that same valance in this house, it would all be coordinated. So that is frugal since I didn't have to go out and buy more fabric.

I am embarrassed to say that I came up with this months ago and just never got around to working on it, until now. My procrastination at work again.

AFTER

I didn't want it gathered like a window curtain, but just a flat panel. Then the question - how to hang it. I used a tension curtain rod. Works well, don't you think? It doesn't look so flat in this picture for some reason. It is easy to lift up or push aside when I want to access what is behind the curtain. And I can change it when I get tired of this. If I can find a dark brown to exactly match the paint, would it look more like a solid piece of furniture? Maybe. But for now, the clutter of essential things is hidden.

When making the curtain I doubled the hem and the side hems to give them a little added weight for stability.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW - update

Recently I wrote about the neighbor having some trees cut down, which looked like this ~

                                 

Things have been busy over there the last couple of days, and this morning it looks like this ~

It may be a little hard to tell since you aren't familiar with the house and yard, but 6 loads of black dirt was hauled in yesterday. I wish I had taken pictures of that. There were long rows of piled dirt from the front sidewalk to beyond the back end of house, plus along the driveway in front.

The neighbor attached 3 window wells - the brown patches on the black foundation. You can see those windows in the earlier picture. The previous owner had leveled the front lawn, and then there was a big dip down at the corner in the left side of the picture which is hard to see here. It was impossible to mow and ended up being weeds more than grass. Now that is all filled in and the side yard is raised to about level with the tops of those windows. He still has two piles of dirt to take care of.

My yard is the green grass and goes as far as the dirt. Actually some of that dirt is on my yard. If I owned it I would say something about it. I am sure the neighbor will take care of it by the time he is done, but the lawn boy had a bit of a problem mowing yesterday.

You can see my huge maple tree in the bottom picture, but you can't see how far out the branches extend - over my house and my garage, and over the neighbor's yard. The tree he took down was the same kind, but not as many trunks. Mine actually looks like it was 4 trees that grew too close together.

And right now it is raining. Thank goodness it is a very light rain or that dirt could be washing out and down to the back yard. The birds are sure enjoying looking for bugs and worms in that fresh dirt. I have even seen a couple of birds that I have not seen before, nor identified, as they were here and gone so quickly.

That was my 'entertainment' yesterday.

Before and After - tables

This is the old, falling apart, piano bench that I am replacing. When my grandkids pretty much demolished the bench when goofing off around the piano, it became a place to display some plants under the window. Now, the bench was about on its last legs before the grandkids came so it wasn't totally their fault.

One day not long ago, I happened to be looking over the Target ad online and a small table caught my eye. When I checked the measurements I found that it was almost exactly the same size as the bench only taller. Price wasn't too bad, but I wasn't quite ready to spend the money. Later it was on sale, plus free shipping, plus an extra 15% off, and I ordered it via Ebates to get another 2.5% off! I thought that was probably the best I was going to do price wise, so it was ordered.

I had a little assembly to do but that was just screwing in some short bolts to attach the metal legs. Easy peasy.

Here is the result:

I am very happy with it. There are also 2 drawers to fill. They are still empty as I have not figured out what will go in them. I probably should get some nice coasters for the rare occasions I might have company that wants to set a drink there.

Now, if you come to my blog expecting some beautiful house and furniture, I am sure you are disappointed.  Things aren't the way I would like them to be, but it is the best I can do with what I have and what I can afford, plus my limited energy and ability to move around, not to mention that I am renting and am limited as to what I am allowed to do.

The walls look light blue in the picture, but they are white - every room has white walls. I hate white walls! I would love to paint the living room a light coffee latte, but I am not sure that color would work with the tan carpet which is more like a rose beige. Not my favorite.

I enjoy other blogs that show all the neat decorating they have done, but that isn't happening here except in my dreams. I barely have any surfaces to put even my old displays out that I loved. I would like to get some new accessories but am not sure what I can find that I like plus afford, will work in like I want it to. Some people have a real knack for that and I would love to have them come to my house and arrange things! But first, I think I need to keep working at decluttering and that has come to a standstill right now. One of these days. . . . . .

'Tis Home Sweet Home - Dish Cupboard Decluttering

BEFORE

This is my small dish cupboard in the kitchen. I got tired of reaching to the top shelf every morning to get my coffee mug. I am 5'8" but it is still a stretch for me and even more of a stretch to reach the ones toward the back. So with my current decluttering mode, I took a look at this cupboard as I knew there were a few things I never use in there, and some that I just needed to stop using. And I need things convenient to me in order to use them at all. One day I was mulling it over in my mind as to what I could do with this, and it finally dawned on me. Move those coffee mugs to the bottom shelf! I rarely use the fragile drinking glasses so why are they the handiest? A major shift was in order.

AFTER

I see I didn't get a very good picture since I cut off half the right side, but this gives you an idea of how I changed things. Now the coffee mugs are closest to the sink. My morning coffee is a mug of water heated in the microwave and then flavored instant coffee powder added to the hot water. Fast and easy and oh - so - good!

The Christmas mugs are still on the top shelf since they are seasonal and not used every day. I wish I had enough room to have the luncheon plates in a separate space from the dinner plates, but I haven't found that space yet. Maybe some day.

This is what has been removed from that cupboard and will be donated. I never use the small juice glasses so why should they take up precious space? Does anyone use juice glasses anymore? The yellow glasses are cheap plastic. The white mug in front of them is a Care Bears plastic mug. Maybe they are worth something to collectors today, so someone will get a lucky find. The two mugs that are dark green outside and white inside are free ones that came with a Gevalia coffee maker my kids gave to me several years ago. They have gold on them so can't be used in the microwave, so I never use them. Then there are two clear plastic glasses, and behind them is a water bottle minus its lid. I think that might be in a drawer so need to check that out before it is donated. The dark cup is a single that I got on clearance once, thinking I would use it at the sink for quick drinks of water or to take pills instead of the ugly plastic one I have used for a long time. But this mug shows all the water spots from our hard water and I really didn't like to use it either. The three blue cups are Melamine that we had in our camper trailer. For some reason I thought I had to keep them when the trailer was sold. Don't need them. The mug in front with the picture on is a souvenir mug that was given to my husband by his daughter when they went to Washington DC. It means nothing to me, and it now has a small chip on the edge. Out it goes. And the three cups on the right are plastic travel cups from a quick stop. My husband always had to have a cup of coffee on the road so they were used a lot. I even like drinking out of them, but they are so ugly with half the printing worn off, and I don't need them. I love my large capacity green mugs from the dollar store, and I have 8 of them, so that is enough for company, and enough for me to use between dish washings. All those things are now packed in a box and ready to take to the thrift store.

These are ice cube trays that make long, skinny 'cubes' to put in water bottles. I used them when I was still going to Curves and took water along to exercise sessions. I don't go there anymore, and so don't need these. I did use them this summer for extra ice cubes, but they did not come out very well and were more of a nuisance. So I found some regular cube trays and these are going out. They were not in the dish cupboard, but are part of my general decluttering.

'Tis Home Sweet Home - Pantry Reorganizing - again

It is hard for me to believe, but it has been over a year ago that I talked here about cleaning out and organizing my pantry! Well, I was at it again recently. 

Above is what it looked like when I was in the process of organizing 15 months ago. That wide board is the front half of the middle shelf. I had also removed the front half of the top shelf. That makes it so much easier to find things on the shelves below.

The above picture is what it looked like a week later, after I had gone shopping and stocked up on a whole lot of great sales. Not too bad considering what I have to work with. I am in no way an expert at organizing, especially in getting it to look really neat. I just have too much stuff that has to go into a small space. I would like to stock up even more when there are good sales, but there just isn't room -- yet.

This picture shows you what it looks like today, after I put in the can storage racks and got the canned goods neater and able to find what I need, and what I am low on. I could use a couple more racks but there is no more room. I have one-of-a-kind cans there that do not need a place in a rack. At least now I am able to see what I have. I wanted to eliminate the front plank of that shelf, but there is just too much there to be able to do that. I am happy with the way it is for now.

I think you all know that it takes constant effort to keep pantries in shape. Since I am a low energy person, whenever I go grocery shopping, I am just lucky to get it all in the house. It might take me another day to get around to putting it all away, and sometimes don't have the time to do it right, so it just gets put in anywhere I can find a space. I do hope that I will do better at it now that the racks are in place. It is so much nicer when I want to cook and I can find what I need right away instead of having to move can after can before finding it.

This 'n' That - Decluttering Paper

DECLUTTERING PAPER

After I decluttered several magazines and catalogs, I had copies of Consumer Digest and a few Discipleship Journal magazines that I am keeping and needed to find room to store them out of sight, but still handy for referencing. So I then needed to make some room in a drawer of the filing cabinet. The most logical (so far) was the drawer where all the income tax files are. I still had every year of income tax papers from all the years since my husband Les and I were married, and that is almost 24 years ago! Time to get rid of all but the last 10 years. I can probably go even further and save only the last 5-7 years, but will go with 10 for now. It sort of gives me the heebee-jeebees to get rid of them, for fear that I will need them in the future (but never have so far).

Here is the stack I worked on.

And here is were that stack went:

And this is what I ended up with:

Two garbage bags full of shredded paper and enough room in the file drawer for those magazines. (maybe a picture of that drawer will be forthcoming after I have finished decluttering and organizing it, but I am not there yet.)

Today, as I write this, the garbage has been picked up by the city. I first dumped used cat litter in each bag, plus added all the other garbage for the week, dividing it all up between the two bags. I have read that it is a good idea to use the cat litter when disposing of personal information as well as old drugs, as that deters anyone from rummaging through the bags to dig them out. Never flush old drugs down the toilet as they then get into the city water treatment plant (or septic tank) and contaminates everything. Actually, the best way to dispose of old drugs is to take them to your pharmacy and they can dispose of them properly. 

Do you wonder what papers you need to keep and which ones you can toss? I can't always remember so have a list that I got from FlyLady. I know some of you are familiar with her. If not, check her out at flylady.net. She has a very good program for keeping house.

Here is her basic list of what to keep and for how long.

_________________________________________________________________

RECORD RETENTION

KEEP:

birth certificates

adoption papers

custody agreements

death certificates

deeds to property

divoce papers

list of previous employers

loans that have been paid off (canceled notes or other evidence)

marriage certificates

passports

photographic or video record of house and household contents

record of any governmental employment (e.g., armed forces)

income tax returns (supporting documentation may be destroyed after 6 years)

tax forms and supporting records relating to non-deductible IRA contributions

tax forms and supporting records relating to sale of a home

KEEP FOR AWHILE:

bank statements: 6 years

brokers' confirmation slips for purchases until security is sold

canceled checks: 6 years

contracts: 7 years after expiration

credit card statments: 6 years

receipts for home improvements that can be added to tax basis of home

6 years after home is sold in a transaction that is not a "rollover" transaction

insurance papers (all types of insurance): 4 years after expiration

mortgage records: 3 years after paid off

owners' manuals for appliances: until item is discarded

receipts for major warranted purchases: until item is discarded or sold

records supporting income tax returns and deductions (W-2s, 1099s, receipts): 6 years

warranties and extended service agreements: until expiration

THROW AWAY (shred):

owners' manual and warranties for appliances and cars you no longer own

receipts for credit card purchases if not major or related to a tax deduction

_________________________________________________________________

I might also mention that most of the things on the 'KEEP' list should be kept in a bank deposit box, including house inventory.

The IRS website does offer a different length of time on tax papers so you may want to check there for more information. The above list is a good guideline to begin with.

Have I done everything on the list? I have to admit that I have not. But I need to. There goes my procrastination gene again. Maybe some day. . . . .

This 'n' That - More decluttering

MORE DECLUTTERING

Before

After

 

 I showed you the 'before' picture in  this post . Now you see the hutch after doing some decluttering. Below is part of what I removed.

There was also a large stack of white dish towels and a small white platter that I gave my daughter. I think there were a couple other things she took too. I also took out some large coffee mugs that were put in another cupboard. Below is how it looks today. I am sorry I didn't get a 'before' picture of this part.

On the left is what I kept of the embroidered white flour sack dish towels (my favorite to dry with). In the middle are a few terry type kitchen towels that I use to cover bread dough as it rises, or the baked bread to help soften the crusts a bit while it cools. On top of those are what is left of my dish cloths. I transferred a couple of ratty ones to the rag box. I have a couple that I knitted that I have held back for gifts but I think I need to 'gift' them to myself! On the right side are kitchen towels with crocheted tops to hang on cupboard handles that a friend gave me, and some of my microfiber cloths.

Bottom shelf - small plastic serving plate, divided pickle dish and a covered candy dish on the left, a matched crystal sugar and creamer set (could as well get rid of that as no one uses them anymore), and then a stack of serving bowls, one wicker bread basket, and two salsa bowls. Those larger bowls are only used when my kids are here and we have a large meal, which is maybe twice a year. 

On the right side are some jar candles and an empty beer bottle. Why do I have an empty beer bottle? I use that when I make an angel food cake. I turn the cake pan upside down and put the center hole over the bottle to hold it up while the cake cools. It has been my experience that every time I make an angel food it rises higher than the little legs around the top of the pan, so when the pan is turned upside down, the cake ends up touching the counter and that is not a good way to cool it. Years ago I used an empty pop bottle but most are plastic now. (I don't drink beer - can't stand it)

The last picture is of some more books and magazines I have culled out, along with my wristwatch that no longer works. I think the battery is dead, which could be replaced, but the band is also broken. I had been wearing it with the broken link tied together with dental floss. Since I only paid $10 for it, getting a new band and battery would cost more than a new watch. So I have a new one that I like even better. The magazines are from a stack waiting for me to read, and these I finally finished. I cannot throw out a magazine that I have not read! The book "Jars of Clay" is one that I have tried to read a few times but just can't seem to get interested, so rather than have it sitting on the shelf and making me feel guilty every time I see it, I am finally letting it go and maybe someone else will find it a good read. I think I may have bought it at a rummage sale in the first place.

I am just getting started on the decluttering and organizing, but this is more than I have done in a long while so am feeling pretty good about it. You didn't get to see all the magazine articles and pages printed from the internet that I tossed out of the filing cabinet. Still not finished with that either but things are looking lighter.

Home, Sweet Home - Kitchen Hutch

KITCHEN HUTCH

Do you think I have enough cook books? The binders on the lower shelf are full of recipes printed from emails and the internet. I have one with the title "Menus". I do have a few in there but had good intentions of making up more menus, and that hasn't happened yet. Some of those menus I have copied from others, including Menus4Moms group, but they no longer send them in email, and I forget to check the website. They would include recipes with the menus, and shopping lists for each menu. Nice if you use them. Laying on top of the binders is a stack of loose recipes that haven't gotten into the books yet, because I want to try them one day soon. And there is a file folder full of some taken from magazines and newspapers.

The middle shelf is mostly various church cookbooks from the area, or from areas where I used to live. Nice memories in those books whn I see the ladies' names. There is also one that was my mother's, and is the kind you write in your favorite recipes and paste in those that you clip from newspapers and magazines. She died early in 1971 so they are older recipes. Some of those made it into my own binder like that as they became our favorites as well.

Top shelf - left side is recipe pamphlets and those that came with appliances. Next to those are two recipe boxes - one is mine that I started when I was in high school home-ec classes, and the other one is Mom's. Then there are a few odds and ends, including an envelope along the side that holds my coupons, if I get them in there. I see there are some laying in front of the books on the middle shelf.

I think it is time for me to get those shelves straightened up and give them a good dusting. The same goes for the collection of glass and crystal vases and dishes that sit on the top. That really looks junky, but have no room anywhere else to store them, plus they should be on display, just a better one.

I should have opened the doors at the bottom as that looks even worse! And I know there are some things I can get rid of in there. When I get around to that part I will try to remember to take before and after pictures of that. And once I get back to the upper shelves, I will get an after picture. But this is it for now. I have been busy with genealogy and want to work more on that right now, and the decluttering/cleaning will have to wait.

'Tis Home Sweet Home

BEFORE

 

I am ashamed to even show you this picture. Such a mess! But this is what my kitchen can look like after making a trip to Walmart. This is actually after several things were put away so this isn't the worst of it. The bags hanging on the chairs have either all the empty bags in it or some of the groceries that need to go to the pantry.

AFTER

This looks much better!. Not perfect but not that bad. The dishes have been washed and put away and the table is cleaned off, jacket and shoes put away, and presentable enough if someone came to the door.