Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Making Progress....

Yeah!!!  I am beginning to feel that I am making progress in my goal for painting the inside of the Beale Bungalow!!!  :) 

Today, I put my kitchen back together and it looks so much better since I am able to store many appliances in my laundry/storage/pantry/mud room.  I actually did not want to cook in it tonight, but of course, I did.  Anyway....

I am so very tired, but I am going to continue on painting and cleaning.  Sleep comes easily to me at night now.  I am  too tired to think, so off to dreamland I go as soon as my head hits my pillow.  The funny thing is...I still wake up tired.  :(   I know that when my painting is done...that will probably change...hopefully....prayerfully...

So, some pictures.  First--my laundry/storage/pantry/mud room. 

BEFORE:





 
 
 
Yes, it was so sad...  I just lost interest in really cleaning.  Plus there was black dust coating the walls which made
 painting extremely difficult.  I had to cut in three times just to cover the unwashable black dust!  It was a mess.  :(  
 
AFTER:                                                                                              
       




 
 
Nice and clean.  I am going to make curtains for this room and the kitchen, but that will be after I finish all my painting.  Did you notice how I hung all my mops and brooms?  PINTEREST.COM!!  We had a straight rake that broke and I cleaned it--hung it--and filled it with brooms, mops, fan dusters, my Webster and such.  I am happy!!
 
The kitchen was next.  Going up and down the ladders has pulled all my posterior leg muscles, but today I am resting and they are feeling better.  Anyway..
 
BEFORE:
 
 
 
I don't have many before pictures, but take my word for it...it was a dirty mess.  Black dust!! 

AFTER:





Nice and clean.  Once again...I will be making new curtains for the kitchen, but after all the painting is done.  It is so nice to have cleanliness and order in part of my home.  I just sit and look at it and sigh with complete satisfaction!!  I despise painting, but it does look nice when it is done!  :)

I know that I have three rooms and a hallway to go, but I am only concentrating on the next room.  That would be the dining room.  I am going to pick up the paint tomorrow and hopefully get started.  Reality will be just buying the paint and prepping the room.  I can paint on Friday and Saturday.  Two rooms in one week....SWEET! 

My son is going on a Youth Discipleship Retreat this weekend, so I can get a lot of work done.  My husband is going to be doing the lawn...hopefully, but will probably be inside helping me....

We, as a family, went out to eat with our grandson this past Tuesday evening.  He is going to be sixteen this month and travels the rails of Italy by himself.  He and some of his buddies went to Rome (which is an hour and a half from Naples by rail) and they noticed that the train was packed.  They didn't know what was going on and so they decided to follow the crowd.  The crowd went to Vatican City...it was then that the boys noticed the white smoke and knew there was a new pope.  He was there when the new pope spoke.  He said that he is Catholic, but thought it was cool to be there listening to the new head of the Catholic Church.  He has story after story like this.  He just attracts adventure!  It was so much fun listening and sharing a meal with him.  He returns to Italy this Saturday.... 

Well...that is it...   :)

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Tuesday is somewhat gray....

My oh my...it is a gray morning.  Not one ray of sunshine anywhere!  I have much to do today, but when it is gray...all I want to  do is curl up with a good book and read.  But, alas this is not to be, at least not this week. 

Yesterday was a sunny cool day and I loved it.  No sweating!  No asthma!  Just a beautiful day inside and out!  Oh well, there is nothing I can do about the gray, so I will just continue to work my plan.  :)

Yesterday was a wonderfully busy day.  I vacuumed, mopped, did laundry, cooked a delicious roast beef dinner, cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen...Seth did all the dusting and was taught how I clean a bathroom.  (I am beginning to train him on how to properly, well at least the way I do it, clean a home.  Bathroom now...laundry next.)  Anyway, by the time my husband was home....the house was clean, laundry basically done and the smell coming from the crockpot was amazing.  He was so glad to be home.

I made a flourless gravy that my guys seem to enjoy.  I put squash in the crockpot with my roast.  I cooked everything for 4 hours on high.  Removed the roast and allowed to set.  Took what was in the crockpot and ran it through my Vita-Mix with a little extra water and about 1/4 cup of milk and wahlah!!!  A delicious gravy that even my son enjoyed.  A beef drippings, squash and onions.  I didn't even need to season it!  I think this would qualify for a Paleo Diet that so many of my friends are on.  It was great!!!

Well, time for work! 

Friday, August 2, 2013

I no longer have a very dirty white front door.....

Today is the second day of August.  The summer is almost over!   I am usually not a fan of summer.  I don't like the heat and humidity.  I don't like the bouts with asthma.  I don't like the listlessness that I seem to experience during the non-schooling months.  BUT....this summer is different.  I have been busy...very busy.  Much is getting done and for a service person...productiveness is so very important!  I do believe that productiveness to a service person, such as myself, equates ....  life! 

Being depressed for so long causes unproductiveness which in turn causes more depression which causes more unprod....   Well, you get the idea.  If I am not being productive then I feel worthless and that is not a good feeling at all.   So, this summer, thanks to my step-daughter's visit, productivity is at an all time high and I am truly loving it!

This does not mean that I have not had any frustrations in my so called productivity, by no means, but I am happy that I finally have some energy and am back to doing what I love.  Homemaking....

This week's project has been my front door.  It has been a chore.  But...it is finally painted.  It was a dirty job and it is no where near perfect, but it is clean and fresh!



The door was born in 1946 and getting the old paint off was hard.  I never could get it all off...



Ugly....



Messy....



Pitted...



More pittedness....



Even more pittednesses....



After being spackled, sanded, vacuumed, primed and painted with two coats of paint....I finally have my gray door!  Like I said...it isn't perfect, but it is fresh and clean and prayerfully welcoming.  :)

I still have to razor blade the paint off the windows, wash the windows and buy a new door knocker (or paint the old one black)...but it is basically done. 

I was planning on doing this job in two days....LOL...it took me four!  Every project is taking me twice as long as I had expected!!  Therefore, I am only shooting for one project a week.  This way I will not be rushed nor disappointed.  I am hoping to have most things done before homeschooling lessons begin.  Then I will begin the schooling and Christmas chores....it is never ending, is it?  Sigh....

Yet, my rooms are decluttered, my bathroom and front door are painted, and three windows have new curtains.  Next.. The Laundry Room!!!  :)