While I Slumber

I hope you haven't given up on me, thinking I'm a slacker who has abandoned her blog. Not exactly. It's just that blogging takes time and if I want to get this place in any kind of shape by Thanksgiving, I have to keep at my projects every minute. After all, dirt, mold, yard growth, mail and other papers, broken items, plumbing leaks, trash, junk, weeds, ugly paint colors, poorly placed items, gifts that must be made, car breakdowns, hunger and cabinet and closet contents (to name a few) all multiply 24/7. Then there's me. I stop and take each night off to sleep. So these things have an unfair advantage, and I cannot seem to keep up with them. I certainly never get ahead.

Now, Thursday morning was bulk trash day, but I stayed put this time. I did NOT go out looking for treasure. I've sworn off any more curbside collecting for the next month. I need every minute to get things done. Going out on the road "just to see what's out there" leads to wide eyes and the inevitable carting home of cast offs in need of a roof over their heads, and I can't deal with any more additions to this small house, thank you. We passed capacity quite some time back.

Taking Out the Trash

Not only did I not go out, but I got busy hauling some of my own stuff to the road. That's right! I turned the tables and offered up something of my own coffers to the treasure pickers. My BBQ grill has been a rusted out hot mess for a long time. Among its numerous problems was that it needed a new grate, and they were about $20. For that reason alone, I figured I could find a better grill at a garage sale for cheap, so I salvaged what I could from mine, which took about 45 minutes (there was one screw that would not budge. That's always the way)! I was rushing to get this to the road since the trash truck was closing in. I kept needing different tools and ran through the yard like my pants were on fire, around the corner, inside and out again at least 6 times during the dismantling. I saved the wood slats that joined to make little side tables on the grill and got the wood handle and the igniter with a red button off of it before saying goodbye.

Shortly after I got it out there a metal picker couple stopped and loaded it up. See it there on the top right, the black metal that looks like a grill skeleton? These people really did not have room for my grill. They were loaded up like Jed Clampett. I wondered where the heck they would put it. The guy did manage to get it jammed up on top and off to the side and I just hope it stayed put. I would hate to have been behind them on the highway. I also sent two wood pallets to the trash that I got for free forever ago, both of which were getting cruddy from the weather and junking up my patio.

I then managed to get one of the beveled mirrors taken off that mirrored cabinet I found in the trash a few weeks ago, and I tossed the rest. Can you believe it?

The Junk Jungle

Next up, it was time for the JUNK JUNGLE cleanup. Doesn't this look like fun? Believe me, sheer resolve held hands with me as I entered the room or I would have walked right back out. I did sigh, a big sigh, then I dug in and started the shuffle. I knew this would be an all day event.

You can't see the desk or all the junk to the left and behind this wood in the front of the picture. So many things in this room. So many trips through the house hauling, deciding, agonizing over whether or not it was a crime to let certain things go, and trying to undo hardware from door fronts, etc., with no luck. The little partial garage space I have is crammed with stuff, but I found places there to wedge some of what I extracted from this room. However, the next time I have to touch or lift any more of those items or deal with them in any way but to make something of them, you can bet they are going back in the trash where they came from. With glee. I have to say that it can be really satisfying to dump some things in the trash.

Like Owning a Boat

Coming home with goodies from curbside shopping is much like owning a boat. The two best days are the day you get the stuff and the day you get rid of it! The rest of the time all that moving it around and fixing it can get wearing. This clean out was like pulling teeth, but it felt so good to throw some junk out and put some in my car to give to someone else. The one problem with getting stuff thinking you can just throw it away is that parting with it once you have it can be agony.

Now, I worked that room til my back was aching and it was in as much a state of order as it could be. I even made enough room to bring in the Pure Fresh Milk Table and some chairs. Mind you this room is only about 10 x 6, like a walk in closet. I undid the corner work table I had devised some time back and moved the ugly swirly desk that we pilfered from the trash a month ago and put it where the corner workspace had been. When I finished, it became clear that more stuff needs to go and the desk will have to be painted if I keep it. I realized that no matter what, the walls would also have to be painted. I painted them a few years back and immediately regretted the color pick. The room still looks like a hodge-podge. I didn't take any after pictures because there's no rhyme to it yet. This was just step one.

It had been a long physically and mentally demanding day, but I had a pile of small paint projects that I desperately wanted to get to. So as night descended, I made myself keep on and tackled the final step on this:

I found the tray in someone's trash a while back. It was blond wood with a white tray, much like a dry erase board finish. I painted and waxed the wood a couple months ago and finally got around to painting the tray with chalkboard paint that night.

That was Thursday, and I was just getting started.

Today's Sunday and the nonstop projects continued all weekend. I did so many that I'm now in the crash and burn phase. Suddenly I realize I need a weekend to unwind, but too late; it's gone. 

Speaking of sleep...it's calling. No, it's demanding. 

Oh great, that  means another chance for the unsleeping stuff to gain on me again as I slumber.

So it goes.

"After" pictures as well as more from my weekend will follow as I have time.

I'll be at these parties this week:

Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Mop It Up Mondays @ I Should Be Mopping The Floor