• Tweet

I’ve been in a holding pattern for so long now with our impending move next week in 2 weeks (I hope – it’s been postponed twice so far for various reasons) that I feel like I’m just going through the motions each day and there is no real “Homemaking” going on right now.  So this week while we wait to leave next Monday (please cross your fingers and toes for us) I’m making a detailed list of what needs to be done when we get there.

We’re buying my grandparents old place (40 years old) which has been sitting vacant for almost a year and hasn’t had any real improvements in the 20+ years before that.  So, we know it’s a serious fixer and definitely needs a kitchen update, but we love remodeling and projects and our aim is to change the dated kitchen into a farmhouse style, but also make it a 21st century kitchen.

Oh, and did I mention we’re doing this from across the country?  Hubby has never even seen the house and I haven’t been there in many years since my cousin was living there.  We are also transporting 3 animals with a multi stop move gathering the things from storage in 2 different states from the last 6 years along the way?

WEATHER OUTSIDE
The weather was warm over the weekend again, but cooling back down into some more fall like temperatures as the week moves on.

TO DO FOR THE WEEK
A little of this and a little of that, but nothing horribly specific.

CURRENTLY READING
I’ve been loading up my kindle app with lots of books for the trip.  Right now I’m finishing up the Barbara Freethy Series – The Callaways – I’m on books 8 and 9.

I’m also reading Fatal Frenzy by Marie Force.

TELEVISION / DVR
A good deal of the new shows begin this week as well as some of the old favorites. As always though we’ll DVR them.  We just don’t have as much leisure to watch them with the move about to happen so we’ll have to .

• BIG BANG
• CASTLE
• LAW & ORDER SVU 
• NCIS
• NCIS LA
• NCIS NEW OELEANS
• SCORPION
• THE PLAYER
• THE BLINDSPOT
• QUANTICO
• SCANDAL

CRAFTS, PROJECTS & HOUSE PROJECTS
We will probably need to move a few pieces of furniture for my aunt and uncle when we get there, but after that we’ll spend the first 2 days doing SERIOUS cleaning.  I love my cousin, but she was not a “homemaker” per se and didn’t tend to notice the dust and such.  On one of these days we’re hoping to get the cable and internet hooked up.  We have also set a STOP time for each day of 6PM.  On one of our prior moves we didn’t do this and we were just SOOOO exhausted all the time that we thought it was for our sake of sanity that we begin doing this.

On the 3rd day we plan to do the shopping.  The lists are about 95% made.  I even have the store, addresses and mapquest ready to make the day go smoother.  Pizza and fast food will be fine for the first couple days, but after that we have to get some real food in the house as well as buy the paint for the next project.

We know the house needs paint from top to bottom, ALL flooring and new appliances, but we’re going to start with the easy (but hubby’s least favorite) part, painting.

Day 4 we plan to paint the bedroom, master bath and walk in closet.  We’re going to go with a bright white for the ceilings and and more of an eggshell for the walls.  We prefer to add color with things other than the paint so it easily changed if we so choose. There are a couple of door changes going to happen in this room as well as closet organization, but I’ll wait to show you that later.

Day 5 we plan to paint the living room and dining room area, but it may take 2 days with the cathedral ceilings and size so we’ll add day 6 in here also. Right now the dining room is separate from the kitchen which is small with limited storage, but when we get done the kitchen dining will be a large open air farmhouse like all in one.  The kitchen dining is also just off the living room so when we are done our aim is a to have a grand room effect for a more cozy, homey family style room.  The old dining room is where we will start with adding the new cabinets so when we unpack we have a place to put things.  I also have some serious plans for redoing the laundry, adding a laundry chute from the master bedroom area and updating the pantry.

Day 7 the trucks are supposed to arrive.  We will have already cleaned the spare rooms and our plan is to put the boxes in each of these rooms so we aren’t living in a sea of boxes ALL the time. We hired guys to empty the trucks and that will certainly make life a lot simpler.

Once the master bedroom and living room are done, the rest will seem much simpler.  Having a place to relax at the end of the day, whether it is watching football in the living room or going to sleep at the end of a long hard day makes any remodel so much easier. Stay tuned for pictures and the tweaks to make this place our own, functional, homey and part of the 21st century.

SUCCESSFUL RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

• HARVEST CHICKEN

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

• Whiskey (my dog) sleeping curled up around my feet
• Cool Autumn breezes
• Watching migrating geese

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA

My favorite birthday gift started with 4th of July pictures.   I can’t believe they all kept it a secret for so long! Thank you!

INSPIRATION
As we start this move, I know there are going to be VERY stressful times during the next 10 days while we do a multi stop cross country move.  But, I am REALLY trying to remember that we are going to a good place for all the right reasons and we ARE going to VERY happy after the move part is ALL over.