The pantry

Well, the pantry is done! At least as done as is humanly possible at the moment. We decided to go ahead and put the same hardwood floor in the pantry as we are putting in the front room. We ordered said floors back in November maybe or early December only to find out that they were backordered. Gah.
So we have to wait till those come in before we can really truly finish the pantry.
Once the floors are in we will move the freezer and refrigerator from the garage into the house.  Our refrigerator has a tough time in the winter so we are hoping it will function better in a warmer environment.
We found out this weekend that the floor *should* be in this Thursday. We have to get them to the house somehow and then let them acclimate for however long that takes. Apparently they've been shipped from out of state so it might take like a month to acclimate. That will be a tough wait.

This project took way longer than we originally anticipated. And I know that everyone says things like this take longer than promised but it was truly painful at times just waiting or coming home from work to look and see what had been done only to find that nothing had changed.
We are do-it-yourselfers most of the time. But doing it yourself can take forever when you only have evenings and weekends (and you are tired in the evening).  So for this project we decided to hire out.  There were days when Frank just wanted to finish it himself because he was so tired of the waiting.
Now that it's done it's easy to say that it was worth it...it is done.  But, man, there were some frustrating days. And I'm a perfectionist (as we all know) so leaving things in someone else's hands can be nerve wracking for someone like me.

Ever since the tile project in the hall bathroom, I have been noticing the work done in stores, restaurants and other people's homes...all by "professionals". None of it is perfect.  I have to realize that perfection is not possible.  We just all do the best we can.

Anyway, here is the before, during and after of the pantry project!

 Living room before:

Notice the small dining area and area where wall juts out inside dining area-that is the current pantry

 View from kitchen side:

Left door goes into dining room

Right side door is current pantry

First step was to wall in the room. It was kind of scary to imagine this room closed off and I worried I wouldn't like it.  Once it was walled off, I realized that I would often stand at the kitchen island and look through the dining room and out the front window.  That view is gone.

Breaking out the old pantry.

Walling up the old pantry door

Old pantry is gone

Here is the front room side of things with the wall in.  I was kind of nervous that it would be obvious that we closed it off even after painting...

Doorway to the pantry is done.

Aaaand...it is off center. It was centered on the wall from the inside of the pantry but from the outside is was slightly off to the right. I told myself for about an hour that this would be fine. And then I got real and emailed the contractor.  He fixed it the next day. He was hoping Frank would be on his side but when he mentioned that I wanted it changed, Frank was like "Listen, if it is bugging her now it will only bug her more as time goes on. And I don't want to live with her being annoyed by her new pantry.  If she wants it fixed, lets fix it." Good man.

Whew!

Putting in can lights and mudding drywall.

What a mess my house was for so long!

I did all the painting so the second he said it was ready, I had that whole room painted!  I emailed to say that it was done and ready for him to bring in the shelves. Ha! I think he was shocked.

Bottom shelving has arrived!

Top shelving

Doors put in and painted! We had a gaping hole for so long that this was a nice day.

Top shelving, countertop and shelves installed. Crown moulding. Looks so purty.

I knew that this (above picture) stage was the prettiest it would ever be. Once I load all my crap, it would look like your average messy (if big) pantry.  I did decide to get some new baskets rather than the mismatched plastic bins I had in my old pantry. I also bought some cute labels for my flour, sugar etc. They were already in clear containers in my old pantry.

The Finished product:

The front room. I'm happy with the wall...I just need to add a picture or something.

I spend a fair amount of time in this room. This is where I decompress after work for a few minutes or where I read. Notice the new house plant in the corner! It's still alive after two whole weeks so I'm pretty impressed with myself.

Entry to pantry.

Looks great. The moulding around the doors is slightly different than the rest of our moulding...but I didn't notice until it was all installed and painted. 

I will try to live with it.

We shall see.

I will definitely leave it until we change the floors in the kitchen which will not be for a long long time since it involves removing tile and also purchasing new flooring. 

I gotta save up.

Loaded with stuff.

I have room for food and miscellaneous kitchen gadgets that were all over the house before.

I brought up home canned goods that I didn't have room for before...hoping we will do a  better job of eating that stuff with it in plain sight instead of hiding in the basement.

I put the labels on my clear containers which I think are adorable.

I'm going to put them on the baskets too. Soon. Real soon.

This side is where the refrigerator and freezer will go.

Oops, I see a can of paint that I need to put away.

I'm extraordinarily excited about this! Somewhere to put my broom and mop!

yay!

Before, they were shoved in a small closet in the laundry room and every time you opened the door, they would fall out on you.  It was not ideal.

I also have a full sized trash can for recyclables which I'm super excited about.

Before, I had a little bin and stuff would stack up and overflow onto the counter in the laundry room until I got frustrated or they were falling on the floor at which point I would take them outside to the recycling bin.  Let's hope I'm a little more on the ball with this big trash can.

That's it!

Now...what's next?

Haaa!

Daily life and other musings

Even though my new job is fewer hours per week, I do still feel like it is mostly what my life is made up of.  Does that sentence make sense?
The three full days that I work are very long. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am at work from 7:45-11:30 approximately (longer on Mondays when we have staff meeting) and then from 1:45 -6:30, sometimes a bit later.  So by the time I get home it feels very late, it is dark and I am super tired.  No idea why I'm so tired since I don't have a physically demanding job but that's the truth-I am tired! It is not at all uncommon for me to go directly to my bedroom and change into my pjs as soon as I get home.  Then I think about dinner or lack thereof and sit in front of the tv if I can get away with it.
Tuesdays I only work from 2:45-6:30 or so.  It's a short shift but somehow I always feel like I worked a full day when I leave.
I tend to fill Tuesday morning and all day Thursday with a variety of errands: doctor appointments, dentist appointments, runs to the bank or grocery store or other needed shopping. Physical therapy is currently taking up an hour of each Tuesday and Thursday.
Overall though, I still really like my job. I wish I made more money to be honest but the job itself is fun and relaxing and engaging. I like all of my coworkers. I like my boss.
Still...I wish I had a bit more balance in my life. I don't do any hobbies anymore. I am never creative anymore. I rarely blog (but doing better of late). I don't exercise. I don't cook really...I mean, I make dinner most nights but I don't put any effort or thought into it).  I don't read books. I don't go out with friends or family much.
I can't really figure out what it is that I'm doing with the extra time. I used to work 40+ hours a week and now it's 30.  That is some significant free time, not counting weekends, that really needs to have some fun/active/creative stuff in it! Of course as I write that sentence, my mind is thinking "just don't make me go out in the cold and do something physical like hike or snow shoe". Hmmm.
So obviously I don't have any specific ideas for what those "fun" things should be, but it's on my mind.
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I managed to make my 2 lbs of See's chocolate last a full 12 days. Christmas to today, January 6th.  Obviously I'm super proud of myself as I have eaten them long before my birthday in the past.  But if I really think about how much candy I ate in a 12 day period I am not as proud.  I'm glad they are gone though because I really do plan to eat better starting...very very soon! ha! No, seriously.
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The Family is coming over for soup, rolls and birthday cake tonight.  The house is all clean. Frank made homemade noodles to go with the homemade turkey broth soup that I made (super excited for that). Hopefully it will be a fun night! I like my family.

Happy Birthday to me

This is the annual tradition of writing down what I did for my birthday!
I am 52 today, which is kind of unbelievable.
Recently I've had issues with waking up with headaches. We've tried to figure out if it is related to our mattress or to laying flat or what. So in the attempt to figure it out before spending a bunch of money on a new mattress I am spending a week sleeping on our couch which reclines. Thus I am sleeping in a semi reclining position rather than flat.
So it was that I woke up at 4:00 am on the morning of Saturday January 5th with a slight headache and unable to go back to sleep on the couch but didn't want to go to the bed, in case it made the headache worse.
I went into the living room eventually and worked on my Sunday school lesson. It's the first week with my new class this week (14 of them!) and the first week of two hour church.
Once Frank woke up I had some cereal and took a shower.
Diana is here visiting because she brought Andrew down to get him settled in at BYU. She and Andrew left at about 8:15 to take him for orientation.
In the meantime I got a fun marco polo from Austin and Katy wishing me a happy birthday. We also discussed house plants and how I want to get more since I have successfully kept one alive for several years now.
So then I decided to actually go out and find a new houseplant!
Frank and I went to Lowe's and even though I had a long list of potential house plants that are hardy and hard to kill...we ended up buying a plant that is pretty but that I know nothing about. We shall see. One of the main reasons we chose Lowe's was because I could look at plants and also get a new trash can for our recyclables.  We totally forgot to get that. Doh! Carter did mock us a little for having a birthday outing to Lowes.
We then went bowling: Carter, Frank, Diana and I.  We stunk but it was fun anyway.
Next it was off to Alicia Carter's house (our backyard neighbor) who made me a gorgeous birthday cake.
We picked up the cake and just dropped it off at home so that we could go out for b-day lunch at Texas Roadhouse. We chose to have lunch rather than dinner so that Carter could participate. I had my usual: Fried chicken, salad and baked potato. So yummy. We got a free appetizer too so we ate way too much.
We came home after that so that we could have a piece of cake before Carter had to leave to pick up his roommate at the airport and then head up to Logan for winter semester which starts Monday.
I was too full for cake but managed to eat some anyway. Felt kinda sick after, no surprise.

Now it is 6 pm and we are just sitting on the couch trying to decide what to do next. I already have my pjs on!  We could go to a movie or something but it's cold out so I'm feeling undecided.
Diana fell asleep for a "little nap" awhile ago and she is still sleeping...I doubt she meant to sleep this long so hopefully she sleeps ok tonight. ha!

Tomorrow the family will come over for the January birthday celebration-Kari and I are the only local people with January birthdays (perhaps the only ones at all? besides Darryl of course). We'll eat more of the cake as well as soup and rolls. Frank and I are making turkey noodle soup and he is making homemade noodles tonight for it.

I usually hold off on any New Years Resolutions until after my birthday so I've been eating too much and moving too little and enjoying every minute.  But I will have to get back on the keto wagon soon and Frank and I have promised to start exercising together.

I was able to finish the Prophet's direction to read the Book Of Mormon by the end of the year. It was a great experience and I plan to start over with marking different areas again.  I have some other plans and goals for 2019 but will write another post about that.

Frank just asked me if I wanted to do something else tonight for my birthday and I said I couldn't decide but that I felt like I was being boring. He said "you're a boring person and it's your birthday so you can do what you want."  I mean, he's right but I still feel offended.

Introspection

Obviously I haven't blogged much lately. I do have a few vacations and things that I will blog and put them in on the correct dates, when they occurred. So when I print out the book from this year, it will look normal but actually I didn't write about them in a timely fashion and I'm having trouble getting myself to do so now.
I have had some time off work lately with Christmas and now, today, New Year's day and yet I do not take the time to write anything down. I used to have lots of thoughts run through my head about things I wanted to blog about and that just doesn't happen anymore. I have things I know I should write about mainly so that I remember them later.
I'm feeling super lazy and introvert-ish and lacking in motivation lately.
I tend to get this way in the winter so that's not really new I guess.
It's super cold today and we all have the day off...Frank was like "what are we going to do that fun today?" and all I felt was dread. HA! I just want to stay inside!  But we are going axe throwing (indoor activity for the win!) so that'll will actually be fun I'm sure. Frank hasn't done something this physical since his shoulder surgery so we'll see how much fun he actually has...or if his shoulder yells at him afterwards.
It's the time of year for a little introspection and goal making. I have a little book that I keep in my Christmas stocking in which I write goals for the next year and then when we put out the stockings at the end of the year, I can see how it went.  Up until this year (I have done it maybe 3 years now) I forget that little book exists and I am totally surprised by the goals I set because I wrote them in December and basically never thought of them again. Not great goal setting, I realize.
So this year I wrote a few things down after evaluating how last year went.  And then, to be different and hopefully better, I wrote them in my phone as well!  So, hey, maybe I'll actually work on them this year.

Here are my goals for 2019. I'm sure I'll have more as the year goes along but this is my starting place:
Bear my testimony at least twice this year in sacrament meeting (I'm sure I'll do it more than that in Sunday School, since I teach)
Go to the temple monthly (minimum of 12 times this year)
Re-read the Book Of Mormon, continuing to underline certain topics that I choose
Exercise Regularly (this one will need some definition but it's a start)
Read Ensign cover to cover each month
Save money (amount to be determined)

Most of them are obviously spiritual goals, which is honestly the most important thing to do.  I also want to do better at taking care of my physical body so I will sit down and make some plans in that direction soon.

It's always good to do a little introspection. I tend to end up feeling bad about myself...I am hard on myself in general. So I'm working on that.  Introspection without beating myself up.

Boooooring

I don't really blog anymore and I really do have a few things to blog about!
I went to Alaska and saw Branden, and Amber and the kids. I loved it and although we didn't do anything earth shattering, we did have a fun time together and I need to write it down so I remember.
My Alaska kids went through an earthquake! It was crazy and scary and they did so great.  But I worry.
I went to Hawaii. Yes, that is the second time so that is pretty lucky.  It was fun and warm and relaxing. We did some stuff.  Need to write it down.
I started the pantry and, well, it's not done yet. I have feelings and thoughts about this as well, as you might imagine.
I put up some of my christmas decorations, but not very many. The house feels kind of torn apart so I just didn't feel up to the whole thing. But I did put my "outdoor" tree in the house this year (it's right by the kitchen table really). I put some decorations on it that I haven't used in years and, even though I kind of miss having a tree on my back porch, I love having this tree in the house.  So that's fun.
Kinda boring though.
I'm kinda boring and have been for years.
I like it though, I'll be honest.
I've been binge watching Parenthood and I'm trying to read the entire Book of Mormon before the end of December.  These are the things I do with my free time.
I will still blog those things I mentioned before...eventually. (hopefully before the end of the year...so that's a goal)
That's it.

Biting the bullet

That is a weird saying and I don't know where it comes from.  I will have to google that.

I did it, though. I bit the bullet and decided to build the pantry!

I'm excited and scared that I will have buyers remorse (but so much worse) after it is done.
The wall is up and I have already noticed that when I work in the kitchen I am used to looking outside through the front room window, which is now not visible.  I will have to put up a nice picture or something on that wall I guess. :-P

The front room looks so different with a wall there but I still enjoy that room just as much as in the past. Well, currently it's in disarray and dusty, so not that enjoyable, but I know that I will enjoy it when it goes back to it's original state.

I moved my yellow dresser as well as the table and chairs into the basement for a new area for game playing. We don't use our basement a whole heck of a lot really other than Frank's office so if we actually go down there to play games, that will be good.  Or we might just use the dining table for games now, which I will admit we have done many times in the past even when we had the other dining room available.

I moved my buffet from the dining room to the entryway. I like it there (but I would like it anywhere because it's my favorite!) but now I have a blue rug and a blue buffet in the entryway which might not be my favorite. We'll see.

I am imagining putting so many different things in this pantry that I might actually have trouble fitting it all, even though it's a pretty big room (for a closet).

Now I'm trying to decide if I should keep the pantry doors white or paint them some fun color.
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From Wikepedia:

To "bite the bullet" is to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation that is seen as unavoidable.^[1] The phrase was first recorded by Rudyard Kipling in his 1891 novel The Light that Failed.^[1]

It was suggested by the movie Bite the Bullet that biting the bullet meant using a shell casing to cover an aching tooth, especially one that had been broken, and where a nerve is exposed. In the film, the slug was removed from the bullet, the cap was hit to expend that charge, and the casing was cut down to allow it to sit level with the other teeth.

It is often stated that it is derived historically from the practice of having a patient clench a bullet in his or her teeth as a way to cope with the extreme pain of a surgical procedure without anesthetic, though evidence for biting a bullet rather than a leather strap during surgery is sparse.^[1] It has been speculated to have evolved from the British empire expression "to bite the cartridge", which dates to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, but the phrase "chew a bullet", with a similar meaning, dates to at least 1796.^[1]

Sunday Musings

It's Sunday afternoon and I just finished watching conference.  It was a good conference and I really love President Russell M Nelson.  He seems so down to earth and friendly but at the same time, I can just feel it when he speaks prophetically.

Yesterday we watched conference with both the Peterson family and the Peters family as well as Carter who came down from college. It was so much fun to be with the old friends from Massachusetts. They feel so much like family now and I miss our regular get-togethers. But the Petersons are in Logan and the Peters are now in Arizona so we can see them somewhat frequently.   We barbecued and chatted and played games and did puzzles and watched conference of course! It was a great day.

Today we went to Doneen and Alan's for conference. Carter insisted multiple times that  we should go there so I asked her and she was happy to have us. Turns out she has a tradition of making homemade cinnamon rolls on conference Sunday which Carter knew. Smart kid!  Anyway, it was nice to be with family and the cinnamon roll was AMAZING (as expected).

Mom talked her herself the whole time as usual but stopped talking completely during President Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. I always always love his talks. I can feel his testimony so strongly and I am always touched when he speaks. Anyway, that felt like a little miracle to me! Mom was totally calm.
I hate that she is just so stressed and unhappy these days. It's bad enough to see her with dementia but to see her being so full of bad feelings and thoughts is especially hard. I know it is a somewhat common thing for people with dementia to get suspicious and anxious but its really hard to watch.

Now Frank is off for a little "me time" since he has Monday off (no one else does). He's headed to Southern Utah for some 4-wheeling or hiking or something fun like that. So, now I am home alone thinking deep thoughts and watching crappy tv.  I know those two things seem incompatible but, for me, they are not.

Just for fun, here are the shows I currently watch whenever Frank is away (never when he's here because he would hate them):
The Good Place-love this show! Frank actually didn't hate this one. He watched season 1. But so far I have watched the first two episodes without him. oops.
American Housewife-didn't really like this one at first, it's a little overdone or something but it's just one that I keep watching. And somehow I enjoy it. ha!
This Is Us- I mean, obviously. It's awesome.  But honestly I watch the funny shows first.
Parenthood-I binge watch this one.  The others are being recorded on my DVR so I can only watch one episode at a time.

One of the things we were challenged to do during conference was to take a 10 day social media fast. I started today and, although I knew I had a problem, it has been so hard already. In moments of quiet I reach for my phone without thinking and try to go to Facebook.  I put the social media apps on Time Limit on my phone so that they are greyed out. It's scary how often I start to go there!  I'm sure the next 10 days will be eye opening for me.  And hopefully I will be a little better off afterwards.  I know most of us these days have some kind of phone "problem" and I am no different. I can't really use it at work so that helps me to keep from becoming too addicted, hopefully. But at home I'm looking at my phone too much. Usually reading news and getting all worked up about Trump which is definitely not healthy.

In other news, Ryan moved back to Utah! He's only been here a couple of days but I'm excited to have him closer. He is job and apartment hunting currently.  I'm hoping we can do a weekly lunch or something like that once he's settled. OK, he might not want weekly...but something regular. A mom can dream, right?