Sunday March 21

Ok, the "get inspired and write more in 2021" thing is not going well.

So the new plan is-write something, anything, every Sunday.  

Here are some things going on:

I went off sugar and gluten about 2 months ago.  We have allowed ourselves a couple of cheat days (when we went out of town) but have been pretty much keto for that long. I feel remarkably better when I eat keto. I miss sugar and cake and things but, physically, MUCH improved.

I have lost about 10 lbs but have been stuck there for several weeks now and I'm getting annoyed. I need to lose AT LEAST 10 more.

The bathroom remodel is still not done. Mirrors and lights should arrive this week. There were several problems with cabinets but in theory those will be fixed this week. New closet doors were installed yesterday by Frank and they are janky as heck and don't want to move properly...so that's gotta change. Frank successfully installed faucets and drains yesterday so we do have water!

Amber and the girls are coming to visit in early April and I'm super excited to see them!

We are flying to Michigan for the weekend in April for Isabelle's baptism. Yay!

Got the indoor bike trainer thing for Christmas and have not used it once. It took until March to get it set up but now it's all ready to go in the basement just waiting for me to be more energetic.

Because of the bathroom situation, the other two bedrooms are complete disaster zones. My closet and all of the crap from the bathroom are in both of those rooms. I can't wait to organize them again soon!

Well, we are headed to Dion's for dinner and games. I invited myself because I need some social interaction. I made a new meatball casserole recipe that I've never tried. I hope it's good!

So long til next Sunday when I will thrill you with exciting info like I did today. ha!

Bathroom Remodel

I saved up my paychecks for an entire year to be able to pay for remodeling my master bathroom. I know I am lucky that I can save my paychecks and that Frank can pay for our normal lives with his job.  

My plan was to hire a contractor and just let someone else do all of the work.  I mean, I saved for an entire year for this!  So I got some bids.

And the numbers were higher than I'd hoped but I was going to make it happen anyway.  Frank, though, just couldn't do it.  He saw the numbers and kept saying, "yeah, but if we do some of it ourselves..."

And so it was that we began a bathroom remodel.  We did the demo of the walls and cabinets. We removed the surprise wallpaper and popcorn ceiling.  We hired out the tile demo.  It is the one thing Frank has said he will never do again in this house. haha

We found someone to replace the shower and floor tile through one of the contractors we got a bid from.  Although I still have some reservations about how they did some things but I have to get over it, it's done now.  This is the second time I've hired tile work and afterward thought "Doneen and I could have done that better".  Maybe I will eventually learn my lesson.

They were nice guys (3 of them) but they were here for DAYS AND DAYS. We just couldn't figure out what they were doing taking so long. After they were done, I found several chipped tiles and now I'm annoyed because if they were such perfectionists that it took so long, why do I have chipped tiles!?  Gah!

We're currently waiting on the vanity cabinet to come in but should be here early next week.  Once that is in, I will finish tiling the backsplash and side wall and it will be pretty much complete.  I still haven't decided on mirrors and I feel like I need the cabinet in to do that.  So it won't be totally finished for some time yet. But I do like how it looks so far.

I decided that one upgrade I wanted to make was to get a bidet. I have never even used one but had it in my head that I wanted one since I was redoing the bathroom.  At one point Frank looked at one of the quotes and said, "This guy is charging us for moving electrical, for a bidet!"  I said, "yes, I told him to do that. I want a bidet."  He was stunned and not totally on board.  It will be an interesting transition.

Shower floor done

Got the walls retextured. Manu does great work!

Shower Progress

Finished shower

Walls in progress

Floor in progress

walls and floor looking good

Floor all done. I ended up staining the grout as it was too light.

(this is the stained version)

Stopped the tile behind the toilet so Doneen and I will finish it after the cabinet is in.

2021

Since I was so horrible at blogging in 2020, I figured I would at least try and start this new year off right and write something.

I obviously need to change something about my life because I completely lost my writing mojo last year. Granted we had a global pandemic. But I honestly can't blame that for everything because, over all, my life was not drastically affected (very grateful). Frank and I both stayed employed. Since I work at a medical facility, I continued to go into work. Frank worked from home and all usual work travel came to a screeching halt. Working definitely affects my creativity so I need to find a way to have both. That will be a good thing to practice this year.

I will say that in 2020 I missed having my alone time. I am just one of those people that need alone time. I admit that I sometimes came home from work and just sat on the couch in the quiet even though I knew I should go to the rental to help Frank.  Mixture of laziness and alone time!

Today we found a renter for the second house that we finished back in November. It feels good to have it rented (though nothing is signed yet so I may be counting chickens...)

I picked a word for 2021 and that is "committed".  Every time I say that word, I think of being committed, as in a mental illness facility, but that's not what I mean. haha!

Unlike last year, where I just let my life flow around me and I had no motivation, I intend to be committed to some things in 2021.  Gospel study, taking care of my physical body, relationships.

I will make some more specific goals, probably not here on the "public" blog, but that's the general plan.

We are celebrating tonight with fondue with Dion and Summer's family. So obviously the physical body commitment has not yet begun. Looking forward to a fun night though and a good beginning to 2021.

2020 in Review

I do this every year but I blogged so little this year, we shall see if I remember anything!  What a year...

1. What did you do in 2020 that you'd never done before? Lived through a global pandemic. Wore a mask everyday to do normal things like grocery shop. Lived through the worst election process ever.


2. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? Motivation to improve, Daily scripture study/prayer, a full head of hair (these were copied directly from last year's answer). More peace and civility between people. A calm spirit.


3. What dates from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?  Ryan and Kristal got married on April 11th. Carter and Harley got married on May 14th.
4. What was your biggest achievement this year? I managed to save up enough money to remodel my master bathroom! haven't done the actual remodel yet but I can now proceed!
5. What was your biggest failure? That seems negative. Hmmm I failed to become a size 6. Again.
6. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Thank heaven I stayed healthy this year. Made it the whole year and didn't catch Covid or anything else for that matter. Been pretty healthy! (knock on wood)
7. What was the best thing you bought?  We spent tons o' money fixing up two rental houses but I didn't buy anything for myself really.
8. Where did most of your money go? Rental house renovations!!!
9. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Weddings, visiting Arizona, alone time once the pandemic thing happened, visiting Michigan for Thanksgiving!
10. What song will always remind you of 2020? None. I can't even think of a song right now...For some reason I had the song "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" by Jimmy Osmond in my head all day yesterday and now probably for the rest of today because I wrote this.
11. Compared to this time last year, are you:                                                                                                             a) happier or sadder? hmmm a bit sadder probably                                                                                                     b) thinner or fatter? lots and lots fatter. They don't call it the Covid 19 for nothin'                                                c) richer or poorer? I feel poorer...
12. What do you wish you'd done more of? Being thankful, seeing my grandkids and kids
13. What do you wish you'd done less of? Complaining, being lazy
14. What was your favorite TV program? I should write these things down earlier! My memory just can't pull this kind of information out on demand.  Ok, hmmm, Frank and I watch something most evenings before bed.  Same answer as last year. Wow, I'm bad at this.
15. What was the best book you read? I don't think I read a single book this year!  At least not in paper. I listened to a bunch of audio books while we worked on the houses. Loved the Boboverse series. Currently rereading The Way of Kings so I can read the new one in the series.
16. What did you want and get? Good health, continued employment, home church (ha!)
17. What did you want and not get? Self control, motivation to work out.  (same as last year...)
18. What was your favorite film of the year? Covid took away all of our movies!  I missed them sooo much.
19. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I keep track. Here is last year. I turned 53 in 2020.
20. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020? "Here it is: flowered shirt (from the career section), cardigan if it's cold, jeans, boots in the winter-converse in the warmer weather. I have no explanation and I don't know why 95% of my shirts have flowers on them! On my days off it's yoga pants and t-shirts or possibly jeans if I have to go in public."  That was a quote from last year and this year is no different because I still have the same job and wear the same clothes.  I didn't wear as many yoga pants on days off though because I was always working at the rentals and I hate not having pockets for my phone when I work so it was painting jeans or these ugly knee length sweat pants that I wear when working. So fashionable!
21. What kept you sane? that went downhill this year for sure.  Having projects helped us for sure because if Frank had just been stuck at home because of Covid, we would have killed each other probably.
22. Which celebrity did you fancy the most? I don't have time for celebrities.
23. What political issue stirred you the most? GAH! I hate politics. I hate how divided the country is. I hate that even the pandemic and mask wearing were politicized. GAH!
24. Who is the best new person you met? Kristal, Ryan's new wife. I know I "met" here before 2020 but I've gotten to know her a little bit more since the wedding and she is fun and talented and oh-so crafty! She makes beautiful food and her and Ryan seem happy. :-)  Oh and Also Lottie! My Dad got married in February right before the whole world shut down!  They also seem very happy and I'm glad my dad isn't so lonely.
25. Who did you miss? My distant kids and grandkids. I missed my Mom more this Christmas than last. Last year I was just happy for her to be out of misery but this year I just missed the old her.
26. Tell us a valuable lesson you learned in 2020. Chaos stresses me out. (I would sometimes have to leave the rental house because the chaos of the torn apart place made me so anxious). I would do ok with quarantine. Frank, not so much. (I probably knew this already). I tend to do what other people want and then hold a tiny grudge about it.  Should probably work on that.

Some favorite pictures from 2020:

Kaylee putting the traditional moose ornament on the tree!

(we visited Michigan!)

The girls are very excited for the grandpa's purchase of unicorn sprinkle ice cream! haha

I love when Austin and Katy send pictures of their lives

Remodeled kitchen! I did a lot of tiling this year and some of it even by myself

Reconnected with my old college friend Liahni. I have loved talking to her again. Got to celebrate the new liver and kidneys with her!

Remodeling life

My newest snack food addiction

Frank and I actually got out in nature a couple of times. I look skinnier than I really am in this picture, thus explaining why I chose it.

This cute family!

Got brave and did a new wall treatment in the guest room

My peony plant ALWAYS makes me happy

Awe, they're cute.

Date night in the car in a local parking lot eating take out because of Covid. Good times

Cute couple!  And the pretty decorations made by Kristal!

Dad and Lottie's wedding

My family. Love these kids

Doneen always willing to help out

Before and After of the "big" house

 I realize now, looking back that I never did any updates on the little house which we finished back in May-ish. I'll have to do that. 

In July, our renters in the bigger of the two houses, decided to move back east to be with their son. We had hoped they would stay until at least January 2021 so it was a bit of a blow. It meant that after only a month or so of rest, we had to start another renovation. We really weren't very into it when we started. It felt like too much. But, as with all projects, once we got going we got back in the groove.

It's now the end of November and we just finished it yesterday! It feels good!  I'm so ready to have some time to put my feet up and/or clean and organize my own house. We literally let our house fall apart during this renovation. We did laundry and dishes on Sunday out of desperation, unless we ran out of bowls earlier (from eating cereal for most meals).  It has really been pathetic over here!

Here is the before and after of the house, room by room:

We'll start with a couple of outside shots

After:

I painted that stupid carport. By hand. It was a lot of painting. Looks so much better!

Entryway

After:

Sorry, different angle. I'm standing at the front door in the after.  Standing by the Master bedroom door in the before.

Master Bedroom

Main changes in this room were removing carpeting and adding a new light fixture. 

Also paint of course.

After:

Hmmm can't find one!  Just picture this same room but with new paint and vinyl wood floors

Weird. I'll get that later.

Master Bathroom

This is the tiniest bathroom ever. In the previous layout, you had to stand in the shower to open the vanity drawers. And no one with normal sized legs could sit on that toilet without their knees hitting the shower wall. Plus, those plastic tiles and pink toilet...

During:

We had hoped to push the room out into the second bedroom closet area to make it larger but it turned out to be a previous exterior wall and was concrete with exterior siding. That was more than we wanted to tackle so we just rearranged in the same footprint.

After:

We took out the stand up shower and rearranged to put a tub and smaller vanity. 

Somehow I can't find a single picture of this bathroom so here are a couple of screenshots from a video. haha

Living Room

I couldn't find a picture of it empty so here it is with the renter's furniture in it.

Drop ceiling, carpet and wallpaper.

Here it is from a different view during the time when the floors were being sanded and I was still working on wallpaper removal.

There was originally a doorway from this living room to the room I will call the second bedroom. 

We closed that door off but in this picture, that's where I'm standing.

Another angle after removing the dropped ceiling.

There used to be a cute arch in this room to the right but it was taken out sometime in the past.

After:

Now it has original hardwood floors, 10' ceilings and repaired plaster walls.

Kitchen

After:

We changed the layout a bit and took out the window on the south side of the room so that we could move the stove there. We put the refrigerator where the stove used to be (approx) and made the walkway to the basement more open.

We also moved the washer out of the kitchen and removed the weird plumbing that meant that the washer emptied into the yard! What?

Second Bedroom:

Cute but trashed built in. Dropped ceiling. Carpet.

This bedroom had two doorways: one into the living room and one into the master. We removed both and put a doorway into the hall.

After:

Original hardwoods, 10 ft ceilings, built-in refinished, closet removed when we removed the dropped ceiling so we purchased a nice armoire for this room but it's not pictured.

Main bathroom:

Tiny again. Bathtub, 24" vanity. No storage

After:

larger vanity, medicine cabinet, bathtub

Laundry room:

We took part of this space for the main bathroom. 

We made the plumbing normal and took out the weird platform.

After:

Attic bedroom:

After:

Honestly just a lot of sanding, painting and a new light fixture in here. 

Oh and original hardwoods were restored.

Basement

We put new stair treads on the basement stairs. Those were the ones that originally had carpet, then underneath that some really cute but, sadly, trashed linoleum. Not much choice but to replace them.

Before:

After:

Bedroom 4 (basement):

dropped ceiling, gross plywood floors, creepy as heck

After:

Lifted the ceiling, can lights, normal floors, white paint

No longer creepy!

Bedroom 5 (basement):

dropped ceiling, linoleum floors, creepy as heck

After:

Basement half bath:

step up into bathroom, short ceiling, visible pipes and vents, no storage

After:

And there you have it!

I hope you enjoyed this little tour. If you know someone looking for a nice rental home, give me a shout!