some RL stuffs
I'm spending the day alternating between writing and putting my stuff into Mum's old china hutch, which I finally felt able to move into my house. It does look great in my little dining room, though I'm still finding the odd twinge and some sadness seeing it here instead of at her place.
It's a Willett pegged maple hutch from the 1940's, so it's technically antique, but it's a well-used piece of furniture, not a showroom piece. There are patches where the finish has worn off, which I must investigate repairing, as the experts advise not to refinish Willett, as the finish is part of the value of the pieces. I also took the china, which is not really "me," being a Southern Magnolia pattern with a rose border, but it's Mum, so I'll use it and remember her. I'm also putting in the bits and pieces of my own pattern that my ex and I split when we did ... still adding to that, so I'm allowing half of the hutch for mine and half for Mum's. There are three deep drawers and two shelved cabinets built into the bottom, so there's plenty of room for extra pieces and the Christmas set I was given as a housewarming gift. I'm right chuffed, got to admit, to have all the space and the lovely piece in my place at last.
Of course, now I've gotten what I want out of the old house, and my sister's moved all that she needs for her new place, I have to find a buyer for the other furniture and someone to clean out the rest of the junk and toss it onto the nearest dump (because this little black duck ain't going to clean up ten years of my sister's crap, no sirree). And I obviously can't depend on sister and nephew, because they've had a year to do all this, and have procrastinated until I told them last month when the closing date was. The nephew is still in denial, and sits around all day watching the telly. Damn useless relatives ... I will be glad to be shut of this whole deal so that I don't have any excuse to deal with them. I will probably still talk to my sister, but I won't have any real reason to go visit. Maybe we can meet on middle ground sometime and have lunch or something ...
I think I have pretty much earmarked every penny of the money coming from the sale. As executor of the will, I get paid back first for all the damn money I've sunk into keeping the bank from foreclosing on the place for the past year. Then, I have to pay off the rest of the mortgage, the funeral home, and one creditor that filed a claim against the estate. The other creditors can go hang.
My plans for my half of the sale:
1) Outfit the entire kitchen with those nifty rolling cabinet organizers so I can fit twice the pots and pans and cookware into the inefficiently designed cabinets that I have. I don't want to rip them out and put new ones in, because they look fine with the overall design, but they're poorly thought out and there is much wasted space.
2) Buy brand new bookcases and an entertainment center, probably from Ikea. This will also free up much needed space, as I am a biblio-addict, and at present, have great stacks of books taking up floor space.
3) Minor repairs to a few spots on the house - the garage door gets stuck halfway, which doesn't bother me at present as I'm using the garage for storage of some stuff, but once I get it cleaned out, I'll want to fit the car back in - a couple of minor plumbing glitches - and a spot upstairs where one of the bedroom doors got locked somehow and we had the shower running ... and just shoved the door in which split a piece out of the door frame.
4) Look into possibly closing in the back porch into an actual screened area for sitting, and maybe extending it across the back length of the house (it's currently halfway) - if I can find an inexpensive contractor, doing this would also give me a balcony/deck for the upstairs if we put in a flat roof instead of a slanty one.
5) Get some much needed dental work and buy new eyeglasses
6) Give this whole cleanliness idea up and hire a damn maid.I think I'm hopeless at keeping things tidy.
Today, I'm having fun cleaning the china, putting it into place in the hutch, and storing lots of my serving pieces inside - plus putting my "showcase" dishes up top. I generally go for colour rather than price, so I have many pieces of many different colours which I love looking at and which are currently shut up in my inefficient cabinets. I know, I know, the stereotype insists that my decor be just-so; however, I am eclectic in all things, so my decor is eclectic as well. I drive new guests mad because I have two bookcases downstairs which used to be sales shelves in a book store, so they slant slightly backwards -- most people have a near uncontrollable urge to somehow straighten them up! The rest of the house follows suit.
Well, back to writing. The dishes are drying, and I'm nearly to the end of an Outlaw Security chapter, which I hope to post this evening. I'm redoing bits and pieces of the earlier work, and may do some reposting if I change enough to think it warranted. Mostly that middle bit where they solve their first case -- I rushed that way too much, and really should have taken at least two chapters to pull it off. The cases are, indeed, a backdrop to the lads and their issues as they grow into honest citizenship, but the first one deserves more attention, so that will be a repost at some time in the future.
It's a Willett pegged maple hutch from the 1940's, so it's technically antique, but it's a well-used piece of furniture, not a showroom piece. There are patches where the finish has worn off, which I must investigate repairing, as the experts advise not to refinish Willett, as the finish is part of the value of the pieces. I also took the china, which is not really "me," being a Southern Magnolia pattern with a rose border, but it's Mum, so I'll use it and remember her. I'm also putting in the bits and pieces of my own pattern that my ex and I split when we did ... still adding to that, so I'm allowing half of the hutch for mine and half for Mum's. There are three deep drawers and two shelved cabinets built into the bottom, so there's plenty of room for extra pieces and the Christmas set I was given as a housewarming gift. I'm right chuffed, got to admit, to have all the space and the lovely piece in my place at last.
Of course, now I've gotten what I want out of the old house, and my sister's moved all that she needs for her new place, I have to find a buyer for the other furniture and someone to clean out the rest of the junk and toss it onto the nearest dump (because this little black duck ain't going to clean up ten years of my sister's crap, no sirree). And I obviously can't depend on sister and nephew, because they've had a year to do all this, and have procrastinated until I told them last month when the closing date was. The nephew is still in denial, and sits around all day watching the telly. Damn useless relatives ... I will be glad to be shut of this whole deal so that I don't have any excuse to deal with them. I will probably still talk to my sister, but I won't have any real reason to go visit. Maybe we can meet on middle ground sometime and have lunch or something ...
I think I have pretty much earmarked every penny of the money coming from the sale. As executor of the will, I get paid back first for all the damn money I've sunk into keeping the bank from foreclosing on the place for the past year. Then, I have to pay off the rest of the mortgage, the funeral home, and one creditor that filed a claim against the estate. The other creditors can go hang.
My plans for my half of the sale:
1) Outfit the entire kitchen with those nifty rolling cabinet organizers so I can fit twice the pots and pans and cookware into the inefficiently designed cabinets that I have. I don't want to rip them out and put new ones in, because they look fine with the overall design, but they're poorly thought out and there is much wasted space.
2) Buy brand new bookcases and an entertainment center, probably from Ikea. This will also free up much needed space, as I am a biblio-addict, and at present, have great stacks of books taking up floor space.
3) Minor repairs to a few spots on the house - the garage door gets stuck halfway, which doesn't bother me at present as I'm using the garage for storage of some stuff, but once I get it cleaned out, I'll want to fit the car back in - a couple of minor plumbing glitches - and a spot upstairs where one of the bedroom doors got locked somehow and we had the shower running ... and just shoved the door in which split a piece out of the door frame.
4) Look into possibly closing in the back porch into an actual screened area for sitting, and maybe extending it across the back length of the house (it's currently halfway) - if I can find an inexpensive contractor, doing this would also give me a balcony/deck for the upstairs if we put in a flat roof instead of a slanty one.
5) Get some much needed dental work and buy new eyeglasses
6) Give this whole cleanliness idea up and hire a damn maid.I think I'm hopeless at keeping things tidy.
Today, I'm having fun cleaning the china, putting it into place in the hutch, and storing lots of my serving pieces inside - plus putting my "showcase" dishes up top. I generally go for colour rather than price, so I have many pieces of many different colours which I love looking at and which are currently shut up in my inefficient cabinets. I know, I know, the stereotype insists that my decor be just-so; however, I am eclectic in all things, so my decor is eclectic as well. I drive new guests mad because I have two bookcases downstairs which used to be sales shelves in a book store, so they slant slightly backwards -- most people have a near uncontrollable urge to somehow straighten them up! The rest of the house follows suit.
Well, back to writing. The dishes are drying, and I'm nearly to the end of an Outlaw Security chapter, which I hope to post this evening. I'm redoing bits and pieces of the earlier work, and may do some reposting if I change enough to think it warranted. Mostly that middle bit where they solve their first case -- I rushed that way too much, and really should have taken at least two chapters to pull it off. The cases are, indeed, a backdrop to the lads and their issues as they grow into honest citizenship, but the first one deserves more attention, so that will be a repost at some time in the future.