Step ONE!

The work has begun for real, actually started last week while I had some time off at New Yrs...

Im referring to the BIG clean out of the house that I got in the divorce settlement...

Although the house was being lived in for 13 yrs he had closed off the rooms he no longer used and he was supposed to take stuff with him, it appears he piled it up to take but changed his mind, 

The house was NOT being taken care of or maintained.  Basically all the bedrooms had been closed off  and were being used as junk storage! I mean what do you do when you move out of the college dorm? Dump your junk in the parents old bedroom right?

                              

 There will be more on this mess LATER!!

actually all 3 of the bedrooms were in the same kind of mess..

                                                                                

                                                                                 

THIS is the second load of unwanted stuff that is ready to haul to the dump! AND trust me there will be MORE lots MORE...I want to go back to the bare necessities in this house, bed, nightstand, dresser, and a rug in each room..... And in the background is the old shed and potting shed that will be torn down EVENTUALLY!

               

   

The old Shed.  My X and I built this shed ourselves way back in 1977....so its amazing that its still standing!

                

The main living area is not  as bad, but a LOT of stuff in closets, drawers, etc. we must have loved to watch videos I took 6 large garbage bags full out of various cabinets, drawers, shelves, and every nook n crannie? Now-a-days my private collection of Videos is about 12, and DVD's about 20.  Trust me, I never liked clutter and kept this house spic n span, but for the past 13 yrs it has not been kept tidy...BUT Thats all gonna change for the better!

The old sectional couch is a motion sofa it has recliners on each end, and I recall its very comfy, it needs a good cleaning and the center cushion may need to be replaced...So I will take care of that..

This house was moved to this location 38 yrs ago....WE appreciated the view of our horses so much we had them locate the house with the FRONT facing the pasture and the BACK is facing the road...So the screen porch which is in back is really the front...does that make sense?  So you enter the house via the screen porch...it needs a lot of TLC even a squirrel has found a way to get into the porch attic! I found his little get away...

              

I've started a pile of what will go to the flea market with me one Saturday in the Future...even if I get a $1 per item...I will be happy....and there will be more added to this pile!

Don't you wish you were here to help me, boy we could have some fun, break for a nice sandwich and a beer and then back to work!!  I enjoy doing physical work, it makes me feel good!

A
Footnote:
ON a very sad note:
I worked only 8 hrs this week...my boss's grand daughter, 4 months old and who was cherished by her family, died suddenly on Thursday morning.  It was quite a shock to us all, we loved hearing about the baby and seeing her photos on facebook and hearing about her life via my boss...So my prayers go out to my boss's daughter & her entire family at this time, the funeral is tomorrow...I wont be attending as they live in another town from me, but my thoughts will be on them tomorrow as they go through this very hard time.

PEACE

Fall is a good time...

TO Plan for the Future!

I'm a big believer in growing my own herbs and so outside my back door I have rosemary, parsley, sage, and I always plant lots of basil in pots.   I save the seeds each yr from the basil and use it to start a new batch in the spring... and bring at least ONE pot indoors before frost, to eat fresh basil until it finally gives up and begins to die back...which can sometimes be well into December!  I think its a good idea to buy an extra packett of seeds when I buy, just in case THE unexpected happens, who knows?  SO while the shelves of retailers is crammed to overflow with cheap Christmas decor, I can pull out the seeds I tucked away and get an early start on my gardening for next yr.  I normally buy extra arugula, spinach, and parsley seeds so I can get a jump on the growing season...you're supposed to start indoors 6 weeks before your last frost, well for me that means I need my seeds to be in the dirt and on the window ledge by March 1.
I dry the herbs and grind them up to use through the winter...

So I save the shaker bottles when I run out of Ms-Dash and other spices...and I fill it up with my own dried herbs, I put a letter on top such as an S for sage, P for parsley, etc!

sage

Rosemary 

I dry the herbs in old baking pan, just let it sit around in a dry location and once the herb is dry enough I use the Magic Bullet to grind it up....

FLICKR ATE MY PHOTOS

Then in the storage containers it goes....

It makes me feel good to know that I CAN grow some of what I eat and I can preserve and save some for the future..its not exactly gonna save me if 12.21.2012 is the last day of civilized life as we know it but I can at least sprinkle a little flavor on my cardboard if it comes to that!

Another way to plan our future is to get out and vote on Tuesday, I voted early with my Mom, people over 65 can vote early and so can their care givers...so my vote has already been cast and counted!! I believe our governing system needs to be completely revamped but UNTIL that happens we have to go with what we have. 

 

PEACE