Slow But Steady

It still looks like a mess, but I'm making progress in here. I expect I'll have it 99.99% finished by the end of the day. Which means I might even be able to sew something soon. But that's putting the cart before the horse.

The Ikea shelves are back together, in place, and halfway loaded. The good news is the bins still to be unpacked take up a lot of room in a box so the remainder of the boxes should go fairly quickly.

Machines still in their boxes, but on my sewing table waiting their turn.

Fabric closet coming along. Here's a tip – if you're going to be moving your fabric closet, take a pic or two before you pack it up. That way you know approximately where the piles should go back to and, more importantly, what's still missing. All I had to do was look back in my blog and I had a road map to start from.

Unfortunately, what you can't see from these few pics is that there is still plenty of sewing room stuff still outside of the sewing room. Oops. My cup overfloweth. ;-)

My biggest concern is my cutting table. It's still on the front porch (yes, really), where it was parked on moving day because it's too big to fit through the door easily. We already had to take one shelf out of it to get it out of the old sewing room. It wouldn't be a huge deal to take it apart outside and put it back together inside, but I'm not sure yet if that will actually work. Since STBExH made it, who knows how it's really put together, and I already know for sure he painted over the screws. I don't know how much time/effort I'm willing to spend on it vs. just replacing it. I'll let you know.

My long weekend will be spent unpacking. I also only work on Tuesday next week and then I'm off again until the following Monday, by which point I'm DETERMINED that EVERYTHING will be put away. I may still have some pictures to hang, but I'm so tired of the boxes that I'm willing to spend "vacation" dealing with them once and for all.

Do you know what this is?

It's exciting, but …

I still have a LOT of work to do in here. Sigh.

Discombobulated Tour

First, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms. We're not doing much to "celebrate" here. Right now all of my boxes are my new children and we will be getting a lot of one-on-one time today. I think later, I'll force ask Alex to walk the neighborhood with me and the dogs, to check things out on a lazy Sunday.

Not a whole lot of unpacking has been happening yet. All of last weekend (it seems anyway) — and then some — was taken up by kitchen remodel, pool set-up, changing locks, and other miscellaneous get-ready tasks. I wasn't doing any of that, but having people here working did take away from my unpacking time. And then I had to go back to work on Tuesday. I've made some progress and I'm plodding along, but it's definitely going to be mid-June before I feel done. That's OK. I'm not in a race.

I just walked around the house and snapped some BEFORE pics. Everything is a disaster right now, except my bedroom which is OK. I've got a ton of Tyler's boxes in there but only because there's no designated spot yet for them either in the garage or in the attic.


So, here we go …

This is my bedroom. Or the dogs'. Depends on who you're asking. I still have books somewhere to unpack and pics to hang, but this room is 85% done.

My bathroom and closet, both of which are really double the size they look in this pic. There's double sinks (like I really need them!) and behind where I was standing is the potty and shower, and a door out to the pool. The cabinets and granite are new. Handles/knobs going on the cabinets soon.

My really big laundry room, which is a very important sewing feature. :-) At some point, I'm going to add a counter but for now, Tyler's old welding table does the trick. Yes, welding table. Don't ask.

One half of the kitchen. The eat-in part, with a big window which overlooks the pool.We haven't actually eaten anything in there yet. I just (mostly) cleared the table for the first time last night.

The other half. It's not my dream kitchen anymore, but it'll do. Especially now with new cabinets and granite. Like the baths, knobs/handles to come soon, plus finishing the backsplash, hanging the microwave, and switching fridges.

One half of the family/great room. This is a HUGE room, and I haven't quite decided on furniture placement yet, except my computer/desk will likely stay …

… right here in the corner since it fits perfectly next to the doors.

Here's another angle. I'm just unpacking knick-knacks and sticking them anywhere so the bookcases look like a thrift store at the moment.

From the other side of the family room, the hallway to the front door. The formal living room is on the left, between here and the front door. Alex's room is the half-open door to the right, where he's still sound asleep. ;-)

The living room, which is 100% disaster. The dining room is at the other side, and circles back to the kitchen from your left as you're looking at this pic.Anyone recognize anything sew-y in here?

Looking back toward the family room from the front door/living room area. My Ikea shelves from my sewing room are dissembled and on the floor at the right. 

Still in the same spot but looking more to the left. The first door is a bathroom, the second is a linen closet, and you can see a small sliver of my sewing room. I showed you that room the other day and nothing has changed yet.

The dogs' favorite feature — a doggie door from the lanai to the yard. It needs to be re-attached in one corner, but it's doing the job right now and fixing it is a lot lower on my list than other things.

The wonderful back yard. I have no idea what that box on the tree is. I just noticed it today myself. It's something electric because there are wires running from it up both trees.

The grassy area is only half of the yard. Beyond the grass, there are still separate plant beds but the path is dirt. There's a little bridge over a "dry creek" as you go deeper back, and beyond that it's more wild. The dogs love it. I love it. Very private, very serene. Yes, I'm in a neighborhood now and there are other houses around, but there's plenty of space between them so you don't feel crowded at all.

I think we need to plan for a sewing/pool party soon. Who's coming?? :-)

Is it nap time yet?

I'm back to work today, where I can finally get some rest. LOL

I haven't sat on my butt this long since last Wednesday. I'm actually writing this post from work too. During my lunch hour people - it's OK. (One thing about being the firm's graphic designer, you get access to all sorts of websites and software that the rest of the peeps don't get. Hahaha!)

I'm still plugging away at unpacking, and will be for weeks to come. The shot of my sewing room the other day, with a sewing machine front and center, was completely impromptu — that's where the machine was just dumped by someone (not me!). I found my Featherweight in the garage yesterday. At least I found it.

I think I'm over the pain enough to share that my moving day was a complete disaster. First, they showed up more t han an hour late. Next, they "somehow" tripled the price. Needless to say, my bank account did not spontaneously triple in response. I was between a rock and hard place and frustrated beyond belief. The short version of a very long story that also involves the stupid company actually calling the POLICE on me (who, BTW, just laughed with me and stayed for a grand total of 45 seconds), is that I hired two of the moving company's way underpaid workers to work for me privately, along with Alex and his friend, and a 26' truck I rented at U-Haul. It took all freakin' day/night (because by the time we actually started, it was already 2 PM), but we got it done. And without me having to give that crap company a dime.

That's Alex and Chili, my two red-headed boys, in the pool Saturday. I'm hoping to dive in tonight after work. I wonder, will my chocolate martini float?

Home Sweet Home

We're here. With a TON to do.