SHUFFLING ALONG

Antique Victorian Dresser with Mirror

SUCCESS!  Hunny and I did it.  Two large pieces of furniture have been shuffled into new locations in our small COTTAGE.  There was huffing and puffing a plenty, but overall we managed pretty well for two peeps in their 70s.  I look at this as exercise for the day.  There was weight lifting for sure.   

The High Boy is sitting in the Tv room polished.  After three years in storage, this piece is finally in our HOME.  It took us three trips to the storage unit to get all the pieces of the furniture. That's 3 hours of traveling altogether and about 15 minutes to load up the pieces and 30 minutes to unload plus a whole lot of effort to shuffle the pieces into place.  Each trip was in the heat of Summer.  

Hubs said he'll fill the drawers with his art supplies on Tuesday and I can fill the antique Victorian Dresser drawers full of our family pics as well.  What a thrill it is to be as far along as we are.  For an old woman struggling to get settled in this tiny COTTAGE, we've made progress.

Our High Boy that's been in storage for three years is HOME.

I feel like we really made a dent in our downsizing and organizing. Even with so much more to do, my attitude is better.  Feeling happier as an individual about being here in this location.  I have been overwhelmed at times when thinking about what all needs to be done to bring us up to speed on the property.

Storage is at a premium.  We have made serious progress which puts a smile on my face.  So pleased this got done.  Sooooo pleased.

After the Victorian Dresser with a Mirror was slid into place, the old lamp was placed on the marble top becoming a mood lamp with a flicker bulb.  Love it.  It looks so nice to me.  I stepped back in time for a moment and I know my blood pressure lowered. 

I'll polish up the piece later.  Better to wait until I am more energized.

~d

PLENTY FOR A SATURDAY and CURBING MY APPETITE FOR STUFF

BALANCING life's chores with aging takes some skill to pace oneself.  I am concerned about keeping up at our age.  

What are the things in LIFE to work toward or needed?  Necessities change as one ages.  Desires may as well.  I'd very much like to have this COTTAGE spruced up and comfortable for our old age.  The biggest challenge right now is having way too much stuff about us, in the garage and storage units.  WAY TOO MUCH DISORDER.  Downsizing is a priority as rebuilding the porch is as well.  What a HUGE project for us.

Hunny has done so much so far tearing down the old 125 year old porch that was collapsing.  We have purchased and transported HOME the replacement parts.  Porch posts and spindles.  Wood slates.  The tear out led to finding the rock foundation underneath collapsing needing rebuilt which wasn't known before the tear out.  It was looking like an excavating location.  

Our son-in-law helped with jack hammering the concrete steps a few days ago.  The huge chunks of concrete need hauled off now.  Our Son has been helping to rebuild the foundation with his Pop.  Hard work for my men.  

LAST NIGHT, we had a Friday night GAMBINO's Mobster Pizza and a Taco Pizza for supper before an evening movie.  It's been a HOT minute since we had PIZZA.  Enjoyed our Son being with us as company.  Hubby fell asleep during the flick being exhausted after working most of the day rebuilding the porch foundation of limestone.  They are doing an excellent job on this task.  Excellent.

PIZZA TIME.

PLANS FOR THE DAY.  This won't be in order.  Walk, laundry, buzz to the grocery store for a Sunday pot roast, pay the phone bill, work on front bedroom, wash the little car and possibly vac it out.  Plenty for a Saturday. 

SEEMS TO BE CONSTANT SHUFFLING TO MAKE OUR COTTAGE WORK FOR US.  I shouldn't complain, but I do and it is overwhelming at times.  I have to have a workable solution with this dilemma on my hands.  Getting a bulky bookcase shuffled to the front room from the Kitchen doesn't seem like it should be a dilemma, but it is getting where the piece can be moved.  

Before the Bathroom linen cabinet was created, a wooden book case was being used to hold bathroom toiletries.  That bookcase is now resting in the Kitchen holding this and that because the beautiful linen cabinet is finished.  Praise God.  This book case will temporarily be moved to the front bedroom to hold my stash of quilts before actual floor to ceiling bookshelves are built. The dilemma is in where to go with the this and that which are on the bookcase in the Kitchen and then walking the case to the front bedroom.  Where it will sit has to be cleared out so it can go there.  This will be tricky as the room is small and full of STUFF that's longing for a place to rest besides where it is presently.  REBOOT.

If I clear out the Kitchen cabinet above the stove I could use this space for the this and that.  I could temporarily box up the crystal that is in this space.  hum. Another shuffle.  Boo Hish. 

CONTINUED DOWNSIZING.  I turned loose of a quilt and a treadmill this past week.  Two more things turned loose of.  This doesn't sound like much, but every little thing moved out helps to downsize.  The treadmill hasn't been used by me in about a year.  The quilt went to a young person that needed some bedding.  

I believe to downsize, I will box up more of my dolls and wait to display them after the front bedroom bookshelves are built.  I can turn loose of more dolls.  

If  I can just work at these projects, I will be better organized.  PART OF THE PROBLEM is that we were not settled before BIG PROJECTS had to be worked on.  LIKE A BATHROOM and FRONT PORCH.  We weren't planning on rebuilding the front porch until next year, but the columns were sinking into the wood slates as the porch began collapsing right before our eyes. Not desired, but a reality needing taken care of.  It seems like the porch columns were fine and in a blink of an eye they began making a descend.  sigh.

Doing what I can on a small scale becomes a big thing especially when elderly.  Rethinking how to do this all.  The actual physical movement/motion has to take place along with the mental thinking.  If I just think about it and get nothing moved then it is pointless.  The actual physical activity HAS TO TAKE PLACE.  End of story.

HOUSE KEEPING/HOME MAKING has to take place while the working environment isn't picture perfect.  Working amongst the messes is the way it is.  Sometimes I get very overwhelmed with it all.

I believe I will down scale what we have on hand, making sure what we have is of a better quality. Nicer towels and bedsheets.  Nice dishes and china.  Good pots 'n pans and bakeware plus mixing bowls, etc.  Sturdy furniture and good appliances.  The Nic-nac stuff will be at a minimum. Same with books, pictures, dolls, collections.  None of it can go with me when I leave this earth.  I'd rather have my things in order than the mess I have at present.  This rest of this year and into 2026, the downsizing will continue as I prepare for an auction or big garage sale in the Spring/Summer.  Where are those boxes?  My HOBBY for now is this clean-up.

Don't be hasty, but don't be slow either to get things in order.  How much time and effort went into gathering STUFF for our estate just to turn loose of it because we don't have the room or need?  Being wise at how to turn loose takes effort.  Curbing my appetite for STUFF is an actual THING.  I think I need to have an Etsy shop or something productive where the extras are sold.  

My little bean that I think with gets overwhelmed at times.  All this shuffling about at my age is getting to me.  Lord, HELP.  I can do what needs done.  It's unproductive to stall out.

Where do I begin my activities for the day?  Laundry is in.  I can fold a load of towels and put them away.  Bills to write out and get paid.  A trip to the grocery store over in a different community.  Work some in the front room.  A fresh day.  Plenty for Saturday.

Dear Lord, I pray that today will be blessed as I have a full load of things to do.  May it be done with happiness and joy.  

ABOUT 57 degrees outside with clear skies makes for a nice day to go for a walk.  I truly need to get my walk in.  

Blessings,

~d

SHUFFLING FURNITURE IN OUR SMALL FIXER-UPPER COTTAGE WITH ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

SUNDAY WAS VERY PRODUCTIVE.  ahhhh. My heart is singing. THANKFUL we got so much done.

Hubby made the trip to the HARDWARE STORE for the supplies he needed.  I stayed HOME for some quiet time that I sorely needed.  I didn't get my hair shampooed so I'll try again.

I got dressed and groomed, placed some laundry in and blogged.  Time out.  After LUNCH we slide the bulky Queen size mattress and boxed springs into the pink bedroom, but first boxes in the front Bedroom had to be removed out of the way.  Living room furniture and Dining room items in the way had to be shuffled to make a safer path for its new destination.  That in itself felt like a great accomplishment.  

When the two pieces were propped up in the pink room, I was thankful we got this far. The long awaited task was DONE.  Made my heart sing a grand melody.  Satisfaction flooded my soul. This had been on my mind for months and finally happened.  Not bad for two old people with ailments.

We carefully carried the headboard, footboard and side boards into the room placing them right beside the mattress and box.  A good feeling.  Look at that.  We made progress into turning the small TV room into a much needed Bedroom AGAIN.  It's been a year since we disassembled the Victorian Bed room and made a TV room.  Lived with it this way for a year and decided that the other Bedroom is better use of space for our TV room/Family room, but this time the Bedroom will be filled with 1930s furniture that belonged to my Hubby's Grandparents.  

Next the chest of drawers would be moved out of this room and into the small pink Bedroom. We took the 4 large drawers out of the piece and wheeled it into the pink room then placed the drawers back into the body of the piece.  Another accomplishment.  I cleaned the vacuum out so it would suck up old dirt in the corner of the room where this piece had sat.  Ready for its replacement, the Victorian dresser.

A path has been cleared out of the front Bedroom that is crammed full of this and that.  Wished I had snapped a pic so you could see the disaster that looks like hoarders live here.  Help somebody.  I can see the wall on the other side of the room where the chest of drawers was.

We had to detach the Victorian mirror from the body of the Victorian dresser that sat in the pink room.  This piece is extremely heavy.  The mirror came off then the marble slab top was removed and carried to the front bedroom.  The large heavy drawers were removed and carried to the front bedroom.  We wheeled the body of the dresser into the room and assembled the piece back together placing it in the new corner location.  Everything went well.  No breakage or injury. PTL.

After we got this far we took the evening off.  Feeling good about what we got done today on swapping the rooms.  We talked about the next step toward this task.  I'll clean off the vanity that is still in the front room then shuffle it into the pink room.  I figure that after I get the Victorian Dresser polished that I can sit folded bedding on top of it.  

Making some sense out of this.  The room has piles of bedding waiting for a new place to rest.  I have had no place to store it, but will need to create one soon.  For now the spot on top of the dresser will be a temporary spot.

The cedar chest will be shuffled where the vanity is sitting right now.  I will move it to the other side of the room so the cedar chest will sit in its new place to hold the large television set.  A temporary stand for the TV.  Later a corner closet will be torn out making the wall longer so the old buffet we have been using as a TV stand can resume its position.  This project will come much later.  sigh.

Right now the tv is resting on the sofa covered with a bedspread.  Perhaps by next week-end it will be hooked up again in the new TV room.  While we have no tele at the moment, I am using my laptop computer to watch late night movies like ANNE OF GREEN GABLES starring Ella Ballentine as Anne, Martin Sheen as Matthew and Sara Botsford as Marilla.  I've seen the movie before, but it is as good as ever.  I enjoyed it so much that I will watch the other two in the series. This version is well done and family friendly.

When the large TV is up and going again I will watch the movie again where the cinematography will be much appreciated.  While I watched the show, it made me want to walk in wide open spaces where the wind sways the flowers and whispers in my ear that I am accepted just as I am with no competition with another human being.  Just me and nature where I can pray freely out loud to God about life without any interruptions.  I long for this.

TODAY, I have plans of babysitting a grandson, do some laundry, pack up the things off the top of the vanity before it is moved, walk a mile and read.  May it be a blessed day.  Amen.

God, please watch over us and grant us peace.

~d