Tinkerblue

Our House is Officially for Sale

http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/default.aspx?tourid=720704&locale=en-US

 

 

A Bottle of Wine + 4Hours = A Clean Garage

It's taken me 5 days to clean this house. I started at the top and worked my way down.

I decluttered as I went. Which basically means I moved everything into the garage. Dave came by yesterday and took a truck load of rubbish away. Even then I still couldn't see the floor.

Last night I opened a bottle of Merlot, courtesy of Gail and got to work. The wine made the 4 hours of sorting and cleaning fly by.

The result? I put out 3 boxes of recycling this morning. I wonder if they'll take it all? There's another two big bags of garbage.

I have enough crap for another garage sale. That or I'm just going to get Big Brothers to come by and collect it all. Oh and I found some stuff that I forgot we even owned.

Woohoo now there's room to put my car back in the garage. Except it's pouring and it was 1:00am when I finished and I couldn't be bothered moving it.

The garage has never been so clean.

Our House Is For Sale

Wanna buy it?

http://www.kenambrosehomes.ca/pitt-meadows-townhouses.html/details-24407419

I Never Did Like 20 Questions.

As I move forward in the new version of my life I am constantly plagued by indecision.

When DQ left I started questioning everything that was the life I thought I knew. What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently? What's wrong with me? So it goes on.

I may be shy but I'm usually a fairly confident person. However a byproduct of suddenly finding myself single is that my self confidence has been shattered.

That means I either can't make a decision or if I do actually make a decision I have no confidence in it. I question everything, a thousand times over. It is a good decision? Or is it just the easy way out? Is it the decision I want to make? Or is it the decision that I think others are expecting me to make? Is it a decision based on common sense? Or emotionally fraught? Is it based on opportunity and challenge? Or running away? Is it okay for right now, but the wrong one for 6 months from now?

All that to decide if I want an apple or a banana? No wonder I constantly feel exhausted.

Nah, I'm talking more life altering decisions. Do I want a job that I'll like or a job that pays well? Are money and benefits the deciding factor? Do I want full time work? Do I want seasonal work? Do I want a desk job? Or retail? Or back on a hotel front desk? What about a resort somewhere that offers staff accommodation? Then I don't need to find somewhere to live. Here? Australia? Somewhere else? Do I take a short term opportunity that pays little, would be fun, but could end in a month, might last 6 months?

I need a magic eight ball and two Tylenol.

So dinner. Meatballs? Chimichanga? Chicken and veggies? Chocolate? That's an easy choice.

Killer Whale by Cody Mathias

This makes me smile. Is it not beautiful? It's a killer whale carved by Cody Mathias of the Coast Salish First Nation.

I bought it last summer from the Spirit Gallery in Horseshoe Bay. I originally bought it to give as a gift, but then selfishly decided to keep it for myself.

The killer whale is a symbol of strength and family. I can use all the strength and family I can get right now.

Advent Calendar Day #2 - Decorate

I couldn't bring myself to put the tree up and hang all the ornaments. It just seemed wrong (and lonely) to do the tree alone. So if anyone's around on Monday evening and wants to help me decorate my (fake) Christmas tree, I'll provide the bubbly and maybe some cookies.

I did however get out some of my other decorations. Mainly in the dining room and mainly all involving candles. I love to sit on the sofa and watch the candles flickering light and the dancing shadows.

Most of these decorations are handmade, given to me my friends or family or purchased on my travels. I like the memories they invoke, of the places I've been, of the people I've met, of the friends I hold dear, and the family I love.

Shoe Storage - Plastic Shoe Boxes

Continuing on with the clean up my wardrobe theme. Oh how exciting my life has become. I can see my mum and hubby rolling their eyes. Actually I can hear my mum, "Only you could talk about shoe boxes/coat hangers/insert appropriate word here."

 

We keep most of our shoes in the closet at the front door. If they don't fit in the closet then they live on the floor, or in with the hot water tank and Christmas decorations.

 

 

Until now. While shopping in the States over the weekend I picked up a box of boxes. 20 boxes on sale for $29.80. That's $1.49 a box. If they didn't work for shoes, I'd use them for crafts or hubby would use them at the hangar. 

 

 

They worked. I can see all my shoes. And the mess is gone from the floor. Can't guarantee it will stay gone.

 

 

And hubby's Blundstone's are all lined up under the bench. Well not all of them. There are still some in the closet and I'm assuming that he has a pair on his feet right now.  He has so many pairs that I found a pair with the tags still on. He's never worn them. He has black, brown, red elastic, steel toe, black dress and 2 pairs of sandals. All Blundstones. All made in Tassie. He hasn't bought any since they moved the factory to Vietnam.

 

 

Ironic isn't it. I have so many pairs of shoes, but I prefer being barefoot.

 

Huggable Hangers

Over the weekend I was reading Sara's You, Me and Anthropologie blog. She was giving a tour of her new closet. She mention that hanging space was at a premium. Several commenters posted that she should try the huggable hangers - they take up less room and clothing doesn't slide off them. The originals are from The Container Store ($9.99 for 6). Amazon ($25.00 for 50) and Target ($19.99 for 34 piece combo pack) both have versions of them to.  I kind of thought that would be nice but didn't give it much thought after that.

 

Then I was in Costco, just outside of Seattle, and they had a box of 50 for $12.00. So I thought why not give them a try. For $12.00 if they don't work it doesn't really matter.

 

Today I swapped out most of my assortment of  wood and green and white plastic hangers for the black velvety huggable hangers. Guess what? They actually appear to take up less space. I even hung up stuff that that had been relegated to a drawer. And there's still a chunk of closet at the back that is empty.

 

And I like that all the hangers are the same. Now I want another box so I can remove the rest of the plastic hangers.  I like the symmetry. Get over it. 

 

Skirts will be next. Yep, I own a crap load of skirts. Who'd have thought. Anyone want my old plastic hangers? There's about 50 of them.

Anenome Light. I Don't Need It, but I Want It

 

How cool would this anenome light from Jonathan Adler look in our dining room?

Told You I'd Want to Redecorate

I went to the Home and Garden show yesterday.  It's always dangerous when I do this.  I didn't buy or order anything at the show.  But I do have big plans for our house! Not really. Just for the living room and the 2nd bathroom.

This is our living room now.

I've developed a liking for yellow. I want to change out the rug, for a yellow rug.

From the Florence Broadhurst Collection by Cadrys. Available in Canada from:

Modern Weave or Weavers Art or East India Carpets 

Japanese Fans in Saffron, Japanese Floral in Saffron, Honeycomb in Saffron

The prices are available on application. That can't be good. My favourite is in the centre  - the Japanese Floral. I'll take it in 8 x 10 please.

   

From Anthropologie:

 

 

Whorled Trapunto Rug  8 x 10 $998.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet as Honey Rug 8 x 10 $1698.00

 

 

And then I want to hang curtains over the sliding door. Like these waving stripes curtains in yellow.

 

I would like this storage ottoman for our Wii paraphenalia. It's big enough to store the remotes, the 2 rockband guitars, the drumkit, the wii fit board and the games. I'd put it between the fireplace and the wall (behind the green chair). And we could use it as extra seating when we have friends over for drinks.

 

Oh and I'm still looking for a new coffee table.  One that I can buy in the US or Canada.