cutting your losses

At least a year ago, I bought a rug on Overstock.  I paid $180 for it – a nice 8×10 orange jute rug.  I thought it would lend a nice pop of color to the dining room.  I got the mailroom guy at work to help me lug it into the car.  Then Greg and I lugged it into the house.  It was like dragging around a dead body.  A very long, skinny, dead body.  We took it out of the plastic slip, began to unroll it, and immediately realized it was way too big for the room.  I’m not sure exactly what my thought process had been in purchasing an 8×10 rug, as it was meant to replace a 6×9 rug that, although drab, fits perfectly under the dining table. But regardless, it was going to cost about $70 to ship it back, so no thanks.  

We spent the better part of that Friday night rolling the rug back up and trying to wrestle it back into the plastic slip.  It was sweaty, exhausting, and dirty work.  Then we lugged it upstairs to the guest room where it awaited its fate.  Until, that is, a few months later when we actually had guests and had to lug it down to the basement, where it lived, propped up on an old door and some cinderblocks, for the next year.

In the ensuing year, I posted the rug on Craiglist several times, just wanting to get some of my $180 back.  I posted it on my office classifieds with no luck.  And all the while we had to climb over and around this stupid thing taking up half the basement.

Finally a few weeks ago, I said enough is enough.  We decided to just load it up and schlep it down to the Goodwill and be done with it.  As a last ditch effort, I asked a friend who had just moved into a rather large apartment that she was trying to fill, and she jumped at the chance.  So last night, after a year and change of kicking this thing around, lugging it here there and everywhere, we loaded it up in the car one last time, lugged it into her apartment, dropped it on the floor and said, “NO BACKS!!”  

This sort of thing happens all the time with me.  I buy something that just isn’t really quite right, but it feels like such a waste to get rid of it so instead I just sit on it for ages and ages and generally avoid dealing with it.  I cringed at the thought of spending $180 on something that we got NO use out of whatsoever.  But honestly, that thing has been such a millstone around my neck that it was just completely not worth the stress.  I think you have to allow yourself to make mistakes like these in life, to just cut your losses and move on. And what we’ve definitely discovered in the past few years of living here is that sometimes the feeling of relief from unburdening yourself of material possessions has far more valuable than the thing itself did.

Oh and as a bonus, my friend sent me a photo of the rug in its new home in her bedroom, and it looks fantastic. Nothing like a little closure.

time is (not) on my side

My coworkers/friends Grace and Josh have just embarked on a cross-country adventure. They quit their jobs, sold most of their possessions, packed up their dog and are making their way from Philadelphia up to Alaska, where they will spend the summer, after which they will drive back down the coast to California on a hunt for a new place to settle. They’re also blogging about it. Obviously this is bittersweet for me, because we will all miss them dearly, but I’m incredibly happy and envious that they’re taking this chance.

Greg and I aren’t packing up our stuff for a cross country move anytime soon (sorry Susanne!) But in my sadness to see them go, I decided to let them inspire me in smaller ways. I worked with Grace for two years, but only in the past few months have I gotten to know her better and was looking forward to spending more time with them. Then came their big announcement. Since then I’ve been kicking myself that we didn’t hang out more, but it’s just one of those classic situations where you think you have plenty of time, and then BAM. You don’t.

So one of the lessons I’m taking away from their adventure is to stop letting time pass me by with nothing to show, stop putting things off for later. Because later comes WAY faster than you think.

First thing to stop procrastinating: Finishing the house. Second thing: Blogging about it.

The happy coincidence about this is that our contractor happened to have started working on two of our big remaining projects today: First floor powder room/airplane bathroom, and the front hallway. Check out some before pictures:

enjoys long walks on the beach

I know I promised a while ago, but here’s some shots of my (not so) recent project. I picked up an old letterpress tray at a flea market a few months back, and decided to use it to display all the little sand samples I’ve been collecting. I try to remember to bring sand back from the various beachy places we go, but don’t always remember a suitable container, and as a result have been known to shove loose handfuls of it into my pockets when necessary. Thankfully Greg tends to have random extra dog poop bags in his pockets. I got the apothecary bottles from American Science & Surplus, which is the most addicting online shop for weird little fun supplies.

I do want to ask everyone’s opinion though. I actually had made a little shadowbox kind of display for the collection a while back, but I was looking for something to do with the letterpress tray and wanted to try this. What do you guys think? Which do you prefer?

A dab of obsession plus a dash of compulsion

I think I’ve posted before about my terrible case of house-related ADD.  The minute I think about a project, there’s about fifteen other projects that immediately jump to mind, and they’re all jostling for my attention.  Over the years I’ve learned that multitasking house projects is a recipe for half-assed disaster. So I’ve been trying something new lately, inspired by my attempt to develop a meditation practice: I obsessively focus one ONE project.

It started a few weeks ago when Greg was away camping.  A weekend alone makes my mind reel with the possibilities of what I’ll get done when I’m not pressured to do annoying things, like leave the house and eat real meals.  Unfortunately history has taught me that a free weekend full of possibilities can quickly turn into a depressing Sunday night of failure when you try to fit too much in.  I typically go through four stages:  1.  Excitement.  2.  Overwhelmingness (yes I just made up that word) 3. Paralysis and 4. Eating a block of cheese and watching X-Files reruns.  

Actually remembering these past failures, this time I decided not to overdo it.  My only goal for the entire weekend was to finish painting the new bedroom doors, and do it well.  A very doable project.  Anything more than that was free game.  So leading up to the weekend, I kept thinking about the doors, and nothing else.  I burned it into my brain.  ”Just paint the doors.  Just paint the doors.  Just paint the doors.”  And amazingly, it worked.  I painted the damn doors.  I listened to some podcasts, took time to tape everything off, get all my materials gathered, and do it properly.  And since I felt so gosh darn good about myself for doing that, I was able to spend the rest of the weekend (between coats of paint) doing things like hanging out reading at a coffee shop and going out for dinner and drinks with friends, and yes, watching X-Files reruns.  But it wasn’t depressing, “I love you Mulder, but I should really be working on cleaning up the office” X-Files reruns, it was actual “I deserve to hang out with my boyfriend Fox because I worked so hard on those doors” X-Files reruns.  

So I’ve been putting this to use on other projects and it seems to be working pretty well.  Going into this past weekend, my only goal was to switch out my winter clothes.  So when Sunday came and the drizzle started drizzling, I was all prepared with what to do.  

Next on the obsession list?  Working on the laundry room.  But the trick is that I didn’t think about it.  It was somewhere in the distant back of my mind that the laundry room needed to be cleaned up, but I kept that feeling at bay and didn’t let it get in the way of the “switch out my winter clothes” declaration.  But it was there, patiently waiting in the wings for when the closet
was done, at which point it jumped out and screamed, “IS IT MY TURN!?!  Oh pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!!!”  So Monday afternoon while the rest of the east coast was suffering devastating  wind and storm surges, I was hunkered down with the vacuum, some masking tape and a Sharpie, as evidenced by my last post.

What’s that you say?  Three instances do not a trend make? Well first off that’s actually wrong, according to my memory of plotting points on a graph in geometry. But if that’s not enough for you, stay tuned for the results of my most recent obsessive project…

Cabin fever cleaning

If only we had more hurricanes, I’d get so much done around here. I spent yesterday performing the dreaded semiannual “Seasonal Clothing Switch.” Normally that happens in about January after I’ve made do with layering all my summer clothes over tights for three freezing months. Not this time, no sirree. I finished up work at about 1 this afternoon and spent a few hours reclaiming the laundry room. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take any before pictures, but try to imagine piles of old dog beds and blankets, overflowing boxes, bags of donation clothing, and a metric ton of cat hair and dust. Got the picture? Ok, then take a look at the semi-finished product:

The pegboard is “attached” to the washer (i.e. propped up against) with magnetic clips and holds the majority of the attachments for my beloved Dyson vacuum. And yes, the attachments do sometimes fall off during a particularly rigorous spin cycle. And yes, it does scare the crap out of us.

A suction cup hook on the side of the dryer holds our laundry bags.

The Martha in me wanted to label everything with daintily typed stickers, but in the absence of that nice stuff, I did some half-assed masking tape labels.

I even labeled the hamper, and hung a bag that’s to be used specifically for bleachable items!

I also finally set up the folding table that I picked up a few months ago because I was so tired of trying to fold fitted sheets without letting them touch the cat-hair-and-dust-laden floor. Why not fold them on the bed, you ask? Because then they’d touch the dog-hair-laden duvet. Duh.

Who knows what sort of fun/nerdy project I’ll work on tomorrow! That is, if we still have a house tomorrow.

Also, I’d like to thank Zac for outing this blog and forcing me to post something. You should now go read his blog, where he’ll actually be doing real things, as opposed to posting about masking tape labels.

Remember this kitchen?

Remember how we spent a lot of time and a ridiculous amount of money to have it professionally gutted and rebuilt from the ground up? Yeah, I vaguely remember that too. And I was just thinking about what high hopes I had for it. It was going to be the heart of the house, I was going to cook delicious meals involving things like risotto and produce from the farmer’s market and have friends over and sit around the table laughing and eating and drinking wine. I think I could count the number of dinner parties we’ve had on a woodshop teacher’s one hand, and when I do cook I try to find the simplest recipes possible and get out. The cabinets are disorganized, the walls are blank, and there’s a layer of grime on everything.

Well it’s time to do this kitchen justice. For the next couple of weeks I’m going to be giving it some TLC, including a good cleaning from top to bottom, reorganizing the cabinets and drawers and adding some decorative touches.

It’s a small room, but when you start to work on it you realize all of the nooks and crannies involved and it starts to feel pretty overwhelming pretty quickly. Then I start to think about the rest of the house and all the nooks and crannies that need to be gotten into and all of the junk that needs to be sorted through and the dust and pet hair and….and then I start to hyperventilate. So that’s why I need to reel myself back in and focus on the kitchen.

In the mean time, please enjoy the following photos of my shame:

tall or short?

vs.

Hey all, I’m doing a survey. I’m trying to gussy up my craft room a bit, which includes getting a new table. The question is, do I want a regular table or something counter height? Would it give my back a bit of a break if I’m standing at a counter or sitting at a table? Lower tables are easier to come by, but higher tables are kind of nice. HELP!

let there be (recessed) light

The electricians finished today. Normally having your house rewired is one of those absurdly expensive undertakings with almost no visible reward except for the comfort of knowing that your house probably won’t burn down now due to electrical malfunctions in your 100+ year old wiring. However, when we got the estimate, the electrician recommended having recessed lights installed in the living room and dining room. I was hesitant at first, and not just because he was trying to upsell a project that would add another 30% to the bill. I have definitely felt like the first floor tends to feel like a dank and drab pit, but putting in recessed lighting just felt like such a can of worms. I’m gonna be perfectly honest, sometimes working on this house feels like putting lipstick on a pig. When you’re trying not to do a complete gut job, it’s really tough to know how much to do before the house starts to feel incongruous. Like super modern stainless steel kitchen + dinged up molding with nine layers of paint and uneven walls isn’t terribly appealing. Yes, that looks fabulous in magazines, not so much in my own house. So I felt like recessed lighting was just going to draw attention to the fact that the rest of the house looks like crap. Ok, so I’m being a tad unfair. But it just seemed like a modern feature that would feel out of place among the hodgepodge.

Still, Bill the electrician insisted that I think about it, that it would actually probably make the room feel bigger and the ceilings feel higher, and would add to the charm without overshadowing it. Bill’s a good salesman. But to his point, they were poking a bunch of holes in everything, so why not poke some more.

SO we did it. And you know what? It is AMAZING. I never knew lighting could make me feel this way. The first floor now feels open and airy and fancy. I finally feel like I’m living in a big girl house. Not to mention we now have something to show for that humungous check we wrote.

LIVING ROOM BEFORE:

LIVING ROOM AFTER:

DINING ROOM AFTER:

I wish I knew how to take photos that would give you all a sense of the difference, but I did my best here. I guess you’ll all just have to come to the party. Yes Leann, we’re having a party! Spring Fling in late May – pencil us in. That should give us *just* about enough time to clean up the plaster dust.

The next phase

Ohhhhhh folks!  Big things are in the works in these here parts.  Beginning tomorrow a team of electricians will descend on the house and turn it into a swiss cheese, yet again.  Then at some point (hopefully not too long) after that, our regular contractor is coming to make it into a whole cheese again, along with some other projects here and there.  Then, Henry Sanding Floor comes to refinish the stairs (which we should have done when he did the rest of the house way back before we moved in but we cheaped out as usual).  And then…….WE’RE DONE!

Ok ok, so we won’t be totally done.  There’s still the front door to contend with, and repainting all the walls that will be damaged during the swiss-cheesing, and the vestibule, and general decorating.  But the bulk of the large (and ridiculously expensive) projects will be completed.  And then maybe….just maybe….I’ll feel like we’re in a good place with things.

30 day challenge: Pomodoro cleaning

Although I love the autumn and everything that comes with the change of seasons, as soon as the weather turns crisp my mind can’t help jumping ahead to the most depressing day of the year: January 2nd. Last year’s long cold snowy winter was pretty torturous for everyone, so this year I’m trying to take a few steps to avoid the soul crushing doldroms that January brings. Firstly, I bought Greg snowshoes for his birthday, in the hopes that it will give us a fun outdoor activity to get us out of the house. And secondly, I’d like to try to set 30 day challenges for myself. I’m thinking maybe if I have something to focus on during the dreary months it will give my life a little more purpose than just shivering on the couch and counting the minutes to April. Going forward I’ll probably try to start these on the 1st of the month, but in the interest of getting things started I’m starting out breaking the rules.

September 30 Day Challenge: Pomodoro cleaning

Cleaning is something that I just hate. It feels like one of those things that you spend hours toiling over and before you know it the house is filthy and you have to start over again. It’s like cooking – I just can’t quite get over the fact that you can’t just do it all and be done with it forever. We’ve tried having “Monday Cleaning Night” but you can imagine how popular that was in the house – combining a Monday with cleaning. I thought of instituting a chore jar, but sort of figured it would play out like Lisa trying to get Homer and Bart to help out around the house:

Lisa: Okay, now we’re gonna draw jobs from the chore hat!
Homer: Come onnnn ‘bikini inspector’…. ‘Scrub toilet’?!? Okay, that was a practice…Practice…practice…. Okay, here we go – ‘feed fish’.
Bart: I’ll supervise!
Lisa: You know, the reason for the hat…
Homer: Oh, it’s a great hat. No one’s questioning the hat.
Lisa: Will you at least do the dishes?
Homer: Lisa, I’ll do the dishes when I pick it out of the chore hat and it’s not a practice….. See, there it is! But that was a practice. The system works!

My mom and sister and I, in our many conversations about the drudgery of housework, have talked about using a timer to get stuff done. But like most things, even though I know it’s a good idea and it works, for some inexplicable reason I just never do it. So I thought it would be a perfect experiment – can you really keep a large-ish house clean on 25 minutes a day?

I’m going to refer to this by the official commercialized version, The Pomodoro Techique, mainly just because “Pomodoro cleaning” sounds a bit punchier than the alternative “25 minute cleaning”. Plus the website is kind of neat and helpful.

Here’s the rules I’ve given myself for this challenge:

• I’m only committing to doing this on weekdays, because weekends are for fun things, not cleaning
• Because I will only be devoting 5 days a week to this challenge, which doesn’t cover every room in the house, I’m going to focus on the more heavily trafficked areas
• If I decide that I want to have a free evening, I reserve the right to do multiple Pomodoros in one day
• Main areas of focus will be the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallways, bedroom and 2nd floor bathroom, with the guest room, office and craft room being bonus areas

Ok wish me luck! I’ll keep you all updated. Unless of course I give up after two days, in which case I’ll just delete this post and pretend I never said any of this.