::::yawn:::::

I'm exhausted, but I'm feeling very hopeful. I've had more of that relentless forward progress happening since I last blogged.

Are you ready for this?

The garage and the back porch are.....empty.

Ok. Maybe not entirely, but enough that the builder was 'flabbergasted' that I had gotten as far as I have with it. So now we're finally in the planning stage!!

There are still a couple of things in the garage. The big plywood fireplace that we bring into the house every year to hang stockings on at Christmas is out there, the spare refrigerator that we keep water and eggs from the backyard chickens is in there, and there's a bedroom set that we've got to get into Scooter's bedroom. The grill is still on the porch, as is the porch swing and a table. I'll be selling the table, but we're keeping the swing and the grill, so they'll just need to be moved out of the way when the time comes. Oh. yeah. There's also a barrel on the porch that has camp chairs in it. I'm not sure where I'll be storing those until we use them, but they have to be washed at the car wash before I put them away until we use them again.

Considering that the porch was completely covered and the garage was full top to bottom, side to side, and end to end, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I've sold several things and made a few hundred dollars. Hubster took the bath surround we'd bought a few years ago back to the big box store. Thankfully, it was still in stock, so he was able to return it. We now have a credit to be used toward the renovations we'll be doing, so that will be handy.

I can't even imagine how many hundreds, (thousands?) of pounds of stuff has been thrown away! There's been some stuff donated, as well, but for the most part the stuff has gone to the trash. I've kept some stuff to look through later, because I just couldn't think clearly enough to make any more decisions about it at the time. I think that what I actually kept was only between 10-15% of the total that was out there. That total will go down, as I have the time to sort through it all when I'm thinking more clearly.

I'm having problems deciding whether or not to keep the stuff we'd gotten to redo the bathroom years ago, or if I should sell it and go a different route. The toilet and sink are a matched set, and I love the look of them, but the toilet is just a typical height. We're so used to the taller toilets that I don't know, if we should keep that one...I'm wondering, if it would be a fall risk for Hubster, since it's shorter. We're also wondering, if it would be better to have a small vanity in there instead of the pedestal sink that matches the toilet. We'd be able to put a reverse osmosis machine in a cabinet, which would allow access to purified water without having to go upstairs. Granted, we wouldn't have any storage, but we've gone all these years without it that I don't know, if it would matter, anyway. I could always hang some cute baskets on the walls for storage, so there are options.

Decisions must be made, but the fibro fog is thick, and it is so hard to think clearly.

I think I need sleep.

Decisions delayed.

I'm so frustrated. I feel like I got nothing accomplished today at all. Heck. I didn't accomplish anything today. At. All.

It rained today, so it's probably a good thing I didn't plan on painting anything. The humidity reading is 99% tonight. Blech. I don't do well with humidity. I'm hoping to get out there and get things finished up tomorrow, if I can, but the forecast calls for wind, so we'll see. Painting outside when it's windy is a bit counter productive.

I realized the other day that I never gave an update on The Rock. It was the one that I couldn't decide, if I was going to throw away or keep. I really struggled with it, taking it out of the trash after I'd thrown it away and then throwing it once again. I decided to leave it in the trash bag overnight and take it out the next morning, if I decided to keep it.

I left it in the bag. By the next day, I'd all but forgotten it. I'd remembered it was in the bag when it was tossed, but by then the impulse to rescue it was gone. I'm finding that I can make better decisions sometimes, if I delay making the decision for 24 hours.

I know that delaying decisions is one of the things that got me into this mess in the first place, but i am finding that delaying the decision on a single thing really does help. I try to give myself no more than a day or two, but I find that when I go back to the item after I've had a break from it I know how I'm going to handle the situation.

Several months ago, I'd painted a small cupboard that had 2 doors below 2 small drawers with a hutch on top with glass shelves and doors. We had every intention of using it for part of a an entertainment center for the family room downstairs, but once it was painted and put in position, we realized it wouldn't work. It was going to go on one wall in the corner, and the bookshelf I have outside that I'm still working on was going to go on the other wall in the corner. However, the first one would block the view of the second one, and the second one is where the TV would be located.

Once I realized this, I tried for a couple of days to decide where I could use it. I realized that I couldn't. I decided I was going to get rid of it. We no longer needed it, and at the very least, I could get the money we'd put into it out of it. I told Bugster about it, and she loved it for her bedroom, because it really did look nice with the new paint job. She bought it for the $30 bucks I put into it, and I didn't have to mess with selling it.

Plus, I have a little more money to add to the Found Money Fund.

I'll take it.

It's not like we actually got rich.

There is nothing like a nice hot shower after 2 days of working outside in dust and grime. Nothing quite like it. And the water was just so much hotter than I remember it being just yesterday. Ahhh. So refreshing!

We still have some work that needs to be done, because things weren't up to code. So between the repairs and the cost of the permit, we had to add an additional $300 onto the cost. It didn't help that installation was almost $300. I really hate that we couldn't have done it ourselves and saved a few hundred bucks, but we weren't comfortable working with the natural gas. At least we have hot water again. I'm not complaining!

Another thing I'm not complaining about? There were a few boxes of paperwork that had been out on the porch. I had to sort through them quickly to blow the dust out of them with the air hose and put them in a plastic tote to keep the bugs out, but I found something interesting when I was going through them. I found the receipt to the shower surround that we had to sell on Craigslist, because we couldn't find the receipt.

It wasn't just a store receipt, because the surround we'd gotten had been on clearance. They had to look up the number for us to get the price, because it was no longer in the system way back when we bought it even. So I was thrilled yesterday when I saw the receipt said we paid $105 and change for it. We sold it for $110. It was really nice to not have lost any money on it even though we'd had it for 8 years.

I still have the cash from it, too. I really should put it in the bank, so nothing happens to it. It's just nice to know we have the Found Money Fund in cash. You know. Just in case. You never know when something is going to come up. I'm trying really hard to save up for a piece of antique furniture, so we have something to show for our efforts when all is said and done. Time will tell how big our fund gets and what we'll end up buying. It's fun to know the money is there and waiting for us.

Know what else is waiting for me?

My bed.

Well laid plans and all that.

Yeah. So. I wasn't as productive Saturday as I was hoping to be. I needed help with making the cubby for above the stove and refrigerator, but hubby couldn't help. He ended up in pain from an abscessed tooth. Was on pain medications all day, but they only took the edge off. And it's really hard to work under such circumstances. You know? So spent some time with the family hanging out.

We finished using up all the ketchup packets. It's nice that the only ketchup in the fridge is now in a bottle.

And we sold the shower enclosure. The guy came and picked it up. Yay! We can add $110 to that found money I talked about awhile back. It's motivational to see it adding up!

We're sort of looking into infrared saunas. The heat is supposed to go deeper into your body than a conventional heating pad. It seems like some days all I do is have my heating pad set to high. Anyone have any experience with them? I'd love opinions from people who have personally used them!

Hanging out with the family tomorrow again. It should be fun. Hoping that I can really get back to things on Monday.

Did you hear the glue?

The bad news is that I haven't come across the notebook yet. But I can't see moving a bunch of paperwork to look for it and not actually sorting the paperwork.

The good news is that I've been sorting through 18 years of paperwork and getting rid of stuff. That's worth a "Woot! Woot!" all on it's own. Add to the fact that I also found the receipt for a shower surround that we bought in February 2002 and never installed, because it wouldn't fit around the window in the shower, and I'm doing great! I called the store we bought it from, and because it's still in the system as being for sale (albeit at a clearance price), we can return it for a full refund of the $149 plus tax that we paid for it 8 years ago! It will go in with the rest of the found money. Woot! Woot!

I am in a silly, goofy, happy mood today. I've been dancing around Woot! Woot!ing for awhile now. You know the dance...with your hands in the air doing circles with your vertically outstretched arms. Yep. I'm in a great mood today.

I've been diligently purging paperwork from the last 18 years, and I can't believe I'm actually getting rid of this stuff I hung onto for all those years! A lot of it was medical receipts or insurance claims on doctors visits for the girls. But I realized I don't really need to know each time they had an ear ache or a stomach bug. I am hanging onto the important paperwork having to do with surgeries, though. Out of a box full of paperwork, I saved less than a dozen papers. I'm pretty proud of myself. Woot! Woot!

I have to admit I about died laughing when I looked at one particular receipt from the doctor's office dated in October of 2000. The receipts from this particular pediatrician's office always listed a reason that the child was being seen. The only thing I can think of is that whomever filled out the 'reason' box on the paperwork was listening to me on the phone and someone in the office at the same time. The reason she listed that our youngest daughter needed to be seen: "GLUE HEARD".

Huh?!?!?!?!?!

I have NO idea what that was supposed to mean, and I know that I would not have said I heard glue in our daughter. This appointment was long past the days of her severe breathing issues where she was hospitalized repeatedly for asthma and pneumonia. I don't know. Maybe I'd said that it looked like she had glue draining from her ears, since she's had such a horrible time with ear infections. She's actually on her 8th set of tubes for her little ears! I have no idea. But it was sure fun trying to figure it out.

I debated keeping the piece of paper, because I find it hysterical. But realistically, I'll likely never look at it again. Plus, I wrote about it. If I want to laugh about it at some later date, I've got this post to look at.

Also found out a very good friend's daughter had a baby girl today! That was awesome goodness! Worth a Woot! Woot! for sure!

Yep. Today's been a great day!

Say it with me now...

Woot! Woot!

Found money. Sort of.

Several years ago, we bought a huge but gorgeous solid oak entertainment center at a local thrift store. I think it was ARC. It was missing one section, but I don't know that we'd have had room for it, if it had been complete, anyway! The two sections we did have measured 7 feet across and 6.5 feet tall. We used it for about 8 years, and it still looked like it did the day we bought it. It was just so solidly built that it hardly showed wear. We paid $200 for it.

It had tons of storage. It was gorgeous. It was big. The last year or so, it made the living room look smaller and smaller. It made the room seem darker, and I think it added to a darker mood for all of us. So we decided to get rid of it. I put it up on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago at a price I knew we probably wouldn't get. A week later, I lowered the price by $50. Yesterday, a couple contacted me and asked, if we'd drop it by $50. We said yes. Today, they came by with $250 and a truck! Considering that it's almost impossible to sell entertainment centers now that flat screen tvs are such a big deal, we were very happy with that! :)

While they were here, we asked, if they could use a folding cot, since they have kids. We told them they could have it. Besides, the mattress would help protect the entertainment center on the way home. She said, "But weren't you going to sell it or something?" I told her again that they could have it. That we probably would have only put $5 or $10 on it, but I just wanted it gone. She could have it. She gave me $4 for it. :)

When we moved into the house, the home warranty ended up buying us a new stove, because the old one shocked me. We paid a $35 service call fee and got a free $1300 stove. I loved it! It was a side by side 40" range, but when the refrigerator went out on us a few months ago, we realized that the new refrigerators were too wide, if we kept our stove. So we sold it and got a smaller one.

When we were getting the entertainment center out of the garage, I noticed the range hood we'd purchased to go over the stove, because the old one didn't work, and it was entirely too small. Trouble was, we never installed it. We never had the money or the know-how to make it work, so it sat unopened in our garage. I looked up the model number on the computer a bit ago. Sears still sells the exact same model. Of course my next move was to call Sears and see, if they'd take it back.

The department manager is going to talk to a store manager and call me back. She did say that the best they would likely be able to do is give us a store gift card that never expires for the price it's currently listed. It did go down $54, but you know, I can deal with that. We wouldn't have a problem spending over $200 at Sears, and it would be better than taking yet another loss, if we have to sell it on Craigslist. I'm hoping she calls soon. :)

The night I found the Applebee's gift card, I also found the receipt for a Gentle Leader dog collar thingy. The receipt showed we paid $25 for it 2.5 years ago. Then I found out I was severely allergic to dogs, and we had to get rid of the dogs. :( I'd tried selling the collar on Craigslist for $18 several months ago. It didn't sell. So I told our oldest daughter that I'd split the money with her. Whatever she could get out of it, she'd get half. The best they could do was a $20 store credit. When I told her about the Applebee's gift card, she said she'd babysit for us for my half of the store credit. I can do that!

Hubby's on his way to Sears. They did a mock return without a receipt (I didn't have the receipt! I bought it 8 years ago!!) They had to go with the lowest sales price they had, which is about $65 less than we were hoping, but it's also been 8 years. And like I said before, we can always use a gift card up that never expires. We might have been able to get a little more for it on Craigslist than by returning it, but we may not have, either. It's not like there's a great need for 42" range hoods. If there was, you could buy them in the store and not have to order them! And $162 is better than nothing! Plus when you consider that we made $50 over what we paid on the entertainment center, it's pretty much a wash.

Today's been a good day. Between the gift card I found the other night, the entertainment center, the dog collar, the babysitting and the range hood, we have 'found' over $450 in just two days! And even better, we've got a lot more space! Oh! And I almost forgot! Got the taxes filed today, too!

Yep. Today's been a good day!