Posted on 04/15/2005 6:38:21 AM PDT by grellis
Has everyone filed their taxes?
Its that time of year again--the snow has melted, the days are getting longer, it is finally spring! If you're like me, that means it is time to deep clean the house. I no longer have an excuse for not cleaning the outside of the windows. It is finally warm enough for me to take down the Christmas lights and wreath. Time to pack up the parkas, ice skates, hats and gloves.
It is also tax time, a great time to deep clean the paperwork that has accumulated over the past twelve months. Do you save every receipt? Do you use the "circular file" a little too brazenly?
Spring also means yard work. Do you garden? Have you cleared away the remnants of winter debris and begun planting yet? Or do you know there is at least one hard frost lurking in the calendar, waiting to wipe out your seedlings?
Share with us any spring cleaning tips you have!
Husband got the closet? Are you daft woman???????
Speaking of husband's - mine is a dear. Around 5:30 I said I needed to lay down for a little while and asked him to wake me up in 45 minutes to an hour - poor thing. He couldn't rouse me to save his life!!!! fortunately dinner was nothing more than grab whatever leftovers you want to nuke!
TIP: Move
I actually took over the closet in the second bedroom AND had the armoire. This was pre-children.
We did railroad ties around the garden that you can get gratis or for next to nothing. I had some spares until we made the garden bigger.
That was a non-starter. They were going to move earlier this year.
Railroad ties cost a fortune - there is no such thing as gratis for those around here.
heck even pallets cost money - I'm surprised they didn't ask for a deposit or return for the ones they put down when they delivered the roof shingles last week.
It doesn't help - believe me.........I did it two years ago next week and I'm still working on it!
Well that's too bad. People can't wait to get rid of them around here. We have pallets out the wazoo that came with building materials or the guy at the Farmer's Market told me it was okay to take them home.
Thankfully I found a place where pallets are cheap - we need them in the barn - as you know!!!!
Argh! I still miss my rugs that got flooded out in the basement. If only I had had pallets. ; (
I'm off to the Garden Center in the AM for my herbs and extra flowering plants. I have to get diesel ($2.30) for the tractor and gas ($2.38 for mid-grade, two tanks, I'll be broke for a month) for the pick-up, that we also siphon off for the boat. Sheesh! TG, I'm not working and having to commute.
I'm staying away from the Garden Centers this weekend - the one on the road to the Island, where we got the fruit tree, has their annual Grand re-openning sale next Sunday, the 24th. They don't have as big a selection of herbs as the place on the highway - but what they do have are very healthy. I set my budget for what I wanted when we were there last week and hubby, bless his heart, DOUBLED it!!!!
I figure I'll just get the perrenial herbs I want there and get the annuals from the other place, to supplement the seeds I've started.
The re-openning at the one place is fun - they have things for the kids, so it is something to do on a Sunday afternoon while Daddy's at work.
Damn! There goes Plan A!
This garden center is under new ownership. The guy who used to own it was an absolute slob. The new owner and his wife have two other centers and are absolutely immaculate.
I whined that I had bought corn seed last year that turned out to be feed corn not sweet corn and he let me have sweet corn seed for free this last month.
I was going to go shop there last Saturday, but his parking lot was packed so I gave it a pass.
But you tried!!!!!!!!!!!
I am done with tax returns.....except for the extensions that I said I would absolutely not file this year. I am officially a housewife again! Yes!
The new owners osund terrific - and a full parking lot is a good sign!!!!!!!!
YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!!!
It's a pain asking hubby for money all the time - but I absolutely LOVE just being a housewife!
"...but every wall, and I mean every wall, except the bathroom, is panelling."
I so sympathize with you! Our house was built in 1975. It has that horrid dark brown, almost black, paneling that was in style back in the '70s in most of the house. I've painted the master bedroom and it turned out very nice - but boy did it take a bunch of paint to cover that mess! I've since learned about Stain Kilz and have used it when I've painted the paneling in other parts of the house. The paneling is so dark it still takes 2 coats of Stain Kilz and 2 coats of paint to cover it!
The worst paneling in the house is in my kitchen. It's dark, dark brown paneling and dark brown cabinets! I feel like I'm going blind in there! It's really difficult for my 46-year-old eyes to see in there at night to cook or wash dishes. If I have enough time left over this summer, I'm going to tackle it next.
I'm sort of thinking of a "granny's house" looking kitchen - sort of a collage of the '40s and '50s - with white walls, light-colored cabinets (maybe putting glass doors on some of them), some old-fashioned looking hardware for the cabinets and a white and black checkerboard-patterned vinyl floor. The countertops are stumping me, though. I'm not sure what will fit the image I'm going for. I'm leaning toward tiling them with ceramic tile - it's cheap and I can do it myself. I also want a 1950s-era chrome and formica table and chairs - hopefully in bright red! I'm looking at the flea markets and thrift stores, but I haven't found a set yet. I've got a lot of old cooking utensils, appliances, dishes, etc., from the '40s and '50s, so I think I could make it look kind of like I want it - I just have to have the time to git 'R done.
P.S.: My 6-year-old (Ethan) offered to wash dishes for me every day for 50 cents a day. I let him try it tonight and he did a surprisingly good job, so looks like he's got himself a job! :)
I have no idea when the panelling was done in this house - but it was some time ago. The main part of the house was built in 1945.
After learning my lesson about painting the panelling in my daughters room..........and boy oh boy did I learn the hard way!!! My suggestion to you is buy textured paintable wallpaper. It goes up on the panelling with ease. I have beautiful bright yellow walls in my kitchen now because of that paper. It's less than $10 a roll in Lowe's and you would never know there was dark brown panelling behind it!!!!
What you are planning for your kitchen sounds WONDERFUL - I love the idea of the red table and chairs - I hope you can find a set.
I'm doing my kitchen in chili pepper theme and colors - yellow, red and green. So far I only have the red and yellow, I still have to tackle the cabinets which is where my green is going to be. But since I like the chocolate brown of the sink and the cabinets are nearly the same color, I may limit the green to the insides of them and on the windows.
Somewhere along the line I will find the time this spring/summer to redo the cabinets - along with painting the windows outside, putting on a new roof, putting on vinyl siding and tending a huge veggie garden, the proceeds of which I will also have to can or freeze.
And find a job.
"Somewhere along the line I will find the time this spring/summer to redo the cabinets - along with painting the windows outside, putting on a new roof, putting on vinyl siding and tending a huge veggie garden, the proceeds of which I will also have to can or freeze.
And find a job."
You are going to be a busy gal! Good luck with your job search. It sounds like you're going to be like me - trying to fit your job around your very busy home life.
I'm a big fan of the "chili peppers" look for kitchens. I've seen some wonderful accessories for that look at the Tuesday Morning store down in Springfield. You might check it out if you have one in your area.
I'm hoping I get to put my garden in before it's too late. I didn't get my clothes line up today - got started on it but had to change my plans to accommodate some more pressing things that came up. Hopefully, I'll finish it in the morning. I went and priced the dog pen materials today and it looks like it's going to cost about $150.00 or $200.00 to build 2 pens.
I've got to put a little more thought into the chicken pen and how I want to build it before I price materials for it. I'm thinking about a pen covered with chicken wire on top to keep the chickenhawks and other varmits around here away from my chickens. We have coyotes, skunks, foxes, possums and coons, as well as chicken snakes around here, so I may have to bury the wire, too, to make it critter resistant.
I'll look for that paper you're talking about at Lowe's. That might be a good idea for the 2 littlest boys' room. They're sick of the brown paneling and want more color in their room. I've got to come up with a set of bunk beds for their room, too, because it's too crowded with a twin bed and a toddler bed. I can't imagine trying to fit 2 twins in there, along with their 2 chests of drawers and toys, etc.
I'm actually thinking about pulling the paneling off the kitchen walls and putting up drywall instead. My best friend from my school days said she would come and show me how to put up drywall if I wanted to do that. She's a true renaissance woman. She's 1/8 Creek Indian. She can shoot a deer, dress it out, process the meat, tan the hide and make you some buckskin moccasins out of it. This lady can literally do anything - overhaul a motor or transmission, build a house, design and make you a beautiful outfit to wear...ANYTHING! She's my hero! I wish I had her talents! We've been best friends for about 35 years but I still marvel at all the gifts of talent God has given her.
I'd better run. My husband got to come in tonight instead of tomorrow night, so he should be here in a little bit.
I'll look in on this thread again sometime tomorrow! Good night! :)
I'm a homemaker. It's a job description thingy!
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