A frustration I've had of late is that Sean has taken to making videos about random stuff as a stress relief, and I thought that would eventually wind down a bit, but it's not. On one hand, I know he's doing it for stress relief and it does seem to be helping. On the other hand, it'd sure be nice if he'd make a few less videos and help around the house more.
I know he's been crazy from work since the pandemic started, but where Beebe's progress is concerned--I'm also at that point where I feel like we've sat on our hands enough! I did try to broach this with him, and...it's obvious he needs more time doing such at this point. So I'm trying to look around on the rainy days and figure out what I can do so I feel like there is forward momentum and not feel so frustrated. It doesn't help that he keeps hopping between a few rooms to film, and never leaves a room as he found it (he rearranges per video). I've talked with him about how frustrating it is to try to walk/climb around his rearrangements, but nothing has changed.
There's plenty of spring cleaning that needs doing, so that's where I'm starting for now. I'm honestly starting to hate our stairs. Even though the kitties don't go upstairs as much as they used to, and even though I try to sweep/dust the stairs weekly, some of what collects on the stairs makes its way between the balusters and falls down to the dresser we've been using in the dining room to store things that don't fit in the kitchen. That, of course, has all sorts of bits like a lamp, pictures, knick knacks and the basket where we store the weekly store flyers & coupons, so more cleaning each week there. There was a time when I thought (pre pandemic) that I'd have taken that stained glass class by now. I was planning to make panels to fit in between the balusters to help prevent the falling dust/furballs. That's gone nowhere. Maybe next year since things will be more opened up, I'll finally be able to take the class and make that project a reality.
I did get him to admit he hates the kitchen table & chairs one neighbor gave us for free that we'd been using in the dining room since our kitchen doesn't have room for a table. So I need to take some pictures of it and give it away. We still have the other set of dining chairs (that are much more comfortable), and we have a few tables we could choose from for the short term until we find something better. Ever since we sold the chiffarobe, I've been itching to get rid of some free things we'd gotten our hands on prior that we've since found better. I might just see if the local ReStore is doing pickups yet and have it all out at once. If we do manage to get rid of that table/chairs, that will free up some wall space to move the dresser to so it will be a lot easier to only have to clean the floor of whatever falls through the balusters.
Clutter has always been an issue for me, and I'm hoping that if I can clear out some space, in a way it will help me be able to focus better on which directions we need to be heading inside the house. (And who wants to paint with a room stuffed full of furniture anyhoo?
) I really, truly want to get one room painted this fall. I'm so tired of blah beige. Especially since it's peeling and chipping all over.
Because of all the clutter, there's been no real space for me to do some of the upholstery work and such I've been wanting to do for a while. I've got six projects that went nowhere this winter, mostly because I could never make a space big enough to do the work indoors.
We did pick up a small chest that was curbside yesterday when we were out doing the nursery run, primarily because it's a good height to put under one of the bigger windows that doesn't have a radiator in front of it so the cats can share the window without pushing each other off the sill. It's nothing special, just the right height and storage that is needed in that room. (Spare bedroom.) It even came with the key for the lock! I'm always happy when we can empty another box.
I have been doing my darndest to hold back on ripping up the rest of the cheap vinyl fake wood planks in the dining/hallway because we won't know until I do if the damage to the red -oleum in at least the dining room is as bad as it is in the kitchen. I'm not so worried about the hallway because there's no radiator in there.
Same for the weird masonite wall panels they did a poor job liquid nailing the shoddily cut pieces to the downstairs bathroom over the original mame pink walls below the rail. (I admit, I am not a pink fan, but hate the fake maso more.) I already know that's not going to be a small project either just from the removal of the liquid nail that won't give easily, let alone how much plaster might get damaged from the removal.
I'm still thinking we might be able to make a laundry chute down the boxed in area that filled the rest of that wall behind the one short end of the tub. It would sure be nice to have, and I could easily build out the upper box in the upstairs bath since they're right on top of each other and there's room for it up there too. The only problem with that corner is in the cellar, that's where the sump is. I've given some thought where the sump could be moved (it's literally a hole in the ground they put a section of now very rusted liner in, with a smaller plastic bucket with the pump itself inside.)