Clutter

More Demolition Needed

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After we left the shore house last Saturday there were items we left undone.

There was lots of damage behind the bathtub surround.

While most of the floor had been removed the bathtub still needed to come out as did errant pieces of rotten joists.

I totally forgot about insulation.

Our son and his wife finished the demolition.

Everything about the plumbing is rough but we’ll try to sort it out.

Tomorrow Charlie and I are meeting with a plumber who we plan to have do the rough-in and finish plumbing on the project.

I placed an order for joists, subflooring, and screws at the local Lowes.

However, we are going to try to DIY the joists, subflooring, wall and ceiling framing, and tile.

Professional framers built the new additions to The Glade.

For sure we learned a lot when we renovated our own house a few years ago but we did not frame or tile.

This American Standard enameled steel tub seems like a reasonable choice and I like the white subway tile, too.

I would like the bathroom to be usable in the next month and totally finished by the end of the year.

I have a favorite local cabinet outlet where I’m hoping to find a nice vanity.

The prospect is both exciting and daunting.  Stay with us to hear about our missteps and to see the final result.

Jo

Christmas — Already??

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Now that the Casablanca party is in the can I am starting to think about the next invitation that I have already circulated for a Holiday Decor Swap.

This is the front of a 2-sided invitation.

I’m hoping lots of friends will show up for a quick afternoon get-together where we can offload a few cluttery items and pick up some new-to-us holiday decor.

From the attic to the laundry room and then down the stairs to the living room for sorting.

With the swap in mind I have decided this is the day to trudge up to the attic and bring down the Christmas decorations.

I have at least 4 nativity sets of which I’m offering a set to our son.

We have sooooooo many that we don’t even use them all anymore.  Prior to the swap I’d like our family to lay claim on things they want to add to their personal collections.

After the purge I will recatalog all remaining items.

After that I intend to ruthlessly cut the surplus and display it at the swap.

Jo

Last Week of August — Cool

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I don’t want to get into an involved and time-consuming project before our trip to Europe.

The window seat

Disrupting a project midway through is how it took me 12 years to complete the cushions on the window seat.

This year I’m planning a swap meet for holiday decorations — more attic clearing.

In this week before September starts I would like to make plans for the rest of the year and get a little organization done.

Some things in the attic are important, most are not.

Since we’re expecting a cool forecast I will go into the attic and pull 3 boxes to totally (hopefully) do away with or at least consolidate into one.

Trattoria Dalla Marisa comes highly recommended.

I also need to tighten up our European tour set for next month — daily itinerary.  I have been advised by a friend from Pisa where we should eat in Venice.  I’ll have to work it in.

The left shade has fallen off the door and needs to be glued back on.

And finally I need to rehang a bedroom window shade that fell down weeks ago.

Jo

August: Over and Done

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We have had a good bit of fun in August.  Even though the month is not officially over all the tasks and chores I planned have been completed.

We stayed at a private home in NY on 12,000 acres including a 14-acre lake.

Charlie and I made a quick trip (6 hour drive time each way from Maryland) to the Catskill Mountains in New York to spend a few days of leisure combined with a little work for me.  He learned to fly fish and played the organ at a church celebrating 125 years.

Sug stayed busy with yard tasks including insetting the stone path in the front yard.

In the beginning of the month I made plans for the month so we all could enjoy the end of summer but also knock out a few projects.

Villa Volpi, about 15 minutes from Venice airport, is our base of operations for our final night in Italy.

Most urgent on my list was making new reservations for our last day in Europe (next month) after being notified that the AirBnB reservation I made (and paid for) back in February had been canceled.  I’m very pleased with our new accomodations.

Our AirBnB rental in Italy is a tad remote.

I was also able to reserve a country house for 3 days in the province of Modena between Bologna and Florence.

After trying 6 pairs of shoes and boots, I chose these.

I bought a new pair of sandals and some black travel shoes.

Before

After:  Why does it take me soooo loooong to finish a project?

Turning my thoughts closer to home, the fabric for the third cushion of our window seat  has been sprawled on the dining room table all month. Finally I got busy matching the patterns and cutting out the pieces to fit the center cushion of our window seat.

Adirondack chairs look great around the fire pit.

Now they’re protected and fit into the landscape.

My plans to paint the new Adirondack chairs in July was not to be so I put this project on the August list.  This is a task that only I could accomplish since it required setting up the paint sprayer and compressor and mixing paint to just the right consistency to go through the system.  The chairs needed a good coat of primer, then the final color.  It’s messy. And the clean up is no fun. But now it’s done!

Thanks to Sug the water softener/filter is now working.

We went down to Grace Cottage, on the Eastern shore of Maryland for a short work day.  One of the issues at Grace Cottage is the water.  Sug thoroughly cleaned the whole-house water filter which is working well.

Some things in the attic are important, most are not.

Finally I wanted to remove ONE box from the attic to organize. I only did one box but Charlie saw my post and went through 3 boxes.

Jo

On a Rampage

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Grace Cottage needed a ramp and we wanted to get rid of one.

The path heading to the pond was in bad shape.

Solution:  transport ramp to Grace from The Glade.

Now the same spot is ready for some new treads.

Our son completely removed the wood path that leads toward the pond.  Hopefully the wheelchair ramp we made for The Glade can replace this path.

The ramp is precariously loaded.

He and Charlie loaded it up onto his rickety trailer which he then drove for 2 hours to Grace.

Charlie and I had made this ramp out of old cedar fencing.

I was rewarded a little later that day with a photo of the old ramp newly placed at the edge of the deck (which still needs to be stained).

Looks like it’s a perfect fit.

The weather has been so brutally hot this summer that staining the deck will just have to wait until fall.

Jo

August: Able But Not Ambitious

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August is generally the hottest month here in Maryland although our temperatures thus far this summer have been in the triple digits so I’m hoping for a break in the heat.

Our outdoor plants that haven’t succumbed to the heat are doing well.

I’m trying to make very concrete plans for the month so I can both enjoy the end of summer but also knock out a few projects that have been hanging over my head (some for a decade).

We depart Venice on a morning flight so we want to stay near the airport the night before.

Most urgent on my list is making new reservations for our last day in Europe (next month) since I was notified yesterday that the AirBnB reservation I made (and paid for) back in February had been canceled.

We plan to do a lot of driving in Europe.

After that I would like to pin down some other aspects of the trip including where to rent a car, how long the drive times around Europe are, and where we might stay in other areas of Italy.

These are my go-to walking shoes.

I also need some travel shoes.  I bought a blue  pair of Skechers in April for the trip but I need something a little more formal, preferably in black, to go with the clothing I plan to take.  Unfortunately my right foot is still in bad shape from the walking we did in London almost a year ago.

The window seat fabric is brown and blue toile.

Turning my thoughts closer to home the fabric for the third cushion of our window seat is sprawled on the dining room table and I’m not moving it until I finish the project.  Also set up in the dining room are my sewing machine and ironing board.  I’m hoping the constant reminder will get me pumped to get this finished.  Unfortunately it’s the kind of project that needs full engagement of my brain so I can’t just do a step or two when I come home from work.  I’m must be fresh and ready to think. Surely one day in August I’ll feel like getting it done.

I’m painting the chairs the same green I used on the exterior doors of Grace Cottage.

My plans to paint the new Adirondack chairs in July was not to be so I’m putting this project on the August list.  This is a task that only I can accomplish since it requires setting up the paint sprayer and compressor and mixing paint to just the right consistency to go through the system.  The chairs need a good coat of primer, then the final color.  It’s messy. And the clean up is no fun.

The water softener sits beside the washing machine in the laundry room.

We haven’t been down to our recently purchased rental house, Grace Cottage, on the Eastern shore of Maryland for a month. One of the issues at Grace Cottage is the water.  We were delighted when the purity report came back that the water was safe to drink however the report also said there was a lot of iron in the water.

My goal is to get this machine working.

Already in the laundry room is a water softener which appears to work (the light is on) but for some reason does not.  I have asked Sug to focus on this problem the next time we go down to Grace for a work day.

Some things in the attic are important, most are not.

Finally I’d like to remove ONE box from the attic. Any box will do. The attic is stuffed full of STUFF and really needs an overhaul.

Like Sug pictured here, I’m gonna take it easy.

I actually had 3 more items on the list but I decided what I’m not doing this month is:

  • entertaining at home,
  • fretting,
  • sweating.

So I crossed everything else off the list.

Jo

July in the Can

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July was a fairly unproductive month for me.  It usually is.

That’s not to say I didn’t do anything, just not much.

We built 4 Adirondack chairs from kits for around the fire pit.

I made a belt for a costume that I plan to wear at a movie screening at our house in September.

My plans for the month were not very ambitious to start with:

Improvements — We didn’t go down to work on Grace Cottage.  Not even once. None of the projects on my list got finished.

  • Stain deck,
  • Paint master bedroom and bathroom,
  • Rehang bathroom door,
  • Tear down closet wall in bathroom.

A sleeper sofa fits at the end of the enclosed porch at Grace Cottage for overnight guests.

However my son and his wife did a lot of cleaning up and putting away.

Illustrate —  Now that the dining room is papered and painted I still need  to recover the dining room chair seats at Grace Cottage because I took the month off from that project.

We stored the chairs in the living room while we were painting and papering the dining room.

In future the entire chair might be painted in which case the removable seats could be lifted off.

Itch  —  We have received a bill for our termite inspection and have now heard the original company is not willing to take us on.  Obviously I’m not paying that bill.

The inside of the kitchen wall was filled with termite damage.

Next step is to find a pest company to handle the protection or figure out a DIY plan.  We have a pest management supply company near us that sells directly to homeowners.

Improvisation –  We had an open house brunch incorporating a Scavenger Hunt (#25 on my 101 in 1001) in the middle of the month.

A bouquet of prizes includes fine chocolate, a bandana, and a hand-powered fan for persons or team who completed the scavenger hunt.

In addition to the Scavenger Hunt we commissioned Sug to her mission trip in Guatemala.

International  —  Sug  is heading to Guatemala to do some maintenance projects at Steps of Hope school.

In addition to the children at the mission, I’m sure Sug will miss her daily affogato at the local coffee shop in Antigua, Guatemala.

We communicated daily through the app: WhatsApp. She came home with a t-shirt emblazoned with Guat’s Up? similar to the ones here.

Independence  —  I met with my estate planning lawyer to nail down details of my new revocable trust.

I’m trying to create a win-win situation which will benefit my entire family including me.

Everyone dear to me will be taken care of in the future whether I’m on the scene or not.  That should create a sense of security and independence for all parties.

Industry  —  We finish The Screwtape Letters book club tomorrow.

We’ll be finishing up The Screwtape Letters in July.

We have had serious discussions about a book that we all agree is difficult. Part of the issue is that C. S. Lewis had much more classical literature and  philosophy under his belt than we do. (He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement.)  Next book club (if there is another one) I’ll choose a more engaging and not-so-dark topic.

Ignore — I have really enjoyed the summer so far.

We love our coffee.

I am happy to report that I have had my fair share of good times, good conversation, good food, and good coffee.

I look forward to some progress in August before our long travel holiday in the September.

Jo

A Chore a Day

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The weather here in Maryland has been hot.  HOT!

I need to check on my cuttings which don’t seem to be doing very well.

Over the past week temperatures have soared — my car read 100 more than once. I don’t feel like doing too much (other than going to my day job) but I have a long list of tasks to complete.

I haven’t set up the dining room as a sewing shop for years.

So I decided to make myself a list of small — tiny — tasks to accomplish this week, mainly because I have been very lax and unproductive this month.

  • Monday:   Buy 1.25 yards of deep red fabric to make a wrap belt.

    My goal is to make a fabric belt like this one from Ilsa’s costume in Casablanca.

  • Tuesday:  Book Club.

    Only 2 more weeks of study and we’ll be finished with The Screwtape Letters.

  • Wednesday:  Prime the Adirondack chairs.
  • Thursday:  Set up sewing machine and find fabric for window seat.

    The center windowseat cushion has been unfinished for over ten years.

  • Friday:  Lay out plan for wrap belt.
  • Saturday:  Paint the Adirondack chairs.

    I’ll use the compressor and paint sprayer to paint these chairs — still a big project.

This plan will make only a small dent in the pile of work I have planned yet it seems ambitious to me.

Jo

One Down, Five to Go

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Update: Everything has been sold!!

Today I was working at Grace Cottage when I looked out the window.

This is what I saw out the window.

In the driveway was a big rig loaded with a couple of mowers.

Vintage Massey Ferguson 10 made between 1966 and 1976.

I walked out to see what was going on and talked to a nice young man who was there to pick up our Massey Ferguson 10.  (I had no idea this was a desirable item.)

The purchaser used his mower to load the non-working Massey Ferguson.

He has a collection and even though ours doesn’t work he was happy to get it for $40.

#2 is no longer in our motor pool.

That leaves 5 more vintage mowers/tractors to pass on to an appreciative owner.

Jo

Yankee Doodle Dandy

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The open sheds at Grace Cottage are filled with all sorts of interesting things.

Two tractors we found in one of the sheds.

The machinery has been collected into the yard near the house and listed for sale.

One of two open sheds.

As we sort through all this stuff we have learned that the former owners decorated their front lawn lavishly for every holiday. We found plastic pumpkins, Christmas trees and

Uncle Sam in the shed.

 

a 7-foot tall Uncle Sam.

Uncle Sam just fit in the back of a pick-up truck.

Charlie drove him across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to our home at The Glade.

Even though weathered, Uncle Sam was beautifully detailed.

A friends of ours who collects Americana was very interested in this vintage fellow.

I can see a twinkle in Sam’s eye.

So Sug and I trucked him to his new home and a very appreciative recipient.  He thinks this unusual item is valuable.

What do you say?

Jo