The warm up is back on!!

 That's right, the warm up is back on through the weekend. We are looking at Sunday with a high of maybe 70*F!! I think the normal temp for this time of year is 32*F. We had 2 days in a row of cold, a little snow, lots of wind and cold and teen temps. Now for 50+F to return today and then on up till Sunday!! 

We dropped off Celina and Don at the airport yesterday morning at 5:30a.m. They are in AZ till Monday. Celina sent some photos. 

I completely forgot its also Leap day. Feb 29th! There are some freebies to get. I liked the one at Wendy's free Cinnabons I might just have to stop there today! Do I need them, nope but I sure would like to try them. 

Here is a list of the free stuff today. 

I have another new client meeting this morning and I offered to work in the afternoon at 1pm. I had the day off, but figured I couldn't schedule any work for 2 weeks and I wanted the extra money. Now if Steve could pick up more jobs!! There are a few out there, but we are waiting to hear back. Fingers crossed it all lines up and works out! 

I'm at a pretty good place on what I can do for home projects. I just have touch up 2 walls (upstairs and on the main level). Plus, finish cleaning up the office, moving Steve's work stuff down into the storage room and then going through the cabinets to do a little more purging. Our garbage can is pretty full, so I'd better not add too much to the pile! We have some older than 7 years tax records to burn. That can be saved for the weekends bonfire! Otherwise I'd have to shred it, which would take too long! 

We also have outdoor projects to do this weekend. Painting the garage door bottom, power washing the back of the house, trimming trees and then sanding the deck to get the paint off. We can also clean up the garage a bit more. I'd like to paint the garage walls on my side, so that also could be done. 

The cold 7*F burrrr...

 It is a cold start to the morning 7*F degrees and WINDY!! I can't wait for the warm up to return tomorrow, back in the 50's!! and 60's for the weekend!! 

I have outdoor projects on the todo list. Which is power wash the back of the house! I'd also like to rent a sander and get all the paint off the deck and stairs which will be Steve's job! I can apply the clear coat of paint once that is all done. He will need to replace all of the top rail boards. It will be nice to have this all done before all the seeds start dropping this spring. Once that happens it gets difficult to do much work out there because it's just going to stick to the deck and make a mess! We also have tree trimming to do which can be done at anytime this spring. 

I did some paint wall touchups yesterday. I found some old paint that was pretty much dried up, with a dark skin on top and thick paste like paint. I still was able to use it, but it doesn't match exactly. It's better than the white I had on the walls, but will need to be painted with a new color again. It's yellow, which I hate. It at least looks finished, which is all I care about right now. I did find other paint leftover for the upstairs walls. I'm just not sure what condition the paint is in?? Will it be usable? I have some mud to paint over where Steve fixed the wall. I had him remove the gate attachments on the wall and of course we had holes to fill. We still have a few more main level projects. Just a little bit of trim to finish and some lights to clean. Upstairs we have to paint the spare room and then finish the mud /paint of the upstairs nook. The big remodel will be our bathroom floor/shower. Just the tile purchase and new fixtures for the costs, which really won't be that much money. I should figure out the sq feet and then determine the cost as it will probably be around $1000 to $1500 max. Pretty cheap to re-do our bathroom since Steve can do all the labor. We just need to pick out tile and set aside time for him to complete this. 

I picked up that new client yesterday. Yippee. I still could use a few more. I'll have my snow bird clients back in April to also fill up my work schedule. I will still advertise to see if I can earn more with a few more new clients. Steve also is getting calls from the advertising we did.  People do hang on to our flyers and call a few weeks/months later. We are also waiting on decisions to be made about quotes sent out. Fingers crossed it all works out and he gets some bigger jobs to do right after what he already has booked out. 

Tuesday still February!!

 This winter weather has been incredible. Well unless you look at todays temp drop back to winter we go!Ugh!!!

It actually said 67*F in the car! It was a tiny bit windy so we tried to find places to sit out of the wind. 

Steve wanted to go have happy hour/drinks by the river so we picked 3 places. This photo was the 2nd stop in Hastings by the lake, instead of the river. We walked over the bridge to the little island to have it all to ourselves. 

First stop was Spring Lake Park, next to the Mississippi River/ lake area. It was too windy to sit on the beach so we sat back in the woods to block the wind. The last, not pictured was the best place, Prescott on the docks. Warm, sunny and no wind. We only had a few H.S kids fishing at the end of the dock. A perfect day to sit outside for a happy hour. 

I did get a few more home projects done in the morning since I had the day off. I had to do one more coat of primer on both of the windows. They are 100% done. I still have to put back the curtains and blinds on the spare room window. I also have one more coat of enamel to paint on the upstairs hall nook. I am going to finish that this morning before work. Then it just needs a little mud, sanding and painting. It will be nice to finish that up! It's been in the works for years!!! 

I also swept the entire back of our house siding to get the cotton/webs/dirt off. It's all prepped for power washing! I did more paint scraping on the deck and stairs. Steve will rent a big sander and do the rest, then we will do a clear coat of paint. A few top rail boards also need to be replaced, as an easy fix. I'll power wash the house this weekend when the temps are back into the 60's after today, temp drop tonight of 8 degrees and snow this afternoon. Yep, snow!! Let's hope it all goes north, which it looks like that's going to happen. We might just get a few flakes up to 1"?? It's all going to melt again Thursday- Sunday. 

I have a new client meeting this afternoon. It's a referral so hopefully, I will get that job for every 2 weeks! Steve did get a call yesterday for a small job. At least he is getting calls. Just wish it was for a good amount of work. Ugh!! Getting a bit worried about the lack of jobs lined up after the next two. At least I'm picking up more work but not enough to cover Steve's jobs. We have time to get more and spring/busy season is coming. Just very slow this year, probably because everyone is finding out they owe taxes. Yikes!! 

We will continue to get our house finished in case we want to rent or sell/build. We did find the perfect lot to build on, so that's a tough one not to jump on building. We have to just concentrate on finishing our house first before we can even think of the next step. Either way, I want it all done and ready for whatever we decide in the future. I think Celina is a bit freaked out by our talk of renting or building. She is still living at home and we don't want to displace her. Kendra just stayed in a hotel for the year while they built. Which is a good idea to get hotel perks, plus not have a contract and can leave at anytime, so we would not be stuck in a year lease. I might have to look into that. We would just keep our stuff in storage for the build or if we rented our house. No need to make any hasty decisions although that lot won't be available forever. There will always be land and we've found a few options over the years that we have liked. There are also lots in Hastings that I do like too, that are smaller and in a neighborhood. 

Monday... sun is out and its going to be 60*F on Feb 26th

 We are having quite the weather, nice that is this winter. It's spring like today 61*f and sunny. Although, tomorrow, temp will plunge to 8 degrees and a high of 47 tomorrow with snow. Ugh!! Then again a warm up of 60's over the weekend. 

Watched Celina soccer game and she scored yet another goal!

I got a lot done yesterday around the house. Painted the trim on those 2 windows, Laundry/spare room. I did all 2 coats of primer and 3 of enamel. I'm going to check them today to see if I can put back everything I had to move to paint the windows. 

I also washed the front windows and sliding door windows inside and out. Swept the garage and the deck. I got down cobwebs/cotton off the house on the backside. Plus, did more paint touch ups around the house as needed to fresh it up. 

I have some wall touchups to do around the house. Thankfully, we have leftover paint. 

Steve cut the trim for the nook upstairs and I did a coat of primer paint, I have another coat of that and then will enamel and it will be almost done. Just needs a little bit of mud and sanding/wall painting. He didn't get done as much as I would have liked, but the bathroom trim is cut, just not attached because we are going to re-do the tile, so its just leaning against the wall for now. 

We still have lots of little projects. I'm going to work more on the deck today. Scrape the paint off where I can. Clean the garage shelves, and do some purging out there. I want to spend as much time outdoors since it's going to be a nice day. 

I also don't work today and Steve is off as well till Wednesday. I have a busy work week Tuesday - Thursday with an estimate tomorrow. I'm hoping to add a new client this week! 

I was planning on advertising but the winds speeds are crazy tomorrow. Then with the snow too, it will have to wait till the end of the week, Thursday/Friday. 

Not much else going on this week. No plans for the weekend either. Just keep plugging away at getting our house 100% finished, using what we have for materials at home. We will need to purchase some trim, but other than that, we have all that's needed to keep projects moving. 

Sunday.. sunny with the warm up on the way!

 Here we are February 25th and it's going to be a roller coaster of temperatures. I do like seeing 60 at this time of year when normally we have a lot of snow and its 20 degrees or 30 max. 

61*F on Monday, but it will take half the day to get that warm. I'm not sure why we have to go back to a cold 26*F with some snow thrown in. they're too before we hit another 62 degree day next week on Saturday. A big roller coaster of temperatures! I'll gladly take the 60's!! 

Today, I'm going to the gym and then going to work on painting those last 2 windows. I'm hoping Steve will also want to do some home projects. 

He did decide that it would probably be better to move then to stay in this house. It's not set up for us to age in place. Too big, and too many stairs to go up and down. I want to be all on one level. 

Now that we know houses sell quick 9 days is all the neighbor took to sell at $660K. We can sell for a bit more since we are on a pond, have a 4 season porch and a fenced yard with a big back yard. That gives us enough money to buy land, build a house, pay Steve for the year and also build a cabin with the left over funds and pay him to build that to all debt free! That seems like a better option then staying in a house that is 25 years old, not the right fit for the next 20 years and we can have a cabin in two years instead of waiting till 2026/2027 to build and then take on more debt to build that or 2nd mortgage the house to pay for the cabin build. 

We do need to get to our project list and finish that off. Plus, we have some outdoor fix it projects. We don't need to rush to sell. There will always be land. We do like the land we saw not too far away with a few houses and acres of land in our price range. It would be perfect! If it's not available, some thing will always come up. Are we ready for this? I sure hope so! It's a risk, but a good one at that. 

More of Celina's Golden 24th birthday on the 24th, year 2024!!

I had to light up a sparkler for the Big Golden Birthday occasion. 

The cake turned out really yummy. I did add little extra salt to the frosting on one batch out of the two, which I shouldn't have done. The vegan butter was salty enough. We always use unsalted butter for frosting and it needs a little salt to cut the sweet. This was the opposite. Still really good cake with only two slices left. I decided ahead of time to cut the cake like they do for samples in rectangles. Worked perfect. Those that wanted frosting, got it. It was exactly the right size of cake and cut nice. I'll always be doing that for round, heart shaped cakes! I just cut it in half then did my slices. Even the really end frosted pieces weren't overly frosted, just larger which the little kiddo's liked. 

Where did the 24 years go? 

 

2/24/24 Happy Golden Birthday Celina!!

 Celina's golden birthday is today! 24 years old, on the 24th of February in the year 2024!! Lots of 24's!! 

Celina let me make her cake this year. It's a strawberry cake with a center layer of vegan vanilla butter cream then a layer of chocolate gnash, with fresh strawberries, topped with another layer of cake then coated in vegan butter cream. She picked out the cake design and I just copied as best as I could. I used white chocolate for the letters and then , not pictured gold sparkle dust on the Happy Birthday. I had some left over butter cream, cake and chocolate gnash so we were able to taste test the combo. YUM!! I'm excited to eat this cake! Probably one of my better looking cakes too. 

We went to Cork and Froth this morning, so we could all start celebrating Celina with Coffee. 

We did a little coffee cheers! 

I decorated this morning for her birthday. 

Made another birthday balloon arch. I didn't have gold balloons, but good enough! 

Tonight we are going to Malcome yard to have happy hour and dinner with family and some of her friends. Back to our house for cake and ice cream with some games of domino's etc. 

Friday...Friday!!

 It's Friday and a not so busy work day. I work at noon for just an hour. I had a busy work week, so I'm glad that I'm not too busy even though I'd like more money. 

Did I pick up a new client yesterday? Not sure. I should find out today, per the client. They were meeting with another person first that they had not heard back from and didn't speak English very well. Other new clients said I wasn't charging enough, so this job I wanted to make sure to charge enough. Not a crazy amount, but you never know. This one could be the one I don't get. Although, I used to work for her years ago then she moved, adopted kids since then. It's only an every 3 weeks to 1 mo job and not for another 3 weeks at that. I did have another client text me wanting to pass my info along to someone for an every 2 week job. Yeah!! That's more like it!! So hopefully, I'll hear from them asap and get them on my work schedule for next week. 

The last day of Celina being 23.... tomorrow is her golden birthday, 24 years old, on the 24th in the year 2024. 

We are back to brown outside with a tiny bit of snow left in the back yard/Shaded to melt away. It's supposed to be 61+F on Monday, so it's going to go!! It's going to be a roller coaster or temps, up and down and up and down. Could they just stay up!! 

Other than working yesterday, I only went to my 3pm new client meeting, then to Costco and 2 banks. I'm not sure my Friday will be that much more productive! I do have to go to the store, TJ Maxx and get a gift, plus make a cake for Celina's birthday. Decorate the house and work. Guess that is quite a bit on my todo list. 

Thursday. .Feeling like it should be Friday!

 It sure feels like it could be Friday. I worked till 3:30pm yesterday, but had breaks in between and also started late at 10am. I didn't start working in the afternoon till 2:20pm, so that is the reason for getting home late. At least it was a quick work and be home situation. Another busy work day, but at least I'll be done around 12:3012:45pm today. Oh, have to work again at 3pm for a new client meeting that won't take more then about 30 minutes with some drive time too. I never made it to Costco yesterday, so I need to do that and stop at the bank to pay my car loan and deposit money for Logan's apartment that's also due. I probably should deposit money into Logan's account at the same time since I'm going to the bank. It will be a busy afternoon with all that bank and Costco running along with my client meeting. 

I did a few more paint touch ups in our kitchen. Just inside the cabinets where it was looking rough from spills and scratches. Now they are all looking good. Although, I keep finding other areas that need some touch ups. I'll get to those eventually. I need to finish up those two windows and will work on doing that over the weekend, starting Friday since I have a light work day, starting at noon. I should be able to get at least 2 coats of paint on those windows of primer. 

Steve finished this weeks job early yesterday, so he has the rest of the week off. Since it was nice out yesterday, he cleaned off the AC unit and it was dirty with cotton seeds! Good thing he did that! I have a list of projects I'm hoping he completes, starting with cleaning up the office and his closet/ the spare room. He also has all the trim upstairs to attach and some to cut and finish up for our bathroom. Lets hope he wants to do some of those while I'm working today and tomorrow?? We will see what he wants to do. 

Our neighbors sold their house and had 3 offers after only a week. They put just the house on a listing with coming soon, then posted photos Monday and it's sold on Wednesday. I am not sure of the actual sale price, but they were asking 659,900. Or 660K. They don't have a fenced yard, a porch or a pond in back. They do have a maintenance free deck and newly redone outside exterior siding. They also have carpet pretty much everywhere, where we have hard wood floors. Their lot is larger since it's a corner and on a circle, so there is that too. We only paid $300K for our house 24 years ago. So more then doubled over time, but with interest payments etc.. we also will had paid that for our house. It will be paid off Dec 2026 and we can not wait for that day!! Or we don't have to wait and can sell, then build right away. I'd love to take on building right away and have a one level house, then build a cabin the next year. That's an option if Steve runs out of jobs, which doesn't seem to happen, but we have yet to book out very far this year which is a first. He wouldn't' have to get jobs for at least 2 years if we built! In the mean time, we will continue to get our house prepped to either rent out or sell. I'm pretty much done purging for now. Unless we start on the garage which we might do this weekend if the weather is going to be 60 degrees! We are getting all the inside projects done too. If we wanted to sell, we could be ready in a month. I'd want to redo our shower and we'd have some room painting to do and that's about it. 

Wednesday... warm week!

 I made it through a super busy Tuesday and since I started early 9:15am, I was still done at 12:30 with taking a quick Subway lunch break. Amazing!!! 

Today is another busy work day, but I start at 10 and will be done around 3:30 by the time I get home. I'll have a break between my 2nd and last job of the day, so its somewhat easy day with 3 houses. 

I was pretty tired after yesterday's work schedule. I did finally manage to pull myself off the couch and go to get Dog food and then to Cub and Aldi to get dinner and Tums. We were out of the good smooth Tums and I've been having lots of heartburn with the coffee I've been drinking. 

Saw this notice at the dog food place. 

Tempting.. We can't have chickens in this neighborhood/Association, but we did have ducks when the kids were little. I had them when I was little too, so that's the reason I wanted to do this with my own kids. It's tempting, but we like going camping on the weekends, so that doesn't work with duck and a hunting dog! It sure was fun having them! Lots of work, but worth it to see them grow up and fly away, some with help relocating to the local park and a few died. Hit by a car or eaten by an animal. One almost got carried away by a hawk! 

They sure went up in price too! Almost $10 each!! I think we only paid a few dollars for each and we got a dozen, now you only need to purchase 4 or 6. 

I did zero painting or purging yesterday. I needed to rest after that busy work day. Plus, I had errands to run. I have another busy work day, so again zero painting is going to happen or purging. 

I still want to clean up the spare room/Steve's clothes. I probably should add get hangers on my todo list. Plus, I have to paint two more windows trim. I can't forget, clean up and re-organize the office. Steve's work stuff has taken over in there and it's a mess! He needs to store the stuff elsewhere! 

Projects completed!!

 Yep, spent my entire Monday on Painting. I did more touch ups around the house/white paint trim and doors. Steve had tiny little specks of paint on the base board trim from when he painted. So that's now all cleaned up where it looked dirty, but was just paint speckles. I also cleaned up the door panes as those get dusty and look dirty. The only way to clean it up is to paint. Now they look all nice and fresh again. That's the only issue with having all white. It needs more up keep/paint touch ups yearly. I'm sure there are a few more places that could be touched up, but I'll get those when I see them. At least the light in the house was bright enough for me to actually see what I was painting. 

I also finished painting the back hall closet door. After I purged that and re-organized that closet, I noticed that I never painted the back of that door! I sure did that on quite a few doors. I think now I have all painted with the exception of the upstairs linen closet. I'd like to leave that unpainted!! 

I take that back, I still have more painting to do! I painted all the upstairs hall base trim. So now Steve has to attach it to the wall. I'd like him to cut that piece of shelf/nook trim too, so I can paint and have that done finally after 20 years. I'm thinking this weekend he could easily do this and get one more item checked off the home project list. The painting I have left is now just two window trim. Laundry room on the main level and the upstairs spare bedroom. Once that's done. I'm hoping Steve will paint the spare room and then clean up his clothes. I do think we could use a few more hangers! I keep asking if he wants to build some type of shelves for his clothes and not hang, but just fold on shelves. Would be a good option!! 

I made one more trip to Goodwill to drop off the last of the purge pile. I think we are good with purging for now. We still have a lot to get rid of, but that's for another day/year..We will do more garage purging once the weather is warm enough to be out there. 

Someone did a review on Wingstop. They look good! I'll have to try this place along with Hangry joes Chicken. 

Ever since we had Hot Pot in Chicago, I've wanted to have it again. It was so much fun. This is all you can eat for $35 per person with some BBQ?? not really sure, but the hot pot in Chicago for the 5 of us was only $100. So much cheaper and a lot of food! Might have to keep looking for a good Hot Pot location and not all you can eat. 

Today, it's back to work. It's a busy week too! Everyone bunched up on one week as next week is light again. I might be picking up one new client this week! That would help fill in next weeks work schedule! I sure hope I get the job. It's pretty much a 100% success rate for me getting jobs. I'm excited as I have the meeting with them on Thursday. So one more thing to make my work week extra busy. I need the money for bills. so I like being busy! Probably should have spent some of my day off advertising, but I wanted to complete some home projects and stay focused on that! I will have time next week for more flyers. At least I know my efforts are working and we are picking up more jobs. Just need to work on getting more for Steve. He had an estimate yesterday for just a little bit of work, which helps, but it would be nice to get a full basement or remodel to keep him busy for a few months at a time. It's slow this year, probably because people are having to pay into taxes and not get refunds this year. It might be too early for Spring just yet when things get going. It's been super busy since before Covid when everyone wanted something done. Now people want to travel, so home projects are not as plentiful. People always needs stuff done, so there are jobs, we just need to find them! 

Presidents day

 I have the day off from work. I planned to work, but with it being a holiday for working people my schedule changed. Now my Tuesday- Friday work schedule is BUSY! I'm not complain as it's a good thing! Just would have like to space out the work and worked today too! Well, this just makes another day to get home projects done! 

Here's what's on the todo list:

- Make garlic crackers

-Make sandwich bread (always wanted to try making some)

-Pay a bill/Electric

-Advertise for at least an hour/cut flyers

- TJ Maxx - get gifts Celina for her b-day

-Paint (laundry room and hall closet, 1 piece of bathroom trim) a few times today! 

-gym (done already) 

-plank

Organize the office and go through the back hall closet/purge

- Drop off Goodwill!!

I think that's a good todo list. We will see how much I accomplish! I'd also like to make more of my Thai Chicken soup, but I'll save that for another day! 

We did get a lot accomplished on Sunday. 

The most exciting project we/Steve did was to finally install a front hall closet light. We've had the light for years!!! He finally installed it and said we should have done this years ago! I'm like do you think?? lol. Well, can't complain because it's done now and it's so nice to be able to see what's in the closet! Big improvement! He also finished that last strip of flooring. I now have to paint the base trim since I realized that's not finished in there! So, I'll have to move out all the stuff to paint this week. The walls also could use a little touch up paint. 

I should do more purging of games in there too. 

The upstairs linen closet finally has trim around it! It needs some enamel, but looks 100% better. We took off the trim years ago thinking we'd replace the trim with wide trim, but the other doors have the orig trim so we wanted to keep it all the same. Feels great to have this project done too. Now if we could finish that nook too!! I have to enamel all the base trim up there in the hall, then Steve will attach and it will finally be done! I'm thinking that would be a good Sunday project! 

Back to painting for me today. I have 2 windows left to paint, spare room and the laundry room. I need the  blinds removed on the spare room, so I'll probably just do the trim and the laundry room windows this week. This spare room window will have to be another week! 

Steve still needs to go through his clothes in this room. Then after we do the trim, he needs to paint the walls and finish the base trim which I'll have to enamel. It's on the todo list. We need to purchase trim, so will get that at some point. 

I have one more piece of base trim to enamel in my bathroom and then Steve needs to cut it to fit. This also can be quickly finished this week. I enameled all the other base trim pieces in our bathroom, so all can be attached this Sunday too. Got to keep these home projects moving. It's just the last finishing touches that need to be done. Not sure if he will attach our trim since it has to come off anyway when we redo the bathroom tile floor and shower. Might be easier to just leave it for now. It looks fine just on the wall, you can't really tell its not attached. 

I did more purging too, which was not on this home project list! 

I cleaned out our buffet junk drawer. Plus, went through the fireplace cabinet where I store photo albums and the kids art, report cards etc.. Purged a lot in all those places. Plus, went through the last 3 drawers in the kitchen that needed to be purged. I have one bag to bring to Goodwill but will find more to take there today. I pretty much purged all that I can. I only have the office to get rid of my fit books and older then 7 years of taxes to purge. Oh and go through the back hall closet. It's just sleeping bags for camping, jackets and some boots along with light bulbs. Not sure I can purge much but at least have it a bit more organized. 

And last the weather outlook this week! 39 degrees today, although not sunny so probably really slow snow melt. I'm guessing it will be all gone by Saturday since I see mostly 40's this week. We can start doing some tree trimming and fix up the landscaping before stuff starts growing out there. I want to get the rest of the paint off the deck so we can clear coat that this spring. I'd love to redo the deck in maintenance free decking, but that costs a lot, so we will just keep our existing deck maintained. Maybe switch out the rails as that is a cheaper, quick fix. Our house is going to be 24 years old, so more and more maintenance needs to be done all the time. Would be nice to start with all new stuff once again. 

We need to work on growing grass after we cut trees to let in more light. It's very shaded in the back and front yard, so hard to grow grass! I'm hoping to finally get Steve to trim them all up and haul away. We did a bunch of that last fall and I need that to continue! 

Sunday... Sunday..

This looks like a fish sandwich instead of chicken! IT was soooo good! Amazing batter on that chicken and cooked dark and crispy! So very delicious. We went to Hudson WI to bar hop with Celina and Don last night. Our orig plan was to go to River Falls, but I'm glad we switched plans. 

Found this funny instagram post. 

Here we are at one of the bars, 4 in all and I had 4 beers! Yikes!! I have a headache today for that mistake! I have to stop at 2 from now on! 

Here is that spreadsheet home project list. We checked off 3 items yesterday. Touch ups around the main level, trim, doors and cabinets. Steve installed the hall closet light and finished the last strip of flooring in the hall closet too. It's 100% done! Feels great to get one project done. We also picked up some trim to finish a few places we had removed it to install flooring. We don't have enough of the trim to do all the areas, but it's a start. It was too cold to do any outdoor trim cutting, so I'm hoping that will be done today?? 

I cleaned out the fireplace cabinet where I store all the photos, and kids art/school stuff from their childhood. It's all organized and purged. What a big job that was!! It's amazing how much I was able to store in that one cabinet. The other fireplace cabinet has our electronics and CD with some margarita glasses stored in it, so already paired down. 

We looked at this unfinished house near our house. We thought this would be a good one to finish if Celina and Don wanted to get their own house. They aren't ready since Celina doesn't know about her job. Not sure if anything will come up either which is worrying! She really likes working from home and her current job, it's just a contract that will expire in May. They aren't allowed to renew and must either let her go or hire on full time. At least she has gained 1-1/2 years of work experience that can help her get the next job. It will be a big adjustment if she has to go into work all the time. I'm hoping she stays employed! 

We went to the gym yesterday morning. I just did my 24 minutes of weight machines, then biked for 10 minutes. I really need to start upping my cardio again. Time to get back on the stair climber! I just need to make time for that in the afternoons. 

My sense Fitbit is toast! I did throw it away. No need to keep something that doesn't work. I do have my old Garmin watches that I should charge up and start using again. Might help motivate me. I can still use the Fitbit app to log food, but that's about it. Bummer too because I liked looking at all that info it provided. Maybe at some point I'll get a new one but for now? Nope. 

Today, I'll probably skip the gym. I want to get more painting done and purging. Not really sure what I'll purge, but I'll organize the back hall closet where we store sleeping bags, coats etc. I need to put away the winter stuff anyway and I need to get in there to do that! 

I picked up 2 more old customer jobs for next 2 weeks, extra money is always nice!! Steve also picked up another job from a current customer. As long as he keeps working, we are good! I didn't want to spend a bunch of money yesterday, but ended up paying $60 and Steve spent another $80 on going out last night. We are also going out next weekend for Celina's birthday, so another night out. We are trying to cut back on our meals out, since we waste a lot of money just doing that. I'd rather save the money and put it towards home projects or travel. 

Snow melting is on the way!! look at those 40 degree temps this week! We've now had snow since Feb 15th. It still looks like this... 

I'm guessing the snow cover will melt pretty quickly and I'll track the progress to see how many days it's going to take for it all to be gone! Let's hope this is the last of the snow on the ground staying! 

 

Painting anyone?

 That's what's on the agenda today.. Painting! I've been doing main level paint touch ups on the base trim and cabinets, chairs etc..Plus, doing a little cleaning along the way where needed. It's mostly dust build up on the trim, doors and corners. 

I am hoping Steve will want to help in accomplishing some of the projects and checking them off my todo list. I think he is ready to install the light in the hall closet and finish up the last piece of flooring in there too. I just need to move out some of the closet stuff, so he can get in there and work. A small thing for me to do in order to keep this project moving! 

What am I painting today? Finishing up the trim with the enamel coat of paint to go over the primer. Then I'll start the enamel on our master bathroom trim. We still are missing a one 2ft section, but maybe purchasing that will be in the todo list for today too? We do need one more piece of trim to finish up the upstairs linen closet, so we need to go to Menards! We shall see what I can get out of Steve to do for home projects this weekend. I am determined to do all and finally finish our house and get all those projects that have been on going, done for once and for all! I think Steve has the mindset that when we move or are ready to and have to do these projects, he will finally want to do them. I would like to enjoy living here with everything done! Imagine that?? 

I've been searching for lights too. We have a few hall/bedroom boob lights that are ugly and I'd like to replace. Just not sure with what? I'd also like to get a great price. I'll keep looking on FB Market place. My neighbor seem to have lots of luck with finding nice lights doing that, but I can't seem to find anything for a good price and stuff I like! I'll probably give up with the search and just purchase new. 

Another cold MN day with temps only reaching 30 today and the WIND.. up to 25 mph. It's going to feel super cold again. We do warm up after today, just need to get through another day before the snow will melt and we warm up to the 40's. The snow looks pretty, but I'm ready for brown grass again. 

I've been bombing on my diet. What diet? Yesterday, I had pizza, 2 hard seltzers and some cheesy potato chips. Not crazy amount of eating but counting calories and going over 1000 - 1500 has been the theme. Good thing I can start fresh every time I make a choice on what to eat. So back at dieting today, even though I really would like some weekend bacon, hash browns and pancakes. I'll stick to my 50 cal coffee and some popcorn for 130 cal and just wait it out till dinner tonight. We have left over pan baked chicken and roasted cauliflower. Who knew I liked roasted cauliflower seasoned up! Steve made it delicious and I dipped in some buffalo wing sauce for a kick of heat. 

Next week is Celina's 24th birthday. Golden birthday on the 24th, and year 2024! That's a lot of 24's. I've already got her gifts, which consist of gift cards to shopping and restaurants. She wants to go to Malcome in the yard for dinner and back here for Cake. I might be making a heart shaped cake for her birthday. Ganash, strawberries and dairy free butter cream. Not sure what type of cake, Strawberry? It will probably be a boxed cake mix and I'll use a heart shaped pan, then decorate with chocolate writing and icing. I'm actually looking forward to making her cake! She has been making her own the last few years, by choice! I have decorations that I'll put up and need to purchase some more too. I need Balloons too! Might make an arch for her birthday! I'd better start that soon!! 

Friday!!

 This is how I feel about the snow! I want to burry my head until it's melted because I don't want to see it! lol.. 

Zoey's new fresh grooming. I never did go back and trim her up. She actually looks pretty good. Not 100% perfect, but close enough. She still needs a bath which is on my todo list along with a nail trim

Madelyn on V-day with a cat mask from school. 

She is in her cat phase and out of the dog one. 

It was nice and sunny the day after the snow. At least all the snow melted on the roads and some of the grass melted away too. It sure looked pretty, but I'm already over it. It can all melt away, which it will do this next week when it's in the 40's. 

I should have taken more before and then after photos of my purging. Here are the areas I purged!

The kitchen cabinets

Laundry room cabinet/Laundry room shelves

Basement storage/Christmas and Halloween decorations. 

I had a full trunk load to bring to Goodwill, which I dropped off yesterday. 

I ended up cleaning a lot of the day too. My hard water deposit cleaner arrived, so I cleaned the shower doors and still have one more shower door glass to finish up. 

I ended up making a spreadsheet of all our home projects. I assigned who would do them and if they had a zero cost. This way, no excuses to not check off some projects. We know exactly what needs to be finished around the house. I'm posting it on the frig this way it will be a reminder. 

This weekend I'm going to be back at paint projects. We have two windows the trim to paint white in the laundry room and the spare bedroom. I'll do that along with painting the trim in our bathroom. I'm hoping Steve will finish the linen closet trim and install the light and finish the flooring in the hall closet on the main level. If we get those items done, it will make a huge difference in our project list. I also have paint touch ups to do on the main level again. I'll go around and do those too in between coats of paint. 

I still have more purging to do. Once the garbages are emptied today, I can start filling up again. I want to go through the office again and purge. I have saved every fit book from 10 years ago and now I need to get rid of most of them. I'll save the last few books, but I don't need to keep them. We have 15 years of taxes, minus the last 7 years we need to keep and will get rid of all those records. I'll have to get a shredder, so that will be saved for warmer weather since they are stored in the garage storage area. No need to climb up there and get them now. I do need to purge stuff that we stored up there too. That too will wait for spring/summer or fall. 

We aren't doing anything right now about building/moving. Just concentration on fixing up our house and getting it ready should we want to rent it out or sell. We at least are on the same page about style of house, where to build now and what it would take for us to actually do that. We could get the house all ready to sell in 2-3 weeks if we had the desire to do it asap! We need to figure out Celina's job situation first and then either stay and pay off the mortgage or build. At least we have options and just trying to figure out what works best for us. Right now staying put is the best, easiest option. Even though it would be more exciting to do a build, it also would be more stressful at first. 

My watch Fitbit, died. They are only offering 30% off on a new one. I'll skip it for now since it didn't last very long, 3 years? I can't bring myself to throw it away right now, but that's where it's going! 

No other plans this weekend. We will save money and not go out to eat and concentrate on home projects. Next weekend is Celina's 24th birthday. We will do a family dinner and I'll have to decorate! So we do have plans at least next weekend. 

Still not sure what Logan plans to do for Spring break in March? There is Easter, just a meal and then Steve's parents birthdays both in March and April. Then just waiting for summer! We have camping planned for the spring/summer with no set plans other then Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day up at the lake. We want to go to Texas for the eclipse, but they said the traffic will be crazy. Plus, we don't want to take that much time off from working or spend the money to do that. We will figure out something else this spring. Maybe just camping in Wisconsin/MN etc places cost to home. 

Is it April Fools day?

 It sure felt like April Fools instead of Valentine's Day! We got about 3 inches of snow yesterday. Ugh!!! 

It does look pretty all stuck to the trees, but I was okay with zero snow on the ground the last few months! Well all winter so far! It will melt by Monday with temps expected in the 40's. We just need to get through the next few days of 30 degree temps, but sunny today! The sun should help melt all the road snow and off the driveway/roof. Now to get it cleared off the snow too! 

To think I was going to set up the back yard tent this weekend! lol.. Nope! Can't even have a bonfire now. We should go up to the lake this weekend and burn some branches since there is snow on the ground. Might be something todo?? 

We accidentally made a heart shaped pizza last night. The crust just puffed up like that! 

I dropped off gifts to the grand kids along with the balloons. 

Steve got me this cute card. 

I bought Steve and myself some flowers. I got the bouquet free from Trader Joes. No idea why as the cashier said no charge. I texted all my friends and some family Happy V-day too. It doesn't matter what you get back, it's just you have to put out happiness for others. I do like that saying, you need someone in your life to match your energy. I decided knowing Steve and his lack of being prepared, I was going to get my own flowers and since he likes them too, some for him. I was never a card person, but Steve likes to get cards. I probably should have gotten my neighbor friends some candies and a card, but a text was good enough. I do remember then on their birthdays. 

I have the day off. Switched work days so Celina could use my SUV for work today. She ended up turning around and coming home as the roads were too icy this morning. So, now I have my car to do a Goodwill drop off and go to the gym this afternoon once the snow all melts off the roads. Good thing the sun is out today! It should melt fast! 

I'm doing more purging. Already started going through the kitchen cabinets. Got rid of some cups. I went through our laundry room shelves and got rid of the kids craft stuff, stickers, beads etc.. I'll also be painting the trim today and cleaning our house floors/showers. I got my new shower hard water cleaner yesterday and am ready to get our shower glass all perfect again without hard water deposits. Zoey needs bath and her nails trimmed. I'll go to the gym too this afternoon after I do another Goodwill drop off/Donation. I think that's about it for stuff to do along with some painting. 

Dieting is going semi okay. I need to stop the treats at night. I always want something sweet. I can go all day and not want anything and then after dinner.. I want it. I've been staying around 1500 cal but that means pretty much no weight loss. I have to go lower to lose weight faster or to keep motivated. It's a work in progress!!