Monday, February 21, 2011

Whazzup?

Not a lot. And a lot. We're back into the cold of winter time. Temperatures nearly reaching 20 above by day but plummeting down around zero at night. Gray skies, no sun (other than a teasing peek now and then), occasional flurries of snow and wind. Lots of wind. And ice. Oh my, do we ever have ice. All surfaces, except black topped roads, are covered thickly with ice. Getting in wood yesterday afternoon was scary. The whole trip to the wood shed and back (small, shuffling, baby steps) was totally iced over. All you can do is to be careful. Our daughter's 4-mile winter driveway is a luge run. Completely iced with hard, cement-like snowbanks on either side. She can navigate it no faster (seriously) than 10 mph in order to keep control of the vehicle. Currently, she can't make it up the last hill to her private driveway. She's having to park and haul everything in and out on a toboggan. It must be at least a half mile trek, maybe more.

Hours were spent this weekend talking and paper planning for the big push this summer to finish the remodeling on our house. Made a big change which really helped my general outlook on the whole project. Why does anyone ever remodel an existing house? It would seem to much easier to start with nothing and build it just the way you wanted. We've never built a new house so maybe I'm being unrealistic in this thinking. I'm also becoming aware of how much money is going to be involved, and it's scary.

Week #6 weigh-in this morning. Both hubby and I stayed the same. The exact same. Zero weight lost, zero weight gained. We did what Sparkless suggested in my comment section last week. We took last Tuesday and went a little off our eating plan in the hopes that it would shake up our systems a bit. Convince our bodies that we could burn fuel because we weren't starving. I really believe that sounded like a logical thing to do. Made sense. Perhaps I went overboard, but what I found was that I didn't like the "full" feeling I had on Tuesday that I haven't experienced since we started cutting back six weeks ago. I could really tell the difference that extra bit of food made. Oh sure, it felt great going down, but once it hit it didn't feel so pretty good! I don't know what hubby plans on doing but it's pretty evident I need to either burn more calories or cut the calories I'm taking in. (Big duh.) I don't have a rigorous exercise program I follow, but I am up and going the better part of each day with chores involved in keeping an active house and homestead. A work in progress is what this is. A work in progress. I'm going to keep on keeping on.

I also spent some time this weekend doing an inventory of our food and miscellaneous household supplies. Although we're in pretty good shape I found myself with a hefty list of various items I'd like to get. At first I thought I'd put off any purchasing until "later." But then I did a reality check. Has anyone else noticed how rapidly the price of EVERYTHING is increasing? Yeah, well, me too. Sad to say, I honestly don't think prices are going to be coming down any time in the near future. Matter of fact, I'm betting prices are only going to continue to increase. Our retirement income has not gone up one iota. And I'm betting any of you still out there in the work force haven't had a raise lately either. Even worse, some of you have probably had to take cuts. But I am extremely thankful and grateful that we do have a retirement income. I'll just continue working hard to make it go as far as possible.

My morning latte is all gone. Breakfast dishes are calling. Laundry and ironing are the exciting items on my list today. (I'm sure if you listen carefully, you'll be able to hear the noise my washer is making. This is the third time we've had the same problem with it and we've said when it goes this time, it's really gone. As in booted out the door. Only problem is the washer is part of a stackable unit we squeezed into our little bathroom and the new washer and dryer will be a side-by-side that will go in the heated part of our attached garage . . . after the remodeling is done. Yup, garage is involved in the remodeling, too. Looks as if we may have a time crunch here. But the upside is that when the washer and dryer are moved, I will get an actual linen closet in the bathroom which I haven't previously had.)

I'll also be spending time today with books, plans and papers spread out on the kitchen table working yet again on remodeling plans. Well, that part definitely needs to be nailed down first, so the sooner we get that done, the faster (and better) everything else will go.

Happy Monday, Everyone. Make it a good one!

12 comments:

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I have always said that the next time we move will be in to a brand new constructed home. That way I would hope you would get a few years without having to do any 'construction'. The never ending project. You seem to be going to have one big project on your hands there. I don't envy you, but can't wait to see the results.

Sue said...

You're actually lucky to be remodeling---you've lived with the house and you know what you want.
It will be hell, but when you're done, you'll have it the way you want it. It's gonna be fun. Don't make me eat these words. Fun, dammit, fun!!!!!!!!

Sue said...

Oh yea---and LOTS OF PICTURES TOO!!

Tami said...

You really struck a chord with me with your comment on prices going up and retirement. My W-2 came in a few weeks ago and I actually made less this year than I did 10 years ago. Scary stuff. Makes me cranky sometimes that we've already started to slide back financially. I thought we'd have more time to build up our retirement dollars. Oh well, ya gotta roll with the punches.

Mama Pea said...

Jane - In the 47-1/2 years we've been married, I've never lived in a finished house. (Before we found this place, we rented for a short time and that place was finished but a place of our own with no construction/finishing needed has never happened.) So you can understand why I'm so eager to get this place done so we no longer have it hanging over our heads.

Sue - Oh, Sue, you make me laugh so much! I think this planning part is hardest for me. No matter the mess, when I can actually SEE progress being made, I'll be a much happier camper. And it WILL be fun. Dammit, it will! ('Cause you said it would!)

tami - And the other #%^**@ thing is that our dollar (those dollars that you are earning less of) is worth less and less all the time. Is there a way out of this??

Sparkless said...

Well that's too bad that having that one day didn't help, it does for lots of people but you have to be hungry. If you feel like you are eating enough food and not craving any more then the one day off program is probably not gonna work.

Sorry to hear winter is still hitting you guys hard. It's been sunny here most of the past week but still cold so the snow isn't melting. Spring will come, it always does. Hang in there.

And yes, I have noticed the cost of living going up. Too bad wages aren't going up too.

Take lots of pictures of your remodeling. I'm going to be watching closely. We'll be doing our bathroom this summer, I hope.

Anonymous said...

You have the right attitude Mama, keep at it. Keep at the weight loss, it ain't happenin overnight. I'm not weighing myself for at least a month because I feel like I've gained. I hurt my foot recently so my exercise has been minimal. And yeah, that full feeling, I hate it! It's like, you can't breathe, your stomach really does shrink!

Last winter I lived by the Atlantic coast, and talk about ice....that ocean wind froze things quickly and solidly. That's when I decided that the winter tires would be studded from now on. Here back in Quebec in the mountains, it's come in handy a few times on the icy roads. Same deal with my boots, I have cleats I bought for $10 that attach onto the boots. Life savers those are. Your remodeling sounds exciting!

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - Once we get going on the remodeling you will be SO sick of seeing pictures! You'll probably run the other way when you see more remodeling pictures.

Rain - Thanks for all the support as usual, Rain. It really helps.

Erin said...

I LOVE remodeling LOL! Even with all the "divorce dust"... I could move into a perfectly good new construction home (yeah, right - with the way things are built today) and immediately commence tearing down walls and living with stud walls for years on end! We did that here and now that things are the way I want, I can't wait to go tear up another house. It's sick really, and very expensive. For now I just have to make do with rearranging furniture every 2 weeks :)

You are so right about the expense, we redid 2 kitchens ourselves, new floorplan and bathrooms and the "little stuff" amounted to more overall than the cabinets, lumber, drywall, appliances and flooring! Once you get everything you think you need, it's the daily trips to the hardware store for this or that... one thing leads to another LOL

Mama Pea said...

Oh, Erin, I wish I felt the same way about remodeling as you do! I think it's the fact that our remodeling has never been finished from one house to the next. But as I said earlier today, when I start to see those stud walls and plywood floors disappearing, I'm sure my energy for the project will soar!

Leigh said...

Well, no gain is the next best thing to loss, when it comes to weight! Like everyone else in the blogosphere, I'm rooting for ya!

We've noticed that about prices too, which really puts a crimp in the old remodeling budget, doesn't it? You mentioned no raises, worse, we had two pay cuts right at Thanksgiving and Christmas, with no increase since. Makes me think we're crazy to be remodeling during such times, but I just gotta have a kitchen! ;)

Mama Pea said...

Leigh - No you're not crazy to be remodeling during this uncomfortable financial time. What would be better to do with any money available than to put it into making your home/homestead safe, secure and comfortable?