Working on my new lot

Today I did some work on my new lot, clearing stuff out of one of the sheds and bagging up 10 bags of stuff for the garbage. I also set aside a pile of stuff to take to Goodwill, too -- things that were in the sheds. I took the stuff to the garbage and hefted it into the hopper.

It seems sad that these things which Preston and Florence had been using, living with, probably once loved, probably remembered getting... is now just relegated to garbage.

I'm learning that, if there is too much stuff stored in these sheds, they become just a repository for things that will never be used or even seen again. It's like putting stuff into an attic or into the garage. If you're not putting it where you can easily get to it, you'll never use it again. You may as well give it away now.

Jack came over this afternoon and fixed chicken on my rotisserie. I made mashed potatoes and sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, and tomatoes -- some of my favorite stuff! What a fine dinner it made!

We finished just in time for him to hurry home and change clothes while I changed my clothes here, and then we hustled off together to the Tanque Verde Valley Singers Holiday Concert. It was hosted by our church, where most of the choir's members also go. Fine concert and we had a good time!

We returned here and went to the dance, but we just barely made an appearance when we decided to go. We were both tired after a big day!

Let's Sing

I've been singing! Choir practice at church is on Wednesday nights and practice for the Far Horizons choir is on Thursday mornings. Fun! I love to sing and it's going well.

The new Dance Dance Revolution is working well, with no problems. I really like the new version, with its fine new songs and the "Courses" and "Workouts" are great. I'm back to doing my Fitness Coach as well, and feel like I'm getting my muscles back to where they were. I am feeling like I'm losing some weight, but it's not showing on the scale yet or in my jeans, so it's just a mental thing at this point. LOL! Maybe I'm just feeling a bit deprived, since I'm not eating all the junk in the evenings anymore. My no-food-after-7:30 rule is working well.

Today a group of us went market prowling, beginning at the 17th Street Market downtown, and then going to Roma Imports an G&L Imports. These are all interesting places, with lots of really bizarre things available to buy. I got some herbal tea (I'm going to try to like tea, because I think that I should!) and a couple of other things.

The new cottage is ordered! I'm excited about this now and am ready to see it all come to fruition. When the dollars were figured up, I compromised on a few things, deciding, for example, that I'd hire the tiling installed locally, saving $1600, that I'd get a tile backsplash instead of Corian, saving $800, and that I'd get the standard cabinets instead of the upgrades, saving myself $3150. I ended up saving altogether enough to pay the sales tax!

I'm also ready to start getting THIS cottage ready to sell. I'm thinking that I should bite the bullet and put in new flooring. This carpet is gross. It could probably be cleaned, but it's too light in color for this town and will not hold up well for a new owner. The linoleum in the kitchen is really in need of new. There are holes in it where I took out the desk that i'd put in, more holes where the island used to be nailed down, and there are big black rings where my computer used to stand.

I think that, if I were to put in some good quality laminate flooring, perhaps a tile look-alike as I'd been considering for myself, I'd be out a couple of thousand bucks, but would likely sell the place faster. I really don't want someone looking at this one and thinking, "Well, we would have to put in a new floor..." and that's what they would be thinking if they looked at this. That and a new stain on the deck and clearing my junk out and running a dustcloth over everything, and it's ready to sell.

Sunny Sunday

Last night I baked brownies for the church potluck today. Church was good. We sat at tables for 7-8 and had Communion for each table. And the choir (including me!) sang. The brownies, which I baked with raspberry jam and almonds, were good, but I should have used two mixes instead of just one. Actually, I should have made them from scratch instead of using a mix at all, but... I have not done that since I sold the bakery.

After church, I took Jack home and I went home, we changed clothes, and then I picked him up again so that we could do errands. I had to return my DDR, bc the disk seemed to be bad. I was getting Wii error messages, which is not a good thing. Best Buy was quite amenable to satisfying me and the return was easy.

When we got back to the park, Jack wanted help with putting up more Christmas lights, and so we got that done. His little cottage looks so festive all lit up. I have lights, too, adorning my steel agaves on my little concrete patio out front.

I'm thinking about having my own bedroom put into my loft in my new cottage. I'll see how it feels when the cottage comes, but it makes sense to have my mattress put up there. Then I can use the "bedroom" for my Wii, my keyboard, and put in a Murphy bed or a futon for short-term guests. I'm not planning to have anyone stay for a LONG time. I can always rent another cottage for long-term guests. Or I could move Jack into my cottage for that time and have guests stay in his place. :) That is, if I have guests.