Getting rid of stuff

The house re-do is going along at a fast clip.  

Bit by bit, box by box, room by room, I am decluttering.  My goal is to make the house look like a magazine and stage it for showings.  We can move our clutter and extra stuff into the motorhome, once we put the house on the market in April.  Then we can just live in the house with little impact on it, and be ready for showings hopefully at the drop of a hat.  

I am going to leave my weaving studio intact as much as I can, because I work in there almost daily if possible.  People can look beyond that and imagine the room as a big family room, or work area, or divided back up into the two original bedrooms it once was.

As I go over things, I decide if they are good enough to be sold on Ebay.  I listed five adorable wooden canisters I have had for about 15-20 years.   They are too cute-sy for "staging" a house for sale, but had been favorites of mine.   None of my kids wanted them, so it was time to list them on Ebay.

A lovely lady named Lisa won them.

Cookie Cottage, Flour House, Sugar Shop, Cafe (coffee)  and Tea Room

I am so glad someone wants my beloved cutesy kitchen stuff!  In corresponding with Lisa, she said she was just redecorating her kitchen and loved the little village theme.  Well, did I ever have a deal for her!  I sent her the following pics of the rest of the items I hadn't gotten around to listing yet, included 30 ceramic knobs from the cabinets and drawers.  Whew she was flabbergasted!

Done Deal!  

I shipped it all off to her yesterday!   

She is going to start following my blog, 

as she is also a camping person, 

and perhaps someday we will meet in a campground in Nebraska.  

Due to the lack of knobs, now we are opening up the cupboards and drawers with our fingertips!  Guess we have to get over to the hardware store and buy some average nondescript knobs that won't stand out so much.  

Little Chelsea came over on Wednesday night.  Her mommy was relaxing in our whirlpool tub (so comfy for a preggo momma in the 7th month)  and I kept the wee one busy ---- we were baking. 

We are using a new recipe where two boxes of cake mix are blended into a zip lock bag.  One box HAS to be angelfood, (for the included powdered egg whites and rising properties) and the other box can be any flavor. This mixed up bag of powder can be kept in the cupboard indefinitely and scooped from any time you want a quick snack cake! 

Dump 1/2 cup of the blended powder into a coffee cup, add 3TBsp water and blend.  Microwave for 1 minute (10 extra seconds in my smaller microwave) and voila!  You have a snack cake!   

Well, little Chelsea the Baker Girl was helping me mix up a double batch and put them in a heart shaped cupcake pan for the microwave.   

Gotta take the time for a lick or two of the fingers.  She made a fine mess, but enjoyed the project immensely.  Once she was done getting coated in chocolate, I popped her into the tub with her mommy!

Shhhhhh this treat is what all the kids and grandkids are getting for Valentine's Day!

The carpet guys are due back to finish the loft, hopefully today!   We need to get our things back into place so I can continue on the de-cluttering and staging.  We have been sleeping downstairs all week (which is fine with me because it's a nice squishy bed down there)  

I called yesterday to be sure we were on the schedule for today, and she said yes.  It's 9:30 a.m. and I have not heard from them yet.  Hope so.  Keep your fingers crossed?  It would be great to put the house back in order for the weekend. 

Our livingroom is piled high with the stuff that needs to go back up in the loft, and I want to finish the photo-scanning I have been doing which takes up a lot of space.  I have about 10-12 shoeboxes and ice cream buckets, all set out with name labels on each one as I scan and sort and pile up the pics for each person they are going to.  I have piles for our kids, my siblings, my cousins and my friends.  I am about 2/3 of the way through and want to get them done and out of my space. 

I have painting projects lined up for this evening and early tomorrow morning.  Jameson is coming for Saturday night because our daughter Heather is singing on stage at a formal venue up in Marquette, Michigan for an Alzheimer's Benefit.  She is releasing their debut CD of music she has been helping to record 2 songs.  She made it with some friends and her 5th grade school teacher that she reconnected with a while back.  Then on Sunday they are having an album signing.  How exciting is that?    

We said we would keep the little Jameson grandson overnight as they are going to have a late night and hotel getaway and it's about 150 miles from here.   I might get him to help bake the rest of the heart shaped cakes!   Then sometime this weekend we have to run to see little granddaughter Allegra.  Our son Dan works at a glass and window factory, and he cut us a new piece of mirror for the downstairs bathroom.   We get the mirror AND hugs from Allegra, what a deal!

Looking out the window right now, I am watching the birds all hunched up and clinging to the branches near the feeder.  Their feathers are all ruffled up against the wind which is blustery and gusting the snow all around. It's really snowing to beat the band out there today, but that shouldn't have any impact on the carpet guys.  I hope.   

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