hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

I would say advertise the coal heater on CL. But, first, see if you can find out what's it worth so you know how much to ask. Are you able to get it out? If so, meet them someplace public for the exchange.
 
This is when you cook a big pot of stew that y'all can eat on for several days. Or a big roast with sides that will feed y'all a few days. Heat, put on paper plates, clean up is a breeze, and back to piddling in the house, making it yours.
 
I don't know, Deb, I guess we could get it out, but I'm not sure I want to. I can't even see the dang thing right now because it's buried under so much other crap, but hopefully I can get that cleared up soon.
Whew, I was exhausted yesterday. I finally just had to quit doing stuff. My knees were hurting so bad I could hardly go up and down the stairs, let alone carrying a box. I moved a LOT of books upstairs and at least got them in the correct room. I opened up a bunch of my natural stuff that sits on my one bookshelf and got it out so that it can be arranged as I add books to the shelf. I'm still debating how to do some things, I can't decide where I want stuff yet, but it's coming together.
I also got out the candles for the windows and put some garland and lights up over the fireplace. I wanted to decorate at least a little bit, and that stuff won't be in the way when we paint the living room. It will be easy to work around. We need to fix the living room curtain, but I told the BF there was no point in fussing with it if we have to take it off the wall to paint, which we will have to do. I don't want it down any longer than we have to because that window is a single pane and so it will be cold if there are no curtains hanging. I can probably get that wall painted in one day so the curtains could come down and then go back up very quickly. Frankly, I should be able to get the whole room painted in one day if I have the whole day to do it because it's not that big. The only long wall is the one with the couch on it, and then there is the wall next to the front door, but that's not that large, either, the other wall has the fireplace, which has paneling on either side, so nothing to paint there, and then the wall with the window is pretty broken up so there isn't much to paint there, either. I can't wait to get it done though!
I stopped by Lowe's yesterday morning to get more shelf pins since we lost some in the move, and they had a vinyl remnant, so I scooped that up real quick. I told the BF's mom and she agreed to come up on Friday to help me get it put into the kitchen cabinets. That'll make life easier and it will be prettier than the worn out bottoms that are there. I also started the marathon scrubbing the oven challenge. It's DISGUSTING. You KNOW it's bad when you can sweep up the burned bits off the bottom of the oven. I coated it with baking soda and sprayed it with water twice, and got a LOT of it off, but there's still some left. Apparently the inside of our oven really is blue enamel! Who knew!? I need to do it again with a different cleaner because I think I've done just about everything I can with the baking soda. I found some ammonia under the sink, I might try that next, but I'm not sure if that will really work any better or not. I also used my chain mail scrubber that I got for the cast iron and it was a BIG help!! Holy cow that thing is awesome! I'm gonna have to share more about that later.
We managed to get the rest of the alcohol unwrapped and into a cabinet last night (we're really not lushes I swear!). I also got more boxes shuffled out of the way, and we got all the large picture boxes upstairs, so I can unwrap those and begin to sort out where to hang them. I've got about a dozen more boxes in the basement that need to be moved upstairs and unpacked, so that's coming along nicely, too. I can't find one of my boxes, I have no idea where it went, but I'm a little bothered by that right now. I'm hoping it's just behind or under something I can't see, because it's not a large box. The other option is that it is packed inside another box, but I can't remember which one it would be in. I should go consult my list and see if I can figure it out.
Last night the BF also moved the piano which opens up the area coming down the steps a lot. I really like it that way, but now I have to clean the massive dust bunnies that were under the piano! Geesh! I'm thinking we might put the wine cart where the piano was, I'll have to ask the BF what he thinks about that.
I finally got him to commit to a date for an open house, so that will be fun. Now I have to get the invitation made and then create the events and such. I'm looking forward to the motivation to get things done in the house! Nothing like company to help you get organized! I want to get some of the kitchen stuff a little neater, but other than that, I think we're doing ok. I still have some space in some of the cabinets, so I can move things around a little more. It's just a matter of figuring out where things will be most useful.
We got another dusting of snow last night. It's really pretty. I NEED to get my snow brush! It's still at GH's house, and it's very difficult to clean off your car without a snow brush! I just jumped in this morning and left, and then realized I couldn't see my headlights, so I had to pull over and brush them off. Then I realized since I didn't clean the hood off I couldn't use my windshield washer fluid because it was all covered in snow. I left this moring at 6, and did make it to the office by 6:30, but the amount of traffic was awful. I do not enjoy thick highway traffic! I might try getting up at 5 next time and seeing how it is at 5:30 instead of 6 if it is a little clearer. I was trying to get on the ramp for my exit onto the other highway and this car was driving so erratically. I have no idea what their problem was but they obviously had one. With the snow and dark I couldn't see what they were doing in their car, but they were swerving all over, turning their blinker on and off, slowing way down (which is a TERRIBLE thing to do on a VERY fast moving road!). I had to cut off somebody to get around them, and my poor truck just doesn't have pickup anymore, so I know I slowed them down (they honked at me, but I hope the person in the crazy car heard them). People were swerving around them on the shoulder of the road, it was really bad. The up side is I'll eat my lunch at my desk and leave at 2:30 so I can get home before the rush. I think I need to stop for some groceries, but I haven't decided yet. I don't know what to do for dinner. Hmm, I think we have tomato soup... it might be grilled cheese and tomato soup night! I THINK I have everything I need for that!
Well, I've probably rambled enough, I should see if I can get some work done! I'll try to hook up my phone and upload some pictures if I have time today. I think it will be easier here than if I do it at home since I only have my hot spot now.
 
Alright, some pics, finally!

Not really sure how this works, so we'll just wing it.
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This is our little cozy house, with our freaking awesome weather vane. Realtor says that it's worth about $1000.00... it's old school fancy!

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This is the view out of the big picture window in the living room.

I'll start with that and get the rest of them organized as I go along. I need to figure out how to get before and after shots out of the video that I took because the before was crazy!
 
Thanks yall! @baymule it is very cozy, several people have said that already about it.

Well, I just sent invites for an open house... I guess now we really have to get things done! We have 3 weeks, or just under, to do whatever it is that we want to do, which is a lot... LOL

This weekend we actually did do a lot. It snowed Friday afternoon, which was really pretty, but meant that we couldn't do much Saturday morning. Friday afternoon the BF's mom came up to the house with me and helped me start putting the vinyl into the cabinets. I really need to finish more, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully I can keep working on that this week. She ended up staying until after the salt truck went down the street because our street goes down a hill into a fairly major road, which wouldn't be good if it is slick! So she helped me get the oven wiped out better, and helped me to cut some of the vinyl and then we just sat around and talked for a while. We got the guest list put together for the party, and decided on how we were going to set things up.

The cats came home with us when his mom and I came back to the house. They weren't happy about the change again, but did much better coming to us than they had going to her house. I know it helped that I was there, but they just did a lot better all around. They found a chair that they've claimed as their hiding spot, they both go under it and they're very cozy. I'm going to have to make sure I vacuum good under there to get the hair out! Of course, Specter cried all night since we locked them out of the hallway so they can't get close to the bedroom. The BF actually got up really early in the morning to make sure he wasn't stuck somewhere (he wasn't!).

Saturday morning I had to go take care of some horses. My friend warned me that her street wasn't so good, and that their driveway was pretty well covered. When I finally got to her house I was only able to get into the bottom of the driveway before I started slipping. I just walked the rest of the way since my 4wd isn't working. I decided not to run the rest of my errands since the driveways were worse than hers was.

I headed back home and we got a bit more sorted and put away before we ran out for lunch and then the BF took the pickup truck to get his brother before heading to GH's house to pick up the rest of the stuff there, and then I headed out to do my errands, which included picking up Lilith the Chinchilla from my friend's house, and then also stopping for eggs at the farm where my chickens are. I also swung by the PO box, and stopped at the dairy for milk and some ginger snap ice cream. I couldn't resist. I got home right after the BF and his brother got there, and so we got everything unloaded and into the house. The BF was really frustrated because the stuff we brought in took up the space that we had managed to clear. I told him that we'll get through it, but it will just take time. This is the last of the stuff from inside, the rest of the stuff was shed stuff, so it should be able to go outside easily. The BF headed to take his brother back home, and I managed to get some chicken out so that we could actually cook dinner. It felt good to eat real food again, and to cook it ourselves.

Sunday morning we got up and started a to do list of things that we wanted to get checked off for the day. We got about half of them checked off. We managed to get the entertainment center set up, I got a lot of books put on shelves, and we got a lot of boxes and things stored in the attic. I got the cookbooks out, and then made a shopping list so I can get that done and actually cook this week. We brought up a lot of boxes out of the basement that either need to go into the attic or be sorted and put away. We managed to move enough boxes that we were able to get his desk moved over to another area in the basement where it will be, and then moved an extra shelf where the desk had been sitting. I had to head out and do chores at the barn for the evening, so I left and while I was gone he ran to Lowe's to pick up a few things that we needed. He hung one of the pictures in the kitchen and then started to try to fix the bath tub drain for me so I could actually get into the tub. At this point it has been a few days since I've had a shower (I won't admit how many....) and I needed a shower. I wasn't planning on soaking because I really just needed to shower off first, and I was going to soak later this week instead. I got a call from him when I was on the way back home and found that he had attempted to completely repair the tub drain, and in doing so it had broken off completely. I got home and we ate dinner that I had ready in the crock pot, and then headed out to Lowe's. Apparently Lowe's (and all the other possible options) close at 7 on a Sunday night. 7! Who knew?! That's so early! I could have sworn it should have been 8 at least, but geez. So no go on the shower. SO I bathed off with a washcloth the best I could (and did feel better at least) and then crawled into bed.

This week I'm going to keep working on making boxes disappear, and then I have friends coming on Wednesday for lunch and to smudge the house. KE is also bringing her paint colors, and we're going to pick out the colors for the living room so I can go buy that and get that done this weekend. Before I can do that I need to get the cats accustomed to the basement (right now it's too dirty and messy for them to be down there), and then we need to finish the spackle on the walls so that we are ready to paint as soon as we choose colors and can go buy it. I can't WAIT to have that project completed! That will be all the painting for a while, though the BF does want to repaint the basement, too because right now it's an awful pale mint-ish green. We'll just get something light to brighten things up a bit and leave it at that for a while. But that's going to wait for a few paychecks (and hopefully after Christmas when we can get some gift cards!).

So that's about all that's happening here. We got a lot done, but that's so much more that I want to get done. We tracked more dirt into the house while bringing the stuff in (yay post snow mud) and so now I need to clean all over again. The kitchen floor is mostly white, so it shows footprints like crazy! And now that the BF was working in the bathroom, that's all tracked up, too.

Wednesday I'm going to go over to the Habitat ReStore and see what they've got. I'm hoping they'll have a new toilet for cheap, and maybe even a vanity, too. We'll see what that turns up. I'd really like to get the basement bathroom working so that we don't have to rely so heavily on the upstairs one!
 
Progress is being made. It sounds like y'all are getting a lot accomplished, I know, hard to believe when your are over your head in boxes.... :thumbsup
 
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