Get it Done December: Week 4

This last week and extra few days of December Hubby is using vacation days that he will lose at the end of the year and getting amazing things done.

- All interior and exterior painting on our list is done.
- Lots and lots of leaves raked.
- Fixed the pull cord on a basement ceiling light.

I managed to also check off some house related items.

- Basement vacuumed and cleared out. More to do once we get to February.
- New door mat for the sun porch.
- Started deep cleaning each room. The upstairs bedroom, bath and sitting room are done including ceiling lights. Downstairs will be done once the bath remodel is completed. Of course there will need to be continuous thorough cleaning.
- Got the bath designer to get approval to return the almost $500 of floor tile that didn't work for no restocking fee. She is to take it back. The tile we did use was much less expensive too.
- Changed my email on all online accounts. Comcast is not the provider where we are moving.

We also met with our realtor to go over the disclosure forms and deadlines as well as a couple of staging questions. The house will go on the market on February 23rd with the public open house February 26 and realtor caravan the 28th. Onward with the countdown.

Get it Done December: Week 3

- Hubby cleaned off carport roof & raked a ton of leaves.
- More interior trim touch up painting.
- Basement clear out continues. Gone: 4 cans of paint, random wood pieces, foam core board, bench vise
- Vacuumed / dusted basement floor shelves, benches & lights
- Floor tile purchased for bath remodel did not look like we thought it would color wise. Found a better match and made switch. Tiling started.
- Realtor sent the disclosure documents we need to complete and we will work on them this coming weekend. We scheduled a meeting with her for next Tuesday to complete them and sign the contract with her as she is heading off on an overseas trip. She'll be back in plenty of time for the next steps before the house goes on the market.

I have had a sick dog for the final 2 days of this week plus contractors in the house so that has limited what I can get done. Cross your fingers that she gets better please.

Get it Done December: Week 2

- We finished replacing bark mulch in the courtyard.
- DH painted a living room wall and the front door and door frame.
- He cleaned out the upstairs bath fan vent.
- I washed the outside of the living room and family room windows.
- Asked our realtor if we needed to have the furnace and AC serviced. We are saving money because the answer is no. She did mention we may need to provide a home warranty though. That makes sense.
- The contractor fixed the live wire problem DH discovered under the back porch. No electrician cost required. Yeah!
- The dog got groomed.
- We scheduled dinner out with a friend who lost her husband this year.
- We keep raking leaves in quantity.

AND our main floor bathroom has a new tub, sub floor and drywall repairs. Moving along.

Get it Done December: Days 6 & 7

Or don't get much done LOL

- Passed on the Friends of the Library President position to the next person. She'll do a great job!

- 99 barrels of wet leaves raked and picked up - OK, it was really 7 barrels, but sopping wet leaves are heavy!

Get it Done December: Day 5

- Returned the under cabinet light fixtures to Home Depot and bought leaf bags and a paint roller cover. Then went to Whole Foods, Trader Joes & CVS. Such excitement.

- Called the bath remodel contractor. He is waffling on the start date and expanded how long demo will take. Wishing we had a different contractor but too late now. Hope he actually starts on Wednesday. Makes it hard to plan the rest of my life. Sigh.

- A significant branch fell from one of the oak trees by the house but missed hitting the house. We do have a temporary totem pole as one segment drove into the ground straight up. Managed to fit most of the smaller pieces in the pretty full yard waste barrels for today's pick up and then filled up one more after they were emptied.

- Researched alternatives to using a chain saw and found out that you can get pruning blades for reciprocating saws. We can easily rent that kind of saw at Home Depot. Perhaps an inexpensive do it yourself solution!

- Made a decision on the amount for 2017 pre-tax health savings account deductions from Hubby's paycheck and entered amount into the system.

- Made annual check up appointment with orthodontist and rescheduled next dentist appointment. I think I have all routine medical/dental appointments scheduled not.

Get it Done December: Day 4

Today it was rainy and chilly. Add to that how physically tired I am from all the manual labor of the last few days and I have to say that 67 is not the new 30 or 40 in this respect! We are both worn out.

I cozied up in heavy socks, slippers, my "coatigan", etc. Not going out of the house today except for coffee.

I chose to focus on less strenuous indoor tasks today and accomplished this:


- Washed family room windows.
- Removed artwork from all walls shared with bathroom. I don't want anything to fall down when they are doing the demo!

- Finished cleaning the oven and racks. Dropping a piece of fish onto the oven bottom last night signaled to me it was time to run the self-cleaning oven feature LOL and the racks have to be washed separately.

- Mended my fleece jacket and the dog's raincoat 😉. Altered 2 knit exercise pants, and a knit top.

Hubby put up a new smoke alarm and found out the 2 new under cabinet light fixtures for the kitchen won't fit. We are ready to leave up what is there even with a cracked plastic cover on one of them. They do work.

The painters replaced the window screen recently ripped by a falling branch so that is done too. 

12 weeks and counting AND Day 3 of Get it Done December

Yeah! The painting on the outside of the house (trim, doors, addition wood siding, fence) and the living room ceiling is finished and paid for. Check that off.

In other exciting news,
- I moved the dog's crate, etc. upstairs for the duration of remodeling. She doesn't like all of this change. Just wait until they start demolishing the downstairs bathroom!

- We decided not to spend money on having the tree service prune large shrubs and cut off a trunk. Here's to renting a chain saw & learning how to use it.

And yesterday, Day 3 of Get it Done December in addition to regular chores, the two of us managed to:

- Buy new outdoor doormats and 12 bags of bark mulch.
- Work in the courtyard off the sun porch to rake, prune, spread bark mulch near newly painted fence, remove extra bricks, and put yard art out.
- Washed the window by the upstairs closets and ironed and rehung the curtain.
- Put the living room back together now that windows are painted. Washed the inside of the windows.

I wore my new to me charcoal vest with a new to me last year cranberry top and very old jeans to work my butt off today (did I mention all the week's clothing and household laundry was done too?)

Get it Done December: Day 2

Another day of checking things off.

On 12/2 these things were completed:

- Raked the driveway. Five trash barrels of gloriously red Japanese maple leaves! It felt like I was walking in a sunset.
- Contacted contractor & learned that the bath remodel start date is Wednesday instead of Monday. This is actually better as there is no rain expected Wednesday (demo day) and they will be hauling things out of the house.
- Added yesterday's thrift store donations to ItsDeductibleOnline.com for tax records.
- Copied my Friends of the Library records to a zip drive to give to new President of group. Printed agenda for annual meeting on next Tuesday.
- Made appointments for annual physical and semi-annual mammogram.
- Figured out I need an orthodontist appointment and need to move my next dentist visit to a different date. Neither office is open today so will do next week.
- The dog and I coped with windows and doors being open for painting despite colder weather. Glad we didn't wait until February as initially planned! Also very glad we have a Mr. Slim heat pump unit upstairs as that kept that space very cozy.

Get it Done December: Day 1

I have been wasting a lot of time. That has got to end! So here is to "Get it Done December".

On 12/1 this got done:

- Bought weed preventer at Home Depot in a shake and spread container. They did not have the cheaper & larger refill container.
- Came home and researched prices for the refill. Lowes was the best and the closest store had it in stock.
- Made a menu plan for with next 10 days.
- DH conferenced me in for a call to try to figure out how much money to put in our pre-tax health savings account for 2017 given that he is retiring some time between 9/30 & 11/30/2017. We learned the rules. More thinking and analyzing required so it save us money rather than us losing unspent funds. We have until 12/12 to decide.
- Did a large circle of errands: Lowes for weed preventer refill, library to return books, thrift store to drop off 2 old sets of golf clubs & bags plus misc clothing and kitchen items that will not be moved, CVS to pick up prescription, Kroger for groceries, and then gas station.
- Walked dog.
- Raked part of front yard and street.
- Spread weed preventer on part of front yard.

Had a glass of wine and read a bit!