Changes!

There have been a LOT of changes around the house.  I've been up & around for about a month, now, and am catching up on my life.  Surgery was a success--I haven't had nerve pain at all.  The only pain I've been experiencing has been muscular, as Derick (my physical therapist) forces me to use and strengthen those muscles again.  I'm about ready to go back to work--May 16th!

But, in the meantime, I've started attending to all of the projects that have been put on hold for a year or two.  First, the mirrors came out of the bedroom.  There are a bunch of holes in the wall that will be repaired next week by a professional plasterer.  I thought about DIY, but I've never worked with plaster, and I don't know how to match the texture.  My bedroom is my retreat, so I want it to be done right the first time.  I've chose a great wall colour called Butterscotch, but it's almost the colour of Sedona sandstone.  It's going to be lovely and warm when it's painted!

The next project is the kitchen.  I've got new countertops coming in a week or so! Yes, I know, the Home Depot orange colour is going to be missed...I know everyone wishes they had such stylish counters.... The big cabinet with the cookbooks might be able to be cut down to a regular wall cabinet size.  I'd lose the lower storage, but still have plenty of room for the cookbooks, and it would give me 2 extra feet of counter top space!  You can also see the awkward "hole" between the big cabinet and the smaller wall cabinet--that space is completely unusable--the floating counter comes out so far that you can't even reach into the hole.

                          

The new counter tops are a Cambria quartz called Canterbury.  Lots of clear quartz so that you can look down into the counter, lots of copper flecks, and reds, golds, blacks and beiges throughout.  It's going to be stunning!

You may be able to see that the dishwasher and an additional cabinet are underneath the floating "breakfast bar" counter (below photo)--I have to crawl under there when I need something from that cabinet, and I can only access half of the dishwasher easily.  That counter is going away, completely.  It will be replaced by a rolling kitchen cart from IKEA, and above it will be a small pot rack, which will free up some more cabinet space.  It will also open up the kitchen immensely--right now you have to squeeze between the cutout (seen in the second kitchen photo) and the fridge, which isn't visible in that picture.  Even though I'll lose 8' of counter space, I'll actually gain more useable space with the cart and even more if the cabinet can be cut down!

Third project was completed yesterday--a new ceiling fan!  I whacked a Miller Moth last year and somehow broke the old fan.  It made a horrible noise when it was on.  It was also so old that it didn't have a reverse function, so you constantly had air blowing on you, which I don't like.  Oh, and it was ugly to boot.  Here's the new fan!  It's a little modern, but it actually works really well with my decor.  The lights have dimmers, and the fan is SO quiet--and it reverses!
 The basement project is finally being completed.  I had to hire a handyman to get it done.  He installed the custom laminate and created the countertop, which is deeper than standard because of the pipes behind the cabinets.  On the left is the little cooktop.  I opted for that instead of a stove because of the nightmare of moving the upper cabinet, venting, etc.  The cooktop doesn't have to be vented.

 Josh had painted the refrigerator red last year, and we thought the laminate would be totally cool with that colour--and it is!  Once this is done, I have to clean the bedroom carpets, clean up the construction mess, and advertise--I'm hoping to have a roommate in there within a month!

 I planted clematis in the front.  This blooms twice a year--spring and fall.  The blooms are almost 6" across!  It's so pretty, and I can't wait until it covers the trellis.  I planted one in the back yard that should grow up the fence and around the birdhouse--should be a pretty vignette!

 I realized that I don't have a single photo of Jazzpurr awake.  Enjoy, especially if you have insomnia.

 Luna NEVER sleeps!

 I am clearing my clutter, and went through my bookcases.  These are the books that should be leaving in this weekend's garage sale.  I can't believe the amount of stuff I own that I don't love, don't use, don't enjoy...it is all going away soon.  I had thought about applying to Emirates, and wondered, "what would I be willing to ship to Dubai?"  When I started going through my house, I realized that the answer was "not much."  Then I read an essay in Ladies Home Journal about a woman who pared down to one or two items from each of her collections, and realized that those items had become more precious, that the memories associated with them had become more dear and clearer...we all have too much STUFF, and this is something I've been working on for a long time.  Every time I make a sweep through the house I feel so much better, lighter and calmer.  Besides, I am learning that holding on to stagnant unused stuff blocks up my life, makes it stagnant, keeps me from growing, learning and expanding.  My old stuff needs a new life, and I can't give it one--that's someone else's job.

Thank goodness Luna helped me with the books! Couldn't have done it without her!

 I bought the bright yellow koi to add to the backyard pond.  He's really beautiful.  I didn't realize that koi and goldfish look so different from above--the koi looks like an airplane, because his side fins stick out like wings.  The goldfish's fins are oriented differently and are hard to see from above.

That's about all that's going on right now.  Recovery has been an amazing journey of personal growth, which some of you have shared (thank you!).  I'm looking forward to the next stage of my life--life without chronic pain!