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Why has nobody thought of this before?

06 Thursday Oct 2016

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Most new kitchens have pull out trash.  One can buy kits to retrofit kitchen cabinets with multiple pull out trash can options.

When I started looking at the design for the family bath in our new house I realized that there was no place to put a trash can except inside the cabinet under the sink (which I realize is typical for many people).  But, the boys have a hard time landing stuff in the trash can on the floor and having it inside a cabinet won’t help.  Plus, they fill it so it often overflows unless someone comes by to crush it down.  So, the pull out bathroom trash was born.

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This was supposed to be a stack of three drawers between the sinks.  Instead we replaced it with one drawer and a pull out trash, just like one has in a kitchen.  Soooo much better.  There’s no mess on the floor.  It doesn’t fill up between trash days.  And, I don’t know what I would have put in those drawers anyway.

When I first came up with this idea, I searched the Internet and couldn’t find a picture or reference to such a thing so I’m claiming an original idea!  I highly recommend you copy it.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – Consignment Sale Shopping

04 Tuesday Oct 2016

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Things are cranking along now.

  • We had our first Math Night of the year.
  • I ordered blinds for the bedrooms.
  • Two of three soccer games (and a practice) were rained out this week, but we really do need rain.
  • Baseball was also rained out.
  • The forecast, even at 9:00 was for rain on Monday, but it was beautiful and rain never materialized.
  • Since it rained Saturday, I was able to go to one of the local consignment sales.  The pants are for the boys – two pairs of Gap chinos, one pair of Gap jeans, and one pair of Land’s End pants for $2 each.  I’m not sure they’ve even been worn.  They’re pretty big, ranging from size 7-14, but someone will wear them eventually.  I’d have bought some items in the size 5-7 range, but as expected there wasn’t much selection.  Everything else is for the baby, ranging from 12m-2T from left to right.  Total spent: $39.25.

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  • The dishwasher got replaced! (All is well so far; check back in another week.)  Once it was removed from its slot, the faulty areas & discoloration were evident.

I’m Starting to Think About a New Table

26 Friday Aug 2016

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We’ve had our dining room table for a long time, actually since before we had kids.  With the leaf in it does seat 8, though its better for 6.  As you can see from the picture, when set up for 8 there isn’t much space for food.

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Dinner last night was tacos.  We had hard shells & flour tortillas; salsa; cheddar cheese; ground turkey with home-mixed seasoning; corn; tomato; avocado; tabasco; and lime slices.  Normally we have sour cream also, but I haven’t replaced that since we moved.

This isn’t a huge meal – Thanksgiving or Christmas would have more serving dishes, even without guests.  And, it pretty much covers the table.  In our previous houses it was tight fitting this one in the dining room.  Not the case now!  So, I’m looking to get something somewhat bigger – both longer and wider.  Ideally, it would be something that wouldn’t be too huge for us to use on a daily basis, but could sit 14 for family gatherings without everyone feeling overly cramped.  I haven’t seen such a table at a store yet, though I’ll keep looking.  I’ve also been referred to two custom table builders so I’ll explore them.  This isn’t a near term item.  I’d love to have it by Thanksgiving, but I don’t think the stars will align to make that happen.

Boxes can Say a Lot

25 Thursday Aug 2016

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I noticed a few things about my collection of boxes during the moving process.  First, as evidenced by this picture of the office, we have many diaper boxes.  Pampers and Huggies could give me a commission for this.

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What people don’t realize is that diaper boxes make great moving boxes.  They’re thick.  They’re glued on the bottom.  And, they used to have handles on the sides.

Note:  Pampers has completely ruined their boxes by moving to suitcase style top handles.  I agree these tear less.  But, they’re difficult to carry unless you have large hands.  And, more importantly, when you’ve tucked the box somewhere (closet, trunk, etc.), there’s now nothing to grab on the end to slide the box back.  Pampers: you can feel free to keep the top suitcase handles, but please bring back the end handles before I run out of kids in diapers.  Most of these are older boxes with the end handles.

I also suspect some people might think I bought a whole new kitchen to go with the new house.  But, no.  I am happy to report that all of the kitchen items that had been in use, but living in their boxes in the basement, now fit in the cabinets.  It’s not that this kitchen is dramatically larger.  Instead, it is much better designed.

I didn’t take a picture of the recycling last week, but it looked something like this week’s version.  That’s a lot of kitchen boxes gone!

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Last Week’s Accomplishments – Time to Unpack

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

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Most of what I did last week focused on unpacking.

  • The kitchen is fully unpacked, with the exception of a few items.  Those will go on additional shelves that I’ve requested from the builder.  All the other shelves have been adjusted to fit our things so the six I’ve requested should finish things off.  I’m happy to say that all our kitchen stuff fits with room to spare.  Its been nice to be able to finally put things away, vs keeping them in their boxes to ward off basement dust.  I’ve used most things, but they always went back in their boxes after washing since I didn’t have space to store them in the kitchen.
  • My related, big accomplishment was to finish off the pantry.  I added a few more shelves, a mat for under the electrics, and some end dividers for shelves that might get things that could tip over.

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  • It’s not completely done.  The stand mixer needs to come out of its box and onto the shelf with the other electrics.  And, the items on the floor under that shelf need to go – sell, Freecycle, trash – along with another box of kitchen stuff.  But, we’re pretty close and very useable.
  • I feel the pantry will be very helpful with so many people.  This is something we added by adjusting the floorplan prior to construction.  Basically we slid over the kitchen wall to make the kitchen 5′ smaller so we could add the pantry, plus two other areas (to be shown later).

Aside from unpacking:

  • Our oldest had baseball camp.
  • The oldest three had a golf lesson.
  • I sold a few items we weren’t using on replacements.com.
  • I’ve made two trips to Bed, Bath, & Beyond for typical new house stuff.  Thankfully I have a seemingly infinite supply of their coupons so I’ve been able to maximize the amount off each time.
  • We went out to eat for a very belated anniversary dinner.
  • I went to Target to purchase most of the school supplies I didn’t already have.  That being said, moving means I have to actually find those things I know we have.
  • I ordered headphones (a school supply) for the twins on Amazon.  I fixed our address with Amazon.

Goodbye

22 Monday Aug 2016

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I know I don’t usually post on Sunday, but I found the cord!

Before we get a look inside the new house.  Here are a few pictures of the old house in an empty state.

The playroom has never been this clean.

Actually, here it is even emptier.

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And, here’s the empty dining room.

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Goodbye, house.

Back in Business

15 Monday Aug 2016

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I know its been a while.  I’ve spent all my time packing, and then we had no internet for a while while we switched houses.  But, all that is behind us now.

In addition, while I did go to the grocery store last week it was always for a specific day/meal and I didn’t get to take pictures.  Today was my first restocking trip and I did get pictures, so you’ll see that next week.

The weather here has been hot and very muggy so we’ve spent most of our time inside unpacking.  We also got the POD back and unpacked.  Everything was in good condition and didn’t seem to have shifted at all despite our unprofessional packing/tie down job.  My only complaint is that everything inside was covered in a fine black dust.  I’d been warned of that before using the POD, but it was still annoying.  The dust seemed to stick to tape in particular.  Cardboard wasn’t so bad and furniture varied dramatically.  All things considered, though, I’d get one again to move as it really helps to get some stuff out of the house before putting it on the market.

Tomorrow, we’ll get back to a more regular schedule and I’ll start sharing some of my more favorite things about the house later in the week.  In the meantime, there are many more boxes to unpack.

 

Last Week’s Accomplishments – BBQ Time

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

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Summer rolls on.

  • Swimming and golf lessons continued.
  • We BBQed some more – hamburgers this time.  We were going to BBQ the turkey also, but the rain forced that into the oven.
  • I reviewed the light fixtures at the new house and saw some of the paint.

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  • I cleaned out more of the school year papers.
  • I packed a few more boxes.

Miscellany

09 Thursday Jun 2016

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I had a few good photos and random thoughts from May that didn’t make other posts and aren’t significant for their own so I’m putting them together.

  1. After last year, a relatively mild winter was appreciated.  It wasn’t too cold and wasn’t too snowy.  But, it has taken quite a while to finish.  Even today it barely got out of the 60s and the forecast for tomorrow is cooler still.  April also seemed (I am not a meteorologist) pretty dry.  So, its been nice to have some rain in the past few weeks so the flowers can come out.
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  2. Apparently I don’t use shampoo nearly as fast as I think I do.  I remember when we moved last time the folks helping me get the final few items boxed up commented on how many bottles of shampoo we had.  And, not little hotel bottles, but full size ones.  As I start packing again, I’m noticing that we again have a significant supply.  I will need to make a conscious effort to work this down.  Thankfully my hair is not too picky as long as I vary the shampoo every now and then.
  3. A significant roadwork project is underway to replace the water pipes in town.  Unfortunately I have to drive through it multiple times a day.  But, the boys find it very interesting and every now and then one of these huge boulders appears.  I assume they’re being dug out of the ground, vs put in, but I’ve only seen them sitting around.
    IMG_4633Yes, the car was stopped when I took the picture.  This happens a lot as the construction area is often a single lane.  And yes, that’s the bucket of a common sized excavator.
  4. I got a particularly good deal on gas last week.  I know prices have gotten lower, but I felt pretty good about 20 gallons for $30.  This was a combination of reasonably low prices and a middling amount of grocery gas points.

 

 

April Accomplishments (belatedly)

31 Tuesday May 2016

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I feel like I’m catching up to real time, finally.  Though, I still have to go back and update the grocery shopping and spending updates for the past couple of months.  April was the start of spring hecticness, with kickoffs for both soccer and baseball.

  • We sold our house! Yeah!
  • We had 3 dentist appointments.  Everyone got their hair cut, except the baby.
  • We had parent-teacher conferences for the older three.  We got spring reports for the next two.
  • We hosted one birthday party.  We attended another.

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  • I made more tile and stone decisions.  Neither of those are our actual cabinets, but they are the correct colors for those that will be nearest these stones.
  • Over spring vacation, the older three participated in a mock revolutionary war battle which everyone seemed to enjoy.
  • We went to a Red Sox game using free tickets.  The weather was accommodating and taking the very small ones was not as bad as I had feared. (We would not have done this except for the free tickets.)