Well, as I mentioned last week this has been a busy week of rising about 4 hours earlier than usual - and I don’t fall asleep earlier as a result - sometimes even later, so I am down around the equivalent of 2 nights worth of sleep.
The biggest chunk of this is a reenactment last weekend. For those of you who might not know what this is, my husband has always been interested in the American Revolution and I have always been interested in British history. In reenacting portrays a person (either real or imagined) from a different time period and/or place. In our case we reenact in the general American Revolution period - the 1770s- 1780s. We portray a fictious couple in the period of the “middling sort” - meaning middle class. We are members of a local unit of same which is a civilian (not military) unit. For some time the unit members have wanted to do a specific event and our new commander managed to set it up.
Normally when we do an event it is on Saturday or Sunday for 5 to 7 hours. This event was Saturday and Sunday with setup on Friday night and we were the “lead group” for several other ones that our commander convinced to join us as they were needed for this event. - No, wait, this does involve organizing, I promise.
On a personal level, we had to plan what we would do at the event - normally he talks to people as someone who prints and sells pamphlets (soft cover books) as someone from “then” and I portray his wife and demonstrate embroidery. If an event is at our headquarters we will generally end up giving tours of the house at some point during the day. For this event which involved the British army being an occupying force, neither was appropriate so we had to figure what to do instead. He would just talk to people about “the situation”. I decided to get some actual sewing that has been sitting about done. Mending was the perfect thing for the event. I was going to work on a waistcoat (vest) that no longer fit him. I had previously split the right and left sides apart and stitched the lining and front of each half together (into 2 half vest pieces). I had planned to stitch what are basically buttonholes to the back edges where the pieces should be sewn together. I managed to put all this together. As I did so I found 2 small drawstring bags (drawstring bags in all sizes can hide just about anything modern or carry anything “period” ) so I figured I would bring them along also. In addition to this we were bringing two folding reproduction stools to sit on and plate, cup and silverware each (called a mess kit it is period looking items for when eating at an event). Rather than our 2 good sized bench boxes that we use to bring lots of stuff to and store the stuff in at events we had just the folding stools and the one drawstring bag - much planning went into what went into the bag and fitting it in. The first day was to maybe raining on and off, so I put a small plastic garbage bag inside the large drawstring bag this all went into, so the stuff in the bag would not get wet if it did rain. Our stuff we brought with us on Saturday and again on Sunday.
Setup for our unit was a bit more taxing - but it was a group effort to set up and was done late Friday afternoon. We had to setup a number of tents such as lower soldiers would have - it takes 2-3 people to set up each one. Then we put up all of our “flys”. These are large tents that are only tops - we use them to have shade. Part of all of these tents were put in “our” area and the others were put in the adjacent “British army camp” to make it look like there were more of them than there would be. Where to place each component of our area and their camp had to be carefully figured and laid out. Towards the back of the area there is a barn which we had the use of (it actually dates all the way back to the 1700s) for storage and in case of rain. It was decided that the cooking fire would be near it along with two of the small tents to hide modern things in for the cooking. One of our fellows had planned out the cooking - he was cooking for all 3 areas - ahead of time and then had to have the food cooked and ready at the times set for eating. The third area mentioned was a second camp area which was near us, but hidden by trees as it was the “colonial” men who would be fighting the “British army” during the event.
During the week before our “commander” and the restoration village we were in had planned out where the “battles” were to be and worked with heavy moving equipment in a field to have it set up as it needed to be. Our commander gets the credit for much of the organization and getting the event done. Due to the possibility of rain he also had worked with restoration to have a plan in case of same. We were to go to various restored houses in the “village” and would be doing our impressions in same - he even had figured out who would go where.
We were lucky and the weather held straight through. Somehow due to the organization which had been done everything went off on schedule - people being hassled, soldiers drilling, houses being ransacked, etc. all on schedule - with some more of same not scheduled and being done impromptu. One great idea that someone had for organization was that we wanted the public who came through to participate, but did not want to scare off anyone who did not want to. Those who wanted to participate (and most apparently did) were given big red dot stickers to wear. A great idea as even without my eyeglasses (reproduction ones of course) that I had to take off to sew, I could see the dots in the distance.
On Sunday in the morning husband was told, err, asked to give a talk on the lives of loyalists (colonists who did not want to separate from Britain and were loyal to same). He put together some thoughts on same. We have not been to that end of the restoration in some years - decades(?) so I took a walk down there ahead of time so we would know where we going. When the time came for us to meander over a bit ahead of time we were amazed that as we walked past the “tavern” in the middle of the village one of the employees walked out of same with the keys needed for the house we were going to - not sure how she knew we were the ones or how she timed it so well - that is organization. She showed let us into the house and showed us how to lock it up it when we left. Some household type items had been left inside the front door to be “confiscated” (stolen) from us for being loyalists. People showed up on time to hear husband speak on the subject. Just as he was finishing the fellows who would be bothering us showed up with guns aimed at us - lectured us and were nasty to us, confiscated the items and were gone. The public followed them off to the next fight and we locked up the building - taking time to have a nice look around at what was in it. When we walked back towards the tavern I walked in with the keys and the fellow there knew which keys I was about to hand him.
At the end of the day Sunday - exhausted but happy all took down the “camps” and packed their personal and unit stuff away. Everything had been organized well and nothing had been overlooked - what a wonderful thing and it was only the first time we organized something this big - our commander was in contact in advance with the other commanders and individuals who came.
Just when we thought there had been no problems - we could not lock the house we were in front of, had use of and had given tours of as we did not have the key. The key sits in special place in the house (good organization idea) so it does not get lost and all who work in it know where it is. For some reason someone had given the key to someone, who had given it to someone else who, apparently, had given it in at the office - and the office had closed a couple of hours before. We managed to get someone there for security from the county public safety (restoration is county owned) to come and he was going to try to find the key or contact someone who would know where it was - so we had done the responsible thing and not just gone off and left the house unlocked.
I am still tired on Wednesday night - but thanks to the organization of everyone involved it was a great event and there has already been a decision to do it again next year.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
When something big has to be organized it helps to have a group of people working on it. Planning should start enough in advance to not have to rush at the end. Different (reliable) people should be put in charge of different parts of what needs to be done (such as one person in charge of the food and cooking). The possible problems that may arise should be considered (in our case - what if it rained and we could not be outside). And then one needs to keep one’s head if something arises - such as the missing house key.
Due to how well the event was planned it not only was great fun for us, but the public liked it, the village/county was pleased enough to invite us back to do it again, and in the case of something like this - no one got hurt and nothing was damaged.
Next week is a holiday here in the U.S. which is sort of related to all this - our Independence Day which started the fighting. In case I don’t get a chance to post - although I plan to - a happy holiday to those here in the U.S.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
TRAPPED IN A WHIRLWIND
Okay - I am now so disorganized that I have no idea of what to write for you. So this will be a bit off the cuff and probably ramble even more than usual. I had my time planned out a bit better, but you know what happens.
This week I had planned to go to a client on Tuesday or Wednesday - the one in Manhattan. Due to the severe thunderstorms predicted for Tuesday, I asked her to come there on Wednesday and she could not make the appointment for that day. Which freed up the middle of this week a bit.
Monday night we had our reenactment unit meeting - this is when we get together in modern clothes and discuss recent past events and how they went and what can be done to make them better in the future, upcoming events - the logistics of when and where to be, what we will be doing, who is doing to come to the event, who will cook, what the unit needs to bring - what members need to bring, etc. We also have a presentation by one of the members about something related to the period, the event coming up, or how to improve our presentations. Our next event is a new one, two days long, and in need of more planning than usual as we are the lead group of several groups with the event spread out over a good sized period village and such logistics as what we will do and where we will be if it rains, arrangements for people who are camping overnight at the site (many of the units will be doing so, our unit most will go home overnight), set up, break down, etc. Husband did the program for the meeting on how to do first person (being a person of the past who knows nothing past the specific day in the past) as many of our members are new to this and it is integral to the event. So, most of Monday night was gone - we were not home to eat dinner until after 11 pm.
Monday afternoon husband had tried to start our RV’s generator - it has to be run once a month if it has not been used. It would not start. Not the usual it almost started, but different - maybe it will start tomorrow, but dead silence. The generator is under the back of the RV. Husband gets sick if he is a variety of positions, so I climbed under - all the switches were set correctly. He finally did climb under as we tried to find and see the fuse for it - which we could not do. He telephoned the generator shop we have used in the past - we have to have the oil changed annually and needed to do it for this year (we had run the generator for a whopping 24 hours total over the year) - so that will done also. We are hoping it will not be a huge bill - people talk about generator repair bills being more than a new one would cost. We had figured it would be awhile before they can take us, but they can take us this coming Monday - at 9 am.
Yesterday we went to the bank for the week as we needed to cover some checks and figured if this was out of the way, it would be easier to get ready later in the week for the reenactment event mentioned. I also managed to finish cleaning the inside of the bucket to the dehumidifier in the basement. It has dividers that don’t come out and even my tiny hands could not reach everywhere. Husband came up with the idea of using a stiff, thin artist’s paint brush which worked.
Today we went and cleared out the RV as they will need to go inside and the mattresses, and other items will be in their way. We don’t want anyone near the mattresses any way, and we also took out the wood support pieces for the mattresses. We put them in plastic mattress bags in our living room - on a table husband uses for his weaving - every time I walk past it looks like there is a body laid out in there - ugh. I also caught up on paying bills - with the money we put in yesterday. I then recalculated how much we need to pay bills next week - before we, hopefully, go on a trip the week after. We could pay the bills, but not have any cash for the trip - or pay another bill I anticipate. So tomorrow, the only free day left for a while, we will go and get money from my IRA account - no available money in husband’s until August.
Friday will be the setup day for the event so we will be there a good deal of the day. Saturday and Sunday will be the event - and it now looks like rain, possibly both days. Monday we will be taking the RV to the generator shop. Either Tuesday or Wednesday I have to get to that client. Then Thursday the board of my embroidery chapter is having its annual meeting to plan next year’s meeting programs. The Monday after we are going away for a week - no, really this time, we made the reservations last year and have to pay even if we don’t go, so weather be darned, we will be going.
I am pretty sure I have mentioned that we are not morning people - me in particular. One advantage to being self employed is that I don’t have to get up early. Each of my clients figures that I am at a different one in the morning when I go there in the afternoon. I used to get up at 9-10 am - yes, you can call me a slug-a-bed, but since husband has retired we - again, especially me- have gotten worse. We go to bed at 3 am. It usually takes me until 5 am to fall asleep and we start getting up - very slowly - at 11 am. When we need to, we get up earlier.
But in the coming weeks we will be getting up early (for us) almost every day.
We have to get up early Friday to be out and ready for the setup, Saturday and Sunday we have to be there by 9 am - and getting dressed in the period clothing takes longer than throwing on our regular clothes, plus the drive there.
But I wasn’t worried as I knew I could sleep to normal time on Monday - but no longer can as we have to get up and out even earlier on Monday to be at the generator place by 9 am - it is further away.
Then if I am lucky I will be able to sleep to normal time on Tuesday - but either Tuesday or Wednesday I will need to get up just as early to get to the client in the city - even though I am going there for noon, the trip lately has been taking almost 2 hours. So I will have one of the two days to sleep in to normal time.
Then Thursday I have to get up and out to the board meeting.
Thank goodness for next Friday, Saturday and Sunday and a chance to sleep a bit. But we will have to be setting up the RV for the trip - even more work to be done than normal, as we have to put back everything we took out, plus the stuff we normally put in it for a trip - and make that darn bed - that takes 45 minutes if I am lucky, over an hour if I do something out of order and have to redo it. (Remember, this is the bed that can only be accessed from a 2 foot wide opening at the foot of the bed, so it mostly has to be made while in the bed.)
Then we will be off for a “relaxing” trip. Up early every morning. Pack the inside of the RV so nothing will shift during the day. Unplug the electric and cable. Run around all day and then at night - find the right spot in the RV space that the RV is level and plug in the electric and cable - did it once in a heavy rain storm that was so bad that there were “get inside” for safety purposes. Set up the inside of the RV - invariably we forget to shut the rear curtain while outside and have to go back out to do it. And the last morning we have to make sure to get up early enough to “dump tanks” and be out by 11 am.
So, it has and will be a rather hectic and tiring 2 weeks, especially since all the normal things still have to be done - right now - in less than 7 minutes - I have to run downstairs and switch laundry loads.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
It seems that we go through periods where time is easy - no appointments, just get things done as we can. Then we hit a period of craziness where almost every day is planned and there is little or no time to think. Somehow we always get through it.
So, if I don’t post next week - or the one after - although I certainly plan to, you will know why.
Do other people go through crazy periods like this too?
This week I had planned to go to a client on Tuesday or Wednesday - the one in Manhattan. Due to the severe thunderstorms predicted for Tuesday, I asked her to come there on Wednesday and she could not make the appointment for that day. Which freed up the middle of this week a bit.
Monday night we had our reenactment unit meeting - this is when we get together in modern clothes and discuss recent past events and how they went and what can be done to make them better in the future, upcoming events - the logistics of when and where to be, what we will be doing, who is doing to come to the event, who will cook, what the unit needs to bring - what members need to bring, etc. We also have a presentation by one of the members about something related to the period, the event coming up, or how to improve our presentations. Our next event is a new one, two days long, and in need of more planning than usual as we are the lead group of several groups with the event spread out over a good sized period village and such logistics as what we will do and where we will be if it rains, arrangements for people who are camping overnight at the site (many of the units will be doing so, our unit most will go home overnight), set up, break down, etc. Husband did the program for the meeting on how to do first person (being a person of the past who knows nothing past the specific day in the past) as many of our members are new to this and it is integral to the event. So, most of Monday night was gone - we were not home to eat dinner until after 11 pm.
Monday afternoon husband had tried to start our RV’s generator - it has to be run once a month if it has not been used. It would not start. Not the usual it almost started, but different - maybe it will start tomorrow, but dead silence. The generator is under the back of the RV. Husband gets sick if he is a variety of positions, so I climbed under - all the switches were set correctly. He finally did climb under as we tried to find and see the fuse for it - which we could not do. He telephoned the generator shop we have used in the past - we have to have the oil changed annually and needed to do it for this year (we had run the generator for a whopping 24 hours total over the year) - so that will done also. We are hoping it will not be a huge bill - people talk about generator repair bills being more than a new one would cost. We had figured it would be awhile before they can take us, but they can take us this coming Monday - at 9 am.
Yesterday we went to the bank for the week as we needed to cover some checks and figured if this was out of the way, it would be easier to get ready later in the week for the reenactment event mentioned. I also managed to finish cleaning the inside of the bucket to the dehumidifier in the basement. It has dividers that don’t come out and even my tiny hands could not reach everywhere. Husband came up with the idea of using a stiff, thin artist’s paint brush which worked.
Today we went and cleared out the RV as they will need to go inside and the mattresses, and other items will be in their way. We don’t want anyone near the mattresses any way, and we also took out the wood support pieces for the mattresses. We put them in plastic mattress bags in our living room - on a table husband uses for his weaving - every time I walk past it looks like there is a body laid out in there - ugh. I also caught up on paying bills - with the money we put in yesterday. I then recalculated how much we need to pay bills next week - before we, hopefully, go on a trip the week after. We could pay the bills, but not have any cash for the trip - or pay another bill I anticipate. So tomorrow, the only free day left for a while, we will go and get money from my IRA account - no available money in husband’s until August.
Friday will be the setup day for the event so we will be there a good deal of the day. Saturday and Sunday will be the event - and it now looks like rain, possibly both days. Monday we will be taking the RV to the generator shop. Either Tuesday or Wednesday I have to get to that client. Then Thursday the board of my embroidery chapter is having its annual meeting to plan next year’s meeting programs. The Monday after we are going away for a week - no, really this time, we made the reservations last year and have to pay even if we don’t go, so weather be darned, we will be going.
I am pretty sure I have mentioned that we are not morning people - me in particular. One advantage to being self employed is that I don’t have to get up early. Each of my clients figures that I am at a different one in the morning when I go there in the afternoon. I used to get up at 9-10 am - yes, you can call me a slug-a-bed, but since husband has retired we - again, especially me- have gotten worse. We go to bed at 3 am. It usually takes me until 5 am to fall asleep and we start getting up - very slowly - at 11 am. When we need to, we get up earlier.
But in the coming weeks we will be getting up early (for us) almost every day.
We have to get up early Friday to be out and ready for the setup, Saturday and Sunday we have to be there by 9 am - and getting dressed in the period clothing takes longer than throwing on our regular clothes, plus the drive there.
But I wasn’t worried as I knew I could sleep to normal time on Monday - but no longer can as we have to get up and out even earlier on Monday to be at the generator place by 9 am - it is further away.
Then if I am lucky I will be able to sleep to normal time on Tuesday - but either Tuesday or Wednesday I will need to get up just as early to get to the client in the city - even though I am going there for noon, the trip lately has been taking almost 2 hours. So I will have one of the two days to sleep in to normal time.
Then Thursday I have to get up and out to the board meeting.
Thank goodness for next Friday, Saturday and Sunday and a chance to sleep a bit. But we will have to be setting up the RV for the trip - even more work to be done than normal, as we have to put back everything we took out, plus the stuff we normally put in it for a trip - and make that darn bed - that takes 45 minutes if I am lucky, over an hour if I do something out of order and have to redo it. (Remember, this is the bed that can only be accessed from a 2 foot wide opening at the foot of the bed, so it mostly has to be made while in the bed.)
Then we will be off for a “relaxing” trip. Up early every morning. Pack the inside of the RV so nothing will shift during the day. Unplug the electric and cable. Run around all day and then at night - find the right spot in the RV space that the RV is level and plug in the electric and cable - did it once in a heavy rain storm that was so bad that there were “get inside” for safety purposes. Set up the inside of the RV - invariably we forget to shut the rear curtain while outside and have to go back out to do it. And the last morning we have to make sure to get up early enough to “dump tanks” and be out by 11 am.
So, it has and will be a rather hectic and tiring 2 weeks, especially since all the normal things still have to be done - right now - in less than 7 minutes - I have to run downstairs and switch laundry loads.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
It seems that we go through periods where time is easy - no appointments, just get things done as we can. Then we hit a period of craziness where almost every day is planned and there is little or no time to think. Somehow we always get through it.
So, if I don’t post next week - or the one after - although I certainly plan to, you will know why.
Do other people go through crazy periods like this too?
Thursday, June 14, 2018
OUTSIDE ORGANIZING
Well, after talking about our tiny bathrooms last week, I thought I would go more expansive this week - outside our house.
As you may be able to figure since our house is small, the property it is on is also small. Technically since the minimum land size to build on has increased since this house was built in the late 1940s/early 1950s we could not build on the land now as it is too small. It is the sort of property that makes us very close (in distance at least) to our neighbors as their property is the same sixe. It is maybe 25 feet from our driveway to the door of the house on one side. The house on the other side is the same distance from us, but it feels like there is more room as neither of us has a driveway on that side. Their family room starts about 5 feet from our property line.
The house came with a detached one and a half car garage and we added a shed behind it while we have been in the half. We live on a main road - 2 lanes plus a parking lane in each direction. The first year we were in the house we found out not to park my compact car (or anything else) in the street - we had to replace the driver’s side mirror twice. As a result we had a semi-circular driveway put in - that takes up almost all of our front lawn space. In the early years we made the mistake of planting grapes - we have not really had grapes from it (enough to make a cup of very strange, brown, grape jam), but it has taken over that side of the backyard and between that and the bushes and trees that were planted by the former owner we have a jungle on that side. We also have for a few years now, poison ivy on that side that husband has to kill every summer - several times.
When we first moved in husband would cut the grass, but his allergies made it very hard for him. We were both working full time so we decided to hire someone to cut grass and trim the bushes, get rid of leaves, etc. I contacted 4 companies who work at various other houses in the area - one responded. He had a problem with our property. The side of the house (left) with no driveway had no access to the back yard. The side with the garage did not have a wide enough entry to the back yard for his mowers. So, we went out and cut a gate into the fence on the left side of the house. This company took care of our property for some years - doing (and charging us for) much more than we wanted done. When husband quit his job, we switched to the brother in law of his secretary and were much happier with him, but he “sold” us to someone else. The new fellow was okay at first. Since a time when we were almost “snowed out” of our house (we were away on a trip - back then staying in hotels - when an unexpected huge storm hit at home and we were not sure we would be able to up our driveway) we had the each of the three of them clear our snow in winter for us. (Well worth the money.) While the last fellow was cutting our grass, we had major storm one winter. I mean MAJOR - we had not seen that much snow in one storm since we were children - if then. No one came to clear it. We tried to reach him. His phone was discontinued. We called the fellow who sold us to this one - he managed to find out that the fellow had gone home to South America for the winter - leaving us hanging. I won’t go into the saga of trying to get someone to deal with the snow that winter - but the next winter the same happened after he said it would not and the following year he did not even come to mow, so we are back to doing the work ourselves. I posted last winter of our adventures with snow about as big as just mentioned - maybe even deeper.
So, allergies or no allergies, husband went back to cutting our grass. Over the years it has gotten harder and harder for him as he does not have enough energy and I have been helping. Now remember, we basically have no front lawn due to our driveway. We have the grass at the curb and the semi circle of the driveway (now our van is parked there) and the grass on the side of the house without a driveway - at the street end the grass is maybe a foot across, so basically it is our backyard.
Last year he took stuff to kill weeds and killed the grass (and weeds) along the curb and in the semi circle so we don’t have to mow it. One year we will get the semi circle paved and that will help in more ways than one.
This year to make it easier we bought an electric mower. It is lighter and we don’t have to deal with gas for it. We have used it twice. It has a piece hanging that one is suppose to feed the electric cord through to hold it in place - to help not run over it when mowing. But, it is too small for the size cord one is suppose to use, so husband has made an adjustment to it, even so it is a problem with the cord hanging. So I walk a distance away from where he is working and hold the cord, so it is not on the ground.
Our garage is actually husband’s wood workshop. It being a small space for same, we have all of the larger power tools on wheels. They sit along the perimeter of the garage walls and pull out to be used. It is a mess in there right now - has been for a few years. We really need to take time to get it cleaned up and back to where it was when we set it up - nice and organized. When we first set it up we bought a through the wall air conditioner for it - or husband would not be able to work in there when it is hot. When the fellow came to install it he was surprised and said that he had never installed an air conditioner in a garage before. We also had a door put in. A door put in - huh? Well it had the large door for cars, but no other door. We used to store all of the Christmas stuff on boards attached to the rafters. We would bring the boxes into the house and set up the decorations and put the boxes back in the garage. One winter it was very wet and very cold - the large rolling garage door froze to the ground and we were not able to store the Christmas decorations until spring - and did not take them down as they would have taken up more room lying about. So we had a door put in where the window used to be and had a better window put in. We also had to put in electricity and walls. (Perhaps that misadventure in construction another time.) We bought hanging space heaters to heat it winter.
The shed holds stuff for our craft business for when we used to do shows - tables, tents, etc. It has the middle seat of our van (we don’t need it in the van). It has our outdoor Christmas decorations, although lately we have used new ones which are in basement - along with the other Christmas stuff these days. (It became harder and harder for him to climb up and take it all down. Just our lights are in the garage these days.) Garden tools - mostly that we no longer use - are in it. It also has husband’s toys that he took when his mother died and her house was sold - mostly he planned to sell them, but his electric trains are in there too.
We have a small shed next to our garage. It was intended to hold our bicycles. It does - although we really should sell them. It also holds our old and new mowers and trimmer.
Our latest addition is a small shed next to the house in front of the side door. It holds our snowblower - or else we would have to shovel our way to the garage to get it out when needed. It also has two gas cans (currently empty as it is warm out) and for now, the snow shovels.
That leaves a small enclosed area at our side door of the house that we call “the porch”. It is used for storage of various items for gardening, items for our RV, items for taking care of the vehicles, snow shovels (although new place for them these days) and large garden shovels. It has a small square garbage pail (the sort one would find inside the house) for our soda bottles for recycling next to the door to the house. It also has husband’s boyhood work bench. This has a box in it to collect cans and bottles for recycling and the newspapers are stacked on the top. I keep cardboard boxes in it to throw out and use same to put out the cans and bottles - and then they take the box also. It has a large plastic storage piece with doors on the bottom 2 shelves and 2 open shelves above. This is where the all the small items are kept for the chores mentioned above. We have a couple of bags of salt for snow. There is also a large garbage bag. This sounds organized, but is actually a giant mess. I keep planning to clear it out and organize it - but it is either too hot or too cold to work in it.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Where items outside the house are stored is as important as where items are stored inside the house. One needs to figure out what one needs - or wants - to have and make arrangements for them to be stored and as easily accessible as possible.
It is easier to set up a plastic shed in warm weather than cold as the plastic is more pliable. (We had to wait a year for the shed for the snow blower as we waited too long and, per the manufacturer, it was too cold to set it up.) Think ahead if you will plan to store winter items in a shed and get it set up before it is too cold.
As you may be able to figure since our house is small, the property it is on is also small. Technically since the minimum land size to build on has increased since this house was built in the late 1940s/early 1950s we could not build on the land now as it is too small. It is the sort of property that makes us very close (in distance at least) to our neighbors as their property is the same sixe. It is maybe 25 feet from our driveway to the door of the house on one side. The house on the other side is the same distance from us, but it feels like there is more room as neither of us has a driveway on that side. Their family room starts about 5 feet from our property line.
The house came with a detached one and a half car garage and we added a shed behind it while we have been in the half. We live on a main road - 2 lanes plus a parking lane in each direction. The first year we were in the house we found out not to park my compact car (or anything else) in the street - we had to replace the driver’s side mirror twice. As a result we had a semi-circular driveway put in - that takes up almost all of our front lawn space. In the early years we made the mistake of planting grapes - we have not really had grapes from it (enough to make a cup of very strange, brown, grape jam), but it has taken over that side of the backyard and between that and the bushes and trees that were planted by the former owner we have a jungle on that side. We also have for a few years now, poison ivy on that side that husband has to kill every summer - several times.
When we first moved in husband would cut the grass, but his allergies made it very hard for him. We were both working full time so we decided to hire someone to cut grass and trim the bushes, get rid of leaves, etc. I contacted 4 companies who work at various other houses in the area - one responded. He had a problem with our property. The side of the house (left) with no driveway had no access to the back yard. The side with the garage did not have a wide enough entry to the back yard for his mowers. So, we went out and cut a gate into the fence on the left side of the house. This company took care of our property for some years - doing (and charging us for) much more than we wanted done. When husband quit his job, we switched to the brother in law of his secretary and were much happier with him, but he “sold” us to someone else. The new fellow was okay at first. Since a time when we were almost “snowed out” of our house (we were away on a trip - back then staying in hotels - when an unexpected huge storm hit at home and we were not sure we would be able to up our driveway) we had the each of the three of them clear our snow in winter for us. (Well worth the money.) While the last fellow was cutting our grass, we had major storm one winter. I mean MAJOR - we had not seen that much snow in one storm since we were children - if then. No one came to clear it. We tried to reach him. His phone was discontinued. We called the fellow who sold us to this one - he managed to find out that the fellow had gone home to South America for the winter - leaving us hanging. I won’t go into the saga of trying to get someone to deal with the snow that winter - but the next winter the same happened after he said it would not and the following year he did not even come to mow, so we are back to doing the work ourselves. I posted last winter of our adventures with snow about as big as just mentioned - maybe even deeper.
So, allergies or no allergies, husband went back to cutting our grass. Over the years it has gotten harder and harder for him as he does not have enough energy and I have been helping. Now remember, we basically have no front lawn due to our driveway. We have the grass at the curb and the semi circle of the driveway (now our van is parked there) and the grass on the side of the house without a driveway - at the street end the grass is maybe a foot across, so basically it is our backyard.
Last year he took stuff to kill weeds and killed the grass (and weeds) along the curb and in the semi circle so we don’t have to mow it. One year we will get the semi circle paved and that will help in more ways than one.
This year to make it easier we bought an electric mower. It is lighter and we don’t have to deal with gas for it. We have used it twice. It has a piece hanging that one is suppose to feed the electric cord through to hold it in place - to help not run over it when mowing. But, it is too small for the size cord one is suppose to use, so husband has made an adjustment to it, even so it is a problem with the cord hanging. So I walk a distance away from where he is working and hold the cord, so it is not on the ground.
Our garage is actually husband’s wood workshop. It being a small space for same, we have all of the larger power tools on wheels. They sit along the perimeter of the garage walls and pull out to be used. It is a mess in there right now - has been for a few years. We really need to take time to get it cleaned up and back to where it was when we set it up - nice and organized. When we first set it up we bought a through the wall air conditioner for it - or husband would not be able to work in there when it is hot. When the fellow came to install it he was surprised and said that he had never installed an air conditioner in a garage before. We also had a door put in. A door put in - huh? Well it had the large door for cars, but no other door. We used to store all of the Christmas stuff on boards attached to the rafters. We would bring the boxes into the house and set up the decorations and put the boxes back in the garage. One winter it was very wet and very cold - the large rolling garage door froze to the ground and we were not able to store the Christmas decorations until spring - and did not take them down as they would have taken up more room lying about. So we had a door put in where the window used to be and had a better window put in. We also had to put in electricity and walls. (Perhaps that misadventure in construction another time.) We bought hanging space heaters to heat it winter.
The shed holds stuff for our craft business for when we used to do shows - tables, tents, etc. It has the middle seat of our van (we don’t need it in the van). It has our outdoor Christmas decorations, although lately we have used new ones which are in basement - along with the other Christmas stuff these days. (It became harder and harder for him to climb up and take it all down. Just our lights are in the garage these days.) Garden tools - mostly that we no longer use - are in it. It also has husband’s toys that he took when his mother died and her house was sold - mostly he planned to sell them, but his electric trains are in there too.
We have a small shed next to our garage. It was intended to hold our bicycles. It does - although we really should sell them. It also holds our old and new mowers and trimmer.
Our latest addition is a small shed next to the house in front of the side door. It holds our snowblower - or else we would have to shovel our way to the garage to get it out when needed. It also has two gas cans (currently empty as it is warm out) and for now, the snow shovels.
That leaves a small enclosed area at our side door of the house that we call “the porch”. It is used for storage of various items for gardening, items for our RV, items for taking care of the vehicles, snow shovels (although new place for them these days) and large garden shovels. It has a small square garbage pail (the sort one would find inside the house) for our soda bottles for recycling next to the door to the house. It also has husband’s boyhood work bench. This has a box in it to collect cans and bottles for recycling and the newspapers are stacked on the top. I keep cardboard boxes in it to throw out and use same to put out the cans and bottles - and then they take the box also. It has a large plastic storage piece with doors on the bottom 2 shelves and 2 open shelves above. This is where the all the small items are kept for the chores mentioned above. We have a couple of bags of salt for snow. There is also a large garbage bag. This sounds organized, but is actually a giant mess. I keep planning to clear it out and organize it - but it is either too hot or too cold to work in it.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Where items outside the house are stored is as important as where items are stored inside the house. One needs to figure out what one needs - or wants - to have and make arrangements for them to be stored and as easily accessible as possible.
It is easier to set up a plastic shed in warm weather than cold as the plastic is more pliable. (We had to wait a year for the shed for the snow blower as we waited too long and, per the manufacturer, it was too cold to set it up.) Think ahead if you will plan to store winter items in a shed and get it set up before it is too cold.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
TINY BATHROOMS - I MEAN REALLY TINY!
Okay, let’s get back to the idea of trying to get organized. We have a full bathroom upstairs and and a half bath downstairs. For those from other places, this means that our bathroom upstairs has a commode, sink, and bathtub/shower, while our downstairs bathroom has only a commode and sink. They are small. The downstairs bathroom is just less than 4 feet by 4 feet. The upstairs one is about 6 feet by 5 feet - the 5 feet being the cross measurement of the bathtub. I am not sure that in some of the new houses being built the “toilet room” in the bathrooms are not larger than our bathrooms themselves.
When we moved in the downstairs bathroom had a decent sink and fairly new small vanity. At some point the floor had been retiled as it ceramic tile and based on what I know of tile at different points in my life, I would say it had put in within 10 years of when we bought. The walls in both bathrooms have plastic tile - something I have never otherwise seen and I presume is older. The vanity had a drawer below the door section.
The upstairs sink and vanity were not that nice - and much older looking. At some point we decided to replace them. We then found out that our bathroom sinks are below the smallest standard size. Back then we had a choice of two, now I am not sure that this size is still made. We looked and looked and managed to find a duplicate of the downstairs vanity - with a drawer at the bottom. No other vanities in this size had any drawer and there were maybe 3 of them to choose from. Understand I don’t mean that we went to a store and the store had 3 of them. We went to ALL the stores and found 3 total. We replaced the upstairs sink and vanity, putting in the new setup ourselves. When we moved in there was no electric outlet in either bathroom - yes, I just said that there was no outlet in either bathroom when we moved in. We are not sure how the families before us dried their hair and the men must have shaved with blades, not an electric shaver. We are not sure this would be allowed under the current electric code where we live.
When I read organizing books there is an assumption that there are lots of drawers, a large cabinet and a counter top. We have no counter in either bathroom. We also cannot put an “over john” in the upstairs bathroom. (This is a set of shelves intended to stand around the commode and put shelves over it.) Why? Well, the window is over the commode and it would be blocked by the over john unit. What we did end up doing is making a 2 shelved wheeled cart that just squeezes in opposite the sink and next to the bathtub. It can be wheeled out when one is taking a shower or cleaning the bathroom and then wheeled back in. The bottom is used for storage and the top for counter space. Spare towels and related are kept in a small closet in the hall outside of the bathroom. We also put up a wooden ladder shaped hanging, that we made, on the wall adjacent to the commode - this is for magazines, but they get a bit icky where it is located, so very little is placed there.
The drawer in upstairs bathroom is husband’s. He has to put his razor and related items somewhere and the drawer is where they are. Since he gets dizzy when he bends over, it is not the best place, but it is what we have. In the cabinet I have a plastic shoe box without a lid. This holds our first aid stuff for upstairs. It can be pulled out to be taken to where it is needed. We have spare toilet paper and mouthwash in the cabinet, as well as a spray bottle of shower cleaner. That fills it. In the “medicine cabinet” over the sink, husband has his teeth related items on the top shelf in what is sold as drawer divider box. He can take the entire divider box out, put it on the cart to use it, and then put it back. Small bathroom related items - including over the counter pain killers - are on the other two shelves. We do not keep any prescription medication upstairs. Why? I have to count it out once a week into boxes (so if one of us says “hey, did I take my pills?” we can easily check if it was taken) and I do this in the kitchen, so the prescription medications are kept in the kitchen. I keep my teeth related items in the hall closet - it just leads to much less arguing.
We do have this closet just outside our bathroom and bedroom. It had shelves so it is used as a linen closet for the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom. We put a wire shelving unit on the inside of the door and I try to keep the items there in sections by what they are for to be able to find them - such as all of the “Band aid” type items are on the same door shelf. Cleaning items for the bathroom are on the bottom door shelf. A roll of paper towels is also kept in this closet for upstairs use.
The hand towels in use hang on a towel bar on the door - we went to change this when we moved in, but it is set into a cut into the tile around the tub/shower and could not be changed. The started shower towels hang on the door of the shower. I also have 2 “utility” towels in the bathroom. These are towels to wipe up spills and messes.
I keep the box of tissues on the top of the commode. Also there and on the window sill are pump hand soap and pump hand sanitizer . For fun and decoration there are some small “rubber” duckies in a line across the window sill. There is a holder for small paper cups on the wall between the sink area and the tub.
When it is time to clean the bathroom, I wheel the cart out of it. I do have to lie across the (closed) commode seat to be able to reach behind it to clean it and the floor. To clean the tiny space between the sink/cabinet and the tub, I have to kneel in the tub to be able to reach the floor there to clean it.
The day after we moved in we had an electrician in to put in an electric outlet. The choices were limited. It could be on the wall that is behind one, when one is standing at the sink - not convenient. or we could move the lighting fixture and put the outlet where the light had been. The light was moved to the eave angle of the ceiling and an outlet put in. I can sort of reach the outlet, but not really.
The upstairs does have ceramic tile on the wall and on the tub surround so they must have been replaced as they are not plastic, although they look older than the ones in the downstairs bathroom.
Ah yes - I wanted to mention that we always seem to manage to drip some water off the back corner of the sink onto the floor (on the commode side) and I have started folding a paper towel in quarters and putting it this corner of the floor to absorb any water that drips.
The downstairs sink has a bit more flat surface around it and I have the pump soap and pump hand sanitizer on the back corners of the sink. I cut a paper towel in half and then cut it to match the curve of the sink and keep the pieces under the two pumps to keep the sink top clean - I change them when I clean the bathroom.
I also have to lie down on the commode to clean behind it. There is a perhaps 1 inch to 1.5 inch space between the vanity and the side wall - it is next to impossible to clean. A damp paper towel folded and shoved in and moved with a yard stick is about the best that can be done. The cleaners are kept in the vanity. The drawer here holds some magazines (BBC History magazine to be specific.) The hand towels and some utility towels (no other towels needed for here) are also kept in the vanity. I hang a set of hand towels on a towel bar. The owner before us also had 2 large rings for towels and I hang a utility towel in one of them for wiping up. There is a cup holder attached to the wall with a metal cup in it. We use this bathroom when cleaning up from doing crafts and the cup holds paint brushes that need to dry.
For an electric outlet in this bathroom we installed (ourselves) a combination piece which has one outlet and the light switch in what would be the second outlet area. It has not been working right lately (only when I am using it of course) and we have bought a new matching unit to replace the old one.
The medicine cabinet has more of the same over the counter medicines. (We keep older bottles of them when we buy new and split the new between the upstairs and downstairs bottles, putting the new expiration dates on the older bottles as we never use them up before they go bad and do not want to buy 2 bottles.) We get our prescription medications in 90 day supplies and I keep the bottles in this cabinet. Since it is not a shower bathroom, it does not get steamy so we can do this. I count the pills into smaller bottles (again ones from earlier prescriptions that match what is in them) of a month’s worth when I use up the month’s worth in them. These smaller bottles are kept in the kitchen cabinet. There is first aid stuff in this cabinet also - not as much as upstairs, just so we don’t have to always run upstairs for stuff.
Again the tissue box is kept on the back of the commode. A basket with “for show”guest soaps is also on the back of the commode. Over the commode (which is a wall here, not a window) we have a shelving piece with odd shape small shelves for husband’s small glass animals collection.
This room seems to have originally had a window. Above the plastic tile is wood paneling and there is a ceiling exhaust fan that does not seem to be original. There was a room added to the back of the house that sits behind this room and we assume that there was a window and was covered by the paneling when it was blocked off by the addition of the back room and the exhaust fan was installed at that time.
So that is our bathrooms. Each of them is probably smaller than a closet in the world of organizing books. Do you have a bathroom like our ours or do you have a nice big one.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
If you have small room you have to figure out how to make them work for you. When we started we were not sure what to do. Over the years we have managed to make them work for us. They are far from perfect or convenient, but they work. (And, as small as they are, they are bigger and more convenient than our RV bathroom - if you can call it that.)
I would love to hear from you about your bathroom and what you do to organize it.
Both bathrooms are at the back of the house.
When we moved in the downstairs bathroom had a decent sink and fairly new small vanity. At some point the floor had been retiled as it ceramic tile and based on what I know of tile at different points in my life, I would say it had put in within 10 years of when we bought. The walls in both bathrooms have plastic tile - something I have never otherwise seen and I presume is older. The vanity had a drawer below the door section.
The upstairs sink and vanity were not that nice - and much older looking. At some point we decided to replace them. We then found out that our bathroom sinks are below the smallest standard size. Back then we had a choice of two, now I am not sure that this size is still made. We looked and looked and managed to find a duplicate of the downstairs vanity - with a drawer at the bottom. No other vanities in this size had any drawer and there were maybe 3 of them to choose from. Understand I don’t mean that we went to a store and the store had 3 of them. We went to ALL the stores and found 3 total. We replaced the upstairs sink and vanity, putting in the new setup ourselves. When we moved in there was no electric outlet in either bathroom - yes, I just said that there was no outlet in either bathroom when we moved in. We are not sure how the families before us dried their hair and the men must have shaved with blades, not an electric shaver. We are not sure this would be allowed under the current electric code where we live.
When I read organizing books there is an assumption that there are lots of drawers, a large cabinet and a counter top. We have no counter in either bathroom. We also cannot put an “over john” in the upstairs bathroom. (This is a set of shelves intended to stand around the commode and put shelves over it.) Why? Well, the window is over the commode and it would be blocked by the over john unit. What we did end up doing is making a 2 shelved wheeled cart that just squeezes in opposite the sink and next to the bathtub. It can be wheeled out when one is taking a shower or cleaning the bathroom and then wheeled back in. The bottom is used for storage and the top for counter space. Spare towels and related are kept in a small closet in the hall outside of the bathroom. We also put up a wooden ladder shaped hanging, that we made, on the wall adjacent to the commode - this is for magazines, but they get a bit icky where it is located, so very little is placed there.
The drawer in upstairs bathroom is husband’s. He has to put his razor and related items somewhere and the drawer is where they are. Since he gets dizzy when he bends over, it is not the best place, but it is what we have. In the cabinet I have a plastic shoe box without a lid. This holds our first aid stuff for upstairs. It can be pulled out to be taken to where it is needed. We have spare toilet paper and mouthwash in the cabinet, as well as a spray bottle of shower cleaner. That fills it. In the “medicine cabinet” over the sink, husband has his teeth related items on the top shelf in what is sold as drawer divider box. He can take the entire divider box out, put it on the cart to use it, and then put it back. Small bathroom related items - including over the counter pain killers - are on the other two shelves. We do not keep any prescription medication upstairs. Why? I have to count it out once a week into boxes (so if one of us says “hey, did I take my pills?” we can easily check if it was taken) and I do this in the kitchen, so the prescription medications are kept in the kitchen. I keep my teeth related items in the hall closet - it just leads to much less arguing.
We do have this closet just outside our bathroom and bedroom. It had shelves so it is used as a linen closet for the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom. We put a wire shelving unit on the inside of the door and I try to keep the items there in sections by what they are for to be able to find them - such as all of the “Band aid” type items are on the same door shelf. Cleaning items for the bathroom are on the bottom door shelf. A roll of paper towels is also kept in this closet for upstairs use.
The hand towels in use hang on a towel bar on the door - we went to change this when we moved in, but it is set into a cut into the tile around the tub/shower and could not be changed. The started shower towels hang on the door of the shower. I also have 2 “utility” towels in the bathroom. These are towels to wipe up spills and messes.
I keep the box of tissues on the top of the commode. Also there and on the window sill are pump hand soap and pump hand sanitizer . For fun and decoration there are some small “rubber” duckies in a line across the window sill. There is a holder for small paper cups on the wall between the sink area and the tub.
When it is time to clean the bathroom, I wheel the cart out of it. I do have to lie across the (closed) commode seat to be able to reach behind it to clean it and the floor. To clean the tiny space between the sink/cabinet and the tub, I have to kneel in the tub to be able to reach the floor there to clean it.
The day after we moved in we had an electrician in to put in an electric outlet. The choices were limited. It could be on the wall that is behind one, when one is standing at the sink - not convenient. or we could move the lighting fixture and put the outlet where the light had been. The light was moved to the eave angle of the ceiling and an outlet put in. I can sort of reach the outlet, but not really.
The upstairs does have ceramic tile on the wall and on the tub surround so they must have been replaced as they are not plastic, although they look older than the ones in the downstairs bathroom.
Ah yes - I wanted to mention that we always seem to manage to drip some water off the back corner of the sink onto the floor (on the commode side) and I have started folding a paper towel in quarters and putting it this corner of the floor to absorb any water that drips.
The downstairs sink has a bit more flat surface around it and I have the pump soap and pump hand sanitizer on the back corners of the sink. I cut a paper towel in half and then cut it to match the curve of the sink and keep the pieces under the two pumps to keep the sink top clean - I change them when I clean the bathroom.
I also have to lie down on the commode to clean behind it. There is a perhaps 1 inch to 1.5 inch space between the vanity and the side wall - it is next to impossible to clean. A damp paper towel folded and shoved in and moved with a yard stick is about the best that can be done. The cleaners are kept in the vanity. The drawer here holds some magazines (BBC History magazine to be specific.) The hand towels and some utility towels (no other towels needed for here) are also kept in the vanity. I hang a set of hand towels on a towel bar. The owner before us also had 2 large rings for towels and I hang a utility towel in one of them for wiping up. There is a cup holder attached to the wall with a metal cup in it. We use this bathroom when cleaning up from doing crafts and the cup holds paint brushes that need to dry.
For an electric outlet in this bathroom we installed (ourselves) a combination piece which has one outlet and the light switch in what would be the second outlet area. It has not been working right lately (only when I am using it of course) and we have bought a new matching unit to replace the old one.
The medicine cabinet has more of the same over the counter medicines. (We keep older bottles of them when we buy new and split the new between the upstairs and downstairs bottles, putting the new expiration dates on the older bottles as we never use them up before they go bad and do not want to buy 2 bottles.) We get our prescription medications in 90 day supplies and I keep the bottles in this cabinet. Since it is not a shower bathroom, it does not get steamy so we can do this. I count the pills into smaller bottles (again ones from earlier prescriptions that match what is in them) of a month’s worth when I use up the month’s worth in them. These smaller bottles are kept in the kitchen cabinet. There is first aid stuff in this cabinet also - not as much as upstairs, just so we don’t have to always run upstairs for stuff.
Again the tissue box is kept on the back of the commode. A basket with “for show”guest soaps is also on the back of the commode. Over the commode (which is a wall here, not a window) we have a shelving piece with odd shape small shelves for husband’s small glass animals collection.
This room seems to have originally had a window. Above the plastic tile is wood paneling and there is a ceiling exhaust fan that does not seem to be original. There was a room added to the back of the house that sits behind this room and we assume that there was a window and was covered by the paneling when it was blocked off by the addition of the back room and the exhaust fan was installed at that time.
So that is our bathrooms. Each of them is probably smaller than a closet in the world of organizing books. Do you have a bathroom like our ours or do you have a nice big one.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
If you have small room you have to figure out how to make them work for you. When we started we were not sure what to do. Over the years we have managed to make them work for us. They are far from perfect or convenient, but they work. (And, as small as they are, they are bigger and more convenient than our RV bathroom - if you can call it that.)
I would love to hear from you about your bathroom and what you do to organize it.
Both bathrooms are at the back of the house.
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