290.75 hrs to go - A Day of Rest?

My Mother sent me an email this morning that simply stated, "Today is a day of rest." Combine her sentiment with God's and I thought I might be in the clear. Actually, I wasn't sure whether she was giving herself a day off or suggesting I take one, but I'm always up for a day off. It doesn't take much persuasion. Apparently MY GOD didn't think so. He was up and at it early this morning and I figured that I had better not leave him to it by his lonesome so I tackled a couple of items off of the list. The weather dictated an indoor day. It's threatening to now again.

First - not on the list - clean out my much beloved cookbook/pantry cabinet. I say much beloved because it was gifted to us by our dear friend, Portia. Every time it catches my eye, I think of her and what a wonderful, inspirational woman she is. She's been challenged by many difficult situations and circumstances in 10+ years we have known her and always seems to be able to come out smiling. She's currently facing a loss right now and, as always, we are pulling for her.

Since we are fairly limited for cupboard space, we have been using the cabinet to store cookbooks and pantry items. It has found a home in a small foyer outside of a bedroom, the dining room, linen closet and a bathroom, the same foyer that I painted last week. Now that it has been returned to its rightful place, I needed to empty it, move the shelves around and reorganize it.

Before mess included -


After -

We loved Portia's piece so much that we several years ago we took on another DIY project with the help of a neighbour. Our house had a large open concept kitchen, dining room and living room. The only problem was that there were two upper banks of cupboards that blocked the view from the kitchen to the living room and dining room. While we wanted to open up the space, we weren't prepared to lose the extra storage space so we opted to modify one long bank of shelves into a buffet for the dining room. The Silver Fox and our neighbour added a top to the bank and created a footer by mimicking the detail of the footer on Portia's cupboard.

Once they had worked their magic it was time for me to work mine. I primed it, painted it and then finished it with a tinted wax that settled into the grain of the wood, perfectly immitating the look of the other cupboard. You would be hard pressed to guess that they were not companion pieces.

See for yourself. This original picture shows the upper bank of cabinets in it original placement. NOTE: This was taken when we were on our "househunting trip". This is not our decor.


Top & Footing Attached, Original Door Handle Holes Filled & Sanded - with Rookie:)
Without Rookie:(

Painted & Waxed

Finished - Doorknobs Treated With Wax


Not bad, right?

Back to today's tasks....Unfortunately, after organizing, all it did was add another task to my To Do List - go through my cookbooks, and edit. I do love cookbooks, but enough is enough. In the mean time, the Silver Fox, uh...God, was working away cleaning his bathroom and the spare bedroom dropping everything when I needed him.

Next task, purging. Not my forte. I have a very difficult time letting go of things. I'm afraid I'll get rid of something and kick myself a week down the road. So I keep it. Unfortunately we do not have the room in this house to stash treasures away. Time to purge with the SF. Some of you know that I've used the term "polar opposites" as an nickname for the two of us. We are polar opposites in many ways - skin colour, temperament,coordination,cleaning skills, ...I'll stop there. Some would accuse SF of having a slight case of OCD. I have spent the past 13 years challenging that. I can find a million other things to occupy myself with before housecleaning. While necessary, it is not my priority. We have dealt with a few "issues" over the years. Example - when we first moved in together many years ago, it took me a while but I realized all of my houseplants were slowly disappearing. Unbeknownst to me, while I was at work and he was on day's off, he was tossing them out because ....well to this day, I don't know why? The cleaning bug would hit and he would find my plants unnecessary so he tossed them! Once again, polar opposites - hoarder vs obsessive compulsive purger. Yet I asked for his help today because I know, deep down, we have a lot of crap that needs to go.

I am happy to report that we successfully attacked two rooms today with no disputes, much negotiation and relief that the task is underway. Two rooms down and about a half dozen or more to go. Garage Sale here we come.

Then I cut the day short to go and meet a lady about some $1 perennials!