Here in Texas

Cooler Weather & Paring Down the Homestead

Oh my does it ever feel so good outside.  Overcast, damp and the temperature is UNDER 80, in fact, it is UNDER 75 - it's 72 at 8am.  WOW I haven't seen this is quite a while.  Even thinking of something hot for lunch like a stew.

Today is trash day and I had to put on flip-flops to because it was so damp.  Usually, I put them on to keep from scorching the bottom of my feet.  It's cool enough to let the kitties outside but the mowers should be coming early today (they alternate - 1 week early the next week very late in the afternoon - so late I think about calling to see if they forgot!).  If I let them outside (only in the back and only as long as I'm back there) the mowers would open the gate and a kitty would assume its an open invitation to explore the world that I won't let them out in.  Well, actually, they'd probably fly to the back door since the mowers make so much noise.

I also left out 6 bags of goodies for the Kidney Foundation to  pick up.  Rugs, curtains, clothes, shoes and my first pair of motorcycle boots.  This is part of the paring down operation.  I have a hard time believing how much I've donated this year and there is still more to pare down.  I've cleaned out kitchen cabinets, the linen closet (more than once - by the way, those plastic giant like baggies where you suck the air out to make them more manageable and easier to store?  well they really just allow you to keep more stuff!).  I never thought of myself as a shoe person until I worked on the closet.  Usually I drive down to the trailer they have near the bowling alley but it was so hot on Monday that I called for a pickup.  At least today, the driver will be working in better weather conditions.

I removed all the builder installed closet rods and shelves.  My my, they must have been confused as they put in enough nails for an earthquake prone area - or maybe since they were from Colorado and just building a few homes on our block - they were afraid the cowboys would come riding through the neighborhood and the shelves would all come down?  Ha ha ha.  Anyway, I removed all the rods and shelves and took them to the dump and put up a wire shelving unit - well, it was 2 of them actually.  Hanging stuff on 1 side and all shelves on the other.  I did cull out quite a few clothes as I was putting them back in the closet.   I still have no idea why I have so many pairs of jeans.  And no, in case you are wondering, I did not get rid of more than 1 or 2 pairs of jeans.

So now, both bathrooms are done.  Well, the master bathroom still has a few things to go but I'm in a wait state.  Waiting on the cut-to-size (I don't like to use the word custom as it implies something more than I'm getting) window 'treatments' (another fancy word for blinds).  Those should be arriving this week.  Then I'm waiting on my brother or another tall person to hang a few things - those high ceilings look nice until you want to do something on the walls!  And I can't make up my mind about the towels - I'm still thinking a denim blue (not baby boy blue) and I found some at Target but not sure they are really absorbant enough - this time I only got the hand towels to try.  I also go the red but I'm afraid they will fade out to pink.

That's all for now as I'm going outside to enjoy the weather in case it doesn't last as long as they say (they being the weather people that can accurately - well mostly accurately - tell you the weather from yesterday).