Home: Update.

It has been almost a month since I set my goals for making the ol' apartamento more cozy and organized. Let's see how I've progressed, shall we?

Living room:
Large bookcase (think Expedit 4x4 from IKEA) for books and nonsense storage.
Couch/loveseat combo OR sectional. I've never owned my very own couch, and the blue and white checked monstrosity, while comfortable and sturdy has got to go. I am very thankful that the husband had it donated when he lost nearly all of his stuff in a fire long before we met, but the time has come to say goodbye.
Re-configure stuff on the walls and perhaps furniture arrangement
I broke down and ordered a tight fitting sofa cover in chocolate brown and bought some adorable new couch pillows on a great buy one, get three free sale at Value City. While I'm a bit sad about not getting whole new couch, our tax refund is looking to be a lot smaller than anticipated. I'm slashing the already tight budget I'd set for all of this. Such is life. Let's hope the cover shows up today in the mail and it fits correctly. Total cost (so far): $66.59

Bedroom:
Closet system- We currently have one extremely bowed closet rod and piles of nonsense below, so we need one. It will go with us when we leave, or the landlord can pay us back.
6 drawer low dresser- Two people and a four drawer garage sale find from when I was 16 does not compute.
Baskets for storage under nightstands.
Closet organization system is at the top of the list. The chaos that is our closet will soon be managed, as long as we can make it work in our budget for this month. Eating is a bit more important than closet organization. Sometimes. I am also going to try my damnedest to NOT forget a before photo, because it will be an epic before and after. You just wait.

Bathroom:
New Shower curtain
Shower organizational thingy-Right now we have two small ones and the clutter in there is suddenly driving me nuts. Both items have been purchased along with new shower curtain liner, pretty hangers and a fancy yet inexpensive suction cup soap dish for the hubster's bar soap. clutter managed, showering is fun again. Total cost: $22.96. I love TJ Maxx.

Girls' room:
They both need small, three drawer dressers. We have a clothes storage issue all-around in our home. Half of their closet is hanging clothes, the other half is Christmas tree/hockey crap storage. We have no storage besides unused kitchen cabinets. Before you call me the evil step-mother....we keep the girls' room door closed when they aren't over to conserve heat, so it is hard to put this stuff high on the priority list: I don't see it every day. Out of sight, out of mind might apply to their storage issues, although trust me, it does not apply to them, I think about what kind of day they are having every single day.

Little progress is better than no progress at all, so I'm happy with things. Stay tuned, living room/couch progress soon.

Home. It's where your crap is.

Since realistically the husband and I won't be ready to look at houses until next year (that will put him at his current job for a full year, increasing our pre-approval amount and giving us the next 12 months to get some things paid off) I need to make some changes to our humble apartamento. I also need to stop looking at houses online, because I get attached to one, and then someone who IS ready to buy snatches it up. Then I am sad.

So I'm hoping to accomplish all the following before we move since I know there will be a long list of things we'll need to buy once we are in a house. Like a lawn mower, ladder and other things I can potentially hurt myself with. Good thing we have insurance.

Let's list things, shall we?

Living room:
Large bookcase (think Expedit 4x4 from IKEA) for books and nonsense storage.
Couch/loveseat combo OR sectional. I've never owned my very own couch, and the blue and white checked monstrosity, while comfortable and sturdy has got to go. I am very thankful that the husband had it donated when he lost nearly all of his stuff in a fire long before we met, but the time has come to say goodbye.
Re-configure stuff on the walls and perhaps furniture arrangement

Bedroom:
Closet system- We currently have one extremely bowed closet rod and piles of nonsense below, so we need one. It will go with us when we leave, or the landlord can pay us back.
6 drawer low dresser- Two people and a four drawer garage sale find from when I was 16 does not compute.
Baskets for storage under nightstands.

Bathroom:
New Shower curtain
Shower organizational thingy-Right now we have two small ones and the clutter in there is suddenly driving me nuts.

Girls' room:
They both need small, three drawer dressers. We have a clothes storage issue all-around in our home. Half of their closet is hanging clothes, the other half is Christmas tree/hockey crap storage. We have no storage besides unused kitchen cabinets.

Hopefully, some progress shall be made! Perhaps I'll even remember to take some before/after pictures...they are always my favorite part of the home design shows but let's be honest, I tend to get all excited about new things and organization and only document the after. Oh well.

I am also hoping publishing my own little to-do list here will help me actually accomplish some of it. It is not like I want to re-furnish the entire place. In the past though, I jump from room to room and can't seem to decide where to start. This time, I'm starting in the living room, since we spend most of our time there. That, or the closet in our bedroom. See...I'm doing it already. Not that we spend a lot of time there, but with the husband's grown up job, he and I are getting ready at the same time now, and the closet leaves SO much to be desired. I try to keep the bedroom in check so its a peaceful place for us to rest our heads but it often looks as if the dresser upchucked clothing everywhere. My OCD tendencies don't really enjoy this.

I am going to try and make something happen in the next 30 days. We'll see how it goes.

Inner Conflict.

I finally did it. I reorganized our bills/mail/nonsense "landing strip" area last night. It was not as fun as I thought it would be, nor does it look as awesome as I imagined. Either way, it is much more streamlined and tidy, which I hope will help quell my inner demons since its the first place I see when I get home and the last place I see before leaving. (I remembered to take before and after pictures for once, but haven't gotten them on a computer yet....maybe tomorrow?)

For some reason, I just can't let clutter be. I have a theory on this: when my brain is a cluttered mess, I can't stand my physical surroundings to be the same.

I got up off the couch to go to bed at 10 last night. I actually got into bed at 10:25, after I cleaned up the kitchen, fed the cat, picked out what I'm wearing right now, brushed my teeth and huffed and puffed about how messy the bedroom has become. It's a reoccurring trend. Our clothes storage consists of one four drawer dresser and a normal size closet with an extremely warped single pole (which causes everything to slide towards the middle) and piles of insanity underneath. I think I might have to visit IKEA soon and buy this guy:



I think it would be as step in the right direction.

In other news, there is a house in the town where Kiddo lives (right around the block from her house, to be exact) that keeps dropping in price. It's a fixer, but it has its high points: two car garage, big deck and yard, 1.5 bathrooms and decent sized rooms so we are considering it. I think it has potential (unless there is something crazy bad wrong with the foundation, roof and/or any mention of the word "mold" and its a no go) Although neither of us is ecstatic to move to this town we decided it won't be forever. Plus it is so close to Kiddo and 30 minutes closer to Little One. We are going to get pre-approved through our Credit Union and then call the Realtor for a possible showing Sunday.

Possible future casa de Melberry?

Stay tuned for more on this...among other things.

Pause.

Apartment Makeover has come to a standstill for various reasons:

1. I'm busy....like, reeeeeally busy for the next two months.

2. We are (like always) tight on money which isn't anything new, but its way easier to plan and execute when money is not a part of the equation.

3. I can't seem to decide what to do first...I keep jumping from room to room in my head and since I can't choose where to start, I choose to not start anything. (Lame I know)

4. I want to do the (awful) task of re-organizing our filing system for bills/mail before I do anything else, but I can't seem to force myself into doing so. This, in turn, effects our "land strip" area which would make me SO happy to clear out the clutter from. It is the first place I see when I get home and the last place I look when I leave..but still hasn't happened. Le sigh.

5. I've been feeling pretty.......overwhelmed by my own life choices lately*. Which is awful timing, since I'm so busy with two amazing and happy milestones of two amazing ladies in my life. This past weekend has proved I can at least push all my BS to the side when it counts the most since both showers were a hit (I had bridal on Saturday for bff and baby on Sunday for my best (only) sister. I am so ridiculously happy for both of them....I can't wait for wedding day for bff and birth day for sister.

I can't decide what is the best option to fix my job/career/go back to school dilemma, so much like choosing a starting point for redecorating the apartment, I choose to do nothing**. Which doesn't help me at all. Meanwhile, I'm stuck in this absolutely crap (besides the pay) job.

I've been channeling this mantra lately, along with plotting to buy a large print of it as soon as possible:
Cause, really, what else am I supposed to do?

*Strictly job/career related. My Husband is the one thing I know I chose correctly in life.
**Besides frantically search, on an almost daily basis, for another job I'm qualified for which pays about the same as what I'm making now. I've discovered I'm overpaid for my qualifications, or at least that's how it looks to me.

Crazy-busy.

This past weekend I didn't get much apartment makeover type things accomplished because I was doing 10 million other things and driving all over the greater Miami Valley. Between Saturday and Sunday I did the following:

-gave a test for my work at our branch campus
-helped a friend move
-got a hair cut
-helped the same friend get settled since I have mad organizational skills and get some weird joy out of turning chaos into order.
- showered 2x on Sunday (really, I don't know how this fit in w/the time change and all)
-drove to hometown and:
-finished planning my best friend's Bridal Shower (which is THIS Saturday) and the Bachelorette in May
-Went to Target
-Visited my preggers sister at my mom's house, twice (once before Target trip, once after wedding-stuff planning)

This weekend has convinced me while I love driving a compact car the next time its car purchasing time, I would like something a bit more roomy. Claustrophobia can set in when you spend 50% of your weekend driving around in crappy weather. I would looooooooove the newly redesigned Honda Insight, but lets not get our hopes up.

I'm hoping to maybe at least get our bills organized into the expandable file I bought almost two weeks ago sometime this week. Other than that, I'm on Bridal/Baby Shower stand by, with both happening on Saturday and Sunday.

When did I get a life?