Remodeling My World

I love my blog and I especially love my readers and their comments. As usual, on Monday's blog I received a couple of on blog comments and then several outside the blog via Facebook messaging and email. It was overall deemed a positive if not humorous blog by all but one. The one, possibly a PETA affiliate was highly upset that I would promote eating elephants or any other species with a face. It just goes to show, you can't please everyone, but I stick by my analogy. After all, it wouldn't make any sense to say something ridiculous like......eating a two ton Buick. Yes.....I am in fact rolling my eyes right now.

So Monday I talked about repairing my house and doing a bit of remodeling in my world. It has been on my mind for a long time and I have done stuff here and there, but I am craving change right now and looking around, there is not a room in my house that couldn't use some change. Some of the change is merely cosmetic and some of it is major necessary, down in the dirt, get my finger nails broken kind of change. My house also may or may not have a few issues like asbestos in the popcorn ceiling which I am NOT going to touch and asbestos in the basement tile floor which I am going to seal over.

I have one room project in the basement which is in mid remodel and I am going to finish it in 2015 along with the rest of my house. I am not sure about my electrical and I am sure my plumbing is a mess but over the years, both have been tweaked here and there. All in all, there are some big jobs, but for the most part, it is a lot of elbow grease, paint and repair.

My mother always taught me as a child, that if you were going to clean a multi-level house, you always start at the top and work your way down. That is how I intend to repair this beast too, with the exception of possibly working on the basement room as my skills increase. Funny little side note......I put a HELP WANTED ad on fb for my local friends, to see if anyone wanted to teach me some mad carpentry skills. Sadly, the line was short for takers. Short as in non-existent. (Sad face). That is okay though, because I have not given up and if all else fails, I will YouTube my way through it all, but come on....does anyone really want to see the fall out from that???? NO!

I will be starting upstairs in Davids room. It will be his belated birthday and Christmas gift. His room will need a good paint job and his floor will have to also be painted. We have hardwood floors throughout the house and they were put in when the house was built. They however, were never sealed but instead covered with carpet. The people prior to us (years ago) had pets in the house who thought just about every room in the house was a toilet. Because of this.....when we pulled up carpet several years ago, we learned that these beautiful, original floors were deeply pet stained. Since I do not have the money for my floors to be redone, I am looking into painting the floors.

Davids room is going to be a Spongebob theme with Spongebob colors and I plan on painting his floor to give it a sandy, beachy kind of look. The walls will be the Spongebob blue and I am going to have someone paint the Spongebob characters around the room.

Since our house has dormers, in David's room there is a built in desk between the wall and the dormer. I plan on removing that desk and either A) building a bed with storage underneath or B) making it a covered bench for him to crawl up on, look out the window and again.....have storage underneath. Yeah, this is out of my carpentry skill level, but I bet I can learn!!!! This is going to be my January project.

Yes, there will be before and after pictures. Yes, I would love any suggestions. Yes, I still need paint supplies, tools, building materials, an artist and a carpentry teacher, but other than that.....I am golden!!! Seriously though, if you are looking to unload any of this stuff and/or you have any Spongebob stuff you need gone......I'm your gal!!!

Well, there you have it. The projects are soon to begin again. I just have to survive the holidays first! I predict that my Wednesday blogs in 2015 are going to be interesting. So for now, see you later and have an awesome hump day!

P.S. No elephants were harmed figuratively or literally in the writing of this blog. They were however nibbled on a bit! (Grin)

Eating the Elephant

My life is changing....for the better I think. After 50+ years, things seem to be coming together and life lessons seem to be sinking in....to a point anyway. I am now living my life as if there is a giant elephant that I must eat. Yeah, bare with me. I promise this analogy will make sense in a minute. Here goes........You can't eat an elephant all at once and my particular elephant is a couple of tons. So how do you eat said two ton elephant? One small bite at a time. See.....aren't you glad you stuck around for the analogy explanation?!

Okay, so my elephant is all facets of my life and every day, I am trying to take a bite. Some days those bites are tougher than others.....literally, and other days those bites are much more palatable. Whatever the case though, this elephant is going down!!!!

One piece of this whole change thing, is my home. My home was built the year I was born. I have lived here a good chunk of my life and although it has many issues both structurally and cosmetically....it is my home and I love it. Quite honestly, even if I won the lottery tomorrow and could afford a huge new home, I think I would stay right where I am and just remodel. Sorry neighbors. You seem to be stuck with me! Of course the remodel would likely cost more than a new house, but did I mention I love my home? Because of this, I have a plan for 2015. It is NOT a resolution...it IS a plan and trust me, the two are very different. 

My plan for the new year is to remodel (within my non-existent budget) and refurbish my home. I am going to once again do it a bite at a time and in the process, give myself and my children the home we both need and deserve. The only problem I can see with this plan is.....I have no clue what I am doing. While YouTube videos and How To books are helpful, I am much more of a hands-on learner. If someone shows me how to do something, I am golden, but videos and books fall short in my learning curve. That is why I am going in search of a handy-person/teacher. That's right, I'm gonna find someone to HELP me eat that damn elephant. 

I figure if I can find someone with mad carpentry/electrical/plumbing skills, a kind heart and the willingness to teach me how to repair my home myself, then I should be in good shape. I am sure as people read this they already have their hands in the air, jumping up and down and saying, "Pick me!" In case though, that is not the case, then I am patient (don't laugh) and I can wait for this person to magically appear in my life with tool belt on waist and hammer in hand. As long as they appear before Jan. 1st!!!! Perhaps I should write Santa about this........

So you know, this whole thing is going to be another major adventure in Lisaland. Hopefully not quite the adventure that say David's surgery and recovery or the whole pool/deck thing were, but an adventure none the less. Yes, don't worry, I will be bringing you all along for the ride. How could I not? 

Well, I must be off. After all, I have an elephant to eat.....oh and a teacher to find! Happy Monday everyone!