Master bedroom progress

Last year I refinished the bedroom floor in the master bedroom and gave away the old furniture set to my gardener because he had commented on how much he liked it.  It literally took me a whole year to get working on it again because I didn't sleep in there and simply didn't have the time. 

Back in late August I suffered a very bad medical incident that literally threw my life upside down and took me away from being able to live a normal life for months.  It made me realize what an awful and dangerous world we truly live in and there are some medical professionals who could care less about me as a human being and my life meant nothing to them.

While struggling to survive and repairing the damage done by others, I put my focus on home improvement projects again because it's something that I'm passionate about and it always guarantee to brighten up my day.  I finally ordered a new bed, this time I upgraded to a king size low profile bed because I had wanted my pups to be able to jump on the bed with ease and also have plenty of leg room for all of us.  It took me a while to bring in the mattress because the one I had wanted was quite pricy.  I ended up going with a luxurious Beautyrest mattress that has a plush pillow top.  I took Kelly to the mattress store and she helped me negotiate a great bargain.

Yesterday the mattress got delivered after a two week long wait, I immediately went to HomeGoods and picked a new set of quilt and sham and also order a water proof mattress cover online.  In the evening when I got home, I slowly worked on the bed and made dinner for me and the pups, it was such an amazing feeling to focus on something happy.  I'm already loving the natural wood color of the new bed and the mattress feels like soft cloud.  

Our first night trying out the new bed was amazing.  Bella was a bit confused at first as she likes to head upstairs when she's ready for bed so I had to lure her downstairs with a treat.  I slept so well on my new bed and I couldn't even put in words how good it felt to finally get a new bed!

The remaining things that needed to be done include installing new baseboard, fixing the window that Uggie chewed up again!) and making new custom cushions for the window seat.  After that I just need to declutter and organize my closet and also switch out my current IKEA dresser with a new one.  I also want to install some new window covering and I already found some new lace curtain that I really like.  I'm also contemplating painting the room again... but I do still love the current wall color!  So, that's the plan for now.  I can't believe it has taken me this long to get to it but I'm really loving how it's turning out!

A little tlc for the home

The past month and half has been extraordinarily stressful with one traumatic event after another, as a result a lot of things at home were neglected.  I decided to hole up at home this past weekend and work around the house a bit, and also just take some time off for myself so I could heal and recover from all the stress.  It's very hard to make future plans when life is overwhelming, a short break was much needed for me to just recharge and recover. 

All of my orchids had been quite neglected, I spent a lot of time giving them some love, potting several orchids that badly needed a refresh and cleaned up a good deal of them and giving all the orchids a thorough soak in water.  

I also gave some extra love to my puppies as well,  everyone got a hair cut at the groomers and I made delicious meals for everyone just because I had the time.  It was very hard to make plans when life is full of stress, when I'm a bit rested I can finally think about future plans and have a positive outlook on life. 

I also made some more home improvement plans.  It seems that home improvement is just never ending, even if nothing is "improved," a lot of things still needed up keep.  For one, all the flowers pretty much died on the front porch.  It's badly in need of a sprucing up, I bought some new flowers but also made plans to make a new miniature garden.  I also need to purchase a new bed for my master bedroom since I gave my old set away to my gardener as well as finishing painting the master bedroom.  There are also repairs that needed to be done but I never got around to finding the right person to do them.  I've made some plans to take a bit of time off work, perhaps a week or two to focus on myself and my home.  Sometimes I'm so busy making a living that I forgot how to live and once in a while it's good to remind myself of that. 

More home improvement plans..

 

After a disastrous start on my first home improvement project several months back, I had not had the energy to start another project as I just felt so defeated dealing with the awful contractors.  Coupled with work being super busy, I sort of dropped whatever plans I had in mind for the house.  Several small projects got started but then stalled, including getting the living room painted and downstair bedroom re-decorated.  I've been living with paint patches on the wall for months but it was hard to get interested on the house. 

This weekend I had another handyman changed out the kitchen faucet and the toilet in the second floor bathroom, he went to the store to pick up the materials and everything went so smoothly.  A couple hours later him and his helper got the job done, it was so easy I almost cried.  He helped me with the measurements on my second floor bathroom so that I know exactly how much material to buy.  Since it's the first free day I had in a while I decided to check out some bathroom tiles at the store and brought home some samples.  It got me thinking that perhaps I want to pick up where I left off and make some effort to at least make my house look nice by the summer.

I found some light fixtures from Pottery Barn that I liked and I think it should fit well in my tiny attic bathroom.  I've been following home decor trends and it seems that a lot of the trends today don't fit with my personal style.  My goal is to not follow trends but make my home a place unique to me!

Self Care and Finding Balances..

Somehow on the weekend I just want to be a couch potato and do nothing because I'm mentally exhausted from busy working week.  It's nice to be a homebody and hangout with my pups and order some delivery food and do nothing at all and enjoy some much needed rest.  

It's been quite a few weeks of me back at work and I've made really good progress but it's the same old issue of finding work life balance which somehow is so hard for me.  Either I have the time or energy to work or take care of myself but I don't seem to do both well enough at the same time. 

Every weekend I write up an assessment on what I did well and what I didn't do well and try to find some balance on area that's lacking and adjust my plan accordingly.

Things I've done really well the past couple weeks are things like skin care, work, and taking care of Kelly and getting her to all the vet appointments, and things that got set to the back burner are exercise and house keeping, which I intend to improve in the coming week!

My Evening Skin Care Routine

I've been sticking to a super simple skin care routine for the past few weeks and it's done wonders for my skin.  First of all, because it's so easy and quick, I didn't have to put in a whole lot of effort and that made it very easy to follow through.  Every night after washing my face, I use the Dennis Gross led mask for a few minutes.  It's suppose to help with reducing wrinkles and acne and I find it quite relaxing.  After three minutes on the mask, I apply castor oil on my face as well as massage the eye area.  I've heard that castor oil does wonders for eye brow and eye lashes.  Mainly I find that when I use castor oil with my retinol cream, I don't get any flaky dry skin the next day.  It seems to moisturize my skin very well and if I have extra time, I mix one part castor oil with two part jojoba oil and massage my hair, scalp as well, and it always help me get a better night sleep.  After I apply the castor oil to my face, I follow with a tiny bit of retinol and call it a night.

My morning routine is a bit more involved.  I like to drink a glass of warm water first thing when I wake up and then jump in the shower.  Once my face is clean I like to use the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Daily Peel.  They come in individual packaging and don't feel too abrasive on the skin.  I then follow with a sheet mask for 15 minutes.  I have a stash of cheap Korean face mask that I picked up from HomeGoods and they are so amazing.  My favorite brand is called Esfolio, they can be purchased online but I find random boxes of masks when I go to HomeGoods and they mostly cost less than $8 for a whole box of sheet masks.  My skin feels so amazing after 15 minutes and I can get other things done like making a cup of coffee or fix some breakfast for the pups while I wait for the mask to be done.  And then a bit of Vitamin C serum, moisture and sun screen, and I'm all ready for the day. 

I even keep a box of these masks in my office, when the days get particularly dry I would close the door and put on a mask and relax a bit while I work!  It's hilarious and I haven't scared my coworkers yet!

Another simple and affordable way I do to improve my skin health is keeping proper moisture in the room.  I keep a humidifier in the bedroom as well as my office.  It's a very small thing but such a huge life saver.  As it turned out, improving one's health takes time and effort but I'm pretty proud of myself for slowly making improvements and taking good care of ME.

Making Things Better- episode of battling with the dogs

For the past several years I have not used my master bedroom or bathroom, the reason is because the bed is awfully uncomfortable, and the floor suffered a lot of pet damage from mostly Bella when I first got her.  Instead I rather sleep in a much smaller bedroom on the second floor and slowly this room just sort of turned into a junk room that no one wanted to have anything to do with.  

Lately I've really wanted to slowly repair the damage and make it a welcoming space again.  A month ago I finally found a floor refinishing person that charge a reasonable price and also seemed very professional so I booked myself an appointment.  The wait list for him is a whole month but I figured that it was worth the wait.  

As with all home improvements, everything takes longer than expected.  It was initially a one day $1000 floor refinishing job, that turned into three days and costing three times as much.  Once the damaged floor pieces were ripped out, I discovered more damage on the subfloor, which also needed to be cut out and replaced as well.  Unfortunately the flooring contractor is fully booked and I had to wait another half months for him to squeeze in two more days of time to finish the job.  

It was extremely labor intensive work and the two people team did a great job waving in the new wood and polishing off the top layer.  I opted for a much lighter color which turned out pretty well!  Also moving all my wardrobe out of the closet was such a huge task and I wonder how I have accumulated so much clothes! 

The "After" turned out very well and I really like the lighter color!  It's not a "perfect" job but for the purpose of this room this will do and it makes me feel 100 times better than seeing the damaged old floor.  I'd really like to re-finish the rest of the wood floor in the house eventually. 

I've made a list of things that need to be done in order to finish "detailing" this room.  I can really get lost in details but it's something I enjoy so much and it's ok to take time to do each room slowly but get it done right!

Here's my one bedroom to do list, 

1. Replace existing baseboards.
2. Paint the interior wall and ceiling
3. Reinstall closet doors and replace closet door hardwares
4. Replace ceiling light fixture
5. Change out curtain rod 
6. Outfit new window treatment
7. Custom make window seat cushions.
8. New bedroom furnitures
9. Repair window damaged by Uggie

I've been playing with ideas on how to furnish the bedroom and it's so fun to put a mood board together.  I really just want this space to be comfortable and calm so I can use it again. 

I am really hoping that Uggie has grown out of the window eating phase, as he hasn't been chewing on that window for a while...

As for Bella, do you think she's sorry?  I'm not so sure.  Just this morning she got mad at me for making her go potty outside when the ground is a bit wet from a little bit of drizzling rain.  She was not amused!  It's not easy to see in the photo but she is actually quite a large dog and she can easily do some damage to the house compared to Kelly, but I love her so much and I already forgive her for being naughty!

 

Ten years and a day

End of September was exactly ten years since Bobby died in a horrific car accident.  It really just felt like yesterday, ten years is supposed to be a long time but life actually went by really fast.  Bobby was always a little shadow and following me everywhere and he was in a lot of my pictures.  If it weren't for the accident he'd still be with me today.  I still remember wearing that outfit and taking him and Kelly on a walk, it was such a happy day.  I still miss him so much!

This picture was from when I first got him, the first night when I picked him up from the shelter I put him in the bathroom right next to my bedroom and he cried and cried until I put him in the same room as me and Kelly.  He was also skin and bones and very timid.  He learned all the house rules from Kelly and copied her every move. 

I tried to put a green jacket on him once but he didn't know what to do with it.  He sure looked so cute though!  I used to spend a lot of time taking care of him, giving him bath, cooking and petting.  He loved giving me kisses and was the sweetest little boy but also very smart and quite a trouble maker.  

Bobby loved Kelly so much and always snuggled in the same bed with her.  There isn't a whole lot of regrets in my life but if I could go back in time I really want to have him with me and take better care of my little guy.  

New Year New Plans

I have so much supplies around the house for planners that I didn't feel the need to go out and buy more supplies for next year.  I reused a Filofax planner from a couple years back and bought a new set of Paper Studio inserts for $10 from Hobby Lobby and the size fitted perfect!  My holiday and new year traditions this year have really just been minimized down to making some new plans so I diligently worked on it and I must say, getting my nerd on is a lot of fun.  

End of year is the time that I make a new business plan for the next year, deciding on what works and what doesn't so I can make improvements on it.  I find that although it is hard to stick to the plans sometimes, it still is helpful to get a sense of idea on where I'm going and what goals I want to accomplish.

This year I wrote down a month to month plan on the activities that I must do to generate more business, and the minimal budget required to do these activities.  I find that my daily work life is so filled with random things that come up on the last minute, it's so easy to put the essential activity on the back burner, designating a budget and time period everyday would help me prioritize my tasks!

Before a year ends I usually do an overhaul on the budget and check to see if there's anything I'm spending money on that I no longer need.  There were sometimes in my life where financial stress gets so bad that it seemed no point to even look at my budget but as things ease up a bit I like to minimally question where I'm spending money on certain items and where that spending would take me.  I'm terrible at budgeting but I have a lot of enthusiasm and always up to learning new things!

Every few years I want to learn a major new skill.  I guess changing career in my early 30s and learning a completely new trade was my way to satisfy that craving to learn new knowledge.  This year my goal is to learn how to invest, even if I don't have the budget for it I am still putting it on my plan as something to learn because everything I've ever done in my life started with an idea or a possibility and that's where I'm going to start for the coming year!

Last year when the lockdown started, I took a lot of time to read all sorts of books.  I didn't finish 50 books but I did about half and they have done wonders to change my mindset and the way I view the world.  This year I put together a new list and feel super excited to dive into another great year of reading!  

Books on top of my lists are actually the ones I purchased last year but didn't get to finish.  I also left some room for things that I might find later that will be interesting for me to read.  This year I'm actually looking forward to complete the challenge!

It seems that every year I would work on one or two major home improvement projects.  Due to my super limited budget, some items can only be done one at a time.  A few months ago I finally replaced the AC/furnace unit and that was the one major home upgrade I did for 2020.  For 2021 I actually would like to start working on the master bedroom and bathroom and renovate the suite so that I can have a spare room for guests who visit.  I find that if I don't plan too much at once, things actually gets done!  

Finally one of my big goal this year is to go on a couple of short trips.  It will definitely be limited with the pandemic but I would like to get away from work at least a few times as the office can be a miserable place to be if I'm there too much.  All the hard work has to have a purpose, and some days it seems like I'm just getting by trying to survive and not having hardly any fun.  My main excuse is that I have dogs and no one is here to take care of them when I'm not around, well so I'm going to make it a priority to budget aside for some good quality dog boarding so that I can get up and go at a moment's notice! 

 

I didn't end up working as much as I had planned over the weekend but that just meant that I had a relaxing Sunday.  I was up super early as usual and really took my time to do all my workouts.  A while back I decided to take home workouts seriously and I regularly exercised at home in my tiny living room for at least 30-40 minutes for three four times a week, and I've lost most of the weight I gained during the quarantine.  I'm now even looking forward to setting a new fitness goal and started juicing as part of my diet.  Somehow whenever I try to do any positive improvements, there's always a nagging voice saying that none of this would make a difference, but I'm glad I didn't listen to the negativity and persisted on exercising.  I keep a notebook on my coffee table and wrote down a few quick notes on my food and exercise routine for the day, and what new things I learned along the way.  It's been a really enjoyable journey!

I finished burning this jar of candle and really couldn't bring myself to throw the pretty yellow jar away so it's now a little container for my hair band now, I'm normally not this thrifty but when things are pretty we've got to give it extra consideration.  

I spent much of Sunday cleaning out my master bedroom.  It's been years since I slept in there and over time it just became a junk room for all my clothes or whatever things that I didn't have a place for.  It seems that accumulating clutter in my own home is a sign of not loving myself enough because if I do I would really work hard on creating a clutter free space.  I got rid of a huge amount of clothes and things that I really have no good use for.  Once the space is cleared out I can start working and planning on remodeling this part of the house!

Weekend and New Projects

I woke up early Sunday morning to the beautiful sound of birds singing outside the window and my puppies snuggling in my arms and it was such a blissful moment.  Whenever I'm in a big metropolitan city waking up to sound of traffic noise I always crave being at home or somewhere nice and quiet so I can hear the sound of nature.  I don't know why but hearing bird singing outside always feel like such a luxury to me, it just seems to set a beautiful start to my whole day.

With the world still in a pandemic, I often struggle with isolation and feeling lonely on the weekend.  I used to think that it's not ok to say or mention any negative feelings even to close friends but now I think it's ok to be honest.  What actually make a good weekend for me is meeting with clients and doing a bit of work so I still have some social interaction with people.  I worked quite a bit on Saturday so Sunday was a good day getting things taken care of at the house and stock up on groceries for the week.  It feels nice to drink a sip of coffee, do some cooking and tidying up around the house a bit.

I'm pretty focused on a couple of new home projects now, one is getting another closet clean out again and the second one is getting a complete make over for the first floor master bedroom and bathroom.  I think it will look really good once I'm finished with it!  

Another project I'm working on is restoring this beautiful vintage brooch.  It had lost quite a bit of rhinestones.  It should be a very easy repair job, all the important and rare stones are still in excellent condition so once I replace the missing rhinestones it should be a brand new piece again!  

Major Home Improvement

I've had plans to change to a new Heater/AC unit since last year but the 22 years old machine somehow worked on a few good days and I thought that perhaps there was a bit more life left in it.  During the last heat wave the package unit completely died and was churning out black smoke while I attempted to turn it on, so obviously I had to stop being a jerk and just order a new unit to be put in.

I'm somehow terrified of doing grown up things like doing home improvements but this time I really had no choice when temperature got over 90 degrees outside and the house just baked like a hot oven. 

The heater also gave out a year ago and I was heating only the family room with a space heater in the winter, which was never sufficient enough to warm up the house so I was constantly getting sick during the last winter time.

I had a company came out and gave me a quote and after scrapping every penny in the coin jar I actually barely had enough money to get the job done and I'm  super proud of myself about that.

The new unit has a much bigger output which really helped cooling the house so much better.  It's not super loud like my old unit and hopefully will last me at least 15 years.  The company also threw in a free Nest Thermostat which is super awesome and about time.  I also replaced one section of the duct to larger size to help the air to flow better, adjusted all the vents and changed out the filter, it feels nice to get things working well again.

And viola!  I'm super happy with the end result!  Last year I replaced a brand new tankless water heater after the old one completely died and this year I was able to put in a new heater/AC package unit in.  It's small steps at a time but every time when I get something done on my own it just feels like a small win. 

I've still got home renovations on my list like upgrading all the bathrooms and kitchen in the house as well as clean up the bedroom downstairs.  Well that's for another day and hopefully very soon!

One small progress at a time

I began Saturday with a super fun workout at home and it just kicked started the whole weekend on a really good note.

I finally figured out that it's possible to get quality workout at home by myself, and everyday when I have a good workout session I'm just super proud of myself.  It's the one thing I didn't think I could do during quarantine but I've decided to take some initiative on my health and fitness instead of blaming everything on my gym closure.

Of course the nerdy side of me had to have a workout journal to write down the exercise I did and new things I learned everyday.  It's been kind of fun to read up on what other people do to stay fit during this time and take notes on what works and what doesn't.  It's always exciting when I make small progress on something I didn't think I could do before. 

I have quite a lot of cute workout clothes that's been sitting in the drawer for months, but I've been wearing them again and even though I workout alone at home, cute outfits make a huge difference to get me motivated each morning.  It's surprisingly time efficient to workout in my own living room floor because I can quickly get ready for work right after. 

So far the only workout gear I have is a yoga mat and my weights that I dug out from under the bed.  Weights are surprisingly hard to come by these days, they are sold out everywhere so I'm so lucky to have some at home already!

I did buy some cheap elastic bands and jump rope at Marshalls, we will see how my cheaply made home gym will workout in a month or so.  I had wanted to set up a home gym in a spear bedroom but I really wanted to see if I could stick to my workout before committing a whole room to it.

It's been a hot weekend, but my fairy garden has been doing great.  It looks so different during winter and summer, everything is in bloom right now and it's so pretty!  I've committed to taking better care of my plants recently and it really shows, all my roses are blooming beautifully and the time spent watering my garden helps me to de-stress at the end of a long working day!

Besides getting my workout in, my main goal for the weekend is always taking care of as much household stuff as possible so that I can begin the week prepared.  I'm generally terribly at house chores even with some help from my cleaning lady.  I aways thought that when I grow up I would naturally become better at things like doing the dishes or organizing my closet, but nope, my domestic skill has never improved over the years.  I have no sound explanation for this because I can do so many other useless things so well but not chores!

In any case, I worked so hard this weekend doing my best to keep things together.  Luckily I got done all the laundry, changed out brand new bed linens, did grocery shopping for the week and stocked up on dog food and treats as well as produce to make fresh foods for them.  I even had time to meal prep for a few days so I could save some money and eat healthier meals.  Sometimes adulting doesn't mean that I have to be naturally good at something, as long as I'm making good effort and get the task done, I'm happy with myself!

Next home project

I spent the good part of this year not having my gym access and I can really feel a big difference in my energy level.  Normally I would never think of having a home gym but now with quarantine indefinite into the future, it doesn't seem like I will be having quality workout anytime soon.

I've been eyeing my downstair bedroom and thinking about emptying out the furniture and converting it into a small home gym.  It seems like a bit of a daunting task because the floor is in really bad shape and I have to figure out what to order for equipment but I'm just going to do it one step at a time. 

I don't really think I need a whole lot of equipment because the workout I enjoy are mostly yoga and barre class, or cardio workout with light weights, it's really about having a designated space so that I'm not moving the coffee table around for a yoga class in the morning.  One thing is a definite must, I will have to mount a tv on the wall so I can follow my classes online!

Reality Check

Over the last two months, I have, despite many difficulties... kept work going while in complete isolation.  I knew if I had stopped it would be much much harder to pick up the pieces when things go back to normal, and frankly, work really helped me in many ways because my mind would have been much too restless to sit idle... there's only so much enthusiasm to learn a new recipe or scrub the dirty dishes, or catch up on Netflix, it all gets very tiring very quickly.  At the end of day, work helps to keep me sane and gives me hope.

There have only been two experiences in my life that were somewhat similar to being in a isolated quarantine.  One was my last summer in high school, after having skipped prom and a rite of passage trip, which was a rather famous week long lakeside field trip hosted by my school annually for seniors... because any social interaction outside taking classes was forbidden, she locked me in a cockroach infested one bedroom studio apartment that we lived in for every single day for an entire summer break.  The entire complex was a behemoth of dirt poor new Chinese immigrants, wife beaters, screaming babies, and probably criminals.  I had no car, no phone, and no friends in any close proximity because the high school that I graduated from was an expensive private school that I got in on full scholarship and an hour away, and calling my music school friends in Beijing, despite international phone cards being $20 for 500 minutes, was also not allowed.  I remember one day losing my mind and I bolted.  The 17 year old me walked along a busy street very late at night for an hour thinking perhaps I could make an escape, eventually I had to come home because there was no place for me to go and I had no money.

Another time I felt like being in an isolated quarantine was being a housewife... this was not entirely intentional... since what I do was always much less important... I gave up what I had to move to OC to get married.  In between trying to start a new business and trying out a couple different ventures and my house caught on fire, I was suddenly in charge of a major house restoration project and while being a professional housewife.  It's really funny how fast the day could go by when you don't work.  Or rather you just work all the time!  During the day I would drive to my house to supervise the workers and deal with contractors, in the afternoon I have to go grocery shopping, and then rush back to the rental house to put dinner on the table at exactly 7pm, and after a awkward meal struggling to find a pleasant topic of conversation, dishes.  Next day, repeat.  It's amazing how quickly you can lose your sense of self and feeling cut off from the world no matter what a beautiful dinner table you can put together.  A person could spend all their time perfecting the endless little details of the daily grind without giving any meaning to life, and since you already knew what life would be like for the next 20 years, there's rather nothing else to look forward to anymore.

I don't enjoy dwelling on the past, especially when the past is something I want to run away from.  I'm all about creating new life experiences with some positive attitude.  Occasionally though, it's good to remember where I come from.  Times like now when I feel the frustration and struggle to deal with social isolation, it can feel like life never got anywhere.  But it really did, on a minimum I am on my own, having my own space without living with people that give me enormous anxiety.  I'm at a point in life where I'm responsible for my own happiness than having to take on the burden to make someone else happy. Being blamed because "my luck had been too good and it robbed others of their good luck in life," or that if I had been just a little more perfect, other people could have been happy, are heavy responsibilities that I'm no longer interested in taking on.

Sometimes when things get very hard in life I always look backwards, because whatever hardship I'm experiencing I've probably had it much worse before and did ok, and that's enough to give me hope and live my day with a lot of gratitude.

Planning a few small home improvements

With end of year approaching, I started decluttering around the house again.  It only seems to make sense to declutter the house twice a year because stuff just accumulates over time and without some interference my house could get a little out of control.

I'm also working on a couple projects around the house to make my life a bit easier.  My main floor master bedroom has really served as a junk room and dog room for the last few years because it was so uncomfortable to begin with.  When I first moved into the house years ago I was quite inexperienced with home furnishing and spent a lot of money buying very uncomfortable furniture and mattress etc.  I finally decided that the expensive things that I can't use are really not an asset to my life so I'm planning to purchase new ones to replace them.  That lead to thoughts of redoing the whole room altogether.  For now things that need to be done in the master bedroom that's somewhat urgent,

1. Refinish hardwood floors. 2. Order new window panel. 3. Declutter bedroom drawers and closet. 4. Order new window seat cushions.

The one item that has to be done before everything else is actually getting a new HVAC system into the house.  Being super procrastinator on house maintenance stuff, I somehow survived the whole last winter without proper heating and over the summer a somewhat working AC unit.  This year with temperature dropping slightly I'm just not dealing with it and constantly having a minor cold from the house being a bit too cold.  I figure winter time is probably a better time than summer to have this done and there's nothing I can do about it.

Another super big item on my to do list is to empty out my garage and workshop completely for a studio conversion project that I've been slowly planning.  The space needs to be freed up within the next couple of months or so in order to make proper plans... on top of that, I think living a clutter free life is just good Fengshui!

Home maintenance always seems never ending and so expensive, but I'm grateful to have my own place to live in.  I'm kind of excited to make some positive changes in my home and looking forward to have some fun with the new design!


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