Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Facebook Vacation Complete!

14. Take a One Month Facebook Vacation

I must admit that I do feel a bit out of touch with what is happening in peoples' lives, but overall, it has been so nice to not be on Facebook. I've posted pictures on Instagram, which posts to Facebook, but gone is the obsession with checking Facebook multiple times a day. What I have not missed at all is the political nonsense.

It seems that a lot of the obsession with social media is FOMO.

"Did you see what so-and-so posted on Facebook?!"

Nope. I didn't. And it's been awesome.

I am going to try my hardest to stay off of Facebook and only check it from time to time on my tablet. I'm not planning to reinstall it on my cell phone. It's made me much more productive, although I must admit that I do miss my morning routine of seeing what everyone is up to when I wake up and before I really get going.

Since I haven't been perusing Facebook, I've been spending more time on Instagram and Twitter. I do find Twitter tremendously entertaining - I think that it might be my new social media go-to. I also like that Twitter (and Instagram, to a degree) satisfies my need to attempt to interact with my favorite D-list celebrities (I'm a fangirl at heart, what can I say).

Oh, and Instagram and Twitter are fun for keeping up with what The Wiggles are doing. We took Mark to see them last week.



I have to admit, it was fun. The Wiggles are incredible musicians and performers. It is obvious that they love what they do and they are insanely talented. I'm hoping that they are touring in OZ when we go next May. Now that we've been to a concert, we know that we are supposed to make signs, bring roses, decorate bones, and bring Emma a new bow.

I wonder what they do with all of their Wiggly Gifts at each concert? I'm sure that they deliver the flowers to sick kids in the hospital. I'll just assume that instead of all the crap getting thrown in the garbage at the end of the night.

Next items I am planning to tackle:

            16.          Pass my Series 66
65.          Go one week without coffee and/or caffeine
66.          Go one week without eating anything sweet or using sugar
            70.          Have brunch at Miss Shirley’s
            81.          Help Jay design & assemble outdoor fire pit area
            83.          Print and frame pics of at least ten new friends/family to hang in hallway (pics printed, need to get frames and hang them)

Steady progress!

S

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

86. Decide if we want to sell our house


"The only thing that works in an old house is the owner."


Water dripping from light fixture in our upstairs bathroom

When my father passed away in 2005, over 11 years ago, he left behind a cluttered house in desperate need of repair. Let's be honest - it was more like an episode of hoarders. To a grief-stricken 25 year old, it was completely overwhelming. Hell, it would be overwhelming to me now. It was a huge job. The roof needed replacing and the entire place was in need of a massive overhaul, mostly created by the leaking roof, which created a mold problem in addition to other damage.

This was the project I was left with... I joke that Dad never did end up having to clean up his mess!

At the time, I had the estate checkbook and wrote many checks out to contractors to replace the roof, porch, and back door. That roof is less than ten years old. And as evidenced in the first picture, we are already having issues with it.

Despite putting more money than the house was worth into it and making substantial upgrades, it still remains an old house with the usual issues that seem to always pop up with old houses. After all, it is over 100 years old.

Our house today - or at least how it was a few years ago

One of my favorite upgrades that I rarely get to use


Some good friends of ours just bought a gorgeous home outside of Easton. Jay is experiencing a bit of house envy with that. And I am also living vicariously through my friend Angela's house design & build project.

One of our issues is that our house is too big for us. Even if we did decide to have another child (which at this point seems unlikely), 3 bedrooms should be sufficient. Ideally I'd like either a one level home with a great room and loft (if we had another kid, this could be our guest room) or a split level plan.

I would LOVE a look like this

Jay wants a pool, of course. I'm not sold on the pool idea. But I would like something on a bit more land, and without the view of septic tanks. And without an overgrown house next door. One thing is for sure, if that situation is still happening when we sell the house, we will probably have to pay someone to go knock down the brush.

So I think that the decision has been made that we will sell our house and get into something that works better for our family before Mark starts school. The question is - do we try finding (maybe building?) our dream house now or wait until retirement. We will probably be in that house until we retire, so maybe we go big now. It's a difficult decision, especially since I would rather spend any extra money on traveling instead of on possessions.

SO there is that! Another item off my list.








Wednesday, September 7, 2016

#82 Complete

82. Frame photos and decide where to hang them in our house


Completed! I will probably rotate my favorite photos in and out, or buy more frames to hang somewhere else. 

This weekend we are throwing Markface's second birthday party, so we've been doing a lot of cleaning, projects, and decluttering to get ready.

I also had a ton of prints made to hang in the hallway for #83, but now I have to order more frames. I think there are around 35 prints and Jay loves all of them. So our stairway is about to get covered in photos!