3 Spades Declutter Continues
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioI was downstairs by 10AM today. Dad's doing okay, but he's suddenly not drinking as much fluids. I took Yvette for a walk, first thing, then hung with him for a while.
Dad is still drinking Guinness, and he had a smoke with me, but after that, I got to work in the music room.
First thing was to deal with the old tube TV. I carried it out the side door and set it down on the walk. Then, with a dolly, I wheeled it back to the old shed in the deep back yard.
I removed some plastic lawn tables and chairs from the shed, and then plopped the old tube TV in the back, on top of a pile of rotting scrap lumber... and then replaced the lawn furniture in front of it.
And there it will sit... until the Lord Jesus returns on Judgement Day!
--<>--
With the TV out of my way, I dragged the twin mattress and box springs out of the music room, and out onto the front parking.
After that, a little carpet shampooer, and an old boom box that plays both cassettes and DVDs! I think they both still work, and I was tempted to hang on to the boom box, because I do have a ton of old tapes it'd be nice to play again, but... you know... the drive belt is probably dry rotted.
So I put those two items on top of the black mirror table, out there, with the gold trim.
I filled five or six bags with hoarder papers and junk, which all got dropped in the dog yard for later disposal, and then moved three other items into the living room, because we're keeping them; a night stand, and two other stands with three drawers each.
After rearranging what was left in the music room... there was plenty of space for the train table. But the area desperately needed to be vacuumed.
--<>--
I had about 20 minutes to sit upstairs with the cats before it was time to leave for work. But I got to work at 1:50PM, and so could leave by 5:50.
More rearranging of furniture in the classrooms and carpet shampooing at Grape Elementary today, and, as the last man in the building, I had to set the alarm again on my way out.
A thick fog had settled over the region after nightfall, but the drive wasn't too bad.
Back at home, after checking on Dad, and walking Yvette again, I brought in the two packages that had arrived on the front stoop; an air mattress, and a comforter blanket.
Dad and I had another smoke together, and a beer, before I got back to work in the music room.
I threw out all the old puppy pads, and vacuumed the shit out of the floor. And then it was time to move the train table from the back room.
That table is a monster, so I had to remove the legs in order to do the transfer, and reassemble it in the music room. After that, moving the train board itself was a breeze and I put it on top of the table. Then a dolly to move a small cabinet with all the train stuff... then a few more things by hand.
But tonight, it is DONE!
And then I laid down two layers of new puppy pads in the west half of the room because... it's still the dog bathroom, afterall!
------------{=0=}------------
Everything I've done over the past two days... I've been rehearsing in my mind for months and years, but I'm only able to do it now, because Dad is confined to his room!
His door is open, by the way, so... I mean, he's not sealed off in his room, but he still can't see what's going on in the back room and the music room, and he knows whatever I'm doing is necessary to create a guest room for Tim... who, together with me... can help him get out of that bed... which is the only thing he cares about right now.
Tim, by the way, is the only sibling who is cool with living out of a back room, flipped in such a crude maner, on such short notice!
The floor tiles and paint job back there, date back the early 1980s, when I actually flipped it to be my own bedroom as a teenager!
The tiles are worn beyond recognition, and the walls are dull with age and dirt.
Every single room in this house needs to be gutted down to studs, and completely redone, but... my previous emergency plan to flip the back room was at least to redo the floors, repaint, get new blinds, and hang a sliding door to separate it from the kitchen.
That would've been the least tolerable option for the older siblings to stay in the house, rather than renting a hotel room or and Air B&B.
But Tim's the youngest, and he's also quite the practical stoic, and was willing to just crash on an air mattress, with the train set still out there!
--<>--
Because Sheila & Michael did come to the rescue with the finances last week... and because as of today, I've been paid, and Dad's Social Security check hit the bank... I went back on Amazon last night to scare up some other amenities for Tim... some of which I paid for in cash, and others I put on my credit card.
The air mattress and blanket came today, but last night I ordered a sheet and pillow cases (we have pillows), and a curtain to cover the doorway, and help keep the heat from the wall heater in the room.
It's a shower curtain, but it's a fabric one, and we already have one of those tension bars to hang it from.
I also ordered a platform for the mattress, which was only $26.00, to get him up off the floor, and a little three speed circulator fan, which was only $23.00.
The big purchase, was a six by nine foot area rug, with a stressed, persian rug print, for $100.00, which went on my card.
The rug is necessary, because that back room floor gets ice cold in the winter, if it's cold outside. Even if the room is warm, the floor is not.
It's just an area rug, but it'll cover most of the open floor space, and also, nicely hide the hideous old floor tiles.
--<>--
The room, which was last painted back in 1985, by me, is a bluish gray, with a white ceiling. So, the new sheet, blanket, and curtain are gray... the pillowcases are white... the fan is black... and the persian rug is off-white with gray and blue detailing.
But back in Summer 2021, I painted the porch, and have some left over paint of a light gray, which I plan to use to refresh the window trim and base boards. It's good stuff that covers in one coat, so it should be a quick job.
And I have white paint too, to refresh the ceiling just a bit with a quick roller.
As for lighting, I bought a pair of matching lamps for that room back in 2020, when I was rebuilding the train set for Dad, and I found a third lamp in the music room today which is actually nice!.. and kinda goes with the other two!
And the night stand, and two other matching stands that came out of the music room and went into the living room today... will also go into the back room.
So, together with the two chairs I kept, and the little vintage desk that's back there... it should wind up being a pretty nice little space for Tim, when I'm done, where he can sleep and work, with adequate heat, and a floor that's not cold.
The two of us can hang out in there, smoking... in the two chairs, with the fan to circulate the air.
And what might we be doing in there, while we hang out?..
------------{=0=}------------
While I was at work today, people came and took the little rug shampooer, and that boom box, I put out on the mirror table, on the parking.
But... I DID find a SECOND little boom box that plays cassette tapes, hiding inside one of the stands I'm saving. And that one I've kept!
Haven't tested it out yet, but, if it works, I still have ancient band practice tapes from the 1980s, when Tim and I were in a band together! So, we can have a blast listening to those, and how terrible we were, while reminiscing about the olden days!
--<>--
That's it, for this third day of Three Spades Week, 2023... a week that will be all about transforming the back room before Tim's arrival, in the final hours of the final day of this week.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Dad is still drinking Guinness, and he had a smoke with me, but after that, I got to work in the music room.
First thing was to deal with the old tube TV. I carried it out the side door and set it down on the walk. Then, with a dolly, I wheeled it back to the old shed in the deep back yard.
I removed some plastic lawn tables and chairs from the shed, and then plopped the old tube TV in the back, on top of a pile of rotting scrap lumber... and then replaced the lawn furniture in front of it.
And there it will sit... until the Lord Jesus returns on Judgement Day!
With the TV out of my way, I dragged the twin mattress and box springs out of the music room, and out onto the front parking.
After that, a little carpet shampooer, and an old boom box that plays both cassettes and DVDs! I think they both still work, and I was tempted to hang on to the boom box, because I do have a ton of old tapes it'd be nice to play again, but... you know... the drive belt is probably dry rotted.
So I put those two items on top of the black mirror table, out there, with the gold trim.
I filled five or six bags with hoarder papers and junk, which all got dropped in the dog yard for later disposal, and then moved three other items into the living room, because we're keeping them; a night stand, and two other stands with three drawers each.
After rearranging what was left in the music room... there was plenty of space for the train table. But the area desperately needed to be vacuumed.
I had about 20 minutes to sit upstairs with the cats before it was time to leave for work. But I got to work at 1:50PM, and so could leave by 5:50.
More rearranging of furniture in the classrooms and carpet shampooing at Grape Elementary today, and, as the last man in the building, I had to set the alarm again on my way out.
A thick fog had settled over the region after nightfall, but the drive wasn't too bad.
Back at home, after checking on Dad, and walking Yvette again, I brought in the two packages that had arrived on the front stoop; an air mattress, and a comforter blanket.
Dad and I had another smoke together, and a beer, before I got back to work in the music room.
I threw out all the old puppy pads, and vacuumed the shit out of the floor. And then it was time to move the train table from the back room.
That table is a monster, so I had to remove the legs in order to do the transfer, and reassemble it in the music room. After that, moving the train board itself was a breeze and I put it on top of the table. Then a dolly to move a small cabinet with all the train stuff... then a few more things by hand.
But tonight, it is DONE!
And then I laid down two layers of new puppy pads in the west half of the room because... it's still the dog bathroom, afterall!
Everything I've done over the past two days... I've been rehearsing in my mind for months and years, but I'm only able to do it now, because Dad is confined to his room!
His door is open, by the way, so... I mean, he's not sealed off in his room, but he still can't see what's going on in the back room and the music room, and he knows whatever I'm doing is necessary to create a guest room for Tim... who, together with me... can help him get out of that bed... which is the only thing he cares about right now.
Tim, by the way, is the only sibling who is cool with living out of a back room, flipped in such a crude maner, on such short notice!
The floor tiles and paint job back there, date back the early 1980s, when I actually flipped it to be my own bedroom as a teenager!
The tiles are worn beyond recognition, and the walls are dull with age and dirt.
Every single room in this house needs to be gutted down to studs, and completely redone, but... my previous emergency plan to flip the back room was at least to redo the floors, repaint, get new blinds, and hang a sliding door to separate it from the kitchen.
That would've been the least tolerable option for the older siblings to stay in the house, rather than renting a hotel room or and Air B&B.
But Tim's the youngest, and he's also quite the practical stoic, and was willing to just crash on an air mattress, with the train set still out there!
Because Sheila & Michael did come to the rescue with the finances last week... and because as of today, I've been paid, and Dad's Social Security check hit the bank... I went back on Amazon last night to scare up some other amenities for Tim... some of which I paid for in cash, and others I put on my credit card.
The air mattress and blanket came today, but last night I ordered a sheet and pillow cases (we have pillows), and a curtain to cover the doorway, and help keep the heat from the wall heater in the room.
It's a shower curtain, but it's a fabric one, and we already have one of those tension bars to hang it from.
I also ordered a platform for the mattress, which was only $26.00, to get him up off the floor, and a little three speed circulator fan, which was only $23.00.
The big purchase, was a six by nine foot area rug, with a stressed, persian rug print, for $100.00, which went on my card.
The rug is necessary, because that back room floor gets ice cold in the winter, if it's cold outside. Even if the room is warm, the floor is not.
It's just an area rug, but it'll cover most of the open floor space, and also, nicely hide the hideous old floor tiles.
The room, which was last painted back in 1985, by me, is a bluish gray, with a white ceiling. So, the new sheet, blanket, and curtain are gray... the pillowcases are white... the fan is black... and the persian rug is off-white with gray and blue detailing.
But back in Summer 2021, I painted the porch, and have some left over paint of a light gray, which I plan to use to refresh the window trim and base boards. It's good stuff that covers in one coat, so it should be a quick job.
And I have white paint too, to refresh the ceiling just a bit with a quick roller.
As for lighting, I bought a pair of matching lamps for that room back in 2020, when I was rebuilding the train set for Dad, and I found a third lamp in the music room today which is actually nice!.. and kinda goes with the other two!
And the night stand, and two other matching stands that came out of the music room and went into the living room today... will also go into the back room.
So, together with the two chairs I kept, and the little vintage desk that's back there... it should wind up being a pretty nice little space for Tim, when I'm done, where he can sleep and work, with adequate heat, and a floor that's not cold.
The two of us can hang out in there, smoking... in the two chairs, with the fan to circulate the air.
And what might we be doing in there, while we hang out?..
While I was at work today, people came and took the little rug shampooer, and that boom box, I put out on the mirror table, on the parking.
But... I DID find a SECOND little boom box that plays cassette tapes, hiding inside one of the stands I'm saving. And that one I've kept!
Haven't tested it out yet, but, if it works, I still have ancient band practice tapes from the 1980s, when Tim and I were in a band together! So, we can have a blast listening to those, and how terrible we were, while reminiscing about the olden days!
That's it, for this third day of Three Spades Week, 2023... a week that will be all about transforming the back room before Tim's arrival, in the final hours of the final day of this week.
°¦}
