Updates

(1)  After my love letter to my old refrigerator, we decided to let him die a slow death in our garage.  It's still working (might be fading), but this gives us some space and time to evaluate what we really need for overflow stuff.  Also, if we buy new, they'll take the old for free.  It's $100 to remove it on it's own.  Won't be that much to pay movers to take it to the new house.

(2)  Finished Girl, Stop Apologizing -- Rachel Hollis.  You know I like her LOTS and you know I didn't like her first book.  This one is much the same.  Most of the book is what she talks about already (Instagram, movie, podcast) so barely any new material or stories.  The last section of the book on Skills was the best part.  I also don't care for her writing style in this book series.  It's too simple or corny -- don't know how to describe it exactly.  She writes like she's writing a journal post or a very basic blog post (like mine LOL).  She often says things like ... please editor keep this bad word in here ... I'm writing this sentence on an airplane ... I'm over deadline by a day on this chapter.  It's odd and doesn't work for me.  She makes corny self-deprecating comments trying to be funny.  The book needs some polish and new material.  My guess is she has flown up in popularity this last year and she doesn't have new stories to tell.  Her training is good, her ideas are good, but she doesn't have enough content in her life to carry all these venues -- or maybe I'm a stalker fan and "see" her too much.

The same thing happened to me with a Brene Brown book.  I heard her interviewed on a podcast and thought - oh, the book sounds great.  Turns out the podcast covered the ENTIRE book.  Reading was redundant and a waste of time after listening to the podcast.  Both were good though -- just could have saved a few hours of reading and $15.

(3)  Closets.  We need to do the master closet and I thought California Closets would be the winner.  They get crappy reviews everywhere -- on Yelp, professional designers, etc.  I was hard pressed to find a good review.  The winner seems to be The Container Store systems.  I visited this weekend and they were nice, but I assumed I'd be happier with California Closets -- then I researched.  I think we're going to do the master a little nicer than we thought and hold off on the pantry.  I want to see how we use the pantry and what space needs we have -- might not be as much as I thought.  I don't need to keep appliances or cleaning supplies in that pantry.  I have a design appointment on Wednesday evening (there's a sale and they are booked solid!).

(4)  I also finished Ask and It Is Given -- Abraham and Hicks.  Boy, it's out there.  I liked most of the message and it was a feel good book, but you need to overlook the CRAZY.  I'm using some of the techniques and we'll see where that gets me.  There's no harm in believing nice things.

(5)  Fun Stuff:  The massage is the pinnacle of the week (of course).  I added a pedicure yesterday.  My nails were long and getting smooshed in my running shoes.  I hadn't gone because I ripped off most of one of my toe nails (the same day I smashed a finger nail bed) -- dang, both hurt.  It's not grown back but it isn't sore so they "faked" a nail with polish.  My usual tech was out sick so the massage was lacking, but my nails look nice again.

(6)  Full Week -- lots of "work" too.  Aspen needs to go to the vet (skin infection).  My dogs need shots this week and we're trying a new groomer near our new house.  (The old groomer sold the business and it's not the same.)  Finalizing some house purchases and getting stuff set up (this is a full post all by itself).

(7)  De-clutter.  I'm anxious to continue de-cluttering.  We have a lot of good stuff we aren't moving and it needs to go to the Salvation Army.  I was waiting in case we had additional showings (pictures on the wall, furniture, etc).  I'm trying to get as much done before the explosion of stuff-to-do starting at the end of March -- it feels like waiting for a race to start ... lined up, but can't go anywhere yet.  It's still too early.  I'm running the pantry, refrigerator and wine stock as empty as I can -- I do it when we move.  Less to move and a start-over with fresh stuff works.  I don't rotate as much as I should so using everything up feels good.  I'm not going to go crazy, but I want to adopt a more MINIMALIST approach -- just me and hubby so I don't need such a full pantry.  Choose wisely and more efficiently, if I can!

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Nothing went particularly smoothly on Monday.  All my chores became a CHORE.  I tried to turn stuff around, find a happy face, but ended up accepting it was going to be one-of-those-days.  I got my crap finished with lots of reminding myself it does no good to be irritated.  It stopped a full day of head complaining, but not exactly the FEEL GOOD day I planned.

After the yuck of the day, I plopped myself down and watched junk TV for the night.  I recorded the Oscars and watched Sister Wives.  I did it sans wine so that's a win (I've been taking the running-out of the wine stash a little too seriously).

On a good note, I used PROBLEM SOLVING like a master.  So many opportunities to hone my craft LOL.  It's been life changing.  I should write a book:  Girl, Fix All The Crap.  I'll think on it :-)

Later gators.