Better Living Through Literature
Words + Projects + Stuff I Like
Look at me paying people to do the basement instead of just committing to DIY. I bought some sweatpants ready-made and then started shopping for fleeces at Old Navy?! I’m even considering eating chicken again after 25 years as a veg/pescetarian. (It’s SO hard to get enough protein for lifting and I’m just over the struggle.)
WHO AM I? WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Hot Unsettled Summer shook up a lot more than our new house plans, I guess. 
My sewjo is understandably non-existent right now–all my energy is going towards organizing, looking at flooring, etc. I also think part of the problem is I want to sew “outside” clothes but work from home and pretty much just go to the gym. I just don’t think I’d reach for a pair of corduroy flares or twill barrel-legs, but that doesn’t stop me thinking, “You have fabric already, just get them cut out.”
You know it’s going to be a wild weekend when you break out the cleaning chemicals:
Or spend your Friday night at the flooring store:
Or get really excited about finally fixing that one low spot in the garage:
I have a lot of conflicting feelings about the Utah Valley University shooting yesterday; this is all I’m going to post about it:
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It was a busy weekend but it was full of nice things: Making birthday pies, giving Mr. Proper Paws lots of pats, being driven around in Doc’s new car, and playing with the IKEA room designer to see what I want to do in the basement.
As I’ve been cleaning out my sewing room and the basement, every little notion or big scrap of fabric or leftover building supply or piece of melamine-covered plywood has to get really CONSIDERED before I decide if I need to keep it or not.
Because the desire to have less stuff and have that stuff organized is directly in opposition to the desire to save something just in case you need that EXACT thing someday.
I’ve seen this happen more than once with my own dad (minus the rolling around on the floor in glee, of course). You never know when you might need that random thing!
I stress-organized under the bathroom sinks a couple weeks ago when all of Doc’s car stuff was going down, then moved on to the basement after we decided to do a new car instead of moving. I’d just been dumping things onto shelves for a few years and hoping for the best, but I had to move the shelves to assess the plumbing rough-ins so everything came off and I sorted through it all.
I’m not sure how we ended up with FOUR camping air mattresses or five different sizes of insulated tote, but now I know where everything is and a contractor can get to the pipes. We even have a free neighborhood dumpster coming next Thursday to get rid of all the junk behind me in this picture, lol.
Well, so much for trying to hold on to the idea that everything will be okay... Doc’s car had to get towed last week and we were waiting on a repair estimate, which came in over the weekend. It’s, uh, two to three times what his car is worth, so we’re going car shopping today.
We ended up agreeing that we have a house already but Doc doesn’t have a car, so let’s let that take priority and put the new house off for a few years. I was already worried about my job long-term and about upsetting Toby’s routine, so waiting just makes sense. (And honestly, the decision feels like someone canceling plans: Sure it was a fun thing you agreed to, but suddenly not having to do it? Hooray!)
Plus! We already secured a HELOC with a great interest rate to act as a down payment (so we wouldn’t have to show and sell the current house with Toby in it before we bought a new one; the things we do for our old man) so now we can use that to FINISH THE BASEMENT and I’ll be able to get a guest room after all.
This feels like the right decision but truly, everything that’s happened this summer has me like this:
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As we look casually at houses, I’ve been thinking about new sewing room storage and furniture. Then I realized I could probably do something about what I don’t like NOW instead of waiting for a future that may or may not happen any time soon.
For example, this was the current state of my Kallax unit:
The serger thread lived in one of those broken down boxes and it was an ORDEAL to dig out 4 cones of a matching color:
So I got a base for the Kallax and two drawer inserts and some fresh storage boxes for the top and it’s so much nicer now.
Just look at this serger thread!
I also got some fresh inserts for the rest of the existing drawer units and sorted and rearranged all the different supplies:
This kept me busy all weekend and got me out of the house to IKEA (twice) so I think it’s a net win for my mental health, even if it is giving a little bit of, “Could a depressed person organize this?”
“Hey Karen, why does organizing things make you so happy?”
Well, is there a more powerful visual metaphor than going from this…
…to this?
The world may be chaos, I may have no control over my future employment, but by god I can PUT THINGS IN BOXES and LABEL THEM. So I did.