Simply Norma

The windows under the kitchen cabinets allow light to come in and we can see outside to view the trees and any wildlife that may be passing by — such as wild turkeys that seem to run, well, wild. They cross the street at the worst times. Then there are the deer, although I think they like our property as they stay away from it. I wonder if that will continue once I actually plant some shrubs and flowers outside.

Our property is very treed so it looks beautiful when we look through the windows.

Our new house has some features that feel a bit dated. Like a surround sound intercom radio speaker system. In 1993 it was probably pretty good looking. Now, it just looks white, dated and we haven’t been able to figure out exactly how it works yet.

I’m sure we’ll figure it all out. After all, my husband always tells me “we don’t have to throw things out that are dated.”

Good words of wisdom — as sometimes I feel dated.

Tomorrow, we’ve been told, at 8 am sharp, our belongings from Seattle will arrive. That’s about 1 week earlier than what we were expecting which is good.

On the flip side, we have to decide where to put everything, at least initially. We don’t have enough furniture to fill the house yet. Guest beds haven’t been bought and we’ve never had a family room so that room will need furniture also. Then there’s the screened-in porch and the large deck — whew!

It will be a slow process as my husband and I have ideas that are a little different. I think that’s common for most married folks though. A friend of mine once told me that he gives his input to his wife and then let’s her decide on anything that has to do with the house.

What wise friends I have!

How nice to open the front door to our new house and find a package carefully placed inside the screen door by our new mail person.

Taking the package inside, we carefully opened it. It was from our North Dakota family. And — it’s a bird house.

How appropriate! Today after I started prepping the master bedroom for painting, I looked outside towards the balcony and there flitting around in the trees was a bird I had never seen before. He has a yellow underside and a semi-pointy head. He looked like a miniature blue jay — well, except he’s not blue. I wonder if the music I was playing attracted him near the balcony?

We took our new gift and placed it outside on a hook over our bird bath to see if any of the local birds will avail themselves of it.

Then, looking up, we saw a bald eagle soaring overhead.

It can’t get any better than this.

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The new house has chandeliers. When I first looked at them, I thought they were from the 70’s but the house was built in 1993. It is possible the previous owners went and bought older chandeliers.

In any case, they will be replaced soon enough. It’s not at the top of our priority list, especially since the foyer one is so high up in the vaulted ceiling.

The one in the dining room looks just as old.

We like more of a modern look so once things settle down, we’ll go hunting for the right one.

Having no furniture yet, we slept last night on the shag carpet in the master bedroom, one twin air mattress and a camper’s twin pad underneath us. I conked out rather quickly as my bones are tired. I think perhaps we can only make one more move in my lifetime as moving is a lot of work.

When I awoke, I noticed that our balcony faces east.  Sun rise. Very nice. After getting ready, I headed downstairs and noticed that the sun was shining on the screened-in porch and you could see the buds on the trees just beyond.

It looked surreal – as if it was from a postcard.

After driving my husband to work, I returned to await the carpet cleaners. I called two companies and only one called me back. So – Daisy Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning was the recipient of our business.

A young man called about 20 minutes before coming out. When they arrived they explained everything that they would do and after each room was completed they asked if I wanted to see it in case there were any problems. After the first couple of rooms, I didn’t really need to see any more.

They were quick and efficient and I was happy that my carpets were now clean.

I put in more shelf liners and filed some paperwork away.

I then decided to clean the master bedroom balcony. It was filthy. I decided to use a mix of Pine Sol and a gallon of water. It worked fantastically and the balcony is now ready for furniture.

Next, prepping the master bedroom walls for priming before painting as the walls are a dark red. I usually use TSP, trisodium phosphate, with water to clean the walls. Normally one can use TSP to take away the glossiness from the walls as it makes it easier to paint along with cleaning it well.

Unfortunately, with a septic system, one has to be very careful what kind of chemicals they use. So, I decided to go with a tablespoon of Pine Sol and a gallon of water instead. This worked very well to get the walls cleaned.

In order to reach near the ceiling to clean, we went to Menards (similar to a Lowes or a Home Depot) this weekend and purchased a step ladder. This ladder is great because you can put your whole foot on the step so that your feet don’t ache at the end of the day.

The proper equipment is so important.

I noticed that the previous painter (I’m assuming the seller) left a few paint “drip” spots that I will have to sand down before I prime the walls.

This happens when one puts too much paint on the wall, gets distracted and forgets to check their work. A lot of people will not go back to correct this, especially if they’ve put all their tools away.

Tomorrow is another day — I will be pulling nails from walls and filling the cracks, taping and then priming so that the old red paint color will not seep through to the new one. Hmmm … I wonder what color we’ll be using.

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The appliances in the house we bought are Electrolux and stainless steel.  I still have to read up on how to care for stain steel appliances. I hear all kinds of stories about what to do or not do.

One touch on the top of the stove top displays lights up the back with blue lighting. Rather intimidating, uh, I mean impressive. The range is electric and has a warming tray at the bottom.

The refrigerator, also impressive, has lots of options to choose from.

Not to be outdone is the very fancy dishwasher. I didn’t take pictures of the inside. It’s a little complicated with little doors here and there and inserts galore.

Things were so simple in the olden days when there weren’t so many options.

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Day 2 in the new house found me putting everything away that came over from the apartment. We originally thought we’d only live in an apartment for a couple months but 2 months turned into 5 1/2 months and so we started accumulating things again.

The master bedroom has 2 closets – his and hers. They are both huge and have built-in shelving. The shelving has to be painted – a job I have scheduled for a certain relative of mine who will be visiting soon.

Part of this closet will be used for a walk-in shower when we remodel the bathroom that is adjacent to it.

The “her” closet also has shelving and walls that need painting. But it is huge.

There is so much storage space in this house.

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