Rooms with new names

I spent a lot of time thinking about selling our townhouse and moving to another smaller less expensive space.  Now that the old "homestead" houses just two old people, 2200 square feet of finished floor space seems way too big - especially when I am cleaning it.  After all, what do we need with 4 bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms - plus a family room.

But once we determined that moving from a fully paid for home to somewhere else would be more expensive, I stopped focusing on the goal of moving and started thinking about what the heck I would do with the space. It didn't take long to come up with a plan.

The Guest Bedroom
I have always wanted a guest room.  Our "guest room" has always been our pull out couch in the living room and a queen size blow up mattress.  Both are less than perfect for sleeping and very unacceptable for company.  But that was what I had.

I still have that but now I also have this:

Although it isn't evident in the picture, the room needs painting, but it is OK for now.
The maple desk was my desk when I lived at home

I am particularly fond of these lighted flowers.  My daughter-in-law had a set
that I just loved and I had to have my own.
They make a wonderful muted night light.

And what room would be complete without a bull dog.  At least this one
doesn't have to be walked.  :-)

This guest bedroom is located right next to a full bathroom in the lowest level of our townhouse.  This room has changed names so many times it makes my head spin.

• my son's bedroom, 
• my daughter's bedroom when she moved back home one time (paint choice was hers)
• my son's bedroom again when he moved back home one time,
• my mother-in-law's bedroom (briefly) while she was in hospice in our home
• the downstairs den - with a treadmill and yarn stuff
• ... and then finally my son and daughter-in-law's room for about 10 months.  

It now sleeps three guests in actual beds.

Yeah!  Finally!!


The Den
This small bedroom room has really never changed names unless you consider that is was more of a "junk" room over the years.  Most recently it was also my mother's den for 5 years, and then briefly a shared space for my husband and I - my yarn and his computer.  My husband now has a simple uncluttered space for things that are important to him.  Uncluttered is the operative word since open space and free passage are important to anyone with his decreasing vision.

The Yarn Room
This bedroom has a short but varied history as well.

• Daughter's bedroom
• A nothing room for many years - I don't even recall what we did with the space.
• Mother's bedroom
• Temporary guest room but still filled with mom's stuff

After 2+ years in Assisted Living, I have finally reclaimed the space that was mom's.  This was a hard hard thing to do.  I knew she was unable to return, but for some reason I couldn't change the space - it was hers and would be so until she died.  At least that is what my mind was stuck on.

Now I realize that it isn't a good use of space.  Her bed has been moved into the guest room.  Her things have all been boxed up and moved into storage in the basement.  The room still has her furniture in it, but now it is filled with my yarn and hobbies.  And it is perfect for this use as it is the brightest room in my house.

This room deserves a small tour.

You see I have a whole lot of fiber just waiting to be spun.

I have a teddy that wears my very first knitted sweater - the sweater I made
during my learn to knit class in 1997.

And the wedding flowers I made for my son and daughter-in-law's wedding ...
they had nowhere to live either.

And Max, the now newly installed Yarn Cat who lives in my yarn room - he
also was homeless (well, not really.  He lives part time in my bedroom.  But the
story flows better if he seemed homeless.)

And the bed I bought for the yarn room and the "homeless" cat.

And the yarn that fills BOTH SIDES AND TOP TO BOTTOM in this closet.  It
was screaming for a permanent home!! In its last room it was spilling out of the closet
and onto the floor.  Now if I can only show restraint and stop buying yarn ...
(a wish that I have already broken with a purchase this month and a second purchase this month is on my radar.)
The only thing that might work to "cure" me would be some kind of an "intervention."
But I will go down fighting with my pointy sticks if I have to!!!
You have been warned!!!

So now all these wonderful items now live in my yarn room.
I love my yarn room.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this crafty cluttered space that is just mine.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Canceling life for the next 3 days

Have you ever just needed to carve out some space in your life to get the delinquent everyday things done? Not the fun stuff - the things that make your life more livable and less confusing but get squeezed off your to- do list by other more pressing stuff. That is where I am now!

So I cancelled all my plans for Monday through Wednesday. The calendar is empty. For those days I plan to start with a walk in the morning, and then begin at the bottom of my house and clean my way up. I know that sounds odd but the state of my house is adding to my fatigue. It is not clean and it is cluttered. Yes, this will take more than 3 days but it will give me a good start. Just taking a substantially big first step - forward motion - should help. And sleep ... I need to catch up on sleep. In fact I need to catch up on quiet time. Time when I don't have iPod ear buds in my ears - when I have just my own thoughts to chew on or nature for company.

Just slow down my world a bit and re-group for a few days.

So no day trip to my friend's house scheduled for Monday :-( , no knitting or knitting group, no tai chi practice, no blogging, no iPad game playing, no nothing (well, maybe in the evening I can knit a bit). And there are no doctors visits scheduled, no shopping, no bank runs, no vet visits, no meetings, and at present, no sick animals. And I'd say no spinning or reading, but despite my best efforts I haven't been able to do any of that for quite some time. Just walk and get my house in order for the next 3 days.

Keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep to that plan!

PS ... who am I kidding, I will blog! Can't wait to tell you about the dirty toilets! ;-)