New Lighting

The lighting in the main part of the house has been an eclectic mix of stuff, ranging from some lamps that were given to me by a friend to fixtures selected by the ex-wife. All of it has been insufficient for this house. Let's see--I've been in the house for what...fifteen years now!?

Since she moved in, Sabrina has been wanting to replace the lighting. Her apartment had a south-south-west facing view, and so she was very used to the sunlight. The main living area of my house, quite differently, faces north, and there are many fewer windows, those are smaller, and I put up floor to ceiling drapes. The relative darkness has been bugging her for just over a year.

Well, we fixed that this last weekend. New fixtures. New lamps. Even the kids got new ones for their rooms. Okay, so it was more money than I wanted to spend on Father's Day, but it sure does make the day memorable!

I broke my own guideline. Since wrapping up so many projects outside work, I told myself I wasn't going to do anything else that got in the way of me sewing my outfit for the wedding. Well, at least I didn't give myself a project that would last; I got everything installed (except the one we had to order) installed yesterday.

Okay, so there is one small thing. The law of unintended consequences came into play. The light switch now has 570 Watts running through it--I need a more robust one. But, that's a quick fix!

Here are some of the things we got:

• http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Apollo-Collection-Eight-Light-Chandelier__72587.html
• http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Bronze-Tortoise-Shell-Font-Floor-Lamp__98142.html
• http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Bronze-Tortoise-Shell-Font-Floor-Lamp__98142.html
• http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Casa-Sorrento-19-1-8-inch-High-Bronze-Wall-Mount__45219.html
• http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Apollo-Collection-Four-Light-Pendant-Chandelier__07324.html
• http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Fairy-Dreamer-Statue__56213.html

Three weeks of vacation

I'm back to work for the first time this week for three weeks. My fiancé is a night owl, and I naturally slipped into her schedule during that long, relaxing break. Wow, it was pretty darned difficult to get up to make it to work on time for the first couple of days this week!

It was a stay-cation. Didn't go anywhere. But we did get one of the major projects done!

Getting my fiancé moved in started at the beginning of April for the move at the end of May. During the week of Thanksgiving, when I was on a week of vacation, I got my paperwork caught up (yeah, more than six month's worth that had been piling up) and got all the garage sale stuff together. But the location of that stuff was the den--which, right off the main room, broke up the continuity of the main part of the house. During this vacation, all the garage sale stuff actually got moved to the garage. (And yes, I can still park two cars in my two-car garage!)

All the kitchen cabinets have been completely emptied and reorganized. All the closet shelves and cabinets in the house have been cleared and organized. All the clothes that don't get worn have been pulled from the closet racks. All the book shelves are installed and organized. All the rooms are decoarated. And the top shelf around the den (wait...excuse me...the "Captain's Quarters") now has the pirate ship and tall sail ship collection, pirate chests, and pirate booty!

The whole house--for the very first time since the idea of moving in together--is now completely organized and decorated. Now *that's* a Christmas present!!