Not-Quite-Spring Cleaning

As I had mentioned previously, the good thing (depending on how you look at it) about having all of this time off, is I have time to do some much needed cleaning & organizing around the house. Sheer boredom & that fact that I am having a good friend visit that I haven't seen in over 3 years is a great motivation.

Well, I kind of started this several of months ago with purging of many clothes & THAT was just from our master closet. That did not include the spare bedroom closets or the dressers. Yes, I have too many clothes. The really rediculous part is some of the clothes I have had since high school. Talk about packrat! sheesh! So, I started working on cleaning up the guest bedroom and closet. There were piles of clean clothes everywhere in there, Christmas junk, & not to mention the closet looked like a bomb exploded in there. What happened to me? I used to be SO ORGANIZED. Now I'm a mess. I guess that's what grad school does to you. That, and I also aquired a husband and 3 pets over that past few years. ANYWHO, I digress... I have 2 more HUGE bags of clothes to donate, and think maybe this time I am going to itemize them & get a tax reduction. Dang! I should have done that with the other 5 bags I got rid of last time. I wonder how much I can get in return?

When one does this kind of cleaning, many treasures and memories are rediscovered. I came across all of the cards & some photos from our wedding. I saw old photos from dating days with Hubby. I even found a couple of old love letters from and old "boyfriend" (pre-hubby of course) that were stashed in the depths of my dresser drawers. (Those got shredded!) How funny is that?!?! (Man, those letters were soooo cheezy! "Boyfriend" is in quotation b/c we only dated for few months & I was not nearly as into him as he was with me....but that's an entirely different & weird story...of which I have several of...anywho...). I amaze myself with all the crap I have held onto over the years & it feels good to start getting rid of it. I have been the queen of shredding this past week & I think I have almost killed our shredder. I need a bloody industrial shredder with all of the documents I have been shredding. Craziness! The "office" (aka bane of my existence) is still a work in progress, too. I was getting tired of dealing with that mess & it looks more presentable now, so I decided to tackle the guest bedroom (aka the Mr. & Mrs. ETK room....and Mr. & Mrs. BFF room...and now will be Mrs. Diva room, too. ;) ).

So, this house is starting to get into a shape that I am more pleased with. If we were planning on staying here long term, I'd probably start painting (or hire someone to paint), too. But I think we determined at this time, it probably wouldn't be worth the time and money. We'll see. Plans may change once I start working & we get closer to the point when we can put it on the market.

Speaking of that, I think THIS community is still our number one for many reasons. Some of which are the beauty, safety, affordability (no too much nor too little), close to H-town/decent commute times, new shopping areas & restaurants being built, and there are even plans for a waterway with shops & restaurants similar to but bigger than the waterway in the Woodlands. We are continuing our research and are starting to get figures in place for the house we really like. We'll have a better idea of things once I start working & am able to bring home some more bacon. ;) (We have even thought about seeing a financial advisor to make sure we are being smart about everything.)

Anyway, I will conclude this blabbering with some photos of hubby & I from our dating days (which was only 3+ years ago). I can't believe it will be 3 years in just a few weeks! WOW! These photos are so cute! Man, look how skinny & blonde I used to be! And it was when I had my braces!!!! ;) I showed hubby the pics last night & he had almost forgotten how blonde I had become. What started out as hi-lights turned me into a blonde! He asked if I would ever do that again. I am not sure. I am tempted a lot because I get bored with my hair, but it is SUCH HIGH maintenance and costs a lot AND I still have damage in my hair as a result AND it has been about 3 years since the last time I had hi-lights! So, I don't know. We'll see. I wonder if he wants me to do the blonde look again. hmm..... Anyway, here we are/were: