smallrobot

July saw the END of the upstairs renovation project, woo hoo! It took so much longer than expected – the estimate had been 4 to 6 weeks, but it actually took 12 weeks. Color me very relieved and grateful. And happy with the results!

Here's July's list of accomplishments.

5. Read Vorkosigan series
Started and finished Cryoburn, the penultimate novel in this series. It took me a while to get into the book but once I did it turned out to be an interesting and gripping story. Always fun to watch Miles juggle so many different crises and plots all at once. The ending did not surprise me at all, although I was sad for Miles and Mark not getting one last visit in with Aral.

28. Weight monitoring
Well, between the stress, lack of exercise and horrible diet (so much ice cream and other sweets), I gained a TON of weight in July. I’ve now started wrestling my eating habits back into submission and am hopeful that with less stress things will switch direction.

29. BMI monitoring
Of course it went up.

94. Clean phone of unneeded apps
This has been done. Basically the only things I have on the phone now are a web browser, my email and messaging, YouTube and the weather app. No games, no social media, no news except for what little I get via YouTube. It’s lovely to be more simplified.


In the HOUSE category, we are officially done with the upstairs reno project. Except for the louvered doors to the a/c closet, which were taken away to be painted and still need to be reinstalled. All in all, of the 35 goals in this category, 26 are now completed, 4 were deleted, 1 is in progress and 4 have not yet been started. That’s one hell of a lot of accomplishment only 15 months in!

47. Cut down tree by driveway.
I have deleted this item as unnecessary to sell the house.

53. Repair/replace malfunctioning exterior spotlights.
This one is in progress. Austin did replace the fixture and bulbs and it still does not work. I don’t think all four bulbs we tried can be bad, so it is time to call in a licensed electrician to diagnose and fix whatever the issue is.

70. Repair/update stairs and banister
These are done and I am so thrilled with the excellent results. Yeah, they look like most stairs these days, nothing to remark on, but wow, such an improvement over the old DIY rickety stairs. The banister is now solid as a rock, as are the stairs. They feel so much lighter and more open, too.

71. Renovate upstairs bathroom
The bathroom is finally complete and it looks great! (Well, except for the unfortunate floor tile choice on my part.) I have enough towels to put in there but need to pick up a floor mat yet. Other than that, done!

75. Change outlets and switchplates upstairs.
One of the final finishing touches, all done.

76. Install new carpet upstairs
What a difference this made! Between the fresh paint and the carpeting, it started to look and feel like a finished room.


And that's all I've got this month. Fingers crossed that August proves to be as productive. I've got to accomplish a lot if I'm to get the house on the market in September (which is my tentative goal). If it pushes much longer, I'm not sure I'll be able to make the move this year because of weather.