Late August This and a Bit of That in Our Bedroom.....

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

And HAPPY FALL!!!!!!!

YES! September is the beginning of Meteorological Fall and that is good enough in my book!!

I bid this horrific Summer of record Heat and Humidity FAREWELL!!!!!

It was the 2nd HOTTEST Summer on record in our area!!!!!

I always say that I would be the one moving North and not South and Canada is looking better and better to me, all things considered!!!!

I have been very busy over the last few days giving our bedroom a deep cleaning......

But first, with cooler temperatures and a bit of Mother Nature's own watering, my flowers in our back yard have exploded!!!!!

 

 

 

 When we first move in 42 years ago, we paneled the wall to the left as an accent wall behind the bed which used to be on that wall so there is a border strip in the corner.....

This was the first coat of spackling.....

I then sanded it twice after putting on one more coat and when I went to get out paint to paint over it, I found that the half of a gallon of paint left over from this room was as solid as a rock!!!!

I did rip the paper off the can that had paint on it and sent Joe down to Lowe's to have them match it and make up a sample size container of paint for me.....

The sample containers only cost $4.00..

Then the "Might as Well's" took over......

While many on the blogs and on face book are sharing how they canned the fruits of their Garden Labors, I decided I would finally do what I wanted to do with a box of canning jars that I bought at a yard sale several years ago.....

I went through every can of paint and stain that we had in our Storage Room, stirred and mixed them and if there was half a can or less, I poured them into the canning jars for storage, getting rid of about 15 cans of paint and stain!!!!

Of course, Joe had to ask me why I was saving the paint from all our rooms......

DUH??????

For touch ups or if a leak happens, etc.....

Anyway, that gave me a lot more room in our storage room so I re-organized the top shelf that is above the door into the room and the right side top shelf.....

These cans are more than 3/4 full....

And what would I do without my Kilz!!!!

Stains and paint thinners.....

And like so many plans of mine that never came to fruition, even though I am on my 5th floor treatment in the Living Room and Dining Room and 3rd in the Kitchen, Bathrooms and upstairs Hall, I never got around to replacing the carpeting in the Bedrooms after our sons moved out like I had planned......

And at this late stage of the game, I have no intention of doing so now......

So in observance of my early retirement plan of using what we have and not spending money on things not needed, I decided that I would use the rugs, that I had stored down our storage shed, from the Dining Room before I bought new ones last year......

I put it in front of the door into the room, Joe's closet and it goes right over to my side of our bed.....

This is one of 2  fairly expensive wool rugs that I bought from Penney's when we first had our Pergo Max flooring installed but Joe also kept getting tangled up in them with his chair.......

You do see a theme going on here with Joe and his chair in our Dining Room ( we eat in the Dining Room daily), don't you??????

Since there is burgundy in those drapes which I love and I am keeping forever, I thought the burgundy rugs would look okay.....

I put the area rug that I bought at Lowe's after the wool rugs did not work out and used it along with the runner that did not work out in the Dining Room with Joe's chair, here in the sitting area of the bedroom............

 You see in this picture of the rugs I currently have in the Dining room that since the area rug is not big enough to go under the entire table and prevent Joe from wrecking havoc with my rugs every time he pulls his chair out, I put the runner behind the table against the wall.......

So far, so good......

I did have another area rug here but it was positioned differently and had seen better days but nothing that a cleaning could not help so we donated it to Salvation Army...

The one thing that I learned from over 10 years of running our church Flea Market is that people buy things with the intention of using them sometimes for totally different reasons than what they were designed for....

Maybe someone would use this rug in a basement area to put on a concrete floor or in a garage storage area......

So don't think that because it does not look as good as it did when first bought that something can not be donated..... 

The one thing that really annoys me to no end is when people carelessly throw away things that others may want or need.....

 Okay, I KNOW my Victorian style is not the "In Style" thing right now but I don't really care as it is MY style and the style that gives me a warm and cozy feeling when I walk in my front door....

When I was working and had a particularly bad night at work which was about every night, I would feel my home wrap it's loving arms around me when I walked in that door in the mornings.... 

And after all, isn't that what everyone would hope to feel when they walk into their home????

So this is my Bedroom.....

The cedar lined closet is on the left and the top door on the right is also cedar lined for storage of sweaters.... 

 

  And this is where my stationary bike is.....

Yesterday, I finally had my one year post op Knee Replacement surgery follow up visit with my Orthopedic Surgeon since it had been canceled because of the Pandemic....

I elected to do a phone visit as they are not allowing anyone to wait in the waiting room so you call when you get there, they register you over the phone and then you wait in your car until it is your turn and they come out to take you in then.....

Most times, he runs late because he spends time with his patients making hospital rounds in the morning so even though my appointment was one of the first ones, I knew I would be waiting which I truly hate to do so I opted for a telephone visit as I did not feel there was any reason for him to see me in person......

I do not do or want to do video conferencing calls even though our son, Joey, could hook it up with no problem....

The best advice my Ortho Surgeon ever gave me was to buy a stationary bike and when I told him that I do 5 miles in 20 minutes 5 times a week, he said he wishes that the majority of his patients would listen to him like I did and that he could bring me in to talk to patients on the importance of doing this both pre op and post op...... 

I am glad that I had my own bike so I could continue my knee exercises during this pandemic as I have friends that had to stop going to Physical Therapy and Cardiac Rehab when they all were forced to close....

I have it positioned so I can watch TV while on my bike.....

 

 

 We moved it up here in the bedroom when Joe wanted a larger TV to watch his Hockey games on and I said he had to first find an entertainment center large enough to put the TV in before I would allow such a big black box in my Victorian style Living Room!!!! 

Of course, I had to decorate the top of the piece!!!!

This French Provincial chair, upholstered in gold velvet like fabric, that I bought at a church Flea Market is where I sit and watch TV at times.......

Now what are the chances of finding a chair like this???????

I painted this table, that my Dad had originally stained for me many years ago, blue because I had bought blue paint to paint the entire bedroom set........

   I bet he never thought all those years ago that he would not only be refinishing this set for me but for his Great Granddaughter and I know he is just thrilled.....

I am skipping the corner of the bedroom where I had to do the crack repair as it is not finished as of yet.... 

I moved our bed into the corner many years ago so I would have storage behind it....

A few years ago, I bought a gold comforter set on Clearance in Penney's to match the original set since the comforter was shot......

And isn't it funny that the original color of the Pittsburgh Penguins Team was blue and not the gold, black and white like it is now!!!!! 

And that is why a free throw that Joe got as a Season Ticket Holder to the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins AHL Hockey team is on the bed.......

I hung drapes and ivory lace curtains behind the bed to hide the storage behind it....

I created this chandy above the bed by threading a swag chandy, bought at Target on Clearance, through a $5 flea market brass chandy....

I decorated it with crystal ornaments, floral swags and tulle.....

On Joe's side of the bed is his dresser......

 Yes, he has more clothes in here in addition to all his closet in our double closet even after donating 3 bags of clothes to Salvation Army!!!!!

My Dad left the original Bakelite handles and knobs on the furniture and I am so glad that he did not replace them!!!!!

Next to the dress is a small night stand that I placed baskets in that I spray painted blue......

You can see that by putting the table up on bed risers, it is the same height of the nightstand on Joe's side....

The other wool rug is over by Joe's dresser......

 I think you can see why it took me so long to deep clean this room!!!

Now I need to clean out and go through things stored behind and under the bed, in my Mother's Hope Chest which is in the corner that I have yet to share and the storage in the bottom area of the TV Entertainment Center.... 

One more thing.....

Did you know that there is a Nation Wide Shortage of major appliances??????

Because of the initial shut down of factories during the Pandemic and the importation of parts from over seas, there is a waiting list for major appliances such as washers, dryers and ovens......

And God forbid you need a refrigerator!!!!!

People are buying smaller , simpler refrigerators as second ones to put in a garage or basement because they are hoarding, no, excuse me, buying extra food during this time......

Well, as fate would have it, my refrigerator is not cooling as it should and actually stopped running on Sunday , leaving a puddle of water on my Kitchen floor......

I got it to come back on by fiddling with the temperature control dial ......

But as a precaution, our son, Joey, took almost everything from our freezer, which was packed because of Joe doing Boredom Shopping, to his apartment......

When I pulled up Lowe's and Home Depot online, there is a big warning about the shortage of major appliances.....

I panicked and sent Joe immediately down to Lowes which is right next to our townhouse development.... 

I am very limited in the size refrigerator I can put in the Kitchen because it has to fit between the Dining Room wall and the counter....

So that means a basic 18 cu. ft. refrigerator........

I am not picky as I do not need or want one with an ice maker or anything fancy for only the 2 of us but I did want a white one as I do not care for Stainless Steel.....

Too cold and industrial looking for my Country French Victorian looking Kitchen.....

Well, along with the shortage, apparently these are the type of refrigerators that people are looking for as second refrigerators so none were in stock and it would take until October to get one in!!!!!

Joe pleaded with the sales man stating that ours can die at any time so he was kind enough to look in the back and found ONE white discontinued model!!!!!!

A GE Hotpoint one.....

It was only $598 on sale to boot!!!

SOLD!!!!!

Okay, not only is there a back log of getting stock in but because of the increased demand, there is a back log on Deliveries!!!!

So even though they have it in the store which is directly on the side of our development, they are not able to deliver it until October!!!!!

Joe said he would have to go and look elsewhere , even though secretly he figured it would be the same story wherever he went.....

The sale man then said he would speak with the manager who was able to move delivery up to this coming Sunday.....

I told Joe to take it.....

They explained that their trucks are loaded to the hilt and they can not deliver over a certain length of time or they would lose their CDL licensing.....

So far, the refrigerator is still running but we are keeping a cooler with ice in it just in case.....

Since I stopped working and retired, we have replaced our Hot Water Heater, a Microwave, 2 Air Conditioners and now a Refrigerator!!! 

Thank God I thought to have a reserve of money for emergencies in retirement and were able to pay cash for everything and not have to finance anything or worse, put it on a charge card!!!!

This is why I continuously say that I am tired of being a Home Owner and being responsible for all of this and in a few years, before I need yet another new roof, we will be looking into selling this house and moving into the apartment complex where our sons live which are maintenance free and come with all appliances!!!!!

This is what my Mother did shortly after my Dad passed away because she knew that, financially, she would never be able to keep the large ranch house that they lived in....

It was the smartest thing that she ever did!!!