Renos and Lists

Anyone who knows me already knows I love lists.  There is something super satisfying about ticking off those little checkboxes beside an item I've done.  I recently started doing my lists again... but for another reason.

Renovations!

I get pregnant, and I need to renovate... I know, it is crazy predictable already.

Anyway, baby #4 needs a room, and currently M and Bram share a room, Baby A is in the nursery, and our master bedroom can be divided into two rooms if needed.  Well... it's needed.  M and Bram NEED separate rooms already.

So, I devised a plan.  Our basement is perfect for playing, but it is ill used, needs some overhauling, and fixing.  Also, the 'play room' has no windows.  Bad idea.  And I recently found out, it has mould.  Really bad idea.  So, over August I removed everything from the main areas of our basement.  That was crazy, seeing as I needed to find new homes for it all (and toys... oh the toys, toys, toys!).  This is all part of a process I am doing to attempt to work out more bedrooms in the house... and space.

I am currently in the process of ripping out that basement wall.  And I'm realizing I have some severe limitations.

I have a respirator.  I wear it when working with paint, and in this case, mould.  The mould is dry, and we have now removed a bunch of it from the wall, however there is more wood housing the mould that needs removal, and I've been told that I need to 'hire' or 'borrow' a couple of men to get that job done.  My mom (bless her!) came over today to help me rip out some plywood sheets I just couldn't do with the tools (and limited strength) that I had.  I am happy to say that those plywood sheets are now GONE!  Yay!  All I have left for removal within the room before the 2x4's is the actual mould areas (due to carpet that was removed from that room years ago... years even before we had kids).  I seriously should take a picture right now... that room does not look the same!

My plan was to keep most everything simple, remove that wall, prime and paint the concrete, the panelling that was down there (brighten it up a bunch), and then hang a curtain to hide the utility area.  Put up some shelves (bolt to the floor joists above, or have counter/table areas as well), use the linoleum that we still have kicking about for the laundry area and just 'tape' it down (double sided, heavy duty... but I'm not using glue!), and finally have a 'clean looking' laundry area.  And I wanted to paint the floor and maybe add some of that indoor outdoor grass.  Something that wouldn't cause moisture buildup issues.  It is, after all, a basement.  After that was done, I could move toys downstairs, have the kids sleep in another area of the house while we finish up some things in their current room before moving all our stuff in there and making that the master, then modify our current room into two bedrooms for the two of them!

So... I made THE LIST!

I thought it was a pretty good list.  I broke all the tasks down into manageable bits, then put those bits into a chart according to week as I only have so much time before this baby is set to arrive, and I want these things done before December so I can use that month to focus on Christmas.

However... things kinda fell flat.  I am NOT able to get this wall down myself, and while I was good at keeping up with things for awhile, I am far behind right now (due to many different circumstances as well).  I am now at a point where if I want to get back on track, I would need to get rid of the rest of that wall, scrub the walls and floor for painting, fix the cracks and holes in the floor, and kill the mould using bleach (on the concrete... wood will be removed) all this week. 

Want to know what else is up for this week?  My daughter's birthday.  Yup... that means cake, goodies, and decorations on the main floor, not to mention still managing all the main household tasks and the farm financials.

So... I'm beginning to wonder, looking at my list, if it was even such a good idea.  Usually lists get me raring to go... but this one is depressing me. 

So... I made another list.  (Don't look at me that way!)  This one is my daily task list.  And weekly task list.  One that will contain all my appointments (I am forgetting everything) and a number of items I wish to do during the week that are not put down according to 'day'.  If I can find time to do them after all the daily and regular weekly tasks are done, I will be working on them.  If.  BIG if.  It is hard to believe how much time is taken up with the regular little daily things needed to keep this household running!  But it is at least nice to see what I am doing, and that I'm not 'useless' because I cannot do the huge items as fast as I want to.  It helps me feel a little better about things.

Mom, you hold my respect for all you did when I was a kid!  I really had no idea!

Oh, as a bonus, because of said list, I finally put up some frames that have been waiting on my shelf for well over a month now.  I also finally did some dusting again, and cleared out a few 'hot spot' zones in my dining room/living room/kitchen due to having a '15 minute house tidy' on my 'just before bed' section of the list.  That way, the kids aren't making it look crazy again!  ;)  It is helping.  I don't feel so stressed in the mornings now that my dishwasher is run, the dishes are clean, the house is tidy, M's lunch is made, and the kitchen is clean when I get up!  Yay!

I am so not a morning person... but being a list person seems to be helping me make up for that.  ;)