Success Along the Weigh

Hump Day Poll: Offensive to the Ears

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:52:00 +0000

Heidi ho virtual neighbors and welcome to your hump day for this week! Today we're going to be talking about annoying phrases. That saying that pops out of someone's mouth or they type and you want to flick them in the forehead.

Mine is "just sayin'".

I don't know why but the phrase makes me want to punch a wall. I think because it feels like a put down and pissy in most situations. I have several people I know who say it and it makes me shake like Cornholio about to go on a rant.

What annoying phrase is offensive to your ears?

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Leveled and Lunacy Abounds Week/Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

How do peeps? I hope you had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed your Easter if you celebrate. Monday always seems to get here so fast and I have no concept of weekends anymore because every day is like Saturday in that weekend warrior kind of way. We've been in the house for almost two weeks tomorrow full time but practically every day for almost a month. I'm actually jealous of the Mr who can go to work and get a mental break. I know I could but the guilt consumes me if I'm just sitting there.

Last week. Holy f**k balls man. I feel like I say that every week but that's kinda been every week with the balls in the air as we twitch in horror going "this is our life now. Mmm hmm." I don't even know where to start.

Garage.

So when we looked at the place, we saw the sidewalk in front of the driveway was sunken by about 4" and we'd worked with a company before that pumped up our AC pad at the condo with foam, did a great job and we knew it could be fixed. That was how we kicked off the week getting it leveled.

I had to laugh because they went across the street to our only neighbor and it's like "no sir, over here at the haunted one that looks abandoned." Not the first person to do it that week either.

The next day the tree dude we picked up off the side of the road while he was cutting another tree came to tackle our threatening beast that broke in half after 70 mph winds. We watched him rig up while he had a spotter from below. He was so high even in the house we couldn't see him through the huge windows. When he trimmed off the first top piece, it shook the ground when it dropped and we got nervous. Those innocent looking canopy tops no longer looked innocent. He continued to chip away at it and the first big log to fall took a bounce back towards the house closer than I'd like. Then it was time for the big show. The Mr and I literally death gripping each other's hands as I filmed and watched it fall back and kind of break apart in a few spots on impact. It was oddly way less Earth shaking than the canopy pieces. He did trim some canopy pieces on the one over the house which gave me my favorite shot of the day:

What was left really kinda hurt my heart a bit. That beautiful park like setting looked like a disaster zone. We knew we'd have to add a chainsaw and chainsaw chaps to the list and when we had time/energy, watch every chainsaw how to video online.

We also had a garage door dude out which we had to wait for the concrete to be leveled first before that could happen. He was very nice, an oversharer and reminded us both of the flair guy from Office Space with his enthusiasm. His price seemed fair, he's local, in his 30's so he could potentially be our dude until we expire so we went with him. He's going to fix some jank they procured for the current horror show track system but that meant our weekend plans were now going to include clearing the full garage so they could work.

I continued my goal of unpacking 2-3 boxes per day and got a lot of the kitchen together. Oh but you know what's fun? Discovering you're allergic to your kitchen. Every single time I would go in there my nose would run like a sieve and my throat would get irritated. The culprit? Mold under the kitchen sink. We were able to get some good primer over it after two bleach sprays and it is much better. I can't tell you how good it felt to not hunt and pick things out of bins.

I hate the layout and the cabinets are definitely squattier but everything has it's place and there's only one cupboard that I still need to tackle and that's gonna be a doozy because it's a lower blind corner. We tried everything we could to use a pre constructed blind corner slider shelf but it won't work with the stove right there so stay tuned for a janky solution so I can store my stock pots, food processor and stand mixer.

I did hang my first art pieces up.

Over our little microwave cart/beverage station are pics of Mom and Grandma and their hand written recipes. It's just a nice, grounding space to look at whenever the thing of the day craps the bed. I got all of my teas unloaded and in this to start and end our day on the right foot. (Which immediately tanks because I have to step in the hole of whatever nightmare is waiting for us under the carpet but it's nice for several seconds.

Since the garage door was ordered, that meant I was going to work on this disgusting monkey vomit orange door going into it.

As I was painting, I heard the only neighbor whose house basically dry humps ours pull in. No immediate interaction but it at least wasn't some monster truck pulling in. Later when I was sanding he made his move. We chatted before the Mr came out. We'll just say that our goal is to have a wave and nod relationship. I'm so excited for the "two dogs we don't leash who will probably bark at you until they get to know you" come. 😑 He talked about how they and the previous ahole owner would gather around the fire pit (in our yard) and drink beer all night. The fire pit is coming out. (Seriously. It was coming out before then but that put the nail in that coffin. It's practically on the street and we didn't want it there to begin with because you'd be on full display. Certainly don't want him to think it's an open invite to pop over because HISS to everyone.) Oh and I ordered 7 zebra grasses which will eventually be 7' tall in two years. We have three years before they're permanent which means we'll need a high wall solution out front to plant other tall grasses deer don't like so we can sit out on our deck in peace. Always some way you have to fight for your privacy. At least they won't be here for winter but still.

Friday I finished the door and had to let it dry overnight. We got our dishwasher delivered and boy, not happy at paying more for less features than we had. We sometimes used the delay start feature now they force you into wifi remote start. Um, your app doesn't need hooked up to our appliances. Also a smaller silverware basket. C'mon Bosch, I expected more from you. Then the Mr had a well guy and a septic guy out. That was interesting. I wasn't out there for the well guy until it was check writing time and when I came out, picture a mix of Bruce Dern's character from Big Love mixed with Buford T. Justice from Smokey and the Bandit topped off with a family bloodline from Deliverance. He told us we'd need to shell out $5k and I went dizzy and then he started spewing some highly inappropriate political rants out of nowhere in a way that you just wanted him off your property. When the septic guy came, who was very nice, funny and knowledgeable and the Mr mentioned what he said, he said that didn't make sense to him. He was very careful not to take business from someone else but hinted it sounded shady and only X should need addressed. Needless to say the other guy got cancelled and I'm sure that was no surprise given how loud the subtitles on my face are. But septic dude was great, knew my uncle and shared stories and while he had some not so great news about the septic, he told us ways to make it last and how to care for it. There is a tree root in there so we have to put Root X in it once a year to keep that clear. It hadn't been pumped since the previous owner bought it almost 10 years ago, shocker, and basically the aerator was not just bad but gone. It had run so much it ate itself and he said he hadn't seen anything like that in 20 years. Mmm hmmm. He said we could replace it ourselves but we opted to have him install it this week and what he's charging is still less than just buying the part so we feel good about giving him the business.

And that was our week. Now on to the weekend. 😬

The Mr got an early start by getting the lock reinstalled on the garage entry door. We also had about 12 cans of paint from the previous owner that two weeks opened did nothing for so we had to kitty litter the hell out of them to get them solid for trash disposal. He checked the status on those. We drove to a little country market about 10 minutes away for breakfast and to watch this horse ignore the baby one like it was completely irritated with it:

We had errands to run in town, picked up our infinitesimal microwave at Lowe's, ate lunch at a place that had closed locally for us but they had one there and boy was it a major regret. We got groceries then booked ass back home before everything melted. Will definitely have to bring coolers for some stuff next time. When we got home it was time to tackle the garage so the garage door people have room to work this week. We got that squared away after trucking the new hot water tanks down to their spots waiting for the plumber. Then we sat on the deck and ate Easter candy while the wind blew and we both sat there nervous and just waiting for something to drop. We went inside and later on had dinner delivered. We tried to watch a movie but both got disinterested then scrolled and nodded off but we did it in COMPLETE silence. Yes please.

Happy Easter from the nuthouse! We watched Skote Outdoors (surprised Kelly hadn't had the baby yet) and a few other things farting around to not get started because who wants to do crap on a holiday. The Mr was getting a little overwhelmed with the lack of space in his office so we tackled that. He purged a crap ton of clothes, we moved some stuff around and ordered a taller bedframe which should allow more storage. We had a leftover stained shelf from the laundry center project a few years ago that I said we should bring so he cut it down into smaller shelves to put the stuff he had on his old shelves up there for the most part. These are temporary spaces (I hope!) but really stressful so any way we can consolidate and rearrange to make it visually less sucky is better. He installed the wall lamps in both bedrooms which meant a few more boxes out of the house. I installed the adhesive shower caddies on the wall so I could unpack our shampoos and body washes. So skeevy in that shower and such a downgrade from the beautiful one we had done this time last year. I'll try not to think about it but yeah, that one is eventually getting gutted.

We had lunch of Honeybaked Ham which I picked up and froze before everything was a trek. We had a sammie and sides and got back to it. I started putting together the DVD shelf which crapped the bed while he was installing the bathroom faucet and door stops. My friend asked for a phone call so we chatted for an hour before having dinner. He set up the Chromecast to override the Roku stuff that we have a hard time with interface wise. Another day swirled down ze toilet!

Today the plumber comes and pray he can get the sediment filter off and replaced at a decent price because our water pressure is tanking fast. Pffft.

How was your weekend/Easter?

What I'm Reading This Week #14

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

What day is it? Send help. I mean, (in your best Grover voice), happy Friday everybodyyyyy! I hope your March was fabulous and you're ready for a good holiday weekend if you celebrate. (I had to be reminded it's Easter- whoops!)

The "fun" continues at Casa SATW. Monday was the Mr's first day back to work and I went to it unloading a few boxes in the kitchen. I got the dishes unloaded but not to their final spots. I needed the big boxes out of the way. I moved other boxes as we prepare for when the dude comes to rip off the front of our house and the jank ass Sanford and Son closet up front. That space is haunted- just like the kitchen cabinets. I cannot wait for it to be gone and the entrance to the house moved forward like it's supposed to be. The storm and front doors were delivered by the grace of God and I cannot tell you what a nightmare every Schlemards order has ever been. It's like "hello- your order has gone into the abyss but we charged you anyway and we have no intention of updating your order" AND if you call the store they won't answer or say they're not responsible since you ordered online. At least the delivery dudes were nice.

OH and Monday we got our front sidewalk that leads into the garage leveled! That thing was sunken by like 4" and you had to off road to get into the garage. (Not like we can do that anytime soon to begin with but I digress.) We used them at the condo to level our A/C pad when it was sunken toward the foundation and thought they charged a fair price and they gave us a good quote so we were happy to use them. He even found a drain after I mentioned this stupid trench that water just sat in and I was afraid it was going keep happening. He cleaned out as much as he could but we're going to get a snake and see if we can gently move it along and hopefully not have to call a plumber or anything. That was our first MAJOR fix that was on the list from the get go and also means we can move forward with getting someone out to give an estimate on a garage door to replace the one that looks like a pre-historic mammoth rat gnawed through it. That will go a long way to make the house look less haunted from the outside to passersby. The leveler dude went across the street because I'm sure he thought WE were the abandoned house. Not for long mah dude. I promise it won't always look like this long, hockey stick turd. (The color and shape of the home. We're so proud.)

Now let's take pride in:

8 Vegetables That Are High in Fiber (We can all use more of that!)

Your 50s Don’t Have to Mean Shrinking Muscles. Here’s How a Trainer Builds Strength After 40 (Can't wait to get back into strength training. No time the past few months for anything formal)

Short-Term Oatmeal Diet May Help Lower 'Bad' Cholesterol, Aid Weight Loss (As someone who has eaten oatmeal five days a week for years and had to go on statins, I call potential horse sh*t. Nothing wrong with trying and I don't know how two days makes that kind of difference but knock yourself out!)

9 Simple Protein Boosts That Turn Basic Oatmeal Into a Power Breakfast (If you're looking to try it and get in more protein, here ya go!)

I Thought My Metabolism Was Gone for Good—Until I Changed These Habits (All good tips!)

The Benefits of Macadamia Nuts and the Best Ways to Eat Them (Mixed with bananas into a pancake batter and topped with coconut syrup? Whoops sorry, my ache for Hawaii is showing but these are good too)

33 One-Pot Chicken Recipes for Busy Weeknight Dinners (Lord knows we need easy dinner for the rest of the spring!)

Try bedroom 'burping,' write a 'ta-da' list and fix your posture like Fonzie — plus 7 more health tips to help you have a great week (I wonder how many people now read the word Fonzie and have no clue who you're talking about. But I know most of you do..."ayyyyyy! 👍)

The Easiest Ways to Remove Soap Scum From Your Bathtub Without Scratching It (Lord knows it feels like we've tried everything and we both squeegee after every shower)

These 5 Household Items Are Secretly Spiking Your Energy Bill—Here's What to Do About It (Since our new place is a little bigger and longer, we made sure to add a sensor in the addition to average out the temperature between spaces with our new thermostat)

It's been raining all week and more rain this weekend which makes me nervous due to the situation in the basement. The Mr put some quikrete sealant in there that we used for the condo and the next day used a special caulk to fill in over that and hoping for the best because being able to shore that up to move boxes down there would be a major win which is something we already thought we had but yeah. 😐 We got the results of the asbestos test from the bedrooms and bathroom and thankfully all clear. We're still gonna plank them one day.

I got Easter candy long ago so even if we were surrounded by boxes we'd still at least have that and you can bet we're going to be stress eating that basket. We picked up and froze the good ham while we were in town and I think we'll have a more casual deal with chips, baked beans and Aldi had their awesome sweet potato casserole that's pretty friggin' small but perfect size for two.

What are you into this weekend? Doing anything for Easter?

Hump Day Poll: April Fools Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Happy April, fool!

source

If you grew up in the 80's or before, chances are you either loved or hated April Fools Day. I don't know how it was in your area but regardless of which elementary school I was in, it always seemed to be a big deal.

I don't remember specifically any pranks pulled on me and if I did any, I'm sure they were quite benign as I'm not a fan of pranks. It's about as popular with me as someone attempting to pinch you if you're not wearing green on St Patrick's Day. I always replied my eyes were hazel and if they said that didn't count I'd say I was wearing green underwear and there was no boy brave enough to attempt to verify that without risking a knuckle sandwich they knew I'd deliver on! 😆

How about you? Was April Fools Day a thing when you were a kid and if so, were you the one on the receiving end of the prank or doling them out?

Welcome to the Country Week/Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Good Monday morning to you, party people! Are you ready for the final Monday of March? What's that saying? In like a lion, out like a lamb? Has that been your experience because the weather has been cray-ZEE all over the country.

Ours has been like a Tasmanian devil deprived of food for 3 weeks then unleashed on a free range chicken farm. That's not just weather related but life related. Our last night in the condo we'd busted our butts all day and were looking forward to our final nice relaxing shower especially since we could hear thunder rumbling and my legs were in a state of seizing, cramping crisis for multiple days. Almost as soon as I got in and had everything lathered, the rumbles got louder and the wind picked up. I hurried trying to wash off and hail pelted everything and it sounded like a freight train and we all know what that means. The Mr yelled at me to get out of the shower now and I did. It sounded like it died down so he got in then the same thing happened and he had to hurry up too. Sorry, no lingering goodbye showers for you. 🙄 The next morning I was so broken again that I literally had to army crawl to the top of the stairs to be able to stand up because my legs were ready to screw me on violent Charlie horsing again. Nothing more embarrassing than asking your husband to leave the room so you can scoot your fat butt in your night gown across the floor acting as a human Swiffer.

The mobile delivery service was coming to pick up our furniture and would be right behind us. They loaded up and we went ahead of them. He said he had to stop and get gas. Dude... shouldn't you have done that before hand?? We make the hour drive for the 12th time that week, turned onto our street and saw this:

Of. F**king. Course.

Any of you who have been here a while know this is par for our life course. I freak, take a pic and text it to my cousin saying "help". They said to call security and they'll get maintenance back to clear the road and this is a good thing, a blip in the road to our beautiful new life and I snap back "OUR FRIGGIN FURNITURE IS RIGHT BEHIND US AND WE CAN'T GET TO THE HOUSE!!" I don't need the polyanna tude right now please and thank you. The Mr texted the guy the situation and he said he was 20 minutes out and could wait around if needed thankfully. So we got a saw and got to cutting and dragging what we could.

Some dude came out to "assess" with fresh cud under his lip and said he'd bring people out. We mentioned our furniture was being delivered in a few minutes in case that would speed things along. Within 10 minutes someone was there and chainsawing the stuff in the road. The guy arrived at the gate and the Mr had to go get him and asked if they could cut what was blocking half of our driveway. He was hesitant and said they don't do that but they'll cut some of it. The Mr left and the guy reluctantly cut what was in the driveway and I thanked him profusely and he laughingly welcomed us to the neighborhood. He said drag it all to the side of the road and they'd be back sometime to pick it up. When they left, I had an entire road to clear so I got to it hopefully before the furniture showed up and made it in the nick of time. The furniture was delivered and he left and it was just the Mr and I staring at each other wondering WTF we just did. We didn't have time to cry over it (though I was internally) and unloaded about half of the unit. I suggested they pick it up in two days so we weren't tempted to put off just getting it over with. We set up the bedrooms and the dining room table and I heated up chili past me made. We were beat and fell into bed in a heap.

The next morning, we made the hour drive back in silence, got some stuff taken care of and before we knew it, we were dropping off the keys at the condo for the last time. We were surprised the electricity was off. We specifically told him when we were disconnecting so he wouldn't have disruption to service but such is the mind of a 28 year old. We also saw he was 30 minutes late to his own final walk through but his girlfriend, sister and mom were all on time. So yeah, our baby is getting a whole new different kind of owner. That mold problem from the leak discovered in inspection? I guarantee he's not going to have anything done about that. Sigh. We thanked her for all she was for us, the memories good and bad and being a place we'd never forget. The Mr and I both agreed we were sad but life has numbed us so bad the past 10 years, it's hard to feel anything. We both wanted these big, momentous waves of grief and gratitude but just kind of looked at each other sad but empty. We left the keys, a card with instructions on how everything worked and how to remove stuff like the stone in the bedroom, the peel and stick mural, etc. Then it was over. Thirty years. A place Mom had been and now going to a place she will never be. Memories of dancing in the living room on our wedding night, our dog sniffing newly planted flowers and chomping on pig ears. Saving up for various projects back when we had to scrape every penny to when we had more breathing room. Visits with friends and family and of course all of the other not so happy memories of horrible neighbors that stole our happiness from there and forced us out. That's what sucks more than anything is not getting to leave on our own terms.

We headed back and rounded a corner and a tree was in the road again. This one was felled on purpose and we talked to the guy saying we had a tree situation:

We took down his info and went back and got to moving the couches and armoires in. I say that very flippantly like we didn't yell and make up new curse words in the process. We got stuff in their temporary spots and got to other things on our mental to do list. Starting to scrape and paint the disgusting drawers and pantry for me and setting up computer stuff for him. It was a lot of hard work and in there the tree dude came over to give an estimate on the massive tree threatening our propane tank. He said he would rig, fell and cut it up, take the dead elm out back and trim various looming trees over the house for $2250. He was insured and we asked for the policy. I remember several home shows seeing trees of the same size being $5k for one so we felt like it was a good deal even though it was a "deal" we weren't counting on. Just like the new front door that needs replaced, another $2500 for what needs to happen.

We also couldn't take using the previous owners appliances. They were gross and we couldn't make them work so we ordered a fridge, double oven and dishwasher to arrive the same day. Morning of delivery, "oh sorry. Even though Lowe's said they had your special order dishwasher, they don't. Sorry." Um, fix it. Truck your ass to another store and get it or give us $300 off for the trouble. The Mr called the store after the delivery place said they'd call back a week later. Excuse me?? We ordered this days ago. So we had to deal with that then they delivered the stove and fridge later and walked right into the dining table with the fridge even though we cleared an ample path. Thankfully no issues but then the water line wasn't compatible and the one they sell you was too short so we had to go into town. Just exchanging a part now takes an hour driving time that you don't have in your day. We did that, grabbed a late lunch and the Mr installed the water line. We had an electrician out since the kid we liked ghosted us after the laundry list of potential projects. This isn't a great way to branch out on your own and not get back to customers, mah dude. So that other guy was recommended by our contractor and gave a very good price on the things we immediately need done.

Tired yet? It gets better.

So another storm was coming through and our tree guy was supposed to come out and had to cancel due to weather. We said we hoped he could do it then since we were worried about the tree by the propane tank. He said that one broke off during 70 mph winds and it would only be 30mph overnight, it'd be fine. The storm started coming in around midnight and I put my earplugs in just to try to get some sleep before the worst came around 4am. At 4am, I was awakened by the sound of the garage door opening. Three minutes later I heard it again, freaked the hell out and woke the Mr. (We still have the old owners crappy garage door until we get the sidewalk pad leveled today and wondered if we were being robbed.) I had a spotlight close and the Mr went to check it out Scooby Doo style in the rain. The house is LONG and it took a bit and he said the propane tree fell. Mmm hmm, you knew that was coming. When he came back in, I heard it again. I realized it was the sump pump directly below the bedroom and it shook the entire house. Not only that, it was initially going off every three minutes. We've had a sump pump and in the worst rain it might quietly go off 5-6x over the course of 36 hours. It then increased to every 45 seconds and now would knock 3x every time it stopped like it was Tony Orlando and Dawn. So I was up from 4-5:30am listening to that wondering what cosmic joke this shizz is and stuffed my earplugs back in, told myself it's a safe noise and got another 3 hours sleep and the Mr added something new to his to do list so we're hopefully not awakened with every storm all spring.

Oh, did I mention the "finished" basement we were going to store all of our crap in got "moist?"

The place that convinced us maybe this house could work for us since we were giving up a real basement. We thought any water would come in from above where the wonky front door issue is but nope. Despite having daily biblical rain the week before the final walk through, the spaces were completely dry and if they hadn't been, we would've walked away without hesitation. So the fact this happened after is such a slap in the face and we can't be paying thousands more for some company to come in. We already had the proper caulking we needed to fill cracks and now we were going to have to bump that up to the top of the list since we'll be getting rain this weekend and praying what we do fixes it.

That was the update for the WEEK. 🥴

Saturday was about trudging on with kitchen stuff after taking the morning to just chill and do nothing even though I felt guilty about it. The pantry is made with 1/4" luan and prayers. I seriously don't know how it held anything, ever. So the Mr had to get reinforcements in there to attach our sliding shelves for stability. When it was done though, it looked much better.

Yep, that's caution tape on the floor to remind us where not to step 😑

I worked on multiple layers of caulking, Kilz Restoration and regular paint between the front closet and some of the gag worthy cupboards. Ain't no way I'm just slapping a padded liner down and calling it good. I wiped down everything with Clorox wipes first and got to it. These shelves are from the 60's for sure, slight bow to them and I ordered metal shelf holders to better support them over the plastic ones that are who knows how old. I sealed the ends and put our contact paper over them after removing 73 mug hooks. I switched out some hardware for an instant upgrade and he put together the microwave cart (I want theirs off the counter) and we called it a day. A long, long day.

Sunday we watched our first Skote Outdoors in the new place with coffee and pb nana before getting to it...again. The electrician was scheduled to come out to get some stuff done we'll need for other jobs around noon so we got back to it. That was starting on the next upper cabinet with the Kilz/paint combo over hours, pulling out the janky shelves, ripping off what 60-80's contact paper I could, dry heaving and covering the shelves in our contact paper. I actually started unloading some pantry stuff from a big bin which any bin/box empty is a win these days. I did discover that where the unnatural position the previous schmuck put the handle will not work with the pantry door open or the shelves scrape the inside of the door with the upgraded handles. Of course they do. So I had to take the handle off and will begin my bondo journey of having to fill, sand and repaint a color I don't have yet. Thanks ass hat. The amount of times we have cursed this mofo's name in a week is no less than 143. Some big things and some so small and easy to fix it's like 'really, dude?' There was a snafu with the double island shelves but the Mr was able to reinforce them for stability thank God. They need to make retrofits specifically for old houses on basically everything. "Are your kitchen cabinets, pantry and island made with wood so thin that it's see through? Could a sneeze or post ethnic food fart, tumble them like a house of cards? Buy our Old House WTFery Kit for the low low price of $199.99."

The electrician was awesome and he did what was needed in the creeeeeepy crawl space (sung in the key of Creepy Crawlers 80's toy) and now I suppose we should like order our new hot water tanks. That's right, I said tanks because they have a whole separate one for one stupid bathroom that they decided was needed over closets in the bedroom. I beg to differ and clearly having two doesn't help the water pressure which is a whole other thing. The stove was delivered and of course the plug was way in the middle of the floor so it couldn't be shoved against the wall. We had this problem at the condo too and it drove me nuts until we got it moved. He took a look at it and got it where it needed to be for free.

(Immediately filled gap with foam. As you can see, previous owner was a big fan.)

Then before you know it, it was 6:30pm and time to make dinner. Body broken for the 17th day in a row (no lie) and just like that the Mr's 3 weeks of "vacation" was over. I'm sure he was never happier to go back to work in his life. Unfortuntately my work is not done so we'll see what I can get into today.

Woof.

How was your weekend? Tell me you did something fun and enjoyed it a little extra for us.

What I'm Reading This Week #13

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 09:25:00 +0000

Hello there ya sassy panted people! It's finally Friday and we're officially at our first weekend in our new home. That was weird to type. 😐 To say we're friggin' exhausted, in pain and drowning in boxes is an understatement. We did take the time our first official morning where we didn't have to drive back 'home' taking away 4 hours of our days to enjoy coffee on the front deck with the birds just like they talk about on House Hunters:

It was a nice way to start the day but damn did we have a lot of work to do. My priority is getting the pantry/island together to be able to unload the pantry boxes. We're using paper plates for everything so the cabinets will get there but I had to hit the pantry with two coats of Kilz Restoration just to seal everything because my Lord this thing is THIN lauan, not even MDF because it's from the 80's. I stripped the wallpaper they used in the island drawers because the thought of putting our stuff on the gunk and scunge of other people makes me want to hurl. While the slides need waxed to glide a little better, they at least look like something I wouldn't mind putting stuff in now:

The linen closet is 90% done, after the Mr installed the Floor Pops I bought for the floor to cover the neon orange wood flooring. Then I can start loading it which means getting rid of some boxes!

Now lets pop into:

Stressed and Gaining Weight? Here’s How to Break the Cycle and Feel Like Yourself Again (There is a direct correlation for real!)

Good Longevity News! This Delicious Habit From a Top MD Beats Willpower Every Time (All great, doable tips!)

Government Data Breach Sparks Fears Millions May Need New Social Security Numbers (Immediately go online and put a free freeze on your credit reports. (We already do this). It's very easy to do and remove if you need a credit check. If you don't, be prepared for a shit ton of misery for the rest of your lives on that front. Click here for Experian, here for Trans Union, and here for Equifax)

I Tried Sauna Therapy for My Joints—Here’s What Happened (I wonder if this works for sauna blankets too? The Mr bought one before we knew our life was going to change so we haven't really used it much but when we did, it was super relaxing.)

9 Foods for Better Sex (Rawr! 🐅 #3 was a surprise.)

What Is Metabolic Conditioning? How to Burn More Calories in Less Time (Sounds good to me!)

Rage Cleaning Is a Thing — and It Actually Works (It's true. I never clean better than when I'm super pissed!)

The Antidote to Doomscrolling? The Analog Bag. Here’s How to Create Your Own (Seriously, just stop. The news cycle is killing you.)

What British houses get wrong and ideas to steal from other countries (I will be focusing on what they got right for decorating inspiration.)

For all of you Henry Creel/Vecna Fans, did you know Jamie Campbell Bower did an erotic audio series? (Yep, and it's good! If you invest in the $8 access to listen, tell me if you think the forth episode of winter solstice reminds you of a horny vecna at the end and made you laugh as hard as I did. The stories you're looking for are The Trials and The Trials: Winter Solstice.)

As I type this morning at 5:20am, I've been up for 1 hr 20 minutes listening to new sounds. The sounds of a failing sump pump below me that shakes the house then bangs as it shuts off... every 45 seconds. The other discovery made? One of the trees that half fell in the storm that we were assured 10 hours ago wouldn't fall, fell. Oh, I've got stories to tell.

Well I'm sure you know what we're doing this weekend...everything. 😬 Actually we'll be having some electrical done in preparation for some other stuff we need to get installed and ripped out. Mmm hmm. Oh yeah and hiring a kid to take care of the surprise that was waiting for us as well as looming disaster that awaited us the day we had the mover following us. More on that next week.

Anything fun on tap for the weekend?

Hump Day Poll: Chippin' In

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to 🐫🌞!!

Even if the weather is still dropping rain on us, Spring on its own starts giving you a hankering for your first taste of cookout food for the year and what's a cookout without chips?

What is your favorite potato chip flavor?

I like a good BBQ chip which is getting harder to find because the one's I like have gone out of business and the big boys don't seem to bring the flavor. I refuse to get them unless they're on sale because the price is INSANE for a smallish bag of chips never mind the big bags.

I also like when Pringles teams up with Hot Ones for the Los Caliente Verde. They are HOT but good!

What is your favorite potato chip flavor?

The Final Countdown Week/Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Good Monday morning to you! (Is there such a thing?). I hope your weekend was awesome and that Mother Nature will stop acting like she's perimenopausal and pick a season already! I know it's technically spring now but that doesn't mean she's not gonna throw a dart at the weather wheel again. Yeesh! The next few weeks will likely be a week/weekend recap and therefore, longer. Plan accordingly! 😂

Last week was utterly insane. As you know, we were moving ourselves. Would it have been nice to have help? Sure. But our free-ish options were people in their 60's that shouldn't have to do that anymore, people who get very bitchy and aggressive on their own agendas which is not the energy we want to bring in or pay people a buttload of a money that could go towards the myriad of projects that have popped up and rocketed to the top of the list after owning the house for two hours. So we thankfully filled two storage units of a lot of stuff over the past month and rented a uhaul for two days to empty them.

It was moving right along at a pretty good clip the first few hours then we both hit a wall. We did a few other necessities before unloading the rest and declaring ourselves nuts for thinking we could ever do two loads the same day. We could've if we didn't have to drive an hour one way to get to and fro. Then they give you the absolute crappiest vehicle in existence. No shocks, barely any steering. The Mr looked like when a three year old mimics an adult driving with the steering just to keep it in the lane. It was so loud you could barely think. We got it done, grabbed dinner and got back to changing the addresses for everything we've ever done. Ever tried changing to a p o box because your physical address is undeliverable and places literally tell you your house doesn't exist? It's a treat. 🙄

Day two was more of the same but seemingly less tedious wares to load. It ended up being worse somehow and full of heavier stuff and oh, the adhesive on your tape decided to shit the bed because of the wheel o' weather and humidity. We got the units empty

but not without extreme frustration and by the end I yelled into the empty storage unit "f**king piece of shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit" at something which echoed a full half mile and no lie, two loud construction sites surrounding us went almost completely quiet and we busted out laughing.

Add onto the fun I had a sore throat, runny then stuffy nose because that's how you want to start out a move. It's also a great idea to move to the middle of a forest when you're allergic to basically every tree but obviously I took a covid/flu test to be sure since we'd also been exposed to more people than we have in 6 years. So any of you with severe allergies, please pass along your tips and tricks because I can't live like this and have never had this many bouts with whatever this is. Once both loads were in and I dealt with my bodies revolt that night, we had to give ourselves Thursday off as far as being up early and moving. We still had packing to do but a ton of Amazon boxes full of necessities like curtains, rods and okay maybe a splurge of new sliding pantry/island shelves to replace the rickety ones were in our way. We took those to the small storage unit we kept to get them out of sight and I suggested maybe moving one armoire and the loveseat into the mobile storage unit outside. Well before we knew it, we'd loaded the loveseat, sofa, both armoires, two dining chairs, headboard, the craft table, a low armoire, chair from the office and the Mr's desk!! Basically the only things left were the beds/frames, closet dresser, night stands and the dining table. It was a huge relief but also showed we still had a lot more packing to do which freaked me out. I packed up the stuff under the kitchen sink, wrapped some open bins with moving cling wrap (life saver!) and swept up a little before my body and mind called it for the day. We went up and did our final "bed rotting" podcast for ourselves documenting the journey of why it was our last one here for posterity. I also have to say, in genuine "us" style, our last week here has equaled ZERO peace. Sea hag neighbor is staycationing this week (pretty sure on purpose to send us off with a bang) and they are jackhammering out the pool deck for the last 10 days which is loud AF for about 7 hours a day and the final kicker? The Mr went downstairs to the basement and:

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Pot smells back...tell a friend. It was your sister eh? Mmm hmm. 😑 Not our problem anymore. It was like the universe's final F U to us in addition to my cold that we can't even get a single 4 hour swatch of time to quietly reminisce over our 30 years here. It's been like a big entity poking us in jest going "peace?! You can't get peace here and just to prove the point, we're doubling down on it all and then some!"

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Moving on to Friday. I felt the worst from a cold standpoint with the sinuses clamped down, ears feeling full, and a throat full of gunk. The Mr worked his friggin nubbins to the bone. I felt like I didn't do anything even though I know I did. I packed up most of the pantry, various other things just nowhere near in comparison to him. We got the dining room table, closet dresser, nightstands into our mobile storage unit out front and basically refilled the entire storage unit we emptied the previous days which sucked in one way but was absolutely necessary in others. We couldn't keep tripping over boxes to be able to pack more. It felt like no matter how much we packed, more magically appeared. They were random things too where you'd have to chuck them in a box, label well and hope for the best. We got an air bed because we needed to have the big stuff packed and it wouldn't be bad to have one year when the bins were put away if we wanted a guest. We spent the last night on our bed with freshly washed sheets and certainly not the way I thought it would be with me hacking up a lung, blowing my honker and sounding like Kathleen Turner while the Mr hobbled, hurt his back and was asleep 17 minutes into a show. Can't even do a final ugly bump to send us off. We're a hot shit show right now.

Saturday was the day we'd both been dreading because it was push day. We needed to get all of the things done no matter how completely broken we both were and trust me, we were bro-KEN. The Mr had to run out and we thought we'd have our last mcgriddle run even though I couldn't taste and asked for hot chocolate. Within 10 minutes of seeing the slider sized mcgriddle, that they HALVED the hash browns length wise so they are now crunchy like chips, me and my aforementioned freshly washed sheets were wearing the hot chocolate.

FML

We loaded up the car and drove it down to the homestead, dropped it off and headed back so we could get a final push on what we were feeling behind on. We got back and my friend was having an animal emergency so I called and talked to her while I packed. We got the kitchen mostly cleaned out, rolled up the rugs and cleaned the floors. (Not like anyone did that for US but twas the cost of "rent" for the past two weeks so...) We basically packed every creature comfort so we were in crappy dining chairs or on the mattress on the floor watching TV for the last night in our condo with anything resembling furniture. It was fine until I had to roll to get up off the floor and full on charlie horse in the quad that brought me near tears. I had an air bed and I just laid there afraid to move for a few hours until I finally felt asleep.

Sunday morning we watched our final Skote Outdoors and ran our fireplace for the last time which we are going to miss more than I can express:

Then we took the load we had in the car to the house and came back, grabbed lunch, which I still couldn't taste despite feeling slightly better cough wise. I packed up the dishes while the Mr packed up the computer stuff and we got basically everything to the point where we could chuck it all in a box if we had to. We loaded up again and drove back out where he set up the wifi and we headed back. I tried to condense as much as I could in the fridge because the goal is to throw it all in the back of the car and be done with breakfast by the time the people come to pick up our mobile storage unit at 9:30am to take our life out to the sticks. So last night was our final night sleeping in the condo. We both said we wish we felt more. We love this little place and all it has been to us and our family and friends over 30 years but the disconnect we have felt for probably 10 years with urban sprawl vomiting on our doorstep and the neighbors from further down than hell and the main drag being a literal drag strip these days is too much. As the Mr said, we love the space but not the place and that sucks. We will always love our first home that has allowed us to travel to Hawaii 14x, multiple trips to New England and a drive out to Yellowstone because of being paid off. We will always love the skills we learned along the way during our remodels that now seem like training grounds for this adventure. We know our energy and the energy of Mom, our pup, Grandma and countless others who have laughed, cried and experienced a myriad of other emotions in these walls are here forever. From our first night here as a married couple to the guttural screams after losing Mom and grandma, it's all here but the memories come with us. Too many people on the other side pushed for this to happen in ways so completely obvious that we have no choice but to have faith this is where we're supposed to be even if it scares the shit out of us. The ball is rolling on projects already and a new fridge will be on the way Thursday because I'm not keeping our food for long in that God awful filth box those people called a fridge.

Again, it's going to be a helluva week.

Giddy up beeotchs!

How was your weekend? Was it also near 90 after being 30 two days prior for you as well?

What I'm Reading This Week #12

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

I'm told it's Friday, if that's the case...weeeee. For you guys. You know, weekend and all. We at Chez SATW are in a time warp where no one knows anything about anything! 😂 I do know my body is giving me massive side eye. Ya see kids, we haven't done a single workout since we got back. So our bodies have had no way to go from no preparation to "lift, load, go up and down a 45 degree ramp when you have ankle dorsiflexion issues, lift unload, and collapse at the end of the day" mode. On day two of that, I had intense leg cramps despite slathering Epsom salt gel, taking magnesium, having the heating pad cranked to 11, etc. Did I do the most basic thing like massage? Nope. My right leg was cramping so hard my leg was bouncing up and down involuntarily and unfortunately I had to wake the Mr because I couldn't even sit up to reach the area to dig at it. Twas not fun and I do not recommend it. Even as I type my feet and ankles are twitching like "gimme a reason lady." 😔

Oh, did I mention I'm sick on top of that... again. Negative covid/flu test and with a scratchy uncomfortable throat but day two light congestion kicked in and I'm really beginning to wonder how smart it was for a girl with mold, ragweed and other nature like allergies to move into a forest and if this is my life now. 😳 Now I can't smell or taste. That's okay- I didn't want to taste my last meals in my neighborhood for 30 years for the last time. I'm not sentimental like that.

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Now let's get to:

In Just 7 Minutes Each Day, You Could Extend Your Life by a Year—Scientists Reveal How (Do tell!)

Is Maple Syrup Really Better for You Than Sugar? (I did not know that.)

We’ve Been Overselling Exercise as a Weight-Loss Tool (Wow. Our bodies are real assholes, aren't they?)

11 Things You Can Do to Feel Good In Your Body Right Now (I don't see my old standby of no full length mirrors 🤣)

Is It Bad to Walk Around Your House Barefoot? (Anyone got recs on their favorite around the house shoe? I like these but I want a pair that aren't mules.)

10 Creative Uses for Epsom Salt: Exfoliation for Rough Skin, Supporting Healthy Plants and More (Good because I've got a huge bag left!)

Boost Testosterone and Reverse Hair Loss Naturally During Perimenopause and Menopause With These 5 Foods (Good to know!)

What Is the Difference Between ADHD and Anxiety? (And what if you're pretty sure you were blessed with the combo platter?)

Why Making New Friends as an Adult Is So Hard (Not like when we were kids and you could walk up to someone on the playground and say "wanna be my friend?" Can you imagine the looks you'd get now!?)

This Easter Brunch Is Filled With Hand-Me-Down Treasures And Brilliant Blooms (Hippity Hippity Easter's on its way)

Well, it's the last weekend in our home of 30 years. ,😭 The Mr and I both said we feel like someone was like "pack your crap, you live here now" and we didn't have a choice and were just like "okay." 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️ It feels like it's happening to us if that makes any sense. Hardly any time to process and then when we did have time to process, you avoid it because of how much there is to do. Because we're losing an immediate basement, we have no choice but to cram everything on the same level inside until we can shore up the two finished areas and even then we have some issues we have to address that will be a "figure it out, you're big time homeowners now." Is it bad we tell ourselves every other hour we can flip it? 😂

What's on tap for your weekend?

Hump Day Poll: Spring Awaits

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

We're almost there people. I know many of you have been chomping at the bit for Spring. While I'm not usually one of those people, buying a house and not wanting to move in snow will boot the winter girl out quick!

The question is: besides warmer weather, what are you looking forward to most this Spring?

I am hoping we can use Spring to get a majority of the projects we want done in the house knocked out. I know we can't do them all but the ones that can make the most impact in energy efficiency, safety and comfort are top o the list. We're hoping to get the things done outside like replacing the front deck that is, you know, how you get in the house since many boards are bouncy. I'm also super looking forward to redoing the steps leading down to the door and replacing the holey brick with a cobblestone instead as well as rails so when my great aunt comes to visit she has something sturdy to hold onto. I know it'll be a lot of work but hopefully very rewarding and not doing that in swamp ass weather would be preferable.

What are you looking forward to most in Spring? 🌷🌻🪻

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Moving Right Along Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

It's Monday again. Right? It is Monday isn't it because I have no clue how time and space work anymore after this past week. I hope you guys had an amazing weekend of all good things and maybe enjoyed your leisure time a little extra for your favorite deer in headlights couple (that's hopefully us).

We closed on the house last week and I swear it has been the most surreal, regretful, and confounding time of our life. I don't think people appreciate how we went from thinking we could never afford a house, to purging our lives on essentially a whim when you're lazy AF normally, then suddenly your whole life is different and you have appointments and 800 moving parts. Add to that being forced to keep a house full of furniture, dishes, decor and all that encompasses someone else's life and you somehow get stuck having to get rid of it before you can even move yourselves in. That was the part that got to us both but thankfully we had a deadline. A local charity was willing to come pick up the furniture including mattresses so the Mr and I busted asses our first full day owning the place by breaking down furniture which was no easy task.

Those bunk beds, especially in the blue room, were a nightmare. So many weird angles and it took forever. Not to mention it was raining cats, dogs, lizards and red pandas outside so it was moist in there for sure. We were sweating like pigs. Then I accidentally clocked the Mr with a mattress frame and burst into tears. I begged him to crack me one with it to be fair and he claims he was more startled than hurt which I don't believe. So yet again, sorry hon. We were there 8 hours and got so much into the garage. We also decided to load up the car on the way back and do a Goodwill drop off to get their decor and small tables donated.

We were pooped pups!! Grabbed showers, made dinner then conked out trying to watch TV. We also had people over for estimates. The concrete leveler is a go and reasonably priced. The plumber that came out was lucky he didn't get a bitch slap. The poor Mr was frantic over it. We talked to my cousin and he once again recommended his wonder kid who will be doing our wall anyway. So we scheduled to meet with him Saturday. When I woke up after previous owner purge day, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the house. I hurt everywhere, I was in no mood for the drive, my legs were in deep protest but we had no choice. We thought we'd try to have the carpet cleaned because it became apparent they had dogs and clearly didn't vacuum much. Well one guy wanted to charge $350 and kept obsessing over the extra service he would provide for pet stain removal... for a charge. Then tried to work in a dryer vent cleaning in there. Don't call us, we'll block you. The place that was going to be $100 didn't have an opening when we needed it so we decided to buy a Bissell steam cleaner and hope for the best. I felt gross walking on the carpet which is almost like an office carpet in the living rooms and then this horrible cheap carpet in the bedrooms. We'll be putting down area rugs in them but I didn't even want the bottom of the area rugs touching that so when we got there, I got to it. I wanted to do the first pass when we got there so it had time to dry but knowing we'd have to do it again before we left because the charity dude would have to come in the house to move some stuff. We have gravel so it'll be a constant battle with tracking that in if we don't take off our shoes. I know the Mr wants asphalt but that's pricey and right now we have bigger fish to fry. Eventually though.

Spent Thursday steam cleaning until I'd vacuumed enough to reconstruct a dog and we dumped more brown water than I could stomach. Friday was a blur but the first thing I did was switch out these sharp, horrible looking metal vanity handles that would catch the gut of my pants every time I went to wash my hands

Then more steam cleaning the front room and the couch and oversized chair they left but we sure as hell weren't going to slip cover it without cleaning.

An electrician came and that took about an hour given the extensive list of crap we gave him. We were quite happy the night before to find with the Mr's tester kit that about 85% of our outlets were grounded. The inspector said we weren't which now makes me question him. We really liked this kid and he said it would be about a week to get back an estimate and renderings of potential solutions for lighting in the kitchen. Fingers crossed because we'd love to have "a guy." There was this god awful linen closet in the Hall of the Poppin Floor that looked like a portal. Dark, dry late 60's paneling and dark shelves. I took the shelves out and degreased them and wiped down the walls with Murphy's oil soap. We have a gallon and a half of Studio Clay from our 2023 repaint of the living room left so I started painting to brighten it up. The first coat was completely sucked in by the paneling. I did another but ran out of light and motivation. We had dinner at the house of nachos with some pre made taco meat I brought and chips and salsa. It would be too late by the time we got home to have to cook dinner. Oh yeah, that day was the big storm. Imagine how fun that felt being on a 90% treed lot with 70 mph gusts. We did hear a HUGE branch fall. Welcome to Sherwood Forest!

Saturday we could barely walk and I knew we'd need a big breakfast to hold us all day. The Mr got cinnamon roll pancakes while I made coffee and heated up this egg concoction I froze and a banana. Our Internet was out both places all day which sucked. Once we were tired full, he loaded the bags of dirt from the planters and the landscape cart to be put together and we were on our way again. (The drive to and fro every day SUCKS.) The Mr made an appointment with an HVAC dude for an issue with hooking up the thermostat and all of the moving parts and turns out, mislabeled wires. He gave the system a once over and what sounded like a potential replacement we weren't planning for turned into we have a few years left. While that was going on, I whipped out the first thing I put on my Amazon wishlist, which was this telescoping window washer and started washing our massive windows outside.

I cannot tell you how nice that felt. Even though it only improved the bottom windows and other methods will need to be applied to the top ones that are cloudy, it still felt nice doing something to care for the house, to let her know she wasn't going to be neglected anymore. When I came up the side steps, I winced looking at the nasty ass gutters. They were coated with dirt, mold, algae and moss and we had company coming the next day. That wasn't the first impression I wanted to make because I know how it depresses me when we pull up so I changed out my water, added some Murphy's to it and got to de-scunging. Again, can't tell you how happy I was doing that and removing more neglect. It felt like those Dawn commercials where they clean oil off of defenseless wildlife. Then I spied the hideous blue bistro set they had out front, grabbed the OSB we had down, put it in the small patch of grass and started spray painting so it would be refreshed for better impressions. I started on the pantry which involved me vacuuming it out, washing it down and filling the 49 shelf holes since I don't know if ants can get behind it or not. While those were drying I went to this closet and cleaned it out keeping only helpful, unopened stuff to be moved elsewhere, wiped everything down and started moving all of the crap I bought from the Amazon list that had been stacked on the island the past week. I sanded the plastic wood down and started painting the inside of the pantry with Kilz restoration which is an odor blocker and sealer. I don't want other people's skeeze and dirt, we've only ever had our own and these people were pigs. By the time I got the first coat on, it had been 6 straight hours of work on an already crippled body and I truly felt like I was going to collapse. Headed home and grabbed pizza from a place we likely won't get unless we make a special trip so I got double the size to freeze. We were ravenous after that day, came up to watch the tube but he was out like a light and I wasn't far behind.

Sigh, y'all still here? Ready for Sunday or are you gonna be late for work? You can come back later if you need to. *Cue My Heart Will Go On* Sunday I have never wanted to stay in bed and sleep for 12 hours more than that day. We watched Skote Outdoors which was a shorter episode and we got on the road to get to the house before family arrived. We unloaded some stuff we packed and didn't have enough time to get into anything before they arrived. We gave them the tour with each taking one half of the couple and I have to thank the Mr for taking one for the team because he got the short straw. I had to laugh because the eyes were wide and the Mr even laughed and said "you look terrified" and they said they weren't but glad it wasn't them having to do those projects at their age. We had a bit of a cry about Mom too. I showed them the garage and our cousin came tearing up the street to visit. We all chatted for a while and just as they were getting ready to leave the wind blew down a branch on their new car. 😑 It didn't look like there was damage but still, not the impression you want to leave with.

We texted the contractor that our family left so whenever he wanted to come was good. I pulled up my list and we started going over that. The front door is a shit show so we told him what we wanted done and was it possible which obviously anything is possible when you have money- which we do not in abundance. I talked with his wife while the Mr went with him under the house for plumbing stuff. He informed us a part of our deck was basically unsafe to walk on. Oh you mean the deck that helped sell it for us? He got us freaking out and by the time he left, we were both deer in headlights, I cried and said we made a mistake and now we're stuck and he didn't feel much better. We said we were going to go sit out on the bistro set and saw a golf cart out there and were like 'who da hell is that?' because we're on a dead end street. It was my great aunt and cousin and their dogs! We said we were about to leave but will stay now. We said his contractor just left and we were feeling quite overwhelmed. My aunt hadn't been there before and was wandering all around and just gushing over everything and how it was so much better than the pics. Her enthusiasm for pretty much anything always makes you feel better. The Mr talked with my cousin about what was so overwhelming and showed him the back deck. My aunt said we could go sit out on the front deck at my newly painted bistro table. She was telling me about when they built their house and how the payments have changed over the years. It was so nice sitting out there with her and just soaking in her vibe which has always been super positive. I showed her the color we wanted to paint it and the boys rounded the corner. The Mr said he saw us sitting out there and thought I was probably in heaven. They did a lot to help talk us down but obviously we won't be totally off the ledge as we're waiting on two estimates now. We didn't do a single thing at the house yesterday because there just wasn't enough time and honestly, I think it was important to just soak in family.

Today I have a mammogram and the Mr has to work if our internet is back up and it's sad we're both looking forward to it because tomorrow is it and we start loading up Ye Olde U-Haul to multiple trips to start emptying the storage units. Good Lord, it's go time. Pray for us.

How was your week/weekend?

What I'm Reading This Week #11

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Howdy do and wow, two months in a row of Friday the 13th's. I didn't think that was possible but we're all living in the upside down so what do I know?! We closed on our house this week. 😬 I never in a million years thought I would type those words or at least not type them and not have Mom here to see the new to us place. Grief bombs aplenty, a lot of feeling like this isn't really happening, regret, and just feeling like a leaf in a stream getting carried against its will and you don't know if you'll land gently on the bank or go over a churning waterfall. We both say we really want to be happy about the whole thing but it's unfortunately not our reality. We don't have a shiny new build or even a flip or reno'd home that we have just a few projects. We have nothing but projects and barely a place to sleep for the foreseeable future when at least the bedroom at the condo was always our respite from the world until the slamming started.

Oh funny (pathetic) side note. When the person buying the place was here for the final walk through with their family, the doorbell cam caught our sea hag neighbor already up to her tricks. The woman doesn't allow her dog to go outside. Like it doesn't use the bathroom outdoors unless they happen to be out back for a "let's ruin everyone's dinner by screeching with excitement with every frisbee toss to let people know I have a dog" session. Every spring she gets on a two week kick of taking the dog for a "walk." This walk never lasts longer than three minutes and it's not a walk walk, it's them circling the median outside of our building sometimes blocking traffic because she refuses to get over to let cars pass then acts appalled when cars go around them like it was going to hit them. Well she timed the stroll with them coming outside so she could put on her sweetest smile, twirl her hair and toss her head back with that fake laugh (cackle) to seem welcoming. (Reminder: This is the same woman who told us we were just jealous of her dog because our dog was dead.) I couldn't even watch it and told the Mr she will show her true colors sooner than later and they will learn on their own just like we did. I'm sure a year from now I'll be reading this because of it popping up on memories and will wonder if the facade has cracked yet and being so glad we haven't had to deal with her for almost a full year after 30 years of hell.

Anyhoo.

These first few days have been about getting the place prepped for our move. If you remember, it came furnished. 😑 We already have furniture. They were dumping and running and we just prayed we could somehow find a charity to come get most if not everything. Thank God I found a place more than willing to do a pickup yesterday but that meant we had to haul ass to get everything moved to the spot we needed in the addition for them to do an easy pickup. We had two double bunk beds to take apart, two dining tables/chairs and various other items. We had some of our trades out to give estimates and all of that in addition to changing locks, getting lamps on timers and such. It's been a week of just kind of plowing through and trying not to think about WTH we just did.

Now let's plow through:

95% of Diets Fail—Here’s What to Do Instead (Ahh, so comforting after being force fed diet culture our whole lives)

Want to lose weight? Here’s why exercise probably won’t help (And the good news keeps on coming. It is good for overall health though so get to it!)

Stop Staring at That Blank Page and Try One of These Journaling Prompts For Mental Health (It really can help to get it out of your swirling brain)

GLP-1 Foods That Work Like Ozempic—No Shots, Just Real Weight Loss. (I'm clearly lost on how all of this works but yummy options)

How to Trick Your Brain Into Doing Something You’re Avoiding (Since my brain had to process the info, doesn't it now know the game plan and would be like "nice try sister, I remember that article")

Why Designers Say "Broken Floor Plans" Are Actually the Best Home Layout in 2026 (Good, that's exactly what we just bought. She janky!)

The Top 5 Pests You Need to Prepare Your Home for in 2026. (Look, I don't need "exotic" ones, the regular ones are bad enough!)

How To Hide An Old Tree Stump With A Raised Garden Bed (Uhh, kind of friggin genius!)

10 Neutral Living Room Paint Colors That Aren’t White (Hmm, that Pale Oak might be nice when we can get to painting the ceiling)

Expert Reveals Most Expensive Precious Moments Figurines: Are Yours Worth Hundreds? (Did you ever collect those back in the day? Mom did and I remember when I lived at home and was talking to the Mr suddenly the shelf they were on crashed and I screamed and I think by some miracle there was only one casualty which was a birthday candle broken off a cake. I have the only figurine she kept which was the Lord's prayer. Also, if you need to upcycle them, you can always do what this chick did.)

We have to get back out to the house to meet the electrician and keep tossing crap and cleaning. I've got some contact paper to line the cabinets because they are horrible 60's summer home cabinets that are going to get a serious cleaning and eventually temporarily painted. I need to clean out the linen closet and paint it so we can start putting our stuff in there and it's not going to be until it's basically sealed. There's a horrible janky exposed wire issue right next to it though so I will be glad when stuff like that is dealt with. I hate all of these random willy nilly electrical outlets or janky stuff just left there. I worked in insurance for 12 years and it's a total cringe fest so I can't get electrical squared away soon enough! We'll need to choose the one day the temps don't plummet to caulk the outside because essentially every single joist has cracks around them and we've already had 70+ days and the bugs were snapping their glow sticks ready to party. So we're racing the critter clock. Oh yeah and we have to fix the door in the crawl space to deter bigger critters. Mmm hmm.

What's on tap for you this weekend?

Hump Day Poll: Brush With Fame

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Good morning and happy hump day to you! Time to slide into the weekend soon! Wee doggies!

We haven't had a good hump day poll in a while so here's one for ya:

Have you ever had a big or small brush with fame?

It can be as small as you walked into a camera shot at a local event to a part you played as an extra in a movie to an article or picture you got published.

The Mr and I were in the background of Food Network Challenge in 2006 when our friend, Hawaiian chef Sam Choy won the grand prize. We were so honored to be there for that and had fun posing with the big check with him afterward.

I was in the liner notes of the CD for Elvis: 30 #1 Hits.

I met a lot of bands and pro wrestlers back in the day which was always fun and exchange Christmas cards with one of the Masked Singer judges.

I'm always surprised how many people have met famous people or been on tv, published, released music, etc.

Have you had any brushes with fame recent or long ago?

Not for You Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Sup y'all, we're back to Monday. Again. I hope your weekend was a good one. Everyone still soaking wet or did you avoid biblical rain this week?

Last week was not the greatest for me mentally. I started to have serious pre-buyers remorse. We're moving from one HOA nightmare to another in the form of either someone skilled in giving the runaround or are just plain a moron. We have to ask every question twice because the first time we get a response to every question except the one we asked. The fees just for the privilege to live here are jaw dropping. Like $7000. My cousin says it's for access to the lodge, clubhouse, all amenities, lakes, etc and I said "don't we get that with the monthly HOA fee we pay on top of that?"

"Yes "

Me:

Them:

Me:

Them;

It also hit me hard that traveling is over for us. Something that you all know has been an integral part of our lives for 34 years. When we made this decision, it was out of pure desperation. We flippantly said yes we were ready to give up travel for a few years if it meant not inhaling pot and/or cigarette smoke and being audibly assaulted by the other neighbor on the daily. Then the impact of what that means started to weigh heavily on my mental health. Yes, we can barfily "🦋 create a life we don't want to vacation from 🦋" but we have needed vacations our entire relationship like we need air. So adjusting to that new reality was not going well for me at all and a lot of resentment was building. So I wasn't feeling the love for this place that day or for a string of days. The list of shit to do mechanically is getting overwhelming, and I just wanted to back out.

The buyer's final walk through here was scheduled for 3pm Sunday so I had the Mr move ours to Sunday at 2pm so we could maybe have a Saturday to ourselves if we busted butt Thursday and Friday to get the place as presentable as it can be with boxes everywhere. We did that and thought we would hit up this donut shop we have a love hate relationship with since the last time we went was on the way home from Vermont and I was sick so I couldn't even taste anything. He prepaid then later found out there was apparently going to be severe weather which I neglected to check. 😑 We thought we might be able to get there and almost back before the rain was forecasted so we went anyway. This place is two hours away and about to become three after we move so we knew anything going North could get nixed in the future especially with gas prices now. Not even going there.

The drive up was fine and done in relative silence except for singing. I didn't want to think about or talk about anything house related. (Not like 1,365 things weren't swirling in my brain that I was trying to supress.). We got our donut booty after a 20 minute wait since prepaying doesn't preclude you from standing in their ridiculous line in their too small shop. Of course the rain came early. We got a deep dish from a really great place close by but I swear they forgot to put the crust on the bottom because it was a greasy, floppy mess in the car and oh good, they delivered your medicine cabinet at home half off the porch to get wet. 🖕 We were going to visit his dad at the cemetery but that careless delivery put the nail in our "relaxing Saturday to ourselves" coffin. Not that it was relaxing except for the drive up where the Mr was chill compared to the drive home in the rain where he was driving like Meatloaf in sheeting rain which put the final nail in my mood as usual. Then it was just naps, YouTube videos and food regret until the neighbors boy toy showed up and the demon barked for 23 minutes straight which echoed heartily in our less than furnished home. It was almost as if the place cackled "you don't have to go home but you can't stay here" like a bartender shouting out last call. Oh did I mention I came home to a message from my cousin saying they basically trespassed on the property and were gushing at the steal we got? I won't go into details but suffice it to say I immediately bought padlocks and told them "what about all of the cameras up?" to which I received a shrug emoji. I love them but that pissed me off. I know they're excited but that could have jeopardized things for us. It's literally going to be ours in three days if I don't run screaming the other way, show some restraint. 🙄

Also, don't just show up at the house unannounced or you're going to get a quick lesson in our no drop in policy that's been established for 30 years. I feel like I need a big torch to wave around and scream "everyone just back the hell off" as I hiss and retreat.

As we all know, it was time to spring forward this weekend and like it was being paid, my body said "6am, you and me, right?" which we all know was actually 5am so guess I'm up for the day, might as well start working on this. Who needs sleep on your big walk through day?

We got there and it was as we remembered, whether that's good or bad remains to be seen. One BIG win we got was I looked closer at what we swore was actual ceramic tile we would have to remove from the kitchen and I spied this:

PEEL AND STICK!! OMG, the fact we don't have to do the work we were dreading in that part is a big deal. We still have some to get by the front door but it's a much less daunting task that we feared for now, on that front. We were quite relieved that the crawl space was dry and were looking over some stuff. Again, this woman was trying to rush us through every aspect of it and I just ignored her. I could hear her yammering from different parts of the house and it was like STFU, why do you even need to be here?? When we were wrapping up and hearing the sounds of the community coming alive, I heard a few pops. Construction? Then the sound of Rambo breaking into a jungle den. That's right. Assault rifle just going off willy nilly. I think all of the color drained from my face. One of the "amenities" is a gun range which you have to have an appointment for but the fact you could hear it from 10 full minutes away like that played upon my already horrid spiral I was having all last week. She tried realtor speaking her way out of it saying she's there all the time and she never hears it and I looked right at her and said "YOU don't have to live here." She asked if we were visiting family and I said yes (no) and she left. We stayed another 90 minutes poking around the outside, looking at projects that needed done including a few extra if possible. He asked how I was feeling and I said I didn't know. We both admitted we were terrified and this walk through didn't do much to soothe us into a "we're definitely making the right decision" kinda vibe. We know backing out means staying here and miserable. We feel like there's no good decision right now and that is scary. We already know what the current situation is so I guess we go this route and see what fresh hell awaits?

source

How was your weekend?

====================

What I'm Reading This Week #10

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

We've made it to Friday! WOOT! Anyone else get snow recently? Kinda done with it since we had a pending roof fix and between weather and short staffing not cooperating it's been irritating with a cancellation in there. It was 10 days before they came out for an ESTIMATE for the HOA and it's been raining all week so who knows what it looks like in there now. I know THEY don't know what it looks like because no one came inside to look at the attic where the damage is. I'm sure the Mr will not miss dealing with these mooks. Soon it will be someone else's irritation. Heh heh. (Association takes care of it but still, on their time which is 'eh, it gets done when it gets done.')

The endless phone calls and texts have begun. We have a plumber, electrician, charity pickup and concrete leveler all scheduled within two days after closing! I cannot tell you how relieved I was to hear this charity would do a pickup and take all of the furniture we're not keeping. The house is coming furnished against our will and I really didn't want to put furniture in a landfill because it's all decent furniture. So I will have to bust ass getting as much wrangled up over 1 1/2 days while the Mr changes locks and installs cameras, etc. It kept looking like nothing was going to work out on that front but thankfully they are in desperate need and we're more than happy to get rid of it all. I hope we can get rid of all of the dishes and small appliances as well, we just need boxes.

We had a bit of a closing scare this week. My cousin emailed me Monday night about being aware of wrenches that could get thrown in for closing to delay it. I talked to them about the things on the buyers end that irritated me and how we followed up on that. They said they should've known I was on top of it. Well the next morning I get a call from our insurance rep that's a family member and they said they just got an insurance verification and listed our closing as the 26th...a whole 2 weeks later than we're supposed to be!! Now this was the "floating" date thrown out there initially when we just needed to get the loan process started but clearly the little girl who was handling our account didn't do her job before going on leave. The Mr called and straightened everything out and they did an employment verification which we also thought was done weeks ago and were pissed. Thankfully because my cuz gave me the heads up, the freakout wasn't quite as bad but still very irritating and lesson to anyone out there buying. Check, check and RE-check with your mortgage company that they have everything they need and as soon as you have your closing date, call them to make sure they show the same date.

Now let's check out:

Your Produce Drawer Is A Secret Weapon Against Microplastics (Start loading up)

Want to Live Longer? Mix Up Your Exercise Routine (Always a good idea to keep ze body guessing!)

The Overlooked Link Between Chronic Dry Eye and Your Overall Well-Being (Very interesting because mine never seems to go away.)

Do the tiny, boring exercises: how to really look after your hips (It's true because boy it'll rear up on you at the worst times. I have to say, having this is a game changer to help strengthen them and your posterior chain.)

Magnesium Explained: Which Type Actually Supports Sleep, Recovery, and Performance? (I wish I felt the tiredness people swear by when I take mine... as I type at 3:05 am)

Do Compression Socks Actually Work? (I have been so bad about wearing mine since we got back but will need to change that if we're moving a whole house ourselves)

Cologuard vs. Colonoscopy: A GI Doctor Reveals Which Colon Cancer Screening Is Better for Women 45+ (I'm going to relay my experience which was the send poop in the mail option was utter crap. You can get both false positives and negatives so what's the point?! It was the last piece of bad advice my previous doctor gave before we switched. Then she had the nerve to try to blame me for choosing it when it wasn't even on my radar. You have to have the colonoscopy anyway, just go that route.)

We are living in a time of polycrisis. If you feel trapped – you’re not alone (And if you don't deal with it, you might just go out and buy a fixer upper and sign yourself up for a whole new slew of crises!)

The Psychology Behind Why We Get Secondhand Embarrassment (OMG, I hate when I get this and will turn off the TV if it's something I'm watching.)

Lift with your legs — and label everything: 15 tips for moving house with minimum stress. (Some excellent tips and especially like the suitcase one)

This is the last weekend the house is officially ours. I mean we get to stay for 2 weeks after closing to move out and stuff. I think they threw us the bone since they screwed us on the price. The Mr said all of Reddit was like "don't EVER let the previous owners stay after closing!! They can trash your property, throw parties for one big blowout, etc" The only party we're having is watching DIY YouTube videos and trying not to head bob before 9pm. I think they're safe. 😏

We have our final walk through Sunday on our 'new' place. I admit, I'm quite nervous because the Ark has floated by on occasion with the torrential rains so the crawl space is at the forefront of my mind. This whole friggin' time everyone is like "the crawl space is so dry!" It's TEN DEGREES! It's going to be dry. This is where the rubber meets the road and we see if everything truly is okay or not. If we have a dry crawl space after this week, I will feel much better and then we can e-sign our closing papers on our place Monday. I'm not signing crap until we know the place we're going to is good to go. I even found a good walk through checklist on IG so we'll have to do all of that stuff and try not to miss anything. Say a prayer, y'all. This is the final, final thing that could monkey wrench us. I'm hoping for the best!

A reminder to Facebookers, interact with all posts over there with a like to keep seeing notifications. Several have said they're not getting them anymore because of algorithm changes and engagement is the only way you're going to see upcoming reno.

Whatchu up to this weekend?

Hey IG- Where Are Your Actual DIYers At??

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

As I'm sure you can imagine, since January, I've been saving projects left and right for us to be able to make improvements to our new to us home. We need ALL of the storage because despite having a lot of random closets, we need things to bring them together (or build something in a main area) to make it work for us. We're essentially losing a basement for two concrete block crawl spaces that you can stand up in but are not easy to get to. We need to get those spaces inhospitable to critters before we can move those bins down there and then figure out where everything else goes.

I remember 10 years ago when we started our renos at the condo that I had no problems finding plenty of accounts that actually showed you projects, told you what you needed, referred you to a blog post, etc. This was at the very beginning of the influencer era which was really only reserved for the uber accounts with 10M followers or some absurd number. Fast forward to now and good effin' luck finding an account that gives you a full tutorial with different parts to it every day based on the length restrictions. Now it's "comment DINGLEBERRY to see what I used" to which I always get the stupid email then go back and delete my comment. Most of the time it's just a link to their Amazon storefront, which is something I don't even qualify for because like 5 years ago they decided if you didn't have a minimum of 10K followers, you were a low level POS they didn't want to deal with. Actually I still have $30 of Google ad money from 3 years ago they refuse to give me despite me being owed it. I just want a dang account that doesn't gatekeep, doesn't make me drop some magic word in the comments to send their automated message and the ability to ask a question without them saying "check my reel."

It's so frustrating because I can click on an account that will show me an actual project and I think "oh, THIS is someone who gets it." Then you click on the account and 94% of the account is them running their hand over carpet with #ad or 3 second reel snippets that your brain can't even register so you don't even know WTF you're looking at really or it's the same stupid shot of their kitchen, bathroom, whatever that they did 3 years ago and just circulating some new ad layered on top of it. I can barely take it anymore. I would love to actually learn something instead of being sold to on every single square. And before someone thinks "well, you put links in your posts", yes I do and you can choose to click them or not. I don't slather my IG feed with 90% ads and have the nerve to call myself a weight loss site. You're never going to see me all dressed up with makeup, "gasping" in fake delight over some knick knack in Target and how I styled it, hopefully I'll never snap my fingers for a transition since I'm more likely to give a lewd finger gesture instead to say 'suck it' to whatever ended up giving me grief to get to the after.

So if anyone follows any actual DIY accounts, please shout 'em out in the comments so I (and the rest of ya's) can take a peek and hopefully get inspired by actual work.

Boxed In Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Holy guacamole y'all, it's March. 😳 Remember when January felt three months long then February was like "don't blink!" I hope your weekend was full of hijinks and fun stuff. My body is pulling a fast one on me because my mind has been irritated that we weren't getting a closing date and the buyer was in underwriting so long compared to our one day in underwriting. So I had zero motivation to do any sort of big packing push. It'd be a day taking down art, done. A day moving that heavy ass planter from the back to the garage, done. But the recesses of my mind know we have 10 days until projected closing on both properties so it's been giving me some good bouts of dizziness, an ocular migraine then a full day of pain and vertigo to try to kick me into motion. My response to that was watch Dexter and Camelot with Jamie Campbell Bower to calm me down.

Since January 19, I have been keeping a running Amazon wish list of random crap that pops into my head of things we would need if we got the house. My brain is that of a dog distracted by squirrels most of the day so I didn't trust myself not to forget. The list was LONG. I knew I had over 10 years of birthday money from Mom and his mom in my drawer waiting for someday. So $900 to contribute to the list then $483 of cash back rewards to put towards it. Too bad the total was $2550. 😳 WTF would we need to spend that kind of money on?

Stuff like a thermal camera (actually that was paid for by my Rakuten cash back so woot!) so we can see the weak spots of where to start in the walls on insulation. Security cameras, new locks for the doors to smaller items like mesh drain covers because we don't have a garbage disposal anymore, a microwave cart, so we have more counter room and stuff like that. Then the random stores for stuff that was cheaper than Amazon like Lowes, HD and Target for things like 4 different kinds of caulk we'll need, rebar to temporarily fix a broken outdoor step, mini sledgehammer to hammer in the rebar (and we'll need it when we get to that project). Since we're going to have an extra bathroom, we need towels and hand towels so I got 4 white bath sheets and 2 hand towels with a 15% sale they were having, $10 Kohl's cash I NEVER use because I never shop there and 8% cash back on Rakuten so I got those for $27 total which is unheard of. I've got a spreadsheet so I'm keeping track of all expenses related to the new house. Once we close on the house next week, we have to be meticulous with our budgeting. Man, I thought those days were long gone so it'll be interesting to have to be forced back into that thinking. But that also means most of the reno's back to the studs fall on us so, yay for new skills waiting to be learned! 😵‍💫

I put together some solar landscape lights and put them out front for six full hours in the sun so we could test them. The driveway at the new place is flat and circular so under even 2" of snow it disappears and if you pick the wrong part to try to find it, you're going into a ditch. So we figured we could stick these out there and not add to electric. I was quite happy when a 4am wake up check showed they were still lit since it can be hit or miss.

Saturday was just a bit weird, low key chaotic with all of the boxes to go through (but my plan was to get big boxes as moving boxes too) and ultimately, we got nothing done I wanted to on the packing front except we basically got the back patio cleared off which wasn't really on my radar. While I was chatting with my friend, the Mr was able to dig out the last of the dirt from our smaller planter and we moved it through the house to the garage. I started to pack the linen closet but ultimately ended up making a "day one cleaning basket" with the collapsible foot bath at the bottom for all of the things I will need to clean. We'll do the same and have a day one box with stuff in it like the new door locks, security cameras, doorbell camera, etc. I really wish this person would've taken an hour off so we could do the closings in the morning because we have a lot of stupid logistics crap we have to do that most people don't (obviously) since we'll be both in the sticks and in a gated community. Now we can't do those things day one because places will be closed by the time we get there. Also not a huge fan of the higher temps and rain forecasted all week so the wrath of the woods can emerge early.

Sunday was our usual start. I had some puff pastry I needed to use so I tried my hand at a cheat cruffin recipe because who knows what oven access and want to bake is going to look like over the next month. Also, the place that used to do them well crapped the bed but still have the audacity to charge like $5.50. They weren't great but it held us most of the day. The Mr got the stuff from the office loaded up in the car while I started wrapping and packing glasses and mugs. Basically whatever is in the dishwasher will be our dishes from here on out. I had to get rid of some mugs that broke my heart. Arcade Restaurant from our trip to Memphis in 2010, Cherry Hut from Traverse City MI trip for the Mr's 40th and our first Christmas mugs from Vermont. But it's just the two of us and maybe occasionally my aunt and cousin or a stray guest here or there once it's not a horror show. We got those donated then we took about 4 loads over to the new storage unit including basically all of our patio furniture which felt like a big fat win because we didn't want to keep it in the garage and then have to waste room in a moving truck just to put it in the unit or whatever.

So we have a good start on that unit. Not gonna lie though I'm sweating it because they'll likely do a final walk through soon and I don't know how we're going to get everything else packed up in time. I guess a lot of that will fall on me. Bleh. No pressure.

Today the Mr will be calling some trades folk to come out for electric, plumbing and concrete leveling. You know, the fun stuff. Also he has to do it because sadly we still live in a society where some contractors either flat out won't deal with women or will charge them a higher price. I like to have the Mr book it, then hit them with me on the job. You're welcome, sexist. I talked to the contractor to get on the schedule for our main bedroom to be walled up and then do the deck stairs for free to trade for our hot tub. I'm so glad we won't have to worry about that. He said he has a few jobs ahead of us so he'll get in touch as it gets closer to get the money for materials and half the labor so we'll have that ready to go.

As I finish this up in the early early morning hours, there's a helicopter flying overhead for the 4th time since 5am. They started a helicopter path directly over our house three years ago or so and it flies low enough you think it's landing on the house.

Three more weeks.

Did you have a nice weekend? Inquiring minds want to know.

Also, if you follow on Facebook, make sure to like the posts every single time or your notifications will go away. You don't want to fade out now when the getting is about to get good!! 😜

What I'm Reading This Week #9

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Oh well hi there! Are you ready for the last Friday of February? I'm sure most of you are since Spring will start next month. It's been a long winter for many so I'm assuming people are chomping at the bit for this particular spring. (Not to say it doesn't still snow in March and even occasionally in April but still.)

It's been packing and more packing but in that new kind of way where there's a looming deadline now. I think I have most of the clothes I won't need access to right away space bagged. I've got a good amount of the living room packed including art. The pisser on that one is art won't really be able to go up anywhere immediately because we're planning on tearing down all of the old walls which are 60's/70's paneling, replacing the insulation and drywalling it back up. We'll have someone else come in and tape/mud/sand it all. So no use in putting stuff up just to have to take it all right back down. Now, if only we had actual spots to put that kind of thing. We will have to have cameras in the cement parts of the crawl space to monitor for creeters before I'd feel comfortable putting that down there for temporary storage. Will definitely have to invest in silica packs and a few Damp Rid contraptions to go next to them.

Now let's invest in:

The #1 Best Blue Zones Rule for Living to 100, from the World’s Expert (Good stuff to incorporate)

Our 15 Best Soup Recipes in 3 Steps or Less (Because it's the longest soup season ever!)

Staying Up Late Might Be Damaging Your Heart, According to New Research (Not me pasting this into the post at 2:06am. 😑)

Lose Weight While Watching TV With These Fun Indoor Walking Exercises (Lord knows there are plenty of ads to fit these in. If you've got room, a walking pad could always be fun too.)

High Cortisol Levels? You May Be Low In This Mineral (Reading this literally prompted me to take mine)

The Relationship Mistake That Keeps People Stuck for Years (So true and we need to do something about it amidst the chaos)

9 Genius Home Staging Tricks That Could Add Thousands to Your Home’s Selling Price (Definitely one of these I wouldn't do given the current climate but some decent ideas.)

12 Essential Tasks to Complete Right After Moving Into Your New Home (Or in our case, locate electric panel and ask electrician how much it'll cost to ground the whole house)

20 Ways to Protect Your Home During Remodeling Projects. (Excellent tips I hope to be using soon!)

14 Essential Tips For Installing House Wrap Correctly (Since this may be in our future, we need to memorize these!)

We're going to get our other storage unit Sunday so I'm sure we'll work on getting it all filled up. We have a ton of boxes all ready to go. I'm ready to see how much we can stuff in there! 😂

Any plans for you beautiful peeps this weekend?

A Weird Phenomenon

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Howdy do! You've made it to hump day. Can you see the weekend on the horizon? That would also be the end of the month you see there too which is insane. It's also insane to think about next month is the last month we'll start at this place. The Mr and I have both commented this doesn't seem real. Like we're playing some whack ass reality game show where the first couple to pack, sell their place and move into a new house wins but then you go back to your old life. All of the stuff you packed is unpacked and back where it was but you've got an extra $250k in the bank. I don't know at what point it will feel real for us or if we'll feel this Twilight Zone feeling all year especially as we budget and blast through projects.

There's this weird phenomenon that has happened to a few left in my family. I've already told you about how some want to help but the reason why we can't accept it so that we have a smooth transition mentally. I also feel like one of the family members I'm moving close to might still look at me like a 13 year old. Honestly, we wouldn't be buying this house if they hadn't basically talked us into it. I think we would've hoped for something else to come along but maybe considered moving to an apartment so the contingent thing wasn't an issue. They talked up grand solutions and how everything is "cheaper" there, like supposedly by half in some cases. We quickly realized after getting a quote from their guy on doing the main bedroom/bathroom that he wasn't cheap (to us) and we were going to be forced into learning a lot of new skills. This family member not only pays the guy what he asks but pays extra so they'll essentially run when they call. We don't have that kind of money to dork around with. I paid closer attention to the enclosure the guy built that they spend all of their time in and I'll just say if that's a testament to his work, he will be doing the most basic of jobs for us. The mentality in that neighborhood is "good enough" and that's not how we operate. We're going into this place removing decades of "good enough" to give her the upgrades she's always deserved.

But the weirder thing is, for example, I mentioned something on their response that we were currently duking it out with the buyer who doesn't understand how HOA's work. Their response? HOA's are easy - just ask! We've lived here 30 years, I know how our HOA and the gestapo who rules it works. Trust me when I tell you after last year with the water issue by the window and the three months of BS we had to go through, it isn't as simple as "just ask." There are power dynamics in play as you have to get your ass kissing lip balm fired up if you even want to be considered for something. It's like "I'm a 50+ year old woman and we've undertaken quite a few renos over the years and run our lives just fine in that time." I know they're trying to help, especially since we were so full of fear and a zillion questions the first night we came to them but I also realize, they don't know us. They can be empathetic to how I grew up with a hustling single mom and think they know how I operate but they'll soon learn. 😆 I couldn't help but sing a line or two from the Billy Joel classic My Life "I don't need you to worry for me cuz I'm alright... you can speak your mind but not on my time." Yes, the general vibe I pick up when it feels like someone is underestimating me is 'triggering' but another set of lyrics now pop into my head as well: "don't believe me, just watch."

It almost feels like people expect us to fail because we haven't lived in a "real" house. Maybe I'm projecting my own fear of failing onto others, who knows. I do know it can be hard to get a picture out of your head of someone stuck in time when you don't see them often. I think everyone will find out real quick that we are doers when it comes to reno but also the background of financial struggle will always play a part in what we will and won't pay for. The prices of materials and labor are insane and the whole "wheel o' tariffs" changing weekly by whim doesn't help when you can pay one price for materials one week and 25% more the following week. That means any price we're quoted is variable depending on what materials actually cost when they are bought. We've got to be smarter with our money than that.

So yeah, just an observation as we continue this wild, mind altering journey. 😆

Do you feel pigeonholed into a specific age by family?

Pack Rat Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Monday. We meet again, you saucy beech. 🥱 Why do weekends feel so short and the weeks feel so long? I hope yours felt long and you got everything done you wanted to!

Thursday night, I got the cutest call from my work Mom after I sent her the link to the house. She left a message saying she had questions and when I called her back, she had literally made a list! She wanted to make sure we had an inspection and I told her two. One regular, one structural to which she was relieved. She asked about taxes, location in the neighborhood and it was just so cute. She said I passed and she felt better. 😆 She also said I set her up for a dump and the inside was so charming and she was excited for us. I absolutely felt like I was talking to my grandma. The Mr agreed and said that would be the exact conversation she would have had with us so I was quite emotional after..

Thursday night after the remedy offer was signed by the buyer, we got a notice at 6pm the appraisal would be the next morning from 9:45-11:00 am. We rushed around to tidy up since we knew we wouldn't have much time to do it the next morning. I made a list with all of the improvements made by year for them and again, we decided to stay to meet them and humanize the home before getting out of his hair. He was 25 minutes late (unless that was a window to show up) and I gave him the list of improvements and we started to leave and he said "you're not leaving on my account are you?" and we said yes and he's like "no need. It'll be quick." He wasn't lying because according to him coming and going on the doorbell cam, he was here all of 6 minutes. SIX. Five of them were actual inspection and the other minute was small talk. 😳 So that was eye opening. Of course we didn't hear anything back that day so again...limbo.

Saturday was pretty low key. Then about midday we loaded up about 10 bins from the basement and took them over to the storage unit which filled it up.

We can't get another one until the 1st so that they'll both expire at the same time. Then we'll move everything else in there except the big stuff that we'll have the big boy movers take care of. Then pretty much a night of watching Dexter and eating at restaurants for the last time as we knock them off our list. I did get the sweetest message from my cousin saying their mom wanted to drive by the house again and sent a picture of our house. Again. Meaning that they've driven by it because they were excited to have us coming there which they've told us several times. I have to say, it feels pretty heart warming to have family who want us around. Not that the rest of the family doesn't care, we were the lucky recipients of a generous gift card from one of them. It's just been really hard since Mom passed thinking that maybe we'd all come together in our grief but it didn't go that way. Now with this branch of the family, who lost their dad/husband two weeks before Mom, it feels like we all need each other. Like maybe our departed family are all working together to make sure that we support each other when we feel so lost and alone. It feels right.

Sunday we did our usual coffee and Skote Outdoors before getting on with the day. We got a little snow overnight, certainly nothing like the Northeast is supposed to get so I hope you guys are doing well that are in the path of it. After watching some Dexter, we took down the artwork in the hallway going up and down the stairs. I donated about half of them because some of the pieces didn't translate well to 20x30 and lost some detail or were a little washed out. I kept six and even then it will be challenging to find wall space for those because there isn't a ton of it in the new house. So more may go later but got it down to my favorites. If you remember, those pieces were part of the soundproofing project we did here when we realized that putting soundproof drywall on two walls made a clap tunnel. I wonder how long it will take the new owner to notice it or it might just be my keen ears. The Mr was going to start shrink wrapping the open bins from the office closet but I hadn't gone through them yet so I did that. I got rid of 1 regular bin and two smaller ones. I hated getting rid of the Wizard of Oz throw blanket Mom got me but it's time for someone else to enjoy it. Then I pulled most of my bins out from under the bed and got them against the wall. Might've put on my wedding dress:

Then I space bagged it back up and we tried to get it squished back down. I've got one more thing to grab that's under the middle of the bed and that should be cleaned out. I need to space bag the extra clothes I don't wear much and just keep the ones in rotation to be packed in a suitcase when we move the final time. We listened to the neighbor be an absolute parasite all day long with her ritual of hammering on the wall for 2 solid hours after it being random all day before that and then letting her dog bark incessantly for hours. I hate that sea hag. Three effing weeks until we start moving our crap and I can't wait to never hear her skank ass again. Too bad mooning is now frowned upon because we'll have to restrain showing a double moon when we leave for the last time.

Unfortunately, we ended things on a sad note. I checked in with my old boss to tell her about the house since we check in once or twice a year. Her husband passed away Christmas Eve after a 5 year battle with cancer and if I remember correctly, again, another doctor f**ked up and killed someone who didn't have to die. People- check and double check any protocols for what's being treated. This has now happened more than people I know being successfully treated. Disgraceful.

How was your weekend?

What I'm Reading This Week #8

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

What's shaking Kevin Bacon? Helloooo and happy Friday to you! Did your week go well? I hope so! Ours was full of all things moving forward. On Monday we had our inspection for the person buying our place. I wanted to make sure we met the inspector because I wanted to humanize the house. I wanted him to see the people selling and hopefully he'd like us, which he seemed to. He asked us where we were going and we told him and he got so excited saying what a great, peaceful area it was. We laughed and joked and told him some of the stuff that were replaced (electric/water pipes) and what was the association's responsibility and then we left. We went up the street to our favorite ice cream place since we knew they wouldn't be up the road for us anymore. We sat in the parking lot and talked for 2 hours which we haven't been able to really do much. It's like we've talked, obviously, but when you're at home there's just this avalanche of thoughts swirling but in a situation where we're forced to be out of the house, it was nice. We thought the day would be wasted because we were told four hours and since it was only two, we were able to move the rest of the garage over to the storage unit and that felt like a big win.

Now let's move into:

6 Superfoods With Even More Antioxidants Than Blueberries (Yes please)

Is It Better to Start Your Day With Coffee or Tea? Here’s What Health Experts Recommend (Whatever gets the system humming! This is our absolute favorite!)

This Vitamin Could Play a Major Role in How Well You Poop (Add some nutritional yeast to the mix to get it easily and without supplements)

How to Fart If Trapped Gas Is Making You Bloated and Miserable (The title made me laugh so I'm sharing. In this house the mystique is gone, we lift, rip and apologize...or turn on the fan.)

How to Calm Down When the World Won’t (I have to say on our holiday trip, the Mr and I would sketch two of our favorite moments from each day with the intent to watercolor paint them when we got home (we've been a little busy). It was super fun and made you look at the day differently.)

An Expert Reveals 8 $0 Secrets to Removing Dust Fast—With Stuff You Have at Home (A good reminder to clean the ceiling fan. Also, I use these dusting gloves for the blinds and they're a lifesaver!)

Money tips no one taught you (Audio article)

How to stop annoying spam calls (Nothing gets you more spam calls than a car accident and applying for a mortgage.)

Are White Kitchens on the Way Out? Designers Say This New Neutral Is Taking Over (I'm toying with the idea of painting the cabinets in the new to us kitchen Pinecone Hill green as a way to test which way I want to go when one year we can afford a real reno.)

People Are Apparently Putting Toothpaste on Their Boobs to Make Them Bigger (We are at peak Idiocracy people. I'm afraid to watch the movie again for fear it would look better than what is going on now)

The drill for the foreseeable future is packing. We're going to have to check with grocery stores because we can't keep paying for these boxes and bins. Hopefully we'll be able to find at least another good 15 boxes and it should help.

A personal plea. Now more than ever, it's important that I get as much as I can from the Amazon links I use in posts as our expenses for Internet will be going up. (The "perks" of rural living 🙄) So if you need to shop on Amazon anyway, if you could please click any of the links in my posts to ensure I can bring you the adventures that are on the way this year. Every little bit has always counted but even more now. Just consider it your personal vote with your wallet to see pics of us covered in mouse poop insulation and swarthy commentary. We're Bartles and James and we thank you for your support. (If you get that reference, you probably need ibuprofen at some point during the week.)

Any plans for the weekend?

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The Reality of It All

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

I remember when we first bought our condo. We closed in April 1996 and slowly moved our stuff in and didn't stay there until our wedding night three weeks later. Our families helped with sweat equity to get money off the cost, something I don't even think they let you do anymore. We were told everything from condos are a bad investment and we'd never get our money back (we are) to they're a great investment and we were so lucky to start out owning because of my meticulous planning.

We told ourselves we'd only be here 3-5 years. Like clockwork, at the three year mark, we put the condo on the market at the worst possible time, December. The only bite we got was someone the day after Christmas, which we said no to because we suspected it was being cased for Christmas booty and since they never called back, we assume we were right. It wasn't until we went to the tax preparer the beginning of February and saw the refund was going to be $5000 that we looked at each other in shock. We held hands and literally skipped across the parking lot singing "we've got $5000, we got $5000!" We went home, tallied up our debts, saw a way out and took the condo off the market. That was 27 years ago. Paying off our debt was something we should've done before ever thinking about buying a new home but everyone was putting themselves in hock to own the American dream. I'm so glad we thought better of it before it was too late. We would not have had the life of travel we've had up to this point and we're both so grateful.

Fast forward to last Tuesday night and it was so weird being out in the car knowing two strangers were poking around the house. That had never happened before and it makes us nervous. I hoped having the fireplace going would lend a cozy vibe and make them want to curl up in front of it. The Mr was practically boring a hole through the house staring at it. Finally, after they'd been there for 30 minutes, the realtor left. The person looking at the place sat in the front space for about 5-7 minutes which we took as a good sign because if they thought it was a dump they would've burned rubber with the realtor. We hoped maybe they were trying to envision themselves there. This is their space looking at their new potential home. Maybe they were texting the realtor already to say they wanted to make an offer. When they left, we went home and it was within 10 minutes our realtor said they loved it, it was beautiful and there would likely be an offer written up the next day.

I was getting a headache so we went upstairs and started watching TV but then asked the inevitable... how did we feel about it? All of the feelings. That gut drop of this may really be happening, the relief of being halfway through the time the sellers gave us to get into contract and hopefully get a good offer and of course sad thinking of leaving the only home we've known as a married couple since we were 21 and 23. The Mr asked if I thought I would regret it and 15 years ago I wouldn't have even been in this situation to regret it. Now? It honestly hasn't felt like a home the past 10 years or so. I think that's what all of the renos were about, trying to make it into something that attached living unfortunately cannot give you - peace. As someone who has had eustachian tube dysfunction since I was a kid, then tinnitus starting about 15 years ago and now misophonia, my ears are tired. It's not just the attached part (though that's 85% of it) but the constant noise of being in a bustling burb. I seriously didn't think there was any land left to build on around here and they managed to find two large parcels big enough to build apartment complexes moving a minimum of 1000 more people at our doorstep. There is a low, constant hum from 7am to sometimes 8pm. It sounds like someone parked outside your house and idling their car but no one is there. Add on the other noisy businesses close by, a restaurant whose cuisine literally turns my stomach that pumps out their stench several times a day and let's not forget about the pot smell that seems to be rectified and we're just done. I want to want to stay. I want to say having no mortgage is better than having a smallish one by today's standards but I feel the weight of the noise killing me. This area is made for young ears with no issues plaguing them.

I know we'll both be sad when we leave for the memories of when it was good. We'll likely have buyers regret especially as the to do list gets longer but I also have this vision. A vision of sitting down the first week and realizing we haven't heard a single slam of a microwave or cupboard. No dog randomly barking incessantly with no correction from it's owner that sounds like it could be in another room in the house. That there is no sound of car idling that only I can hear most times and even getting the chance to look up and actually see stars from our own deck. Not driving 45 minutes away from our house because of light pollution but literally two steps away and maybe, just maybe, my shoulders will leave my ears for the first time in 20 years. I am hanging onto that vision and I know I'll need to keep hanging onto it when we're stapling insulation mesh upside down and filling critter holes and throwing away basically someone's entire house at our expense because they wanted to dump their summer home and run. I know when we're sitting amidst a pile of whatever we've torn out on our 30th anniversary instead of being at the place we've wanted to stay twice now on the beach in Ogunquit Maine that tears will be shed. We'll need a vacation and vacations are over for the foreseeable future.

This isn't even our dream house. I don't look at this janky ranch and swoon. I don't think how jealous someone would be that this is ours because I would probably look at a friend buying it and say "more power to ya because this place needs a bit o work!" We see potential. The Mr keeps laughing at the fact it's a vaulted ceiling house when all I've ever said is what an energy suck they are and I'd never get one. I don't know why this house but I know now that Mom is gone, the pain of Christmas Eve past is too painful to even be here for. Spending a holiday at home when your neighbors make their presence known easily kills the Christmas spirit. I can't be here anymore and it kills me that it's gotten to that point. So when the right price on a diamond in the rough home comes up in a place you loved as a kid that still has your favorite family members less than 1/2 mile away, it feels like maybe the universe is saying your next chapter is waiting for you.

I love everything this place has been for us for 30 years (or as the Mr will point out, 29 years 11 months 😉) but hopefully we'll live long enough to stay equally as long here. To quote Linus from Charlie Brown Christmas "It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love" and I think we're the right people to give it. A few weeks ago, the Mr said the house needed us. I agree and we need it too.

Packing It In Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Well howdy do! We're back to Monday. That happens pretty quick doesn't it? I hope you guys had a weekend full of love and productivity. We basically forgot Valentine's Day was coming up so no time to get cards and now I have to weigh things like "fancy card or tube of caulk?" Caulk will win for the foreseeable future. Then I started feeling bad our last vday in this house wouldn't have a card so I dug out some blank ones and made them work.

Friday we had eye doctor appointments so it was good to have that done for the year. He's kind of a Delbert as Mom would've called him and we're not loyal to him so we'll find somewhere closer to go next year. When we got home, my aunt we're moving down the street from called to congratulate us. It was so sweet to hear her voice.

We relaxed Saturday morning and then before we knew it, it was lunch time so then we could get to the tasks at hand which was disassembling all of our storage shelves.

We had to move the bins on them over to the middle of the area rug that covers the workout area so we could have access to everything needed.

It's so funny because the Mr was nervous about taking apart our oldest shelving unit and it's actually the most well built one we had no screws or stoppers to keep track of. We got four of them dismantled and the car loaded for a trip to the storage unit twice.

By the end of the night we were both battered, beat and sore. Fire up ye olde heating pad.

Oh!! Funny story. We saw the witch's sister came for a visit and I don't know if she saw the for sale sign in the window and Internet snoopage commenced. When she was leaving an hour later, I could hear them talking and told the Mr to check the door cam. Nothing juicy but we did hear them say something about you could see in the picture out back that she shoveled her patio and we didn't so we know she knows. (And our patio is fenced in not open like hers. Where would we shovel to??) Our goal is to tip da fuq out and never speak to her again and she's making it super easy because if she sees us, she freaks out and shuts the door or runs. I'd like to say this is new behavior but it's not. The only time she talks to us is when she needs information about something going on or if we're having something repaired then she'll come out and let us know we've bothered her to which case I cut her off at a certain point and non verbally shoo her away. She's mental. We cannot wait to be free of this sea hag. 29 years, 11 months next to her is 29 years, 10 1/2 months too long.

Sunday we both woke up with massive headaches. We watched Skote Outdoors with coffee and nana trying to make them go away. We massaged each others neck and shoulders. Finally it was time for lunch and I did a huge bag of baked fries and fish sticks. I refuse to call them fillets because I see you Fremont. Those fish fillets look like they were made from guppies now. *wild finger gestures* There were two more bins under the stairs and they were mine. Mind you we just went through these bins less than a year ago but with the new perspective of "do you want to haul this crap" in mind, much more got purged than before. I sent our pup's toys and Going to Granny's suitcase up to heaven for some new stuff to play with. I couldn't bring myself to part with them months ago but now I just don't have room for things like a little suitcase, a dog bed, my old high school jacket, a Trapper Keeper full of the last two months of 8th grade papers, etc.

Don't get me wrong, it was a little hard to say goodbye but I took pics and sent them to donate or trash or shred depending on what it was. I gained a small bin and the big one actually has room in it if need be so I can consolidate when we're ready to go that route after critter proofing our cement block crawlspace.

I saw a pretty genius little packing hack on my IG scroll of using a cheap mattress topper as padding for the inside of bins packing Christmas decorations but I thought it would work well for the breakables I have to bubble wrap so the Mr went to pick that and 2 more bins up. I will tell you one thing. Home Depot packing boxes, in my experience so far? Pure crap. Why bother putting handles in if the box is going to rip there. I had to get some threaded packing tape to wrap around two boxes in the storage unit that already crapped the bed. Now I don't think we can get to them so I'll have to leave one of the rolls in the unit for when we move them out or new curse words will be created. We went out to the garage and started packing that up. You look at it and go 'where the hell do I start?!' Then you just say screw it and start putting the things that make the most sense in boxes. Boxes, by the way, that helped us move in here. I don't know why but I had us keep some of the better boxes up in the garage attic and thank God I did because no one local seems to be a box saver like I am when I put out the call. So I had stuff getting packed in the same box our wedding invitations and programs arrived in back in 1996!

We got quite a bit packed up and two more trips over to the storage unit before we had to focus on getting the house back in order for the inspection today. Not quite as much as I'd hoped to have done but enough to still make a dent. We just have to keep doing that pretty much daily. Today I'll focus on wrapping up some breakable decor and put in the padded bins so I can get a jump on the living room. It won't be until after the appraisal that we rent another storage unit to fit the rest into it. Fingers crossed it comes back at or higher than what they're paying because we're not paying the difference. Some people are just like "so" and we are those people. We have no money left to give hence the reason two fat people are moving their entire house themselves. I have family offering to help and while I appreciate it, I've been through that and I've seen their idea of help sometimes which is barrel through, sometimes damage stuff (happened to both Mom and I) or crappy workmanship. If something is going to look crappy, it's going to be because WE made it look crappy, not someone else with good intentions. The Mr and I work at our own pace. We know what we do when we're overwhelmed and how to deal with those situations as they arise. Dealing with a 'suck it up' and barking this or that will not make it a smooth transition and we're gonna have to be all about that if this is going to work in a way that doesn't set us back mentally. You can't really ever explain it to people so we just have to smile, say we'll let them know if we need help and leave it at that.

How was your weekend?

What I'm Reading This Week #7

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Hello there and

We did have a showing Tuesday night (after 7pm) and it was the first time it was above freezing. I went to shovel some heart attack snow that was heavy with some melt. I walked it over to the median and dumped it there. Twice a landscape truck drove by and either slowed down or outright stopped by me to which I scowled at them and said "if you'd done you're effing job, I wouldn't have to do this. I assume he was taking pictures to report back to the HOA gestapo and all I gotta say is 'come at me bro.' (Edit: They sent out an email yesterday saying they're not responsible for settling disputes with neighbors shoveling snow elsewhere or into their neighbors parking spots. That wasn't me. btw. Jagoffs.)

Now let's get into:

11 Simple Ways to Drink More Water This Year (I have been absolute crap with this so far. I need to actually drink out of my water bottle than let it serve as a table decoration.)

Cooking with Olive Oil Might Actually Make Your Food More Nutritious, New Study Says (Well then I guess it's time to stock up.)

7 Kinds of Rest Other Than Sleep (FYI -This in an audio article.)

3 Reasons Why the Brain Loves Negative Thinking (I know my brain is addicted 🙄)

Why You Should Warm Up Your Feet Before Bed (Yasss queen! If my feet are cold, forget me falling asleep anytime soon. I usually put fuzzy socks over the tops of them so I can easily kick them off around 4am when I wake up with existential dread)

This Country Just Ranked as the Best for Americans to Retire Abroad for Quality of Life, Safety, and Health Care (Hmm, spiders as big as my head and other creepy crawlies...I'll pass.)

Six Ways to Use Staging Psychology to Sell Your House (Okay, so it looks like we're doing everything right. Now please...SOMEONE BUY IT!!)

10 Hacks for Moving Day That Everyone Should Know (Still trying to be optimistic)

This Is What It Means if the Water in Your House Smells Funny (Mr... we'll have to schedule those tank replacements ASAP if we get the place. Just as we suspected.)

Minute Maid Just Announced It’s Retiring These Beloved Beverages (RIP. I remember poking and stirring endlessly in the pitcher as a kid. I loved it. Anyone else? I'm going to miss having the option.)

Miss some posts this week, you scallywag? Catch up below:

The 14 Year Dread Weekend Recap

The Prospective Project List

I guess we have some packing we need to do because we're under contract. Yep. The person loves it but we're the ones getting screwed on the deal. They came back with an insulting offer that included our 2 year old washer and dryer. I didn't even want to respond and we went back with $5K off with the appliances. They came back with essentially $10K off instead of $13K and their family member realtor took .5% off their commission to put a little money back in our pocket. Because our contract with the other place expires next weekend, we had zero choice but to take it. We know if the process started today with the warm up coming that it would've sold likely at full price and our washer and dryer going with us. We had a deep freeze/over a foot of snow, Super Bowl weekend and now Valentine's weekend all working against us. We told them that we will NOT fix anything if the inspector finds something (they won't- we are meticulous with our upkeep) because they have essentially financially violated us. So that is really the only way this deal can go south and we've set up the expectation the answer will be no.

Our minds are flipping SPINNING. I guess there's some more trips to the storage unit in our future and more adventures in reno coming for you guys!

What's on tap for your weekend?

The Prospective Project List

noreply@blogger.com (Anele @ Success Along the Weigh) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

I'm sure all of you seasoned homebuyers know the drill when moving - you pick a house that has the most potential with the quickest return on investment for projects. I've been saving IG stories and posts for years of things I thought were handy or that we'd want to do here. The last time we bought a home, it was being built for us so we had no problems that were someone else's handed down to us. Mentally we're both still 21 and 23 when it comes to the house purchase stuff and I've been keeping a running list of items we absolutely need that we would never think about until we were in the thick of it. Home Depot isn't going to be across the street anymore and every trip to the hardware store will be 25 minutes. 😳. When you pick a home and go through the inspection process, you see those things that are going to need to be done asap. For us, there's a water leak to the septic line and a leak under a laundry sink on the crawl space I'd rather just trash and cap off. Then comes everything else.

When we were getting the initial inspection and we were in the finished part of the crawl space, we could hear the inspectors...well. That would be because there's no subfloor! Just tongue in groove wood and not only that but it actually butts up against the siding on the outside! We can't do anything about it either as we suggested encasing or caulking and the inspector said nope..."let it ride." M'kay. Well, at minimum I'm going to seal them with waterproofing. No subfloor over a basement and crawlspace means cold feet and high electric bills. Objective one is to insulate with R30 batt insulation underneath. Well, it's on a ceiling so you don't just cram it up and hope for the best, you need to get those little insulation support rods to ensure they stay tight. Then because there is a mouse problem as of writing, we'll need to staple this to the ceiling to keep pests from taking the insulation or nesting in it. We'll have to monitor the situation to make sure it's working pest wise and you can bet your butt my goal is no pests in the house because mama doesn't like all of the mousetraps around there. (But you know, if you had actually sealed the old dryer vent instead of leaving it open or foamed around the propane line then maybe you wouldn't have that problem!!)

That, of course leads us to the middle part of the crawl space which is the image of what you think of when you hear crawl space.

See all of that dirt? That should be covered or "encapsulated." I know a lot of people don't do it but given we had a radon problem in the city, I know it's dripping with it in there. It also allows humidity to escape into the wood and that's the old part of the house. Everyone kept saying how dry it was and I wanted to smack them all and say "IT'S 10 DEGREES, it's going to be dry!!" I don't want to know how it is come summer so instead of paying a minimum of $10K to get it done by pros, we've watched several videos from YouTube University on how to do it and prefer to spend under $1000 for the privilege of strapping on a big ol PPE suit and getting to it. It must be done before May.

The side of the house also has a delightful slope with a janky, rotted step at the bottom.

So not only does that step need addressed, which I think we can do via a huge 6x6 that is left under the house doing nothing, but we may need to put some steps going down into the hill because that stretch from the top to the bottom is sketchy especially in the winter. So that led us down that rabbit hole and we decided this design looked like it would be the most DIY friendly to us. Then you read comments and take notes and your plan evolves from there. That's fine he likes to use wooden stakes but we both feel more comfortable using rebar pounded in so there's no rot involved. (We have to think of future us who are going to be old!) Well, you can't screw into those so you have to use U clamps to secure them. At minimum the janky step needs to be fixed asap because once we do all we need to do caulking, sealing foundation cracks, and trying to ward off every possible entry hole, it'll be storage for us of bins only.

Oh and don't mind the rotted wood that's on the front deck to get into the house...we'll just be chucking down some OSB until the weather gets nice and we have to rip out all of the old decking and replace it with new in the spring. 😬 At least that'll be a quick band aid we can do while caulking every single crack, of which there are a dizzying array to count, because I freak out when there are like 3 bugs in a house and this place looks like it'll be skywriting to them to come on in for some sweet tea and gossip.

Those are just the things to make it immediately habitable!

Then you have stuff like this barely useable but there it is, closet:

The wire shelves will get ripped out, soaked in bleach and likely reused for now because we need to save money. The paneling will be inspected to see if it can just be caulked to hell at all corners then painted to a bright color to make it less depressing. The door is bifold and sticks BAD so we'll need to wax the track and likely take it outside, power wash it and paint it once the weather is warmer. Or if budget and DIY fortitude allows, I'd prefer to chuck it's slatted ass and put something simple like this there. A small project but big visual return every time we have to open it for brooms, sweeper, etc. Oh and don't think I don't clearly see the insect fogger, wasp and hornet killer, 2 mosquito sprays and whatever bottle of Raid isn't pointed forward. See caulking mission above.

I cannot begin to tell you how many closets need dealt with and they're a priority because we need storage. Every one of them is some kind of 'we threw shelves up and hoped for the best' monstrosity. One of which houses the laundry and is in dire need of zhushing because I don't want a mouse trap on old 70's tile when we do the laundry. We'll be caulking, foaming and whatever else needs to happen initially to get those in and the old washer and dryer out then we'll rip down the old gross cabinets and go for a cheapish $500 revamp in there so we're not skeezed out with every open of the ill fitting bifold doors. (We'll have to eventually switch those out for sliders. In the meantime, hoping some kind of trim can do miracles. Maybe some 1x3's glued overlapping the edges so it doesn't impede door function but looks like a shaker style door since it's literally just a slab right now.) There are a total of six closets that need our attention and only ONE of those in a bedroom! We need to see how we can rework all of those to function how we need them to.

The bad part about all of this?

We're excited. It's ALL crap work that will be draining, make us cry and snap at each other and hug to make up. It's new. It's potential and it all hinges on someone buying our place. 😔

Our hearts are in this now. We're committed. We've named the puppy, so they say because I have a sign ready to be made when we've gotten some serious work done on it because many people there name their homes. We're ready to give up travel to make this like a vacation home that we don't want to leave but it's not up to us if that happens. That is terrifying and could crush our dream. Other houses have come on the market in that community and none have come close to the price range we need.

Please pray for us. We really need this.

Edit: We had our first showing last night. Let's hope for more because they already wanted a $10k price drop before they even saw it. Sounds to me like you're looking outside your price range. We're hoping it was a tactic knowing we'd come back $5k higher and be done. We'll see.

Do you have a project list for the year?