Therapeutic exercise...?

Well as I mentioned in my last blog, I had created a punch list to get the house ready for sale.  As I gazed over the list I decided I should try to tackle the hardest jobs first and then if I got into a time crunch I would only be left with the easier and thus, less expensive tasks if I had to hire them out.  So my first task was to undertake the refinishing of a large built in cabinet in our dining room.  We had damaged it some time ago when we sat a fish tank on top of it and even though we sat the fish tank on towels the moisture from the tank had damaged the wood counter over time.

So I sanded the top of the cabinet and re-stained it only to find that the damage was too deep to be blended in well with the patina of the rest of the wood. So on to plan B... tear off the cabinet top and replace it with left over concrete board in my garage from a previous kitchen tiling project.  Use up some of my left over mortar and some granite tiles from the same kitchen  project and viola!... I have a new counter top that matches the kitchen counter top that can be seen through the pass through window in the dining room.  Couldn't look better if I planned it!

 So what does this have to do with therapeutic exercise you may ask?  Well as I began to start tasks associated with my punch list I found out that much of this work was therapeutic.  Not only was it therapeutic but it was considerably more exercise than I had been getting for the past six months.  The word therapeutic comes from the Greek word therapeutikos which means to attend or to treat with the results tending to be judged as desirable and beneficial.

What was I treating?  As I pondered this thought it became obvious to me that I was ridding myself of more stuff while at the same time mentally letting go of my house of the last 15 years and all its memories.  The more "stuff" I took out of the garage and used to improve my house for resale the more relaxed and calmed I felt.  And then it made me wonder if this is the feeling that everyone who has been retired and full timing in an RV has described as to how the feel....  I wonder...

The punch list...

Well before anything really can happen the house has to be readied for sale.  We would like to get everything done around the house in order to have the house fully ready to be put on the market in late spring to early summer.  Although that is several months away it will take time to do all the little things we need to do to have the house staged properly.  So yesterday we went around the house visiting each room and wrote down on a tablet each and every item that a potential buyer might have issues with. 

"What do you think about the color in this room?" "What about those window treatments?" "Do we need to change out that light fixture?" "Should we steam clean this carpet or just replace it"  These were some of the many questions that arose as went from room to room.  The end result was a list for each room of things that had to be done and things that might be done if time and costs permit. We will attack each room one at a time and then in early spring we will address the landscaping to provide the necessary curb appeal to help sell our home. Looks like we have a plan and now all I have to do is do the work...