Last week, the 8th week of my summer, I packed to go visit my brother, and I chilled at home while my floor guy, Mike, sanded and sealed my hard wood floors.
I am excited to say I used a carry-on bag for this trip. I’ve never gone to my brother’s without a full-sized suitcase. Since I’ve been reading some minimalism blogs and because I wanted to save money (checking a bag is $25 on most airlines I’ve traveled on), I tried to just use 1 bag.
That meant only what I needed, no extras. Since I usually come home with many outfits I haven’t used, books I haven’t opened and lots of yarn I haven’t had time to knit, I thought I’d give it a try.
I was worried about the shoes: I like to have a few pairs of shoes when I visit the bro, and they seem to take up a lot of space. I chose to wear the bulkiest shoes I needed (hiking shoes), and smash and pack my waking shoes and sandals. It worked! Everything fit!
Even with just a carry-on I didn’t end up using everything in my bag. I came home with 2 clean pairs of socks and an unworn T-shirt and shorts. I knit with one skein of my yarn, and not the other. I read only 1 book I brought so the second went unread.Compared with previous years, I did well!
Reflecting here I see that I could have gone with even less. Very surprising!
Mike, AKA my floor guy, sanded on Monday and Tuesday of week 8, he sealed the second half of Tuesday, then Wednesday and Thursday.
He warned us that the house would stink; he was right. It smelled like turpentine or paint. I followed his directions to air out the house and keep the air conditioning low so the floor would dry quickly, and all went well.
These pics are of the second coat. The third coat is a tad shinier.
I am proud to say I have a gorgeous floor. The dogs are slipping all over the place, though, so I’d like to get some rugs soon.
My trip also went well. Stay tuned for pictures in week 9!
Peace Out (and In),
~Jaye
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