March Ramblings

Wow, I cannot believe how warm it has been here.  My lilac tree has buds on it and the grass is starting to grow.  I fear for the trees and flowers when we inevitably end up having another snow storm.  Every year we've been here we've had a snow storm the end of April. We've had record highs this weekend with temps in the 60's and it was absolutely beautiful.

CAMPER UPDATE:

Matt brought the camper home this weekend to start working on it since the weather was so nice.  He went through and got all the junk that had been left in it out.  He pulled up the carpeting and got rid of that mess.  He then cleaned and repacked the tire bearings and checked the brakes, which are good thankfully.  He's going to have to rewire everything though.  He started tearing out the cabinets.  It's a good thing we planned a total tear out because the ceiling is rotted and water has gotten behind the walls and rotted it also. Nothing we weren't expecting though for a camper over 20 years old.

Our new remodeling adventure

water damage in back corner

Ugly orange shag carpet he pulled out

SPRING CLEAN: 

The warm weather has triggered my spring cleaning gene so this weekend I started on that major project.  I've been needing to get some cabinets in the kitchen cleaned out and sorted so I knocked two of the upper cabinets out and a large pantry cabinet that I store overflow and all the pet treats and food in.  I washed the shelves as I emptied them but did not wash the doors as I will do all the cabinets in the kitchen at the same time.  And yes I know I have an issue with Mason jars, Matt tells me all the time I need to get over using them for everything but they're awesome and so versatile.

Before 1

After 1

After 2

Before 2

I was hoping the can organizer I bought would be wider or expand.  I think once I get rid of some of the beans on that shelf I might put another one on that shelf for more soups.  I'll see how it works.  I'll be putting my home canned beans on the mudroom shelves with the rest of my canned goods so that will open a good portion of that shelf.

Before 3

After 3

I still have a bit more work on them but it's a definite improvement.  I have way too many jars of rice and need to use some of them up. I also found three half bags of noodles that I need to use.  I'm still not totally happy with these cabinets but I'll give it some time and figure out how to change up the organizers to make it more functional.

I still have two shelves of pet items but at this point I'm not sure how to reduce it.  I also want to get a container to put on the bottom to put the dog food in instead of leaving it in the bag. I'm also thinking of replacing these shelves with pullout ones to make it easier to find what's in that back. The back of this cabinet is like a black hole due to it being so deep.  I'd love to find those vertical pull outs to put in it so I could store more pantry items in it and be able to see what I have easier.  I did buy a couple metal baskets and put cat treats in one and dog treats in the other.  I took the organizer I had in cabinet 2 above and put it on the third shelf to organize the canned cat food so I don't have to pull out a bunch of stuff to get a can.  

CRAFTS:

I was able to work on my rug last weekend for about 90 minutes and have only about 8" left on it now. Hopefully this week since I have several nights off.  I need to cut some more strips of the brown to be able to continue and I measured and it will fit in the camper!

READING:  

I've been reading more of the Bromade Home books by Alison May.  I finished up The Winter Home and all the journal suggestions and have started The Spring Home.  I've also read The Slow Scrub - A 90 Day Journey to a Cleaner house, which is a way to do Spring or Seasonal Cleaning over 90 days instead of in one rush. It's great for those of us that work a lot and can't devote several days or an entire week to doing nothing but spring cleaning.  I'm currently printing The Seasonal Scrub for further Spring Cleaning ideas.  These are downloadable ebooks that are only found on her webpage.

                             

PETS:

I've been having issues with Oreo for quite some time now and with her whining so much.  I've been worried it was from pain but have come to the conclusion that it's probably boredom.  She only does it at night and it typically starts when we're eating.  I feel bad for her as she's losing what little eye sight she has left and she doesn't hear well either.  Life is rough being a 16 year old dog. Matt's been complaining a lot about it so I needed to do something.  For the last couple days I've been making up Kongs and giving all the dogs one when we eat supper. I need to remember to do them up and freeze them so they last longer but they've been keeping them busy for about an hour or more and it's stopped a lot of evening whining.  If this continues to work well I'm going to need to buy a lot more Kongs so I can rotate them in and out of the dishwasher to keep them clean. I'm crossing my fingers this continues to work.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2015

It has been a busy couple weeks for me. I've had to be in the office several times in the past couple weeks for training and I've been picking up some extra hours at Walmart. With the vet bills being so high lately I need some extra income. In addition, Mendards finally opened here in Jamestown!  I'm so excited. I hadn't been over to check it out as the crowds have been insane so Matt took me over Saturday for my first look. The place is HUGE. They built this one to be the Midwest hub and therefore it's the largest one in the Midwest now. Menards being open is another reason for needing extra income. We can finally start some of the renovations on the house that need to be done. We picked up an ice maker installation kit and a new water filter for the fridge. We've had repeated problems with the ice maker not working. Whoever installed it kinked the copper line so Matt's replacing that and the filter was due to be replaced. It's so nice to have some place we can buy the supplies now when we need them instead of having to order them online or drive 100 miles to get them. Next will be new flooring in my office area!

PETS:

Tip and Lacey

Tip has actually been doing well and is stabilizing out from the phenobarbital. He has an occasional wobble of the hind legs but otherwise has been doing well. No seizures thankfully. Because the medication makes him hungry, we have to be careful when leaving the house that nothing is within reach that he can get. He's pulled cast iron skillets off the stove while we've been gone to lick them. The idiot pulled a bag I left on the counter down and tried to eat a grow pod for cilantro I'd bought to replant. Nothing is safe so it's like kid proofing the house again, except it's furkid proofing.

Oreo hanging out with me at my work desk

I nearly lost my beloved Oreo last weekend to a GI infection. I initially thought it might be cardiac failure as she was wheezing a bit. She will be 16 years old next month so as much as I hated the thought of losing her, I can't deny it's not going to occur at some point. She stopped eating last Friday. I tried everything I could think to get her to eat something. I even went to McDonald's and bought some french fries and she turned her head away from them she was so sick. Last Saturday she wouldn't even come out of the bedroom. I'd worked all day last Saturday so didn't realize her condition until I got home that night. She did show more interest Sunday and came out of the bedroom but still wouldn't eat. I honestly didn't think she'd make it but she's resilient and after the vet gave her an anti-nausea shot and some medications along with a special food for intestinal issues on Monday she's make a nice recovery and is begging to eat to make up for those days she didn't.

CRAFTING:

back of desk before sanding

I started sanding the desk this weekend and got the first coat of stain on most of the desk before I ran out of stain. I had so much stain left over from my table and chair project that Matt and I figured a small can would be more than enough. I'll be making a run to Menards today to buy a larger can and plan on finishing the area that I didn't get to last night and then hopefully do a second coat later tonight after doing a light sanding. I had originally bought an antique walnut stain to use because my selections were so limited at Walmart but after seeing a picture on Pinterest of someone's redo of a table using mahogany stain I decided to go mahogany instead. Matt wasn't too sure about the mahogany until he saw the rich color after the first application and he really likes it.  It's such a nice rich, warm color. Pretty much my entire day Sunday was spend sanding the desk down. I used an electric sander for the first time and boy did my arms and wrist feel it that night. Thank goodness for Motrin.

I finally finished the Amish Toothbrush Rug!!!  I was so excited to finish it.  The shape isn't quite perfect, but it was my first one. It ended up being 37" by 33" in size. I need to take a picture of this on the wood flooring so it will pop more as the colors appear faded in this picture. I'm very happy with this rug. I crocheted a scalloped edging in the dark pink to finish it off, which is hard to see in the photo. It would be a great rug for a baby's room or little girl's room. I'd hoped to have enough fabric to do a second one but nearly ran out of some of the colors while doing it.

Weekend Ramblings Easter Weekend

EASTER MENU:

Ham
Scalloped potatoes
Green beans

We had awesome weather this weekend with temps in the 60's and they said 70's, although it didn't feel quite that warm.  The sun was beautiful and the wind was on the calmer side.  We had some windy weather earlier in the week with gusts over 40 mph for several days.  Oreo was insistent that she wanted to be outside even with the winds.  Poor thing had to brace herself or the winds might have blown her away like Toto.  We really need to come up with some type of fence so they can hang outside without me being with them.

Oreo bracing against the wind with her ears flying

The pups and I went out for a walk Saturday evening. We live close to the entrance of the White Cloud Trail.  Amazingly enough I've never tried hiking any of it before.  The trail loops throughout the city and is approximately 10 miles long.  We aren't quite up to that long of a hike yet but I decided we'd try a mile or so of it from the entrance.  It follows a dirt road along the James River to start.  There was a drop in the river which created a nice little rapid. It was nice and peaceful even though there were houses on the other side of the river.  It would probably be a good place to fish once I get my license.  I realized that I need to get some flea preventative immediately and I need to see what the vet suggests about ticks as I'm sure they'll be coming out soon.  There were mosquitoes out in full force along the river so I'll need to remember to use or bring bug spray/deterrent.  I used my pedometer and we walked 2.28 miles.

I couldn't do much cleaning so I crocheted another rag rug and finished it.  This one is a rectangle done in red, white and blue.  Very patriotic.  I used a 1.5" strip instead of a 2" strip so I got the more holey appearance to it then the green one I did.  I did manage to give myself a blood blister on one of my fingers from the scissors.  I would have started another rug Sunday but my finger hurt so bad it will have to wait.

I ordered a deluxe video set from Rag to Rugs by Lora and I can't begin to say how helpful the video was. She starts from how much fabric to use, how to crochet, how to make oval, round, and rectangle rugs, and how to join strips so you don't get a stair step in the row from color to color.  The deluxe set came with the Q hook, patterns, and crochet stitch markers.  The cheat sheets are AWESOME!  I'd initially planned to make another oval but after watching the video I decided to make the red, white and blue rug a rectangle instead.  I thought the rectangles looked pretty neat.

Matt spent the weekend working on the lawn and it looks awesome compared to what it did before. Sunday  evening Matt decided he wanted to do something outside with the pups and I so we went down to the Reservoir and walked along the paved path along the lake.  It was so beautiful out with just a smidge of a breeze.  We both assumed that the bridge to the island would be closed due to flooding but it was open. We'd walked so far by then we knew we couldn't handle crossing the bridge and walking the island as well. I also need to get some needle nosed pliers to pull sand burrs out of the dogs paws when we're walking in that area.  I forgot my pedometer but I'd say we probably walked closer to 3 miles on this hike.