Idjit Klutz

Daughter is out of the apartment she lived in for three years and is living in temporary "quarters".  Holy heavens, she had a lot of stuff.  (Yes, partly my fault.  I figured she'd go to grad school and continue living there for a while.)  What a job!  The place was white glove clean when we left, though.

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Remember, I'm not complaining...

It is 1:50 PM, Thursday June 16.  The outside temp is up to (drum roll, please) 49 degrees, and wonders of wonders, it is raining.  Updated:  it is now 6:05 PM.  Husband (aka J) said it is up to 51 degrees.  Heat wave.  (Always makes me think of the M*A*S*H episode when they sing Having a Heatwave.  A tropical heat wave.  Ya right.)

Update on the Joke (last post).  We haven't had snow right at our house, but it did spit on us in Moscow a couple weeks ago.  It has been rainy and cold, and no two completely nice days in a row since ???

 

According to Wednesday's paper, officially we were an 1-1/2 inches below record rainfall for the two months of May and June combined (not counting any rain we've had since Tuesday afternoon).  Unofficially, we had already passed the record set in 1974 - the year of the floods.  (Flood story another time.)

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Oh, I get so aggravated with Blogger's editing abilities!  Won't let me paste without highlighting everything.  When I hit enter, nothing happens, or it takes several seconds for the computer to respond, and the cursor keeps disappearing.  The header picture suddenly shrunk to a little tiny postage stamp size.  I had to remove it and reload it - twice.  Tried putting a clipart picture in at the top of this post.  Locked up the whole computer. Had to reboot twice just to get Blogger to work again. GRrrrrrr. Vee has had troubles, too. Anyone else?

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(click to enlarge)

One of my thrift shop finds.  5 cents.  Complete.

(Two pieces are cut from main sheet with pinking sheers but never used.)

Is there a 23 inch doll in my "collection"?

  I think my old bride doll might be about that size, but don't want to go upstairs right now to look.*

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The lilacs and flowering quince are now in bloom.  So pretty.  For a few days, one apple tree was gorgeous.  (Blast it, didn't get a picture.)  The spirea and peonies are just starting to open up, and the grape hyacinth and tulips are just now beginning to fade.  No evidence of iris or rhododendron  buds.  The flowerbeds are full of tall grass, so everything looks so messy.

An aside, but when we were kids we used to do yard work to earn money.  I always had to earn my own money for 4-H camp.  Where are the young people now? 

The "garden" now consists of two Early Girl, two cherry-type, and one grape-type tomato plants, two kinds of chives, one cilantro, one green bell pepper, one red sweet pepper, some catnip, and for fun a few snapdragons, pansies, a gorgeous hanging basket of petunias and ? (my mother's day & birthday present).  I stuck some garlic cloves around the tomato plants; we'll see if they grow or just rot.  (We container garden.  Everything is by the front porch because it is the warmest spot this time of year and closest to the water spigot.)

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* Whine, whine, whine - don't read if you don't like whining and blood.  Actually, this is kind of funny if you stop to think about it.
Idjit Idiot Stupid Klutz here bunged up her knee. (No doctor, cuz no insurance.)
*  First (sort of three firsts), just getting into daughter's car, I twisted wrong - I knew when I got in that I shouldn't do it the way I was, but I did it anyway.  Then slept on the floor for two nights.  Way too old out of shape for that.  (The air mattress had a leak.)  I was doing pretty well as long as we were packing and moving stuff.  Then I drove home...


*  Second (sort of two seconds), while still hurting and stiff from the first time(s), I went outside to catch an escapee (cat) and twisted my knee again.  Very sore, but manageable.  Then later in the day I just stepped up a step and SNAP.  I thought I was going to faint on that one.  I screamed. (Guess no one heard, because the cops didn't show up.)

* Then yesterday, talk about being just plain dumb, stupid, idiotic.   I had absolutely no business being out on the uneven ground, but I went "chasing" another cat.  (They aren't supposed to be outside, but pull every trick to slip out.)   I hung my cane over the fence to pick up Miss Spooky figuring I could slowly make it back to the house.  I was doing fine until someone went by and turned up their music full blast right as they got in front of the house.  Miss Spooky is aptly named and went scaredy-cat -crazy  to prove it.  Yes, I had her by the nape of the neck, but she twisted and clawed with all four feet, and I twisted trying to get away from her.

So, there I was standing in the middle of the yard half laughing half crying, feeling kind of sick, with blood running down my arm, and I couldn't move.  My cane was twenty-five feet behind me, and the closest door into the house at least forty feet away.  Stood for a few minutes trying to get my senses back, thinking surely someone I knew would drive by and wave.  Nope.  (We live on a busy street.  How come no one was out and about?)


Ah, cell phone was in my pocket and husband was in town. No answer.  Waited several minutes.  Still no one went by the house.  Tried my husband again.  No answer.  By this time, I was getting tired, really shaky, chilly, my feet  were getting cold and wet, and I'm really mad.  (Me get mad at husband? Never. LOL)  I finally called a friend to come and rescue me.  Thank God she was home watching grandchildren, because she doesn't have a cell phone
 
So the rest of the story is that I can go up the stairs, but not down. (Of course, there are two steps to navigate or negotiate with just to put the dogs out.)  I can't squat or get down on the floor.  So what do I do?  I drop almost everything I pick up.  (Getting good at touching  the floor without bending my knees.)  Getting off the, uh, throne, is tricky.  (Now I know why toilets are generally taller in the handicap stalls.)  Luckily, there is now a bed and a half bath downstairs, but I need/want a real shower and it is upstairs as part of a deep bathtub.

Last week in the middle of all this and way past bedtime, LA Dog starts shaking her head and frantically digging at her ears.  I'm trying to put medicine in her ears, but can't hold her because it hurts too much.  She jumps away and heads for the hills, er, cellar.  SPLASH.  She comes tearing back up the stairs spraying "water" everywhere.  She's soaking wet. (Um, really, really bad words.)  When I turned on the light to look there were even more bad words, because there was "water" clear over the bottom step.  So for two days we were without hot water because the water heater was sitting in sewage.  Luckily, the furnace was turned off because there were several inches of water in the bottom of it, too.


So, with everything J has missed roughly the equivalent of three days of work to help me, work on plumbing, and clean up the mess.

That, my friends, is the way our life usually is.  It is always something.

Kitchen questionnaire

Roxanne  posted a meme about her kitchen.  (Click on her name to go to her blog about her kitchen.)  She asked that we join her, so here goes.

First, before we get into this, my kitchen is 17 feet long.  BUT, the main working part is only 8 feet wide and 9 feet long. (It looked much bigger when we were looking at the house.)  Since there are six doors (3 on each end) leading out of and into the kitchen, it is the hallway to the "world". The washer and dryer are also in the kitchen.  Once upon a time, the kitchen had a wood burning cook stove sitting where there is now an opening into the living room.  There is a chimney in one corner.  Sadly, it is just taking up space, because it isn't safe to use.

Welcome to My Kitchen

1. Do you have magnets on your fridge? Yes, several.  All kinds from pretty ones to advertising ones to stainless steel hooks to silly ones to just plain ugly magnets.

2. Do you have a calendar in the kitchen and if so, what is it’s theme? No. 
3. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool? Hmmmm.  I have no idea!  I'm lucky to have all kinds of things to make cooking easier.  I'll go with several:  vegetable peeler, wire whisk, and the cheese grater like the ones used at the table in restaurants. 
4. Are you lucky enough to have a pantry of some kind? Yes!  Ugly, but functional gray metal shelves.  They are in what should be the rec (wreck!) room.  I keep a large, well stocked pantry 'cuz I really dislike going to the grocery store.
 5. What is your favorite appliance? The dishwasher. Oh, yes.  (Roxanne's words!)   If I had one.  Although, what would we do without a stove or refrigerator.  I love the microwave, too.
6. Do you have an eat in kitchen? Nope.  Does eating while standing at the sink or stove count?
7. Do you have a bread box? Yes.  Actually, two, but they haven't yet made it to the kitchen.  No counter space.  There are two metal lined drawers in the kitchen.  One is used for bread.
8. Do you have a picture of your kids on the fridge? I don't remember.  I'll go look.  Okay, no.  I did when I was staying at the other two places (long story), but obviously haven't unpacked them.
9. Do you ever cook breakfast in your pjs? Once in a great while.  I seldom cook breakfast.  Really, tho, I prefer to get dressed before I come downstairs. 
10. Do you have a favorite cookbook? My mom's Better Homes and Garden cookbook from the 1950's.  Just realized it isn't in with the other cookbooks.  Carmen, did you sneak it away????
11. Are you lucky enough to have recipes that were passed down from your mom and grandma? Yes.  Lots of them in their handwriting.  My cousin has my other grandmother's, and she'd share if I asked.  (Although, we  didn't ever really like what she cooked, so this hasn't been a priority.  Sorry, Grandma.  We did like your hamburger pie, though.)
12. What’s your favorite food? BBQ ribs. Smoked BBQ ribs. Southern smoked BBQ ribs cooked in a dive of a restaurant. Um Hm.  I'll agree with Roxanne on this one.  Add just picked from the vine ripe tomatoes and fresh corn on the cob.  Although...bread right out of the oven slathered with real butter and served with Grandma's canned peaches was to just about die for.  Who am I kidding.  I like food. 
13. What’s your favorite thing to cook? I don’t like to cook*. My favorite thing is when someone ELSE cooks!  I'll agree with Roxanne on this one, too. 
14. Is your coffee pot electric or stove top? Electric. It’s a drip coffee maker, but I don't drink or make coffee.  I drink tea. 
15. Do you make your own bread? Sometimes.  *I love to make bread. 
16. Does your kitchen have a theme?   Maybe, if you count ninety years of remodelling and "torn up" a theme.  There are still patches of 90 year old plaster.  The cupboards are from the 40's or 50's.  There are two different sizes of 2x4's, two different thickness of drywall, plywood, exposed lath, 3 or 4 different ages of wall paper, several different colors of paint, holes, bare insulation...
17. Is there a clock in your kitchen? Yes. One on the stove and one on the microwave. 
18. Do you have a bowl of fruit on your table or counter? No, fruit usually just gets set on the counter.
19. What type of canisters do you have? Mine are plastic - harvest gold with mushrooms on the lid.  1975 anyone?  Actually, there is another set of the clear glass ones (Pyrex?) with the 1970's vegetables around the lid, and I have my grandmother's stainless steel bin type ones that I remember her purchasing with Green or Goldstrike stamps.
20. Name one thing you have hanging on the wall in your kitchen.  A fly swatter. lol  (There are other things, but nothing pretty.)
21. What’s for supper tonight? Leftovers - our version of goulash (elbow macaroni, tomatoes, and hamburger).
22. Do you have enough cabinet space? Not even close.

23. Does your family use paper plates? Yes.  We use the cheap ones that can be composted.
24. Do you have a good set of china packed up? Yes. 
25. Do you wear an apron to work in the kitchen?   When I remember.  Roxanne, I'm working on this, too.
26. Name one thing you would change about your kitchen if you could.  Build a new one, but keep my old cupboards.

Join me in sharing about your kitchen!

1908 Radford's design 5072

This is from Radford's Rustic Bungalows The Complete 1908 Catalog, a Dover reprint. (I did not find a copyright anywhere, so hope I'm not infringing.)

Classic exterior



Notice anything strange about the floor plan compared to the picture of the house? (Left click to see a larger view.)



Before I give away the answer, note that the only place for a dining table is in the living room. Tiny area. One bedroom is really small, too. There isn't an inside wall for a piano, either.

I haven't actually researched this, but at a quick glance it looks like $10.00 was the going price for plans for a two bedroom house.






Answer: no stairs to the second floor. So many older homes had large to huge unfinished attics without access to them. Strange.

What it looked like last Saturday

Lovely weather we've been having!

Driving conditions on the Palouse - that black is solid ice (black ice - icy roads that look dry). Saw several cars that had slid off the road. Thank God none of the accidents looked at all serious. Also, thank heavens for a Subaru, good tires, and a good driver (my husband).

Our house. That is frost on the trees and bushes. Yes, the house needs painting. And, yes, the big spruce needs to be cut down but that would be so sad!

Also our yard. The spruce on the right was only about 15 feet tall when we moved into our house. Now, it is almost as big as the one in the picture above.

Frosty tree on the Palouse. (This was taken on my cell phone from a moving car.)

The Palouse is a rolling prairie in western Idaho and eastern Washington. It used to be (and maybe still is) the second largest wheat producing area in the United States. Just don't let these pictures fool you into thinking that Idaho is flat.

Here is a picture of the highway that we have to travel to get to a shopping center:

The highway looks level, but this is actually a fairly steep grade through a canyon. This was taken from my cell phone earlier this month. I was trying to get a picture of the storm on the mountain straight ahead of us.

Since Saturday, we have had more snow, wind, and below zero weather. Today, it is trying to thaw and a tiny bit of blue sky is showing. YAY

The Toilet Seat Won

Last night I was really trying to be so quiet.

My husband went to sleep early (for him) because he had to get up at 2 a.m. to get to a job by 3 a.m. I wasn't ready to go to sleep so I sat in bed and looked at a wonderful picture book (all kinds of neat storage space ideas) until I had to go to the bathroom that one last time before crawling into bed.

Of course, trying to be quiet, I just pushed the bathroom door closed but didn't latch it. I had just finished, stood up, and barely turned to flush when the kitten charged through the door going full speed. She took a flying leap and hit the broken toilet seat. The seat went flying - ricocheting off the bathtub and landing upside down on the floor. The kitten landed in the toilet.

Have you ever heard a flying toilet seat hit a bathtub? Have you ever heard a toilet seat hit the floor? Have you ever heard a cat when it lands in water unexpectedly? Have you ever heard a woman laughing hysterically? (The door probably banged, and I probably screeched, too.)

Yes, I had to give the kitten, the floor, and myself a bath (and change pj's).

Yes, it woke my husband out of a deep sleep.

Revision

I didn't mean for the last post to sound all negative. So, I have gone back and put in plus and minuses. Plus signs equal what I consider good points. Minuses, of course, are negative points. Some negatives in our house can be fixed with a little time, effort, and money. Other negatives can be fixed with a lot of time, money and effort. Others we will just have to live with. I still love my old house.

The Case - continued, and For the Love of My House

The laundry baskets have been found! However, the laundry has not been. The baskets had been buried by piles of bedding.

Houses without linen closets - now there is an example of a man designing versus a woman designing. We live in an at-least-85-year-old house (these are the number of years we can prove). Our old house has walk-in closets under the eaves. The floor space of the closets is huge; I've actually had bedrooms smaller than one of the closets. But, the way the closets are arranged (and lack of headroom) doesn't leave much room for clothes hanging and easy-to-get-to storage. If we want to lose something for several years, we put it in the back of one of the closets. (Tells you how often I clean, doesn't it!!!!) -configuration +size

For the love of old houses, we:
-Live without linen closets.
-Do without grounded wiring in part of the house.
-Live with old plumbing.
-Live with a broken toilet seat that we can't fix (RUST) without changing the whole toilet which really means the whole bathroom would have to be redone because the color (harvest gold) wouldn't match the sink and tub.
+Live with a large bathroom sink which if changed would mean the bathroom vanity would have to be rebuilt. The sink is big enough to bathe a baby in, and it has a sprayer!
+Live with a large, deep, wonderful bathtub/shower.
-Live with no place to store a vacuum cleaner.
-Live without a real coat closet.
-Live with no place to put a TV that doesn't have light shining off of it (or else the TV has to fight the piano for wall space).
+Live with high ceilings in some of the rooms.
-Live with a wet cellar.
-Live with steep, narrow, tilting stairs to the cellar.
-Live with a cellar with a very low head room - 5 feet max in spots.
-Live with steep, narrow stairs to the bedrooms on the second floor.
-Live with a kitchen that was put in the only space left when the house was built. It is very narrow, with limited counter space and cupboards and also is the hallway from an added on "wrecked" room to the rest of the house. It has 6 (count them!) doors in it and really no way to change that.
-Live with a kitchen that originally housed a big cook stove, but not a refrigerator. The kitchen was remodeled in the 40's and some in the 70's, and we made some changes. There still really isn't room for a frig. (Originally, there was a "summer" kitchen housed in a separate building that is now our garage. The garage is more useful because we are lucky to have 3 months of warm weather. Can you imagine the how cold the food must have been by the time the cook got it to the house?)
+Live with a kitchen that has real wood cupboards, shelves, drawer bottoms, sides, and backs. Sure, they are partially plywood, painted, and from the 40's, but they are really sturdy - no plastic!
-Live with a washer and drier in the kitchen. YUCK!
-Live with drafts and high heating bills.
-Live without heat on the second floor (except the bathroom - I insisted it have heat).
- and + Live with fans in all the windows on the second floor during the summer.
+Live with larger than tract home living room/dining room.
+Live with larger than tract home bedrooms.
+Live with a larger than most tract home bathroom.
- and + Live with only one full bathroom. (We do have a 1/2 bath on the main floor. There is a 3/4 bath in the cellar; but we have never tried to fix or use that one. I'm guessing that the sewer line doesn't have enough slope.)
+Live with a huge yard and mature landscaping.
-Live with floors that slope all directions. (Makes life interesting!)
+Live with real wood doors and floors (although they all need refinishing).
-Live with a garage that is too small for most cars.
+Live with indoor and outdoor access to the cellar.
+Live with a living room/dining room that stays cool all summer (except when it stays over 95 degrees for several days - doesn't happen much).
-Live with 2 chimneys that are no longer usable.
+Live in a house where the pipes have never frozen (knock on wood!) even when it was 20 below for 10 days in a row and below zero for 6 weeks one year.)
-Have a crumbling foundation that will probably cost more to fix than the house is worth.
++++Have a reasonable (by today's standard) monthly house payment.
+Have a fairly good floor plan that I would soooo copy if I ever built my own house with adding on a kitchen, pantry, laundry room, 1/2 bath, and ground floor master bedroom w/bath, naturally :).

So with all the negatives, do I want to live in a new home? NO.