Memories To Take With Me

I took a walk last Saturday to the edge of the backyard at Gopher Hill Place. This yard served as the backdrop for so many weddings, family and church gatherings, and baseball games with the grandboys. It is parklike and lovely on a sunny Spring day.

The master bedroom looks very different without any furniture. I loved the arched windows in this room, but it made it very difficult to sleep in on the weekends with the sunbeams shining through.

Early Saturday morning I got up (out of my sleeping bag because all the furniture has been moved out) and walked into my favorite room of the house. The early morning light streaming through the dining room was gorgeous. This was one of those dining rooms that got a LOT of use! Many, many family gatherings and wedding receptions took place here. Beautiful memories.

This post is mostly for my sake. I will take these memories with me of a place that I loved and that loved me back.

How To Live Without A Refrigerator

See that thing sticking out in the middle of the kitchen? That's my non-working refrigerator, and there's a story to tell. We have been without a refrigerator in this home since we moved in on March 22. The little house we are renting came with all the kitchen appliances except for one, a refrigerator. This was a dilemma. We have a sale pending on our beloved Gopher Hill home and when we signed the papers the buyers requested the inclusion of all kitchen appliances. Of course, no problem! It wasn't until I took my first walk-thru with the landlord and saw a big hole between cabinets that usually is intended for a refrigerator that I realized we now not only didn't have a fridge, we no longer owned a fridge. So immediately we started the search on Craigslist for anyone selling a fairly new, slightly used model. We found one. Our search was over. Just one problem, we had to drive 2 hours in our pickup truck to get it. We got it home, and with a call for unloading help to our landlord, got it in place. It ran fine for almost one whole day. Then, the interior started getting warmer and warmer. We called the guy we purchased it from, and he apologized and said there must be a certain part that was going out and he would get it for us and overnight it to us. Guess who is still waiting for that "overnighted" part? Look again at my photo up here. See the little, red cooler on the counter? That's my current replacement. It's a good thing it's just hubby and me for meals around here. The following 2 questions are what I ask myself everyday:

What can I make for dinner out of all non-perishable ingredients?

What can I make for dinner that won't yield any leftovers that have to be refrigerated?

Here are my answers:

1.) I found a recipe for fatfree muffins that requires no eggs or dairy. They really aren't bad.

2.) I have a lot of canned chili in my pantry, so I buy 2 potatoes at the store and bake them. Then I put half a can of chili on each potato as a main dish. I still have carrots from my garden at Gopher Hill which I store in the garage to keep cool. We eat a lot of raw carrot sticks!

3.) Top Ramen is a staple...just like back in college.

4.) We eat out often. Costco is a cheap date for dinner.

It sure will be nice when we get this issue resolved! It's a good thing that I love camping, because this feels like camping suburban-style.

Where's Waldo? See if you can guess where I went yesterday. Here are some clues:

did you guess?

I will be leaving our little cottage today for a brief roadtrip. Stay tuned!

My Toile Bedroom

I finished the toile drapery and curtains in the master bedroom and master bath. The bedroom has a large window that was already outfitted with pink blinds. Eventually I will replace these with something like a matchstick or bamboo shade for texture. (They really don't look as pink in person as in the photo. Yikes!)

One wall has a very long and very narrow window that only serves the purpose to let in light. I covered it with a piece of muslin gathered at the top and the bottom. Then, I covered a piece of cardboard with the toile and added some black fringe to give it a little pizzazz at the top. The window still lets in plenty of light, but now gives us privacy. No fishbowl look in the middle of the night! I had enough fabric left over to cover the two lamps on either side of the master bed. They were the rectangular Asian ones I have had in the past two houses.

Hubby likes the fact that the room looks cozy, comfy and not frilly. Me, too!

My Toile Obsession

I have always loved toile. It's so classic and comes in so many variations. I especially love the ones with country scenes on them, and when I found this Waverly fabric on sale for a fraction of its regular retail price I grabbed it up!

My new house is a basic builder's tract-type house. Nothing special. It's an adjustment for me, for sure. But I want to give it the feel of a comfy cottage in the French countryside. ( I can dream, can't I?!)

So yesterday, armed with my recently acquired toile fabric, I made curtains for the master bedroom and bathroom. Anyone who knows me knows I can't sew. However, give me a glue gun, safety pins, and some fusible webbing and my creative juices flow! About 15 years ago I made a sofa slipcover out of a queen-size bedsheet that had a floral pattern on it that I just adored. I cut the sheet to fit the sofa and pinned it in place. No one ever knew I hadn't sewn it, unless I told them. Of course, I let a few in on my clever secret.

Now my bedroom and bathroom windows have beautiful toile fabric that I glued over the top of some green drapes that hung in the family room of the Gopher Hill house. Anyone remember those?

I plan to get pictures of these toile lovelies up on my blog as soon as I can solve the camera/computer cable issue. Grrrrr! Stay tuned.