It seems like I start many posts here with exclamations like, "Is it really November already? What happened to October" Here we go again!
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My mother and I were on pins and needles all day today waiting to hear the outcome of our attorney's meeting with the medical expert.( Read more... )
As a f3d, I was off work today. Nice mid-week break. Love it! I slept in a little, and headed out to do some errands at lunchtime. First stop: my car guys. I had a little Veteran's Day treat for them. They are all vets, and are always working on Veteran's Day.
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Hello, yall. Sorry I've been so quiet here. October was full of car stuff, and I've written more over at the other place. Things are winding down with all that. My last event is an autocross on November 15th. And to do that, it was back to the shop with the car this week to repair a leaking fuel line. I don't even want to look at the cash I've poured into the car this year. Apparently, however much it is, it's been worth it!
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Is anybody still checking this thing? Sorry I've been such a total slacker. Catch-up to come soon. But first, I'm going to be all obnoxious and I'm going to pimp our pups! Rosie and Tess have entered a Dog of the Week contest sponsored by Kuranda Dog Beds. These are the beds I got back in the spring, the ones that have proven to be indestructible. Not only that, but Rosie and Tess really do love their beds. The vet said Rosie needed to have some support and be up off the floor for her bum knees, and we were never able to create that situation for her because they destroyed every bed we tried until these. If Rosie and Tess win the contest, a Kuranda bed will be donated to Birmingham TEARS in their name. And I think they win a fleece pad (wow, that will be interesting...). If you would be so kind, please go vote for Rosie and Tess for Kuranda Dog Bed Dog of the Week!
Click the pic to Vote!
Click the pic to Vote!
Often when we talk to people about how old our new house is, they make comments involving ghosts. "Wow, it must be full of ghosts!" or "Have you had any ghosts?" I've never thought much about that. I mean, when we looked at the place, I tuned in my super spidey ghost-sensing senses and determined that I didn't get any "bad vibes" anywhere on the property. Nothing gave me the creeps. That was enough for me.
Since moving in, there have been no strange footsteps in the night, chains in the attic, or shadows moving in the corner of my eye (which, in my personal experience, would more likely involve a small rodent than a ghost). Or there hadn't been.
Enter...the metronome.( Read more... )
Since moving in, there have been no strange footsteps in the night, chains in the attic, or shadows moving in the corner of my eye (which, in my personal experience, would more likely involve a small rodent than a ghost). Or there hadn't been.
Enter...the metronome.( Read more... )
Well I've gone and done it. I am signing up for a medical study which is testing a new drug for the treatment of Hidradenitis Suppurativa. As the study documentation says, there is currently no (NO, none, zip, zilch, nada) FDA-approved treatment for HS. This study may help to change that. The benefits of using this stuff look to be good, and they outweigh any side effects according to what's out there. For the first 26 weeks I may get a placebo, but for the last 26 I'll get the real thing. I spent today going from place to place getting all sorts of things checked out. It was exhausting, but I got it all done in one day straight through.
And I got my car checked out on a break between appointments over lunch. I've got a driver's ed event this weekend at the same track where I drove my very first track event last year. I'm really looking forward to it. Rumor has it, My Real Driving Coach will be there. I'm actually supposed to see him after work tomorrow to go for a ride-along. And then again Saturday at the driver's ed thing. My car checked out fine, and my replacement numbers should be here later this week. ( Read more... )
It was awesome and I'm so glad I went. And I do not regret taking the 911, nor do I regret the cost and effort that went into getting it spiffed up before I left. Even though this is what my car looked like in the club corral about midway through Saturday:
Bunch of photos HERE.
And a video, just random video I shot strung together, no music, just sights & scenes from the weekend:
I'm whooped so I'm outta here.
Bunch of photos HERE.
And a video, just random video I shot strung together, no music, just sights & scenes from the weekend:
I'm whooped so I'm outta here.
It's that time of year again, Petit le Mans at Road Atlanta. The weather is presenting all manner of challenges. You can't get there from here by interstate right now. Hopefully they'll be open by the time I head that way on Thursday night or early Friday morning. There are alternate routes, of course. But then I have to decide if I'm driving the sports car or the SUV. I can't get into the car corral or the club area or do parade laps unless I bring the sports car. I've got friends working the course and I'm waiting on a report about the grounds. If it's a bog, I may rethink the whole thing.
Otherwise I'll be having a big heap-o-fun at Road Atlanta this weekend. Woo!
Work sucks. Money is tight. The weather has been nuts and I've been battling ants driven indoors by all the rain. Did I mention that work sucks? Rough times there right now. Time and energy-sucking in a big way.
More to come as travel plans develop - or not.
Otherwise I'll be having a big heap-o-fun at Road Atlanta this weekend. Woo!
Work sucks. Money is tight. The weather has been nuts and I've been battling ants driven indoors by all the rain. Did I mention that work sucks? Rough times there right now. Time and energy-sucking in a big way.
More to come as travel plans develop - or not.
My Tuscaloosa friend, Skip, put together this incredible slideshow memorializing his rescue and photography mission to NYC in the days after 9/11 Check it out. He did another one looking at it five years later.
Birthday Bandito
Well that's what I call a party! I wasn't able to find a suitable crown for DreamGuy, but I found this sombrero, and some mylar letters to smack on the front: "OLD". Hee! He also had a scepter kind of thing that has a button you can push and it makes the most awesome magic-y sound. It was very popular for all manner of uses over the course of the night. ( Read more... )
Click the pic for a guided tour of my fridge!
So there I was standing at the sink, painstakingly carefully peeling boiled eggs under running water, when my cell phone rang. It was my neighbor calling from the venue of the big charity event he'd attended. If I was willing to come get it, a boatload of beer leftover from the event was mine. They had already called earlier to tell me not to buy flowers - they were bringing me the centerpieces to flower up my house for the party. Oh, and I might want some of the food, too.( Read more... )
The weekend in Atlanta was great. The weather could not have been more perfect - 80's, breezy, and low humidity. Well, low as it can be after the torrential rains Friday night. That was one hellish drive, complicated by our attempts to circumvent stretches of interstate slowed down by lane closures and construction. Both times, we ended up bailing out, and backtracking to return to the interstate.
But that aside, it was a great weekend. Wonderful to see our friends at our usual B&B, and fun taking DreamGuy from place to place in East Atlanta and Little Five Points to enjoy some nice meals. DreamGuy definitely got his drink on, and we somehow managed to pick up a cute lesbian bartender along the way. Ha! Well she was our bartender at one place we stopped, and then we were at dinner when she walked up to where we were sitting at the patio bar. Turns out she was there to meet her girlfriend who was a waitress at this place. They were fun (drunk) company for a while.
So now it's all about the big party this weekend. I've just gotten all my obsessive lists together. Of course, I started out saying I was going to keep it simple, no cooking. Except deviled eggs. Over the week, add to that hummus, pasta salad, and baked brie. My sister and her kids arrive Saturday afternoon. My best Atlanta girlfriend and her hubby will arrive also. They're all staying here. I got the last of the "must do" fix-it things taken care of yesterday, and the house got a good cleaning today. I'll try to get most of the shopping done tomorrow (Thursday) night, and most of the cooking done on Friday afternoon. Saturday I'll have to get the cake, ice, and balloons.
We've had maybe 30 folks respond to the eVite that they are coming. And probably that many more who've emailed and called to say they're coming. I'm thinking we should expect 75-100 people. It's hard to tell. But it's shaping up to be a great gathering of friends. I designed the cake myself, and had planned to bake it and execute the design myself. But I bailed on that at the last minute when my idea outgrew my personal skillset. Me taking my first foray with fondant for DreamGuy's 50th birthday cake = recipe for disaster. I've left it to the professionals! It's coming from a bakery known for their delicious cakes, and this one will be all chocolate.
So I feel like a celebrity, what the the mention on internet rock star Robyn's site and all. Woohoo! I was up in her neck of the woods on Monday, chasing witnesses hither and yon, with marginal success. I had gotten in touch ahead of time to arrange to get some eggs and a couple of their home-grown and home-processed chickens. I almost called Robyn last night as I was putting a chicken casserole together. That is some yummy chicken! Even stewed, it's a little more stout than store-bought commercially processed meat. But it tastes great, and I like knowing where it came from. Thanks Fred & Robyn! Hey if I had known you had cherry tomatoes on the premises, I'd have knocked you over to get to them! It's been a slow summer for tomatoes. Oh and I have to say - Jake and Elwood? ADORABLE. I guess all kittens are adorable, and really, how do you keep from complete and total adorable kitten overload??
We're off to Atlanta for the weekend. Watch the flickr page for photos uploaded from the road. Assuming we see something worth capturing - we always seem to. Catch you on the other side!
Well howdy, yall. I've not been around here much, have I? It's been a busy time. And in my "spare" time, I have actually been writing in another venue. I've been there a little more often than here lately.
The Crooked Acres eggs were a big hit, served deviled-style at my office party on Friday night. That's the first of two parties in two weeks here. On the weekend in bewteen (this coming weekend) we're going to Atlanta. On the 29th, we're having a 50th birthday bash for DreamGuy, and an open-house kind of thing to celebrate and share our new digs. The Crooked Acres Chernobyl Cherry Jam was a big hit also, by the way, served atop a baked brie en croute. De-lish!
I'm trying to get more sleep, so I'm just popping in here to say hello. Hello!
The Crooked Acres eggs were a big hit, served deviled-style at my office party on Friday night. That's the first of two parties in two weeks here. On the weekend in bewteen (this coming weekend) we're going to Atlanta. On the 29th, we're having a 50th birthday bash for DreamGuy, and an open-house kind of thing to celebrate and share our new digs. The Crooked Acres Chernobyl Cherry Jam was a big hit also, by the way, served atop a baked brie en croute. De-lish!
I'm trying to get more sleep, so I'm just popping in here to say hello. Hello!
Bella asked in the comments if I was going to stop at Bitchypoo-land while I am up there in the coming weeks. Been there, done that! I was just there in the past week or so, and Robyn was, as always, the consummate hostess. We took a walk about the grounds, I got some George & Gracie lovin, and we watched some chicken-sex. Awesome! ha! I'd gone up under the pretense of buying some eggs (aigs!). I really did need some eggs, but I needed a break from my crazy work schedule up there even more. Nothing like rocking on the Crooked Acres front porch, glass of iced tea in hand, listening to chicken sex.
Did I hand Robyn the camera to take a picture of me? No, I did not. Did I include Robyn in the picture I took? Why no, I did not. Could I have been making a dopier face when I took this photo? Yeah, probably.
I've been experimenting in the kitchen and this weekend's project was a winner I am definitely going to call Figgy Piggy. Let's see if I can put the actual recipe together:
FIGGY PIGGY
4 pork chops, 1.5", with a pocket cut into each
STUFFING
12 small fresh figs, chopped fine
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 T cherry habanero jam
1/4 c yellow onion chopped fine
2 T green onions chopped fine
1/4 c mushrooms chopped fine
1/2 c mild cheese, finely shredded
1/4 t each fresh ground salt & pepper
1/4 C walnuts, chopped fine
2 T butter, softened
1 T ea fresh thyme, basil, rosemary, your choice one, all or none
Mix above together until it just holds shape in your hand; adjust butter more or less to get it to form into a ball or patty
Divide the stuffing into 4 portions and stuff each chop with a portion. Season chops liberally on each side with salt & pepper. Heat 2T oil in a skillet and sear the chops, about 2 min on each side. Place chops into baking dish and bake at 350 30 minutes. Reserve fat in skillet for sauce.
FIG GLAZE
12 small fresh figs, halved
1/4 c yellow onion chopped fine
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 c red wine
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 c broth or water
1 T cherry habanero jam
Saute onions in skillet until they begin to soften, add garlic and saute another minute or two until garlic softens. Add figs, toss gently over medium heat until figs begin to stick. Add vinegar, then deglaze the pan with 1 c red wine, scraping all the bits from the bottom of the pan. Add water or broth and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and simmer very gently about 30 minutes to reduce by half. Add cherry habanero jam and work it in as it melts.
Remove chops from the oven, pour sauce over, return to oven for 10 minutes. Remove, let sit 10 minutes before serving.
Cook's notes: I forgot the walnuts, and would like to try it with pine nuts or pistachios. It's fine with no nuts. For bread crumbs, I toasted a handful of stale bread crusts and pulverized them. The taste ended up being a bit strong - next time I'd use a better bread, or Panko-style crumbs. Extra stuffing can be formed into a patty and baked along with the chops. I didn't have balsamic vinegar, so I substituted balsamic vinaigrette, worked fine (Paul Newman brand). For the cheese, I used Publix brand six cheese Italian blend. For the jam, of course, I had on hand Crooked Acres Chernobyl Cherry Habanero Jam (currently sold out, sorry!). Hot stuff, indeed! I imagine any hot/sweet jam or sauce would do here, even perhaps your basic pepper jelly.
Did I hand Robyn the camera to take a picture of me? No, I did not. Did I include Robyn in the picture I took? Why no, I did not. Could I have been making a dopier face when I took this photo? Yeah, probably.
I've been experimenting in the kitchen and this weekend's project was a winner I am definitely going to call Figgy Piggy. Let's see if I can put the actual recipe together:
FIGGY PIGGY
4 pork chops, 1.5", with a pocket cut into each
STUFFING
12 small fresh figs, chopped fine
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 T cherry habanero jam
1/4 c yellow onion chopped fine
2 T green onions chopped fine
1/4 c mushrooms chopped fine
1/2 c mild cheese, finely shredded
1/4 t each fresh ground salt & pepper
1/4 C walnuts, chopped fine
2 T butter, softened
1 T ea fresh thyme, basil, rosemary, your choice one, all or none
Mix above together until it just holds shape in your hand; adjust butter more or less to get it to form into a ball or patty
Divide the stuffing into 4 portions and stuff each chop with a portion. Season chops liberally on each side with salt & pepper. Heat 2T oil in a skillet and sear the chops, about 2 min on each side. Place chops into baking dish and bake at 350 30 minutes. Reserve fat in skillet for sauce.
FIG GLAZE
12 small fresh figs, halved
1/4 c yellow onion chopped fine
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 c red wine
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 c broth or water
1 T cherry habanero jam
Saute onions in skillet until they begin to soften, add garlic and saute another minute or two until garlic softens. Add figs, toss gently over medium heat until figs begin to stick. Add vinegar, then deglaze the pan with 1 c red wine, scraping all the bits from the bottom of the pan. Add water or broth and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and simmer very gently about 30 minutes to reduce by half. Add cherry habanero jam and work it in as it melts.
Remove chops from the oven, pour sauce over, return to oven for 10 minutes. Remove, let sit 10 minutes before serving.
Cook's notes: I forgot the walnuts, and would like to try it with pine nuts or pistachios. It's fine with no nuts. For bread crumbs, I toasted a handful of stale bread crusts and pulverized them. The taste ended up being a bit strong - next time I'd use a better bread, or Panko-style crumbs. Extra stuffing can be formed into a patty and baked along with the chops. I didn't have balsamic vinegar, so I substituted balsamic vinaigrette, worked fine (Paul Newman brand). For the cheese, I used Publix brand six cheese Italian blend. For the jam, of course, I had on hand Crooked Acres Chernobyl Cherry Habanero Jam (currently sold out, sorry!). Hot stuff, indeed! I imagine any hot/sweet jam or sauce would do here, even perhaps your basic pepper jelly.
I hate this picture, but wanted to give my three loyal readers a look at my new hair-do. I didn't think it was that big a change, really. Until I went to see my nail tech, the one who did my pedicures for oh, nine years before I left Tuscaloosa two months ago. She did not recognize me until I spoke to her, same with the shop manager. Later, I stopped at another store where I've known the clerk for many years. I walked in and said, "Hey girl!" and she looked at me blankly before exclaiming how she didn't recognize me. Hmm...
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On the 4th of July, we could see the fireworks from our guest room window.
Yes, we got unpacked - mostly! I conquered the mountain of kitchen boxes that took up most of the dining room, and got the kitchen sorted first. I found a good-enough china cabinet on Craigslist, with immediately delivery being its most attractive feature. The home-done carving is...interesting, either charming or hideous, depending the mood I'm in when I look at it. Then we moved the art to the space where the kitchen boxes were, and that freed up the living room to be set up. Then I assembled a bajillion bookcases and we unpacked books and cds all over the place. Then I got some spacesaver bags and started trying to compress all the bed linens for storage. Then it was time to start hanging art!
( Read more... )
Yes, we got unpacked - mostly! I conquered the mountain of kitchen boxes that took up most of the dining room, and got the kitchen sorted first. I found a good-enough china cabinet on Craigslist, with immediately delivery being its most attractive feature. The home-done carving is...interesting, either charming or hideous, depending the mood I'm in when I look at it. Then we moved the art to the space where the kitchen boxes were, and that freed up the living room to be set up. Then I assembled a bajillion bookcases and we unpacked books and cds all over the place. Then I got some spacesaver bags and started trying to compress all the bed linens for storage. Then it was time to start hanging art!
( Read more... )
Did I forget to post here that I drove at Barber a week ago? The Saturday after the Friday we closed on the house, I was off to Barber for a high performance driver's ed weekend. The photographer got some nice shots of my car, and I'll be able to post them directly once I get the cd, but in the meantime, you can check them out by clicking HERE.
It was super duper awesomely fun! I am improving, if slowly. My instructor this last time was so encouraging and positive. And he helped me figure something out. It's not that I'm afraid to go fast. I do love to go fast! But I start to lift way early as I approach the corners, especially the tough ones, because I'm not at all confident with my braking. Braking on the race track is completely backward from what we do on the street. You basically stand on the brake as hard as you can short of locking them up (no anti-lock on my old car).
I know this somewhere deep down, recalling how my helmet has bounced off many a windshield upon application of the brakes at speed with a real racer at the wheel. It's one of those things I worked out early on, and forgot from lack of use. My driving coach came to visit me in the paddock before I went out on Saturday, and he swears we're going to get some time to work together in July. I won't hold my breath, but it would be fantastic to get over that hump. All that said, I did pretty well. I got passed a lot, but I wasn't the only one. I held my own in the corners, but was overpowered in the straights. There were several cars who stayed behind me for entire sessions. I have several complete sections of the track worked out very well, but I still get a little rattled with lots of traffic around me. Once I get a handle on that, I'll be ready for a check-ride, and then a solo driver once I'm checked off. I'm in no hurry for that, but it's out there.
In other news, I got the cabinet and shelves home from Sam's, DreamGuy and I and a dolly hefted them into the house, and I got those puppies put together and pressed into use.
My search for bookcases for my office was fruitless on Saturday, but on Sunday we hit some discount furniture places (headboard! score!) and finally, Target. There, I found what looked like they'd be good enough bookcases for me: two five shelf units, two three shelf units. It was hell getting the huge boxes into the car, and then quadruple hell once we were home getting them into the house and up the stairs.
Then it was time to put them together. These bookcases could not be a bigger pain in the ass, and if I read the instructions correctly, they whole unit can hold a maximum of 65 pounds? For real? I'll have to be sure they're well-anchored, and see if they don't explode under the weight of the boxes of books I have planned for them.
And then there's the sheet music. I thought tonight about finding some young violin student or new violin teacher to give the whole mess to. It's all my study books from my very first beginner book to the last, a collection of Paganini etudes (which I could never, ever play), all my solo and chamber group sheet music, and all my orchestra parts and excerpt books used to prepare for orchestral auditions. Lots of it has tremendous sentimental value, but it's been doing nothing more than gathering dust for years, and I just don't know if it's worth trying to find a place for. I'll get to the bottom of the rest and see how I feel about it down the line.
The new kitchen shelves are seriously loaded down, and I'm maybe a third of the way through the boxes. I still don't know what I'm going to do with dishes and glasses. There is literally no good place for them in the current set-up. If I can easily find some sliding shelves, that will do the trick in a lower cabinet, but the sizes are odd, and it's all a bit more involved than I hoped it'd be. So all my dishes and glasses remain boxed, but I'm working my way through the rest of everything else. The spices are in. The bakeware and gadgets are finding their homes. The seldom-used small appliances are lining up nicely. I'm still curious about where a few things are, but no sense wondering much until I dig out from under the mountain of boxes. I'm sure it's all in there...somewhere.
As usual, I'm all turned around sleep-wise. I was up half of last night unpacking, then I slept in this morning, and had another exhausting day today. After spending the evening wrestling with assembling those PITA bookcases, I dug into some more kitchen boxes. When I heard the dogs getting restless, I brought them out for a late romp, and I've got the laptop set up on the table back here. It's so nice out late at night. The rest of the time, it's insufferably hot and humid these days.
Tomorrow I work at home, and I'd thought I'd get a jump-start on a report I need to finish up, but I started here, and you see where that got us!
It was super duper awesomely fun! I am improving, if slowly. My instructor this last time was so encouraging and positive. And he helped me figure something out. It's not that I'm afraid to go fast. I do love to go fast! But I start to lift way early as I approach the corners, especially the tough ones, because I'm not at all confident with my braking. Braking on the race track is completely backward from what we do on the street. You basically stand on the brake as hard as you can short of locking them up (no anti-lock on my old car).
I know this somewhere deep down, recalling how my helmet has bounced off many a windshield upon application of the brakes at speed with a real racer at the wheel. It's one of those things I worked out early on, and forgot from lack of use. My driving coach came to visit me in the paddock before I went out on Saturday, and he swears we're going to get some time to work together in July. I won't hold my breath, but it would be fantastic to get over that hump. All that said, I did pretty well. I got passed a lot, but I wasn't the only one. I held my own in the corners, but was overpowered in the straights. There were several cars who stayed behind me for entire sessions. I have several complete sections of the track worked out very well, but I still get a little rattled with lots of traffic around me. Once I get a handle on that, I'll be ready for a check-ride, and then a solo driver once I'm checked off. I'm in no hurry for that, but it's out there.
In other news, I got the cabinet and shelves home from Sam's, DreamGuy and I and a dolly hefted them into the house, and I got those puppies put together and pressed into use.
My search for bookcases for my office was fruitless on Saturday, but on Sunday we hit some discount furniture places (headboard! score!) and finally, Target. There, I found what looked like they'd be good enough bookcases for me: two five shelf units, two three shelf units. It was hell getting the huge boxes into the car, and then quadruple hell once we were home getting them into the house and up the stairs.
Then it was time to put them together. These bookcases could not be a bigger pain in the ass, and if I read the instructions correctly, they whole unit can hold a maximum of 65 pounds? For real? I'll have to be sure they're well-anchored, and see if they don't explode under the weight of the boxes of books I have planned for them.
And then there's the sheet music. I thought tonight about finding some young violin student or new violin teacher to give the whole mess to. It's all my study books from my very first beginner book to the last, a collection of Paganini etudes (which I could never, ever play), all my solo and chamber group sheet music, and all my orchestra parts and excerpt books used to prepare for orchestral auditions. Lots of it has tremendous sentimental value, but it's been doing nothing more than gathering dust for years, and I just don't know if it's worth trying to find a place for. I'll get to the bottom of the rest and see how I feel about it down the line.
The new kitchen shelves are seriously loaded down, and I'm maybe a third of the way through the boxes. I still don't know what I'm going to do with dishes and glasses. There is literally no good place for them in the current set-up. If I can easily find some sliding shelves, that will do the trick in a lower cabinet, but the sizes are odd, and it's all a bit more involved than I hoped it'd be. So all my dishes and glasses remain boxed, but I'm working my way through the rest of everything else. The spices are in. The bakeware and gadgets are finding their homes. The seldom-used small appliances are lining up nicely. I'm still curious about where a few things are, but no sense wondering much until I dig out from under the mountain of boxes. I'm sure it's all in there...somewhere.
As usual, I'm all turned around sleep-wise. I was up half of last night unpacking, then I slept in this morning, and had another exhausting day today. After spending the evening wrestling with assembling those PITA bookcases, I dug into some more kitchen boxes. When I heard the dogs getting restless, I brought them out for a late romp, and I've got the laptop set up on the table back here. It's so nice out late at night. The rest of the time, it's insufferably hot and humid these days.
Tomorrow I work at home, and I'd thought I'd get a jump-start on a report I need to finish up, but I started here, and you see where that got us!
The last entry sat posted as "private" when I meant to go back and make it public long ago. Sorry bout that.
To catch up, we did close on the house, a week ago today. Halleluia! While I did end up paying that $400, I still came out ahead due to another change in another part of the overall transaction.
We have a rental fridge and are still scouring the universe for an affordable unit that will fit into the bizarrely small place carved out for a fridge in our postage-stamp-sized kitchen. But today I did pin down a storage solution, and tomorrow at least the elements will be in house. I will have to do some assembly and get help placing the pieces, but by this time tomorrow night I hope to have the things in place so that I can start unpacking and setting up the kitchen. I have yet to do anything but microwave leftovers in my new kitchen. We've not even done a first grocery shopping.
Since I'm sure you're dying to know, after examining a whole gaggle of options, from custom shelving to installed shelving systems to Ikea units to Home Depot track shelving where I landed was commercial kitchen storage. The sizes I need are kind of odd (no surprise there) so I wasn't able to find what I needed at the local restaurant salvage place. The guy there kindly directed me to Sam's, where the angels sang! I'm getting an 18" deep X 48" wide 6-shelf chrome wire unit, and a 36" wide x 18" deep 2 door stainless steel storage cabinet. I may or may not put the doors on it.
It's going to be tight in there, especially once all the stuff is loaded in. And my dryer opens the wrong way, so it's all kind of ridiculous. But it is what it is, and it's way past time to get out of boxes and start really settling in here. I had a couple of movers come over this afternoon to help me get some huge pieces up and down the stairs, and from the front porch to the back, to their final destinations. It took me awhile to decide where to put things, but that much we have pretty much down as of today.
The huge wardrobe boxes with our hanging clothes are finally getting emptied into our newly outfitted closets. Now I have half the living room piled up with empty boxes, half of which need breaking down. The other part of the living room is full of our art. Once we get the boxes all unpacked or stashed, we'll finally be ready to decide what art is going to go where.
Right now I've got my laptop set up on the Alabama art table on the back deck under the gazebo. The red art sofa is out back here now, too. The dogs are milling about, and the summer bugs are making a great big racket. Our house backs up to a quiet corner of a private park, and it's really nice back here. We have everything oriented to minimize the part of the view that looks toward the parking lot of the apartments next door.
To catch up, we did close on the house, a week ago today. Halleluia! While I did end up paying that $400, I still came out ahead due to another change in another part of the overall transaction.
We have a rental fridge and are still scouring the universe for an affordable unit that will fit into the bizarrely small place carved out for a fridge in our postage-stamp-sized kitchen. But today I did pin down a storage solution, and tomorrow at least the elements will be in house. I will have to do some assembly and get help placing the pieces, but by this time tomorrow night I hope to have the things in place so that I can start unpacking and setting up the kitchen. I have yet to do anything but microwave leftovers in my new kitchen. We've not even done a first grocery shopping.
Since I'm sure you're dying to know, after examining a whole gaggle of options, from custom shelving to installed shelving systems to Ikea units to Home Depot track shelving where I landed was commercial kitchen storage. The sizes I need are kind of odd (no surprise there) so I wasn't able to find what I needed at the local restaurant salvage place. The guy there kindly directed me to Sam's, where the angels sang! I'm getting an 18" deep X 48" wide 6-shelf chrome wire unit, and a 36" wide x 18" deep 2 door stainless steel storage cabinet. I may or may not put the doors on it.
It's going to be tight in there, especially once all the stuff is loaded in. And my dryer opens the wrong way, so it's all kind of ridiculous. But it is what it is, and it's way past time to get out of boxes and start really settling in here. I had a couple of movers come over this afternoon to help me get some huge pieces up and down the stairs, and from the front porch to the back, to their final destinations. It took me awhile to decide where to put things, but that much we have pretty much down as of today.
The huge wardrobe boxes with our hanging clothes are finally getting emptied into our newly outfitted closets. Now I have half the living room piled up with empty boxes, half of which need breaking down. The other part of the living room is full of our art. Once we get the boxes all unpacked or stashed, we'll finally be ready to decide what art is going to go where.
Right now I've got my laptop set up on the Alabama art table on the back deck under the gazebo. The red art sofa is out back here now, too. The dogs are milling about, and the summer bugs are making a great big racket. Our house backs up to a quiet corner of a private park, and it's really nice back here. We have everything oriented to minimize the part of the view that looks toward the parking lot of the apartments next door.
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sisterkatherine- sisterkatherine
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