Cat Meets Mouse House

Harry was full of his usual boundless enthusiasm when I prepared to embellish the cat entry to the basement.

You can see Max's eyes peeking up through the entry.

Behold An almost Kitchen

I think I bought this house because the kitchen was a challenge.

For starters it looked like an afterthought. The person who surely roughed out the house plan on a paper napkin must have exclaimed, "Holy cow, I forgot the kitchen," and doodled in a little jog.

A brief trip down the narrow hall from the entry, a sharp turn left and in the blink of an eye is the kitchen, sharing space with stairs leading up, stairs leading down and sliders leading out.

It's something realtors would be hard-pressed to describe as a "gourmet kitchen," and when you think of it that has no meaning anyway.

There are no lower cupboards to speak of aside from the one directly under the sink and we know that means pipes and there's a narrow space meant for cookie sheets and other skinny things. In all fairness, they did remember to add upper cupboards.

What made it work is a purchase made after a hasty trip to Ikea, three towns over,bringing home something I lovingly call The Autopsy Cart. This cart has an excellent work surface and below it holds staples like flour, sugar, baskets of necessities like garbage bags and meat thermometer, that kind of stuff.

My daughter loyally offered to paint the room recently so it is no longer has that dark rust shade that made me want to cry.

Once I cracked the efficiency code, I was able to prepare and serve a fussy meal for a dozen, although I prefer a few less.

Here is the working corner with the cart in the lower right corner.


And here are the formerly pink vertical blinds that I painted.


On to the next project.

Lorrie's Chair

Lorrie's chair needed a new seat and I opted to re-do it as a birthday gift.

This also gave me an excuse to buy an electric staple gun.

Here's the thing about staple guns- they fire at will. Okay, maybe I have an itchy trigger finger but it was perilous work and it's a miracle that I still have working fingers.

Back to the chair.What could be so difficult? You take off the old stuff and use it as a pattern and there you go.

Well, there were four layers plus of stuff that had fused together over the years. Not only that, but whoever worked on it last had taken a thick pice of foam and shaved it, with a razor, to give it pleasing curves.

This was the moment I considered diving into a snowbank without giving the rescue dogs advance notice.

Anyway, I adapted and it turned out pretty well.

Now I have this niggling fear that someone will sit on the chair and a zillion staples will fly out.

Here are the before and afters.

Winter is Back

Winter returned yesterday.

The freezing rain looked deceptively tame unless you were driving and tried to come to a stop.

That would be me.

Here's the back deck this this morning.


This was also the moment the cats made a run for it and we were straight out of vaudeville, me in my robe and bare feet and those furry beasts chortling while I slid after them.

Grounded.

Harry's Quest

Harry's quest in life is to nap close to any household action.
He seems to have found a good location today.
Too bad if you want to brush your teeth.

So Where Is Winter?

Not that I'm complaining, but the poor pond fish might start whining soon.

They have been interrupted from their winter nap by our unseasonably mild weather.

I took this photo a few minutes ago.



Hang in there kids; I'm sure winter has a few surprises for us yet. Doesn't it always?

It's Over

This is the down side of decorating the house for Christmas.

Eventually all this stuff has to be stored away neatly so that next year won't be a nightmare.
My daughter boasts that she can store all her decorations in one carton, but we all know that mothers and daughters are diametrically opposed anyway so that makes sense.My stuff takes up a third of the basement.
It has taken me two days so far.
Tomorrow, if I stick with it, the place will have its normal everyday look and the shelves in the basement will have neatly labelled boxes. That last box is labelled, "flotsam," and contains the things I didn't spot in time to pack properly.
Personally I like the decorating part much better.