New table top

I must have been taking a picture of the rug, in this old kitchen picture. Obviously the chairs are missing. But it really shows the rest of the kitchen. The old table top was laminate and green. It looked huge when we built the house. When my kids and their attachments are here and my brother’s family is here, it was not big enough.

Lighting is not good here, but it shows placement.

The base stayed the same, but I switched out the table top this week. The color changed and it went from 3’x7’ to 4’x8’.

It looks like there are just four chairs on each side, but there is an old bench my grandpa made, tucked down between the island and the table. He would be thrilled and we have wondered if it is the last bench (of many he made) surviving in the family. It is older than I am, but a woodworking friend checked and it is sound.

The bench at the bottom of the stairs, just visible in this (above) picture, can be pulled up to the near end of the table. So it now easily seats 12. I bought two new chairs, if you notice there were previously three on each side. They are mismatched on purpose. There are three color variations.

The table used to be housed up against the island. It now has four rounded corners and stands, free floating in the middle of the kitchen. When the ceiling fan/light dies, I will replace it with something long that is centered  over the table better.

Notice the white bench, under the picture rails, has been relocated (to the front porch). And the two shelves on either side of the bench have been removed too. There are several other things, not visible in the angle of these pictures, that have been decluttered too.  The black thing with a basket on top, at the end of the island, is a small refrigerator.

I attempted to replace this table top last year. The original firm, that did my kitchen and bathrooms when we built this house, was too busy to be bothered. I called them again a couple weeks ago and they were still too busy to be bothered. I called a couple other places too. Ditto.

Then I sent a text to ask if friends knew of a laminate guy. Someone did. And when I called him, he stopped by within 2 hours and looked at the project and then even with two deaths in his family this month, got my table top done and installed.

I am very pleased.

If you have a child who loved The Little House books/TV series

Then please introduce them to Louisa May Alcott.

I think of all her books, Eight Cousins was my favorite.

Little Women is the most famous, but Little Men is just as good, in my opinion.

And if you have someone in your life who loved the Little House TV series, they will probably love this Little Men version on Prime.

There are two seasons, over 20 episodes, so it is more than a movie. And while old, well done for its time, very similar to the Little House feel.

Rethinking

I found a lovely old 22” stand for free a couple weeks ago.

Probably it was originally meant for newspapers or magazines.

My mom scrubbed it up for me. And I thought about keeping it.

The stand spent a couple days holding remotes in the living room, which was actually a great purpose  for it.

Then I took a hard look at the remotes. Two I use every day. And those live on the loveseat with me.

The remote for the DVD player now lives on the player because a DVD needs inserted and then the remote can be used.

And I took 4 old cable remotes back to the cable company.

 And I am selling the stand.






On a similar note, last week I eliminated a bag I had packed for car travel. It was a magnet for stuff and never used. I put packages of Kleenex and pens and paper and other things away.

I also cleaned up the basket I keep near the back door. I got  it down to necessities like my tiny cross body and sunglasses and lumbar pillow.

And then I cleaned the old silver casseroles out of the corner cupboard behind the backdoor. I am selling them. With Thanksgiving coming, someone might be interested. My kids are not.

And I found two small plastic baskets in the attic. I put my daily use things in them and now they have clean, hidden, easy access home in the bottom of the cupboard.

I sit on the bottom of the stairs to put on shoes it boots and the cupboard is right there to grab sunglasses or ear buds.

And my bench can stay empty.

Because really the only way to have a clean bench, is to keep it empty.

And I find myself doing this again and again as I declutter. Think, rethink, think again.

At one time I had a lot out and available near the backdoor. The dog walking coats went to hooks in the garage. The basket of gathered things is now in the corner cupboard. Etc. The area by the backdoor is now very clutter free. And that makes a huge difference.

Another spot for holiday decorations

This little “window box” hangs on my back kitchen wall, between window and stove.

It is very sturdy, mounted on wall with L brackets.

I had odds and ends in it, which were not worthy of the space.

The chicken pair is staying on top.

I am planning to rotate the inside shelves with the holidays.

It gives me one more place to display *seasonal things.

It is a great place for small things.

* plus: back door, island, 3  bathroom counters.

Cubbies in use

The basket holds dog towels (wet dogs, muddy feet). This basket used to be in the house. This spot is much more practical.

There are hooks on the wall just above the basket with all the other dog things (leashes, outside toys, plastic bags).

The vacuum is new. Works on carpet/rugs or hard flooring. I use it on garage rugs, kitchen rugs, front porch rugs, kitchen/hall floor.

Vacuum now lives right next to the backdoor. Very handy. The rugs just inside and outside the door (between the house and the garage) are my most vacuumed spots.

Empty drawer

I mentioned we added a tool cabinet in the garage several weeks ago.

Previously all the tools and supplies were stored in clear shoe box bins in garage.

Many people would think that was organized, but in reality it meant digging thru bins to find things.

One of my neighbors had a tool cabinet slightly smaller than the one we now have. And when I saw it in their garage, years ago, I was surprised. They are not very handy. They do NO diy of any kind. I doubt they open that tool cabinet once a month, maybe not even once a quarter.

But that planted the seed, regular people can have bigger tool cabinets. And how handy that would be for us.

Fast forward. We have a tool cabinet. I attached the wheels and sorted thru everything and filled it. I got rid of what was not cabinet worthy. (We now have a work bench with an empty/ready surface. I cleaned out and reorganized the cupboards in the garage too.)

I am in and out of our tool cabinet pretty much every day. It was a very smart addition.

Before we had the tool cabinet, during a kitchen drawer clean out (maybe in the last couple years), I added a tool drawer to the kitchen. And at the time, it was so handy. Instead of going out to the garage and digging thru bins, a tape measure or hammer or screwdriver was right there in a drawer.

Yesterday I emptied that drawer. I put the keepers in the garage tool cabinet. I packed a donate bag.

If I want anything, I can just walk out to the garage and get it. Having all the  tools in drawers in the garage is pretty much as handy as a few things in the kitchen.

I have had other empty drawers and shelves in various rooms. Sometimes for long stretches. And it a nice feeling.

I am in no hurry to fill it. If a need presents itself, it is available.

And actually there is a second drawer which I am considering. Because now that I have the post office cubbies in the computer room, this drawer in the kitchen may be able to be at least reduced too.

28 days

Both daughters (with me) put together lists of meals.

One list (14 dinners) is vegetarian (my youngest, my niece, niece’s boyfriend). The other list (28 dinners/4 weeks) is regular.

The (4) regular week list mostly contain dinners with chicken and turkey. Fish is included once a week. Beef appears once every other week. One pork dinner alternates weeks with the beef. There are a few vegetarian dinners included in the 28 day list, but not many. We mostly saved the vegetarian meals for when they are visiting, then we just all eat (mostly) vegetarian.

There is also a short list of breakfasts that people (here) like to eat when we have company.

I started the regular 28 dinners list this week.

I shopped with the first seven days in mind. And then each day, I simply cook whatever is on the list for dinner. I make enough so there are leftovers for lunches, my husband and *daughter pack their lunches every day. I package leftovers in individual containers that can be added to lunch boxes. That reduces dish volume and makes things easy.

I should have done this a long time ago.

I do not mind cooking as long as I am cooking what people want to eat.

We sold our garage freezer and so my freezer spaced is reduced to the big freezer drawer under the refrigerator. This list helps me only keep what I need in the freezer. The process is worth it just to have food rotating in and out of the freezer and pantry regularly.

I still keep the kitchen stocked. But not over stocked. And I can just look at the week’s dinner list and then verify what is in the kitchen, and then shop. It is easier.

I can make and eat a lot of traditional dinners by limiting my carbs the rest of the day and reducing the carbs in the dinner and adding a lot of vegetables. And I usually eat two meals a day (not three) so that helps the numbers hugely.

28 days/4 weeks is a good list. We think by the time it starts again, with so much variety, we will not get bored. I suspect people repeat dinners more often than once a month on average. the only repeat on our list is tacos, they appear once a week.

I also built the list so I cook meat and then use it 2-3 times that same week. That makes things very easy.

When the vegetarians are here, I simply switch lists. They are not usually here for more than a week or two.

Even though I am just a couple days into this process, I really see how much it helps. My mother who lives alone, cooks actual/full meals for herself. She does not just snack. I have a hard time cooking for just myself. I can see that if I were to live alone at some point in the future, this 28 day process would insure I ate real food/meals.


* I have one daughter living at home and this helps her too. She works full time. She helps me a lot. This process means her dinners and lunches are cooked and she only has to cook her breakfast. She does better if she eats from home too.

I have been cleaning out craft and art supplies

Everything that is an office supply (tape, paint, markers, crayons, scissors, etc.) is now in the drawers in the post office boxes in the computer room. This is very inviting, there are 46 small drawers of treasures.

As I have cleaned and sorted, the craft/art stuff, I have given things to neighbor children, donated to an autism clinic, and posted things on Facebook Marketplace. So I have reduced the volume, quite a bit.

Out of the keepers, I have built two children’s craft treasure boxes.

The two boxes are 24” long x 17” wide x 6” high (each). And that seems to be a perfect size for holding a lot without getting too heavy.  As you can see from the picture (above), they are super inviting.

I have been taking things out of *bins, and putting them in zip lock bags for visibility and ease of packing. So everything sock puppet related, is now in one bag, for example.

*I had everything sorted (in the past) by type. So I had lots and lots of little shoe box size clear bins full of art and craft supplies.

These two treasure craft boxes will fit on one shelf.

And between these boxes and rehoming/donating, I will have cleared at least four shelves.

And probably no one, in the family, will have to buy a clear shoe box bin again.

Thanksgiving decor

Downstairs bathroom (girls Hobby Lobby, I had the bench) -

My bathroom (Hobby Lobby) -

Upstairs bathroom (I have had him for a long time) -

Backdoor (craft show this fall, I would like to find a turkey for center) -

Close up -

Defined space

This is a very large closet under the stairs. Large enough that it can be considered a small room.

There are two large shelf sets and a table in this closet. And oh so much stuff.

I am starting thru every single thing in this space and in the larger room next to it.

Preemptively, I am designating a spot for tissue paper, cards, gift bags and gift tags. (Large rolls are in another container, *and I do not have many.)

I know I am going to find a lot of them.

And I am only going to save what fits nicely in these three bins tucked in a weirdly shaped spot on top the shelf unit behind the door.

*I have adopted the generic packaging philosophy. I do solid, striped, checked and dotted gift wrap/bags only. Nothing holiday specific. This automatically reduces the volume hugely. And is very attractive.

Creative reuse

I have had two special pieces of wood for several years.

The boards were part of the gym floor from the kids’ high school. I was able to get them when the gym was gutted and redone.

At one point I regretted having got them, just was not sure what I would (ever) do with them.



I have been aggressively re-evaluating many things in the garage this fall.

My goal is to have the double bay side of the garage FLOOR as empty as possible.

This is for several reasons -
Decluttering/reducing
Slush/ice/water coming off cars
Clean looking

So in keeping with my “use it or lose it” philosophy, I thought of something beneficial to do with the larger (7’ x 16”) of the two boards.

It is now the top of shoe cubbies.



I used three quarts of brown paint(s). They were nearly full, left from other projects. That was extremely pleasing. My paint cupboard was over flowing.

I used the two darker colors as the base coat. I am in the process of painting the final coat (in the lightest brown). I will have used every drop of all three quarts by the time I am finished.

I buy my lumber at Lowe’s. They cut all my boards for me. I bought the wooden feet and the hardware at Lowe’s also. I have used these before, they carry several kinds, super easy to install.