Drawer envy.

This is what started it.
I was looking for a pair of scissors at our neighbor's, the dog's house. Her kitchen drawers were lovely. I thought they were custom, built with the cupboards, because I have a couple drawers like that. But when I asked - Bed Bath and Beyond.





Both our girls were home for spring break. And on Saturday/yesterday, we all made a trip to BBB.

I was smart, the girls cut pieces of paper to fit exactly in the two drawers getting a makeover. So then we had a visible grid to figure sizing/placement. Middle was smart, she took the before pictures (below) so we had an idea of what was being stored in those drawers.





The second most used drawer in the house. second to the flatware drawer.
We have lived here over 15 years.
And I think it has been cleared out 2-4 times.
Each time it looks great and then falls to the wayside.

Drawer one BEFORE -

AFTER -

Drawer two BEFORE -

AFTER-

I debated for about 12 hours on what to do with this drawer. We got the tool bin of the garage and picked out these items. There are duplicates of things still in the tool bin. So if you open this drawer, you do not have to look in the garage. And if you get out the tool bin in the garage, you do not have to come in the house and open the drawer. Two full sets. And by the way, when we were done, you could not tell I had taken one thing out of the garage tool bin. It is still very full. 

If you are wondering where all the batteries went, they moved down one drawer and are now here -

This is a deeper drawer. If we had taken a before picture, it was full of paper. FULL. Of all the paper, a few things were saved - the instructions for the snowblower, the instructions for my bike, three cookbooks. Those all moved to new homes. The tape rolls from all over the house now live in this drawer. And the angel box, which was sitting empty in the kitchen from another clean out, is full of batteries. 

These next three drawers did not get new furnishings, instead they got sorted and scrubbed. Before pictures would have looked pretty much the same. These drawers were already pretty good. I think the key might be dividers. The more sections, the better. Maybe.

These drawer dividers are built ins. 

These drawer dividers are built ins. 

I have one drawer (below) left to sort. It is the knife drawer. BBB has several options made specifically for knives. There are also many different kinds of dividers. It is a big drawer. I taped the two pieces of paper from the other drawers together to make a template for this drawer. And it is in the car. So the next time I am near BBB, I am ready.

My potholder drawer by the stove was left as was. It is just a drawer full of potholders, no dividers.

Ditto with the kitchen towel drawer. Intact.

And the drawer that holds table knives, napkins and a Kleenex box is untouched also. If we moved any of those items, people would be forever confused. So those things stayed where they were.

One other drawer held rolls (plastic, aluminum, baking). And birthday candles that have rarely been used (we usually have pie for birthdays). Those items moved to a very deep, large drawer full of paper bags and zip-lock bags and that sort of thing. That drawer is a jumble and one simply digs for what they want. Adding 3-4 rolls made no impact on the jumble.


And this is my last drawer -

Gretchen has her empty shelf, and I have my empty drawer, at least for now.

Third doll wardrobe

So, to recap, it all started with my grandpa's gun cabinet. My brother was moving, did not want it, I got it when I picked up the roll top desk and the millstone.

My whole house is very attached to anything "family". If it has a history as a family piece, we make room for it.

The doll wardrobes have great economy of space. Tiny footprint in the house, hold a lot of stuff. And doll clothes are best stored on hangers.

My brother, yesterday, text, said "really cool re-purposed items!" and yes, they are.

Gun cabinets 2 and 3 were found on the Facebook Marketplace. 2 was more modern, and had covered shelf and drawer which worked great for youngest's 3 dolls. Felicity has a lot of hats. 3, like 1 was made by a grandpa and was old knotty pine.

This is 3 when it came in the house.

It has a folded sock under it to tip it back slightly because we did not quite trust it to stay upright. Very heavy glass door. So heavy that if you open the door, have to hold on to the case or the whole thing fell forward. L bracket on the top confirmed it had always been bolted to the wall.

This cabinet has no drawer. And only stands 5 1/2' tall.

We debated. Find some type of drawer thing to put under it? Just find a spot and get it secured to the wall won. We did not want to run any chance of it crashing over and the glass being broken.

After a bit of house scouting, a nook in our room was the perfect spot. Very little traffic. Fit perfectly.

These shelves are my next project. Middle's books are going there. 

It is at the end of a set of shelves, next to my closet, in the far corner of the room.

Two shims under the left side squared it and then the door opens and closes much better. Two L brackets pointed down, behind it, hold it firmly in place.

Then I thought I spelled something odd in the inside. Faint. But there. My mother's nose confirmed. We think just old wood that had been closed up for a long time.

Two coats of sealer. One coat of paint.

We closed up the room and opened the windows and slept in the other end of the house for the sealer phase.

The baskets that were on my shelves are now on top the doll wardrobe. And they help give it more substance, and hold doll things.

Shelves are nearly empty. Good progress on that this week.


UPDATE -

(That weird pile is genealogy stuff).

Anne - her mom’s wedding dress. Very clever.

https://altopower.wordpress.com/2018/01/27/what-i-did-with-moms-wedding-dress/#comment-14033

2nd doll Wardrobe, Christmas gift

I had been eyeing these all season at a local store, they were 75% off after Christmas and middle bought them for me. Took two trips to two different store locations to get them all. The best part is I can add plain red pieces if I need more (like plates for example) in the future. Or I can add plastic Christmas kid pieces later too.

Anne is writing her way thru a very fun genealogy project, you might want to read along. . .

The first one is here,
https://altopower.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/getting-started-52ancestors/

The second one is here,
https://altopower.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/52-ancestors-2-favorite-photo/

My mom said it does not feel like Christmas unless she is sewing, especially doll clothes. Yes, she made all these outfits. Detail is exceptional. Really great. And each is in keeping with the doll's time, color choices and style. The two girls (23 and 19), my mother (76) and I (56) "played" with the dolls for hours on Christmas day. Dressing, doing hair, taking pictures. The pictures were all taken with my iPhone 7 in the light coming into the room from a french door with a west exposure. Really great, clear pictures.

This is Kirsten, American Girl. She belongs to middle. We have had her for many years. This is her St Lucia outfit (which is still the custom in Sweden). My mom made the dress. We got the wreath and socks, all American Girl brand, on eBay.

This is Molly. New to us, but an old doll (from eBay). She belongs to middle. The skates and fur pieces are American Girl (from ebay). My mom made the outfit. Yes, she embroidered the jacket.

Kailey. American Girl of the Year (2003). We got her from American Girl at that time. She belongs to middle. Kailey is a surfer girl. Middle has all the pieces that originally came with her. But that does not include a lot of clothes. Mostly surf stuff. This is the first outfit (dress and hat) that my mom has made for her. Shoes are from the original Kailey set.

Middle's Christmas presents from my mom. (She started sewing in June on Molly's skater outfit.)

Josefina. American Girl. Belongs to youngest who has had her for years.  This is a camisa, a skirt and a corset. Three pieces. And a lot of trim and lace and ribbon. This is very detailed and advanced piece. The shoes are American Girl brand for Josefina (from eBay).

Felicity. American Girl. Belongs to youngest. (from ebay). Very detailed. The gold is a skirt. The top is like a jacket that goes over it. The cape is "velvet" and has a hood. You can't see them in the pictures, but Felicity has dark red velvet shoes that match the dress perfectly that are American Girl.

Youngest's Girls. We have added Samantha to youngest's collection (old doll recently acquired from eBay). But Samantha did not get a dress this year. 

Kit. American Girl. Middle bought her for me, last year. Ebay. The shoes are American Girl. My mom made the outfit and hat, including the belt.

Addy, from American Girl. Mine. She and Kit are my favorites. My mom made this Christmas dress out of the fabric from a child's dress. The ruching on the bodice is from the original dress. The black is "velvet". The back of the bodice is black velvet also. 

One of my xmas boxes - Bananagrams, Yahtzee, extra Yahtzee score pad, Monopoly Deal, UNO, Phase 10, Skip-Bo, 2 decks of regular cards

We turned an old gun cabinet my grandfather made about 55 years ago, into a doll wardrobe. And yes, very pleased.

The state of my freezer top.

It is much easier to store things IN a chest freezer. But the down side is the top tends to fill. Ours is right outside our backdoor, in the garage. So very easy to dump things there.

For at least a month and a half, maybe two months, the top of the freezer was full of Le Creuset. Full.

I walk the neighbor's dog every week day. This is a beautifully mannered dog beloved by my whole family. The ratio of two families to one dog, actually makes a lot of sense. She is well loved and likes it. She is walked once or twice a day (40 minute plus walks). If anyone is out of town, there is backup. It fills the dog need in my family without bothering my asthma or middle's asthma.


During the fall, we (dog and I) averaged one garage sale a week in our neighborhood. So the dog knows about garage sales. She knows we like them. And she knows she gets lots of pets/attention at garage sales.

One Wednesday, walking, she (the dog) suddenly headed up a driveway. I looked and they were setting up for a garage sale. Not open. The lady smiled and was talking to me as I was pulling out my ear buds and pausing my podcast. She said we were welcome to look.

At that moment, I thought the dog had recognized it was a garage sale and knew I would want to go. Later I found out the woman had yelled "hi" to me, but I had not heard because of the ear buds. The dog, who is very friendly, had heard her and responded.

The people (retired) had just moved into their house. It was a downsize move. And it turned out they were both only children who had lost both sets of parents in the last few years. Most of the parents' stuff had gone into storage. It all had converged in their garage with the move. So it was a three bay garage, stuffed. Like the single bay of the garage was piled to the ceiling.

She asked if I was looking for anything in particular and I said - kitchen stuff. And in particular enamel lined iron cookware.

And she started pulling out Le Creuset. It just kept coming. She asked if I was interested and I said I was, but "how much $$$?". And she said $7. I said I would take it all. But I needed to finish walking the dog and come back with the car and $$$.

I figured she meant $7 each. Which is a steal.

When I got back, she had meant $7 for all of it. A total of $7.

I bought several other things. Future gifts. Other kitchen stuff. The back seat and the trunk of my car,  full.

Her husband was packing my car as I bought. He clearly was in the "just get it out of here" mindset.

So, home, I put all the Le Creuset on the freezer and sent pictures to all my kids, who LOVE Le Creuset. They could not believe the $7. It might be the find of the century. Barring a copy of the declaration in the drawer of an old dresser or something.

 I said youngest got first dibs. Then the other two would have to decide between the two of them.

Thanksgiving week, youngest picked hers and promptly put it away.

Then oldest sat against the door to the house, blocking middle's getaway, and they decided who got what. It was a long and loud debate.

The largest piece, a deep 10" x 15" stayed here. I am the only one who cooks for a crowd, so that made sense.

Mill stone

At first glance, it looks like we buried a lot of it. No, it is shadow or dirt.
Look again, it is sitting in a little trench, just so it does not tip. 

I have a friend who opened a consignment resale used household store last month. Mostly furniture, but other household things too. (In another town. Not here. Doing well.)

She has had a half dozen or so people contact her to sell the entire contents of their house.

Now she is smart - no clothes, no outdated things unless good for DIY, no exercise equipment.

So, she does not take every single thing. But she has taken most of it.

The people? They are either moving across the country and decided to just start over. Or they are dramatically downsizing, and starting fresh.





My brother called (me, nothing to do with my friend's shop) a couple weeks ago. Downsizing.

Every time he has moved over the last 30 years or so, I have called to say - if you do not have room for the roll top desk (a family piece), I will take it.

He called (a couple weeks ago) to say - come get the desk. And do you want a gun case too?

At first I did not think I wanted a gun cabinet. But then I realized my grandfather made it. (We are all about family pieces, we have no guns. So I had to think a bit.). I realized it would make a fabulous doll clothes wardrobe. We have a lot of doll clothes.

I rented a 12' truck and drove to another state to get these family pieces. I had never driven a truck. I did fine. I did great in fact.

There was a chair with the desk too. And as we were finishing loading the truck, he asked if I wanted the mill stone. I said sure, not really knowing what it was.

It was an old, old family mill stone. Came in a covered wagon from the east. Long ago.

And although it was very hard to get in the truck. And it was very hard to get out of the truck. It is now in a place in our yard where I see it every day. And I am very glad to have it. Really glad to have it.



All the furniture (from my brothers plus a few pieces from here) is now in various stages of repair in the third bay of our garage.

We look like a used furniture store.

The roll top, which needed work, is being tended by a woodworking neighbor. He takes it home in sections. Going great.

The gun cabinet, we (husband, mother and I) made an insert, with rods for hanging, that slips inside the case. We did not change the case. Nothing is nailed to it. I will post pictures when I am finished with it. Very clever and very useful.

While we had everything out, our old kitchen table was pulled out from under a bed and we are refinishing the top. The legs and the skirt are fine. I had washed the finish off the top, heavy use for 15 years at the old house. Middle wants this table.

And there is a coffee table that middle and I pulled from someone's garbage. My husband sanded the top. She is going to paint it later. Right now it is a supply table.

And there is a bed set that I bought at a garage sale and have been struggling over the side rails.

There was also a bench, also from garbage, which I found room for in the house. It did not need repaired.

FYI - The first/second bay, of our garage, holds two cars, all the time. We keep the other stuff confined to the third bay. The stuff includes lawn mower, snow blower, ladders, flower pots, etc. And a lot of bikes.

I think I am going to get hooks to hang 2 more bikes. Total of 6 bikes. We still use them when everyone is home. Only 2 sets of hooks now.  Hang the kids' bikes, leave ours on the floor. That is a lot of floor space.

Oh my goodness, what a series of diagnosis and so much for a family

http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/quilting-2/a-personal-note-from-nancy/

If you have wondered about her face, Bell's palsy at age one.

http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/nancys-corner/bells-palsy-nancy-zieman-mouth/

My youngest had Bell's palsy as a toddler. No lingering effects. She swam in a cold pool after chicken pox. Cold water in her ears triggered it.

Head shots - proactive and also would make a great gift

I looked briefly for it, but no luck.

On either Happier in Hollywood (Elizabeth and Sarah)

or on Gretchen and Elizabeth's original podcast,

Elizabeth was talking about the importance of having headshots.

She was suggesting everyone having up to date, professional headshots always ready. And she is talking about a professional photographer. Professional headshots.

We are talking about a resume/application/professional media quality picture of ones self.



The one oldest is using right now is actually from the wedding we attended in Alaska last year. It was taken by a professional photographer btw.

There was a great picture of him in his tux with a bow tie. GREAT picture. It was actually a picture of the two of us. He cropped himself and photoshopped out the background. And that is what he has been using.



For a couple years youngest was using a rejected high school year book picture. It was rejected because she was in a sleeveless blouse. It happened to be a great picture.

This week she called looking for it. I found it in the picture files in our house computer, easily because the files are very organized.

But it is now too dated. Her hair was long then. She has matured in last couple years.



When we see her next weekend (a week from now), we are going to take more pictures. DIY. Because she needs one now.

College takes them, at career days fair, for free, but her class schedule is too full to deal with the line that is always there.

When we get closer to college graduation, I absolutely would consider having professional ones taken. NOTE - that would be a very good graduation gift for kids in your family.



Middle gets a yearbook picture taken every year at her school. And she takes a lot of pictures, so she always has candids. Her boy has lots of good ones because they are dressed up a lot and she always takes pictures or has someone else take them. This is a couple with a large volume of pictures.. Youngest and oldest, not so much.



While I was digging thru picture files yesterday, for youngest,  I sent her other good pictures of herself. Candids which could be cropped and used in different circumstances.

For example, there is a great one of her with the neighbor dog. If she needed a warm fuzzy candid picture for something informal, it would be great.

And there were several pictures with youngest and middle that could be cropped. The problem is the backgrounds. They are not plain backgrounds.

Oldest's picture had Alaska in background (outdoors in Juno) which you would have thought would have been okay, but was not. When the picture was tightly cropped, the background became odd.



I sent a note to someone yesterday saying here is another high school/college/life hint - when you or daughter are dressed up or even just having a good hair and makeup day, have someone take pictures in front of a plain background. And then keep those pictures in a special file (email, pc, phone) so you have them. Do it regularly so you have them and they are up to date.

I preordered Gretchen Rubin's new book. Audible version on Amazon using one of my Audible credits. I bought three extra credits to have an extra one and get the book for less $$$. Four of us use my audible account/library. I got the bonus videos but have not yet watched them.

http://happiness-project.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b4bb6f56200fe4fe93f580bf3&id=4f805bf50a&e=d272bac3c9

This is her fourth book. It is sort of a series.

She started with happiness, then happiness at home, then habits, and now tendencies.  

I have all four of these titles on Audible. Three already in my library. The fourth, which will be released in September is a pending preorder. The preorder gave me access to a video series Gretchen did. Have not yet watched those.

I listen to her podcasts while I walk.

I plan to relisten to the first three books before diving into the fourth in September. 

I am not sure any of my kids have listened to Gretchen's series.  It is a good series for anyone.

Swimming suit update

When last we spoke, on this topic, I had ordered swimming suits from Lands End and from Kohl's. 


The Lands End suits won. In fact it was no competition.

The Lands End package arrived first, I opened it and started wearing them.

I never opened/tried the Kohl's suits. I returned them.

The Lands End long sleeves satisfy a sensory thing that I did not even know I had, in addition to blocking the sun and keeping me warm. And the two piece aspect makes getting in and out of them (including potty) so much easier.

FYI - Middle has been telling me she TOLD me all this several years ago and I did not hear her.

She was right. Long sleeve, shorts type bottom with bikini bottom built into them, two piece is IT.

When I was relaying all this to a close friend, she encouraged me to get on Lands End's site and order myself more tops before they were gone. Like jeans and bras, swimming suit styles come and go.

So I ordered these tops (below). Five. They averaged $26 each. And I am very pleased with that. I wear these kayaking, in the pool, and sometimes walking the dog. I only wear a sports bra under them.

I am not a "long" but I ordered longs in any where that was an option. It gives me longer length and longer sleeves.

In general - fyi - If you are in doubt about sizes, order several sizes to try. Order enough to qualify for free shipping. Return what does not fit to Sears (to avoid shipping).

And if you are interested in these, order quickly because they were getting really picked over.