It's the First Day of Fall

It is the First Day of Fall and I am ready for summer to be over. We had a humid and hot few months which waivered between draught and flooding.  Now we are under attack from legions of mosquitos, day and night. Some communities have added extra spraying. Our town doesn't believe in spraying at all so it is hard to make it from my house to my car without being bitten. I'm one of those who swells up like I have been afflicted with tumors. 

(My favorite artist and author, Susan Branch.)

In honor of Fall, I went to Big Lots and bought mini Santa mugs. Billed as "expresso" cups, the miniature Santa mugs were on sale for 20% off and I thought they would be perfect for a Hot Cocoa Tasting Party with different flavors to try.  I have 10 grandchildren and my local store had six four-packs of the mugs. I think that comes out to 2 1/2 mugs per child, but I don't think they will all be here at the same time.

I was looking around for little ceramic trays for the cups, but have thought the better of it and will keep my eye out for a little rectangular appetizer plates, hopefully in paper.  I could write the flavors on the plates while they are tasting. I might need to invest in a third carafe to make sure the hot cocoas stay warm. Can you tell I am a little excited about this? I believe I will pair the tasting with some cookie decorating too.   

Nothing like rushing the season! 

September This and That

We are keeping busy at the House with the Picket Fence.

As you have had to hear about over and over, I broke my humerus in 2020.  Last Friday one of my co-grammas tripped at work and broker her humerus. She is waiting to see the surgeon, hopefully this week. And on Saturday morning one of my eight grandsons fell off the monkey bars. He was pacified by a frozen treat, but couldn't move his arm the next morning. You guessed it. Broken humerus. He is in a temporary cast from shoulder to fingertips and will see a pediatric orthopedist in 10 days unless there is a cancellation. 

Last January my husband was just nodding and not listening and gave his agreement to purchase concert tickets to a show in Shipshewana, Indiana last weekend. We left on Saturday morning, arrived for lunch, visited several shops and didn't buy anything. Put an Amish dinner in the motel frig, went to the concert and ate dinner at 11 pm.  Left after breakfast and were home before lunch time on Sunday.  We sure do know how to celebrate an anniversary.  

My best friend who beat breast cancer five years ago, is battling again. Our friend group took her to lunch today as she starts 12 weeks of once a week chemo tomorrow, then another 12 weeks with once every 3 weeks chemo and then surgery. I really don't think it is fair that she has to do this again and am pretty mad about it. And I admit it is helping me be less sad to be mad. 

Our youngest grandchildren (the four year olds) are back in preschool and loving every minute of it. And we have 2 hours to ourselves in the morning now after feeding the elementary kids and putting them on the bus and then driving to preschool.  

I am not allowed to talk about details, but I was asked to serve on a "fake jury" like in the movie "Runaway Jury" and the tv show "Bull". It was a very interesting experience and they even paid me for it.  Today they reached out about working with them further.  I wish I could tell you all about it! 

I am calling them "side gigs", but now I have two checks waiting to be cashed, the fake jury and my poll worker stipends and I have decided to start a fund to renovate my dollhouse.  By renovate, I mean travel to cute dollhouse stores and purchase materials and have my sweet husband serve as contractor.  

My fall decorations are officially out of the closets and laying all over the guest room.  I am hoping fairies arrive some evening and decorate the house while we are sleeping. 

And that is it for Mid-September! 

My Dream Laundry Room

How do you know you are really old? When you have a dream laundry room!  I dreamed up my new laundry room many, many years ago. It took many steps to get here. Remember I have lived in my house for 44 years and I have been planning changes since the day we moved in. Creating a laundry room started with my husband constructing our 500 sq ft addition which moved the living room and created a dining room. Then cutting my kitchen by one third (and my husband completely remodeling the kitchen) to create the space for the new laundry room.

I created this idea board for the new laundry room about eleven years ago. We don't move quickly around here. My parents passed away and the empty, drywalled space worked well as a storage space for the many boxes I took way too long to go through. Then, you know, covid and I filled it with shelves and created a pandemic pantry/small grocery store. To finish the laundry room, I have had to move those shelves all over my house and it is hide and seek to find groceries and supplies.

As you will see, there were a lot of changes along the way. The appliances remained the same. But I soon realized there is no way a short person can reach a cupboard over a very deep front loading washing machine.  I was also concerned that the tall cupboard would block the doorway and make the room feel smaller. My husband constructed shelves along the top of my enclosed porch for my blue canning jar collection and I needed more grocery space. 

When I got home from Michigan, this was happening. 

I was already trying out paint colors. 

Grampa and assistant finished the soffit. 

The painting assistant did a great job on the wall behind the appliances. I decided to do just one wall "cupcake pink" and my husband painted the other two wall and ceiling a bright white. 

I think the arm on the right is putting his two cents in on how it is going to look. Since I am not privy to the contractor's time table, I was glad I was caught up on laundry when he disconnected the appliances and moved them. 

I went with open shelving so the room wouldn't seem so small. We measured shelf height by my elaborate drawings of what would go on what shelf and how high a short person can reach. I can reach the clothes baskets because they stick out far enough on the 20 inch shelf for me to grab. My roasters and other rarely used items will be on the top shelf. 

It's hard to believe from the short photographer perspective, but the top shelf on the right can hold rolls of paper towels. There is a hanging rack on the edge of the bottom shelf. 

Proving I can put paper towels on the top shelf on the right. It is a little high for me, but hubby is the one who replaces paper towel rolls so it works just fine. I also have cute baskets marked "beach towels" "sun screen" "bug spray" and room for other miscellaneous items. 

I think the color is closer here. It is more of a pink than an orange.  I took lots of pictures like this as I will soon be cluttering it up with small appliances, grocery and paper items and all kinds of treasures of a kitchen nature that I have scattered all over my house. Oh, and laundry items, too.

I thought we bought at least triple the brackets needed for supporting the shelves, but it turned out we used them all to make sure the shelves are supported since I tend to overload. We also placed extra of the vertical (things) that are screwed into every stud. 

I am absolutely over the moon.  I have dreamed about this laundry room for a long time and it matches what was in my mind perfectly. I am so happy!  

Next up is the total remodel of our ONE bathroom and changing the tub/shower to a walk in shower. We are also putting in a higher, old person commode, replacing the basin and cabinet and another project I am still working on. When we remodeled the bathroom in the 70's, we eyeballed a built in shelving unit with a built in cabinet and it is not standard size. We would like to purchase a standard size cabinet to replace it but I'm not sure that can happen. I'm still measuring, but the project can start without it.  

THEN the former washer/dryer space is going to become our new half bath.  Whew. 

Mimi Camp Finale 2023

I am finally getting to the final Mimi Camp post.  This day was inspired by two new-to-me favorite reality shows of mine that I found on the Tubi tv app. It is called "Portrait Artist of the Year" and "Landscape Artist of the Year".  I came up with the concept at the last minute, made one shopping trip before camp and - the kids enjoyed it as much or more than I did. 

Grampa graciously agreed to be our model for Portrait Artist of the Year. Our easels were tv tray tables with Dollar Tree plate holders. Artists could chose flat canvas boards or stretched canvas in various sizes. Everyone had a plastic palette and could request acrylic paint colors. 

My youngest granddaughter in progress. 

Finished portrait "Grampa in a Red Chair"

Sebastian aged 8. 

Leo aged 4

Drew aged 10

Oliver in progress

Oliver ended with a scenic background

Louis, aged four, paid great attention to detail. You can see the red chair, blue shirt and jeans and the fact that grampa was wearing white socks. He later painted over them with brown for grampa's boots. 

My oldest granddaughter truly is the Portrait Artist of the Year. 

And my other eight year old veered into Michael Jordan. 

We had a special lunch and then headed out to a local park for "Landscape Artist of the Year". 

The littles were over art competition which is why I selected a park with a playground. 

My bigs were on top of the hill overlooking the lake. I will share their art work with no commentary, except to explain what looked like a dinosaur to me. It is the water tower. There is also a boat with fishermen in one picture. 

My middles were down by the playground. 

The painting above includes the colorful playground equipment. 

This is one of my most favorite Mimi Camp activities ever. All of the children enjoyed it as much as I did. I have taken down all the art work in my house and replaced it with these precious artworks.  And some of the kids have requested another painting day in the future.  

Despite covering my carpet with plastic tablecloths, a few palettes were flipped and the paint splattered in gaps of the tablecloths. And stained the carpet in one large blotch and two smaller ones. And it doesn't bother me at all. Every time I walk in the room (because they are in the middle of the carpet and I can't cover them) I smile.