Snow and Steam Trains

Last winter my husband rather wistfully said he wished he could play in the snow on his birthday (in July). Circumstances beyond our control prevented us from celebating on the day, so I took a day off work yesterday. I refused to tell him what we were doing for the day. I programmed our destination (Mt Rainier) into the GPS and he drove by the directions. It was particularly fun as he began to guess where he thought we might stop. ("Are we going to ________?") He guessed about two hours into the drive (when we saw the first Mt Rainier 23 miles sign).

Shortly after that we saw a long row of cabooses. Of course we stopped.

It was a hotel! The Hobo Inn in Elbe, WA. Sleep in a caboose. What an idea!

I took pictures. That's when we learned a nearby steam train took trips on Thursday - Sunday. (It wasn't running on his birthday. Hooray for circumstances!)

We still went up the mountain. Eric got snow for his birthday.

Then we hurried back to the train (made it with seconds to spare!). Eric had a lot of fun.

And I got to take some good pictures.

All in all, a fun day for everyone.

My Dream!

I have a dream! Nothing as lofty as peace on earth or equality for all men (and women!), but a dream none-the-less. I dream of being so fiscally sound that I can afford to leave it all behind and travel around the country. Not permanently. Maybe a year or two and then we will buy a farm.

It is a fun dream - one that can involve endless planning as well as the hard work of becoming fiscally sound. I confess - I care a lot less about whether I achieve the dream as I do about whether or not I can dream it. Besides, I want to spend at least 10 years at my current job, and I've only been there a little over 2 and 1/2 years. So I have lots of time. Why am I even talking about it? Good question.

You see, I get stressed. And when I get too stressed I send my brain for a vacation. A very short vacation. But when I don't actually have to think about what I'm working on at that moment, my brain gets to think about other things. Like what I need to do at home to have a clean house. and when that is too stressful (and it has been many a day), my brain goes off into think about things I do not want it thinking about (bad, bad brain!). So this dream is one I can have endless fun thinking about, without having to worry about actually doing anything about it yet.

Well, almost anything. You see, part of my dream is to be fit enough that if we want to walk or hike or bike around the country, we can. (Of course, I'm taking my husband along!) So I want to get fit. And what more fun way to get fit than to take a virtual journey! I am going to be starting a new blog for my virtual journey. I'm really just sort of introducing it here. If anyone has any place in North America you can suggest I should add to my trip, please post a comment. It's all fair game on a virtual tour.

Still making progress

I had a huge pile of laundry. Every time I did laundry it was a major hassle - sort the clothes, have piles of clothes sitting around until they all got done. I did not want to spend every Saturday doing laundry. I'm way too busy for that. So I needed a sorted laundry hamper. So I made one.


Actually - this is a triumphant result of my organizing efforts. I sorted through my stuff enough that I had room to pull out my sewing machine and use it - plus I had actually found the bags Eric had already made for me. So I added buttons and put it together and it works, just like it's supposed to! Hooray!

NOTE: I'm still looking for the right kind of material to make the last bag - it's for bright colors. That's why there's a gap.

This is more effort of my organizing

It's a simple concrete block bookcase, but I painted the blocks. Eric has since strapped it to the wall (the picture is a whole 5 days old) and I've put doodads in the holes. Keepsakes and mementos from various things. I like it so much I want to replace myother bookcase with one. In fact - when I have more room someday, I think I want to do my entertainment center this way. Yeah!

The best part about this is that now all my books are on bookcases. No more boxes, no more bookcs I can't find. It's a good feeling.

Out of the Maze

Remember last month? Okay, last month plus a few days (April). I was making some progress on removing the maze of stuff. Well . . .

I have floor space!!!!!

I removed and sorted all the boxes from my office area. And then, to top it off, I sorted all the papers I had tubbed and now have a filing cabinet with actual papers in it, in category. Okay, they're rough sorted, so medical records and financial records are all mixed up. But I know where to find them now! That's a major step forward.

I even have room enough to get out my brand new sewing machine (a Christmas present that stayed in its box until yesterday). Today I'm going to buy the last item I need to finish a project I've been working on since last summer (or was it the summer before?)

Anyways, I have room! It is the beginning of a real liveable home! Hooray!!!!!

Daily Progress

Okay, it's confession time. I live in one of those houses. The kind they tell horror stories about. I have stacks of boxes of stuff, and have to thread my way through like a maze. I'd post a picture but then I'd have to change my name and move away to hide from the shame.

Today I made progress!!!! I sorted through stuff today, pretty much all day (except for taking a nice long walk this afternoon). I have a set of matching tubs, and sifted through 10 of those, cataloging everything I kept from them. I also emptied at least another dozen boxes (I know, because they are now in the recycle bin, waiting to go away). There was some condensing of half-filled boxes and a lot of getting rid. Garbage bags, recycleables, and give aways. And the best thing - an entire section of the maze is gone!!!!! Life is looking up.

And now I'm exhausted. 'Night, all!

Eggsactly

Eric's parents have chickens. The egg on the left is one of theirs. The egg on the right is from the store. Make your own choice.

(Hint: free range eggs, along with being brighter in color, have more nutrients and better flavor.)

Funky Bananas

From the same message board (and the same thread) as my wonderful full meal from last week, I got a recipe for fried bananas. I made them. Double yumm (they'd be really great with ice cream after Easter). So when I was shopping yesterday for vegetables and I saw some plantains I thought they were related to bananas, maybe I could make something just as yummy.

I know enough to know plantains are not the same. So I found a recipe to fry plantains. they're cooked. And bland and blah!

Anyone want some fried plantains?

Sometimes there are no words

Every year, to celebrate spring, my husband shaves his beard. He continues to shave until autumn, then grows it back. There was one exception to this - he grew a beard over the course of two or three years in hopes of entering a contest - unfortunately we decided we would not be able to afford the trip. So last fall he shaved then grew it back again over winter, as usual.

At the top is what he looked like six months ago. Then I heard him shaving his beard yesterday. When I turned around I saw this.

I have no words.

Ti-i-i-imbe-e-e-er!

We are preparing to build a house (hopefully sometime this summer) and need some trees removed from our property. So a friend (a professional tree-feller) and his son came today.

Enough said?

Confessions of a neophyte foodie

I post regularly on a message board which has a resident chef. (Hard to believe isn't it, but check it out!) Recently I asked for some ideas on what to make for dinner. Here is what I did:

He suggested I peel the asparagus stalks before cooking. I'm not sure if I was supposed to leave the peels attached. Well, they tasted good.

I definitely wasn't supposed to leave the peels attached to the orange. I have a whole bag of them on hand and was running out of ideas. The recipe he gave me was for glazed pork chops and involved about a tablespoon of orange juice. So the rest of the orange was supposed to become garnish. I changed my mind halfway through cooking and instead I added some pineapple chunks and banana and bluberries. (the bananas and blueberries were leftover from banana-blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Double yumm!) It felt so elegant. Any time I use blueberries and don't cook them I feel avant garde. The juice from the pineapple chunks was added to chicken broth for steaming the asparagus. I find steaming my vegetables over broth makes them taste a lot better. After I was done with the asparagus, it seemed a shame to waste the broth. So I added a few mushrooms and a little onion and made a sauce.

Instead of mashed potatoes, I mashed sweet potatoes with yams.

Since I was going to such trouble over dinner (I cook over a woodstove. That means I really do slave in a hot kitchen!) I decided I would really go all out. I got out the fine china - okay, I don't own any fine china, instead I got out the champagne glasses and the bottle of sparkling pear juice. I actually set the table. In fact, I moved the dining room table back into the dining room (it's been used as a bedside table a while now).

And below you see the results:

Bon appetit!

Not walkin' in a winter wonderland

It snowed again today. It actually stuck until the rain came and washed it all away. Right now it's a little stormy. But it snowed! Why, in an area that normally gets snow once every few years have we had snow from November to March? Granted it doesn't stay the whole time, but I do not understand it. It's just plain weird.

Well, since it's snowy and stormy and just plain not great weather, I'm not going out for another walk today. Well, that and the fact that I've been not doing too well this week. I think I have a mild case of the flu. My poor husband has it worse.

I almost think I won't post this. After all, my world is awfully boring today. But I will. So my family knows what's up with me.

Walked and walked and walked and walked

I may not be a pioneer child, but I walked and walked today.

There is a walking club in Olympia, WA called the Capitol Volkssport Club. They sponsor walks in several areas and sponsored one over here on the coast, called the Seabreeze Weekend. I live less than two miles from one of their routes, so I went.

The sign up was in Ocean Shores, so I stopped on my way to church this morning and signed up. After church I walked. It was nice. Mostly peaceful. Lots of beautiful scenery






I looked up . . .

. . . I looked down . . .

. . . and I looked around.

And then I went home and crashed. I'm popped out.

CERTifiable

Last weekend I attended CERT training. Community Emergency Response Team. Our community is small, not even an incorporated city. There is no way out of town that doesn't involve crossing a bridge - unless you go by boat and then we don't have a port, just a beach. We are at the end of the road. Fact is, in a major disaster, we'll be the last ones they remember and the last ones they'll get help to even when they do remember. So we were learning how to help ourselves.

The training is pretty good. It's an all-purpose emergency training, so what we were learning was a variety of skills. A lot of it was knowing our limitations. We learned not to try to put out a fire bigger than a garbage can because that's just too big for our resources. And triage so we can prioritize the wounded for emergency services when they do arrive.

A lot of the focus of the attendees is what happens when we're cut off for a long time. If the tsunami ever really hits, all our bridges will go out. And probably all of our communications. So we need to be prepared. Even in less dramatic circumstances we could be cut off (December 2007 ring any bells?) So we're learning to be prepared. I hope our group will have occasional if not regular drills to keep us in practice.

Our simulation is coming this weekend. Saturday is scheduled for a major disaster of some sort. (They did promise no firefighting. The volunteer fire department might be too busy to save us if it goes south, so they won't take a chance on it.) But we will have something. I'm voting for an earthquake. :]

Home Sweet Home

Eric and I live in a trailer house. No, this is not a modular home, it's a trailer house. It is a little on the old side (only about thirty years) and is leaky. We have to do something about the roof this year. We've already tarred and patched and we have to replace it. So this summer we are going to build something. We were considering a pole building just to cover the roof. But then I started thinking long term. Best value received for the money going out and all that. I WANT A HOUSE!!!

We were down visiting family for the holiday and on our way back saw the Uncle Howard's Barns was open. Uncle Howard designs the most adorable cottages (see here). We had already emailed for info but since we were stopping by . . .

The long and the short is - we have a house plan! We walked in and told them we were looking to build and before we knew it, Uncle Howard sat us down, asked us what we were looking for and started sketching. Next thing, we have a plan for an adorable 16x20 cabin with an 8x12 enclosed porch, with loft and basement. Total sq ft including basement - 1152. Perfect for our famiy of two. Also ideal to become a guest cottage or vacation home for someone else someday. (Resale value is very important). Perfect! Now begins the process of preparing to build. Let's see, I need to find out about permits, and loans, and . . .

When Life Catches Up With You

Where have I been? Well, at first I was boring. Then I was coping. You know how it is. Work, house, a series of colds, etc, etc, etc. But I'm back.

My most recent triumph - the kitchen! I'm not sure I want to post a picture of how the stove looked before I tackled it Tuesday, but believe me, it was bad. So, on Tuesday afternoon (when I had an unexpected free half-day thanks to aborted jury duty) I tackled the stove. You are probably thinking in terms of baked on grease needing scrubbing off, or spilled sugar that burned and clung to the oven (the worst to remove). Nope. My stove problem was entirely different.

You see, some years ago, my husband and I installed a wood cookstove. My electric stove was big and bulky for a family of two. I could either heat a huge oven for a small thing, or cook something big and eat my heart out. A wood cookstove had the added advantage of providing heat. We liked that, most definitely. So, the stove became just so much more clutter. And a great place to hold more clutter. Just think, one more surface that never gets cleared off! And thus it was for some years (about 4, I think, maybe more).

When I was ill the year before last, things got really out of hand with the stove. The space in front became cluttered as well. We didn't need access to the drawer, so why not stack the recycling in front of it and the extra pots I didn't use and couldn't find a place for, and, and, and . . . In short, the stove was annoying, in my way, and too cluttered to move. Yesterday, that changed.

Everything is gone from in front of the stove. Most of it is in a tub, waiting to be sorted and put away, but that's okay. It's contained. Everything is gone from the top of the stove, either where it belongs, or also in that tub. Now I have access to the cupboards above the stove, which will shortly be free of their cobwebby guck and back into use. Hooray!!! And the stove will shortly find a new home - preferably at the Salvation Army. Anyone have their number?

Oh, and before someone comments on how unsafe it is to stack things on top of a stove, even if you aren't using it - we turned off it's power circuit, so no accidental meltings or burnings! I'm not stupid, no matter what I look like!